Latest / Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News / The role of petition drives in Texas political activism

Transcript

The role of petition drives in Texas political activism · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:08
  Welcome everyone to the Maha Lowdown.
• 0:11
  I'm Jeff Lauderbach, National Reporter for the Epic Times.
• 0:15
  And Maha is pretty much my beat now.
• 0:21
  Uh during back during uh from April 2023 to August 2024, covering the RFK junior presidential campaign was my main focus.
• 0:31
  And my guest today had a role in that in that campaign and is now focused as a political consultant and uh is very knowledgeable about about all things Maha, and we're going to be talking about what he does and also Maha in the midterms.
• 0:49
  Uh welcome Jeff Hutt.
• 0:51
  Uh, welcome to the show.
• 0:53
  Thank you, sir.
• 0:53
  It's a pleasure to be here.
• 0:54
  Thank you for inviting me.
• 0:56
  Good to talk to the folks.
• 0:57
  Yeah, and I know you're down in uh are you South Texas.
• 1:01
  I am South Texas, what we call real Texas, not to insult any other Texans, but we believe we're the real Texas.
• 1:08
  I live down on the Gulf Coast, um, close to Corpus Christi.
• 1:12
  Oh, okay.
• 1:14
  You know, I found it interesting when I was covering uh the Kennedy presidential campaign.
• 1:21
  He did it quite a bit in Texas.
• 1:23
  I remember being down there multiple times.
• 1:26
  I remember being in Austin.
• 1:28
  I remember one time it was I don't know when it was because I know it's humid in Texas quite a bit, but it was over a hundred degrees.
• 1:38
  And I remember the he had an appearance at this movie set, the uh Western movie set.
• 1:45
  I don't know if you were there at that.
• 1:47
  No, it was not for that.
• 1:48
  I just thought that was a fascinating time, but I got to know Texas pretty well driving around going to uh covering the Kennedy town halls.
• 1:58
  It was great.
• 1:59
  One of the the first one of the first big rallies we had was in uh Bass Trop.
• 2:04
  And we opened it up with a Tejano singer, and so we had Tejano music, and that was one of the days that it was just brutally hot in Texas, and you know, it was the you had the campaign security, so you did have a long line outside, but it provided us a real great opportunity to take water out to people in line and get down and talk to the different supporters and really see this it opened my eyes to this real spectrum of um folks who were who at that time, and this would have been September, October, October, uh 2023, like really the um just the wide spread uh spectrum of individuals who were coming out to support this independent this candidate who was at the time, you know, it's standing up against uh the the COVID mandates and the vaccine lockdowns.
• 2:58
  Um, and also the anti-war is his stance on no uh ending foreign wars was very popular.
• 3:04
  So yeah, it was some great times.
• 3:06
  I I learned a lot from these.
• 3:07
  And yeah, I have to say, you know, we kind of pushed Texas.
• 3:11
  Um if things would have been different, I would have loved to push Texas more, but that's just the way politics work.
• 3:17
  And I was at that event.
• 3:18
  I remember the name of that town because I obviously that's uh unusual name for a town, Bassrop.
• 3:23
  I remember I remember that trip and uh and what you and I know we've talked about this the uh and I didn't mean to interject there, but before uh before uh you continue that I I found that interesting too early on.
• 3:43
  I found by going to all these town halls and events that uh most Kennedy supporters, or most people at the time who were supporting him, and he was running as a Democrat at the time were current or former Trump supporters, or there uh were also seemed to be a lot of Bernie Sanders, a former or current Bernie Sanders supporters.
• 4:09
  There's as you mentioned, there was a cross section of people, and that's uh early on is when I kind of realized as a journalist covering this that his campaign it wasn't gonna be a fringe campaign.
• 4:23
  No, no, you're absolutely right.
• 4:24
  It was interesting.
• 4:25
  Speaking about this line, we had you know, I'd walk down, you'd have somebody in a make America uh great again hat, a Trump hat.
• 4:34
  Uh you had some folks who were busting out with old school Ross Perot shirts.
• 4:40
  Um Ron Paul was you know there, a lot of Ron Paul folks were there.
• 4:46
  Um, and Bernie Sanders.
• 4:48
  Uh one of the interesting story about after this, after this rally, it was one of the first time a lot of our Texas volunteers got together and set uh got to talk.
• 5:00
  And we were having these conversations, and they were really they were political in nature.
• 5:05
  And every once in a while, somebody would look over at the other and ask them what party they supported, because it was we we had been able to find this common ground.
• 5:16
  You know, one of the one of the messages of our campaign was really heal the divide.
• 5:20
  And we were looking to heal that divide.
• 5:22
  And we and I saw it firsthand where partisan politics had moved to the side, and people were focused on these um these instances or these issues that where they felt that they needed immediate relief.
• 5:39
  Um, what was going in the foods, um, a lot of what was going into agriculture, like both food production and during the growing period.
• 5:49
  Um vaccines was of course a big one.
• 5:52
  The COVID was the COVID was big, um, and not so much vaccines, I would say COVID itself.
• 5:58
  But you had these um these folks who were really above partisan politics, and they were coming together.
• 6:04
  Um I'm a registered Republican.
• 6:07
  I work with the Republican Liberty Caucus.
• 6:09
  And when I saw that when I when Bobby came onto the scene and I saw his platform and what he was running for, I had no idea I had no problem with working for a Democrat who supported that.
• 6:20
  Um, and I think that's what I saw across the spectrum of just folks coming coming to the uh rallies, working on the campaign, things like this, the volunteers.
• 6:30
  Greatest volunteer base I've ever worked with.
• 6:33
  Yeah, and we're gonna get into that.
• 6:35
  We're gonna explore that further about how that grassroots network uh transitioned into the Maha movement.
• 6:43
  But uh tell us a little bit about your background so uh our listeners know uh what your expertise is and uh where you have come from and where you are now.
• 6:56
  Well, I worked in um in University of Maryland.
• 7:00
  I was studying politics, and I got the fortunate uh I was fortunate to get a job as an intern working for a political pack back in the 90s, and we were doing targeting data, the old school way where we would call up the uh the county elections offices and they would mail us these handwritten election results, and we'd put them into a database.
• 7:00
  I was studying politics, and I got the fortunate uh I was fortunate to get a job as an intern working for a political pack back in the 90s, and we were doing targeting data, the old school way, where we would call up the uh the county elections offices and they would mail us these handwritten election results and we'd put them into a database.
• 7:24
  And that's when the that's when targeting voters really started to become a thing.
• 7:24
  And that's when the that's when targeting voters really started to become a thing.
• 7:30
  And I had my own life on the side and I was doing other things.
• 7:33
  I lived in I lived in Romania uh for a while.
• 7:37
  Um, but when 2008 came back around, I started canvassing and working for the Obama campaign.
• 7:43
  Um, and I worked for his campaign for that year, and I helped out a little in 12.
• 7:48
  Um, and then I had really I was one of these Democrats that had really gotten disillusioned with just everything.
• 7:54
  I was against the war in the Iraq war.
• 7:59
  Obama came in, he was supposed to make these great changes and things just got worse.
• 8:04
  And um I was sort of disappointed with national politics, worked on look a lot of local politics in my area, um, doing things that trying to work local organizations, worked with police departments to figure out a better way to handle um when they come across um individuals that were having mental problems or mental issues, and how you know those.
• 8:25
  So I was always active on a on a sort of a county level.
• 8:30
  But I've um when Donald Trump came around, his message really resonated with me.
• 8:35
  And um I had I moved back to Texas.
• 8:38
  Donald, I was worked tirelessly trying to the grassroots campaign, what it was in Florida, trying to get out the the vote for um Donald Trump.
• 8:48
  I lived in Broward County.
• 8:50
  I think the county went 80 20.
• 8:52
  It was kind of tough to be a Donald Trump supporter there, but I wore my Trump shirt.
• 8:56
  I moved back to Texas and really got involved in uh local and state races as a more of a more of my time, worked on local state rep races, and a lot of uh when I moved back to my hometown, I focused on county level races.
• 9:13
  And when Kennedy announced I had a friend who I worked on campaigns with, and I said, this is a campaign that we should attach ourselves to and that we should get job for.
• 9:25
  I was like, he's Bobby Kennedy's right on where it needs to be politically, and I think what we're going to see is that a lot of the kind of establishment political consultants aren't going to want to work on his campaign.
• 9:41
  And um, because they because it's you know, it's it's a death knell in your coffin to go work for an independent campaign to leave your party.
• 9:50
  So um that's how I kind of came in the Kennedy campaign, started out as um early on as one of the state coordinators, became the state director, um, and I was a state director, and then I became the national field director in uh January of 24, and I stayed that position uh January 24 through the middle part of June.
• 10:11
  So I was there for the majority, and my job really became at that point um working towards ballot access and and doing that.
• 10:19
  So that was that was how I kind of a little bit about my background after the Kennedy campaign.
• 10:25
  Um I stayed around in the Maha movement um for a while, and I probably some of the stuff we're gonna get into today.
• 10:33
  Well, I stayed in the Maha movement for a while and still am in it.
• 10:37
  Um, but once but I'm back to where I feel most comfortable, county and state level politics.
• 10:43
  And I've always believed that's where the real power lies.
• 10:46
  So I feel comfortable with where I'm at um after my journey with uh Bobby Kennedy.
• 10:52
  But it was great, like I said, greatest.
• 10:54
  I met some that my best friends in politics, people who truly aligned with my idea of principles before anything else, and um uh made some lifelong friends out of that too.
• 11:11
  And you were talking about how it was one of the largest volunteer networks.
• 11:16
  Uh I I found that to be true because every state was so coordinated.
• 11:23
  And then um there was a cross-section of people, and it seemed like people had a purpose.
• 11:29
  It wasn't like uh one like a just supporting the candidate as more purpose, kind of like uh what Donald Trump's campaign was like in 2016.
• 11:42
  Yes.
• 11:42
  And uh I just found that fascinating, and that's why I was fascinating to cover.
• 11:49
  And then of course uh you talk about ballot access.
• 11:53
  I remember I think it was like August 22nd.
• 11:57
  I was in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, covering the ballot access trial because the DNC was suing uh Kennedy in every state, obviously trying to make it difficult.
• 12:07
  That was a purpose.
• 12:09
  Yes.
• 12:10
  And then they uh the next day I was in Long Island, New York for another ballot access trial with Kennedy, and that was the day that they decided uh they didn't announce it, but I know actually it was the 22nd.
• 12:26
  He was in new uh Long Island, 21st in Harrisburg, and then that's when I learned that he was gonna go to Arizona the next day and announce he was leaving the race and uh and uh backing uh President Trump and and then he of course made those two amazing speeches on the 23rd um first on his own and then taking the stage and I think it was Glendale, Arizona.
• 12:51
  And I know that's how the Maha hashtag started because uh he said I thank President Trump for giving me the opportunity to make America healthy again, and then that became a hashtag, and that became the movement.
• 13:07
  And uh what are your thoughts about um how it how his campaign impacted the 2024 presidential election at that point, August 23rd, 2024 when he decided to leave the race.
• 13:25
  I think it was um I think it was huge him personally, but I think we also have to look at it in terms of this.
• 13:32
  The um, I guess the dream team or the superstar team that at that time you had Tulsi Gabbart start to come on and get behind him.
• 13:43
  You started to have um influencers who get who came on and uh started get got behind Donald Trump.
• 13:50
  And then Bobby Kennedy, I think was that that icing on the cake um when he came on.
• 13:58
  And the the issues that he had talked about, which were food safety, um better health, these things were they were very prevalent, I think, in the American minds going into 2024.
• 14:00
  The issues that he had talked about, which were food safety, um better health, these things were they were very prevalent, I think, in the American minds going into 2024.
• 14:15
  And we really uh Americans, I think believed that this was going to be a change election.
• 14:15
  And we really uh Americans, I think, believe that this was going to be a change election.
• 14:20
  I'm not too sure that it's it changed in the way that a lot of uh those independent voters liked, but I think we saw a lot of independent software.
• 14:20
  I'm not too sure that it's it changed in the way that a lot of uh those independent voters liked, but I think we saw it a lot of independent saw it as a change election.
• 14:31
  So Kennedy bringing the bringing um coming over, it um it gave extra juice to the campaign.
• 14:40
  And what's interesting is that you know, we talk about Maha, and Maha had been or Maha ideas had been popular in Republican politics or Republican, but were popular with Republicans for a long time.
• 14:57
  Um it was about you know uh getting good food, um, the products that go into our body.
• 15:05
  These things Republicans had on an individual level move towards this uh a lot quite a long time ago.
• 15:14
  Um, and uh also a lot on these state levels, you had a lot of state representatives who were pushing for these initiatives.
• 15:21
  Um let's talk some of them would be snap reform.
• 15:25
  They had been pushing for cottage industry reform, these things.
• 15:30
  So when Bobby Kennedy came on, the Maha label gave them a banner to rally around.
• 15:38
  Um an interesting thing also on the side, I heard a lot of people talk about, you know, and this is great, because now this is the first time ever as a parent, I'm voting for the same person as my child is voting for because my child like Bobby Kennedy, I like Donald Trump.
• 15:59
  Now my child is supporting Trump.
• 16:01
  And I thought that was a real cool healing aspect of what was going on.
• 16:07
  So I think his impact on the election was was very positive, and it is I think it helped Donald Trump win.
• 16:16
  I think Donald Trump may have been able to win without it, but it definitely kind of secured that victory and what was what was I was saying is a like electoral landslide.
• 16:27
  Not like we've seen under Reagan and other people, but I mean he he did much much better than he was expected to do.
• 16:35
  And I know he had a um dramatic impact in the battleground states because Trump didn't really win the battleground states by a large margin.
• 16:45
  And uh I would say I think it's fair to say I I know there's no I've tried to find it, I can't.
• 16:53
  Um maybe you can enlighten me on it uh as far as like stats that show what can uh how many Kennedy supporters voted for Trump, how many voted for Harris, how many voted didn't vote at all, or how many maybe voted for another candidate?
• 17:10
  But uh I wouldn't I think it's a credible guess to say that uh that not many uh Kennedy supporters uh cast their ballot for Kamala Harris.
• 17:23
  And when we're gonna go to break and I'll get your take on that when we come back in a few moments.
• 17:29
  Um Jeff Lauderback, and you're listening to the Maha Lowdown.
• 17:32
  I'm Doug Evans, author of the sprout book.
• 17:34
  And I'm also a father with a three-year-old daughter, and that's why we grow sprouts.
• 17:40
  Did you know that you could take seeds, add water, and get fresh organic vegetables in three to five days without soil, sunshine, or fertilizer for under a dollar a serving?
• 17:53
  That's the miracle of sprouting, and I want to share that with you.
• 17:58
  Go to the Spouting Company.com slash out loud and use the code out loud for a special offer.
• 18:06
  Successful weight loss is about changing the gut-brain relationship with food.
• 18:10
  I'm Dr.
• 18:11
  Kelly Victory with the wellness company.
• 18:13
  If you don't like needles, you'll love oral dissolving terzepitide RX.
• 18:17
  This doctor design solution works by targeting the GLP1 and GIP receptors that influence appetite and metabolism.
• 18:25
  Terzepatite helps with food portion reduction and satiety, while changing how the brain responds to engineered sugars and unhealthy fats.
• 18:33
  And unlike injections, these are fast absorbing sublingual tablets placed under the tongue, paired with an energy boost of B6 and B12.
• 18:42
  Visit TWC.
• 18:48
  In just two minutes per day, you could reclaim your health and cut your grocery bill in half with one simple convenient product.
• 18:55
  Our doctor formulated green 85 juice formulas, powerful dose of ultra-concentrated essential nutrients, stops hunger in its tracks, and supplies your cells with what's missing in the grocery store food.
• 19:07
  Go to Chemicalfree Body.com forward slash out loud today, get nature's super multivitamin green 85, empower your immune system, cut down on your grocery bill, and save 20% on your first order.
• 19:22
  Oh, never before.
• 19:32
  And love is under a relentless and pernicious siege from those carrying the banners of socialism, communism, and Marxism.
• 19:41
  America Rotlaw.news is the antidote to these poison is America outlaw.
• 19:50
  Is that place to awaken your heart, soul, and mind to the outlook.
• 20:04
  Welcome back to the Maha Lowdown.
• 20:06
  I'm Jeff Lauderback.
• 20:07
  I'm here.
• 20:49
  So I kind of I I sometimes get upset with partisan politics, but I understand it's that without partisan politics right now and without working in it, it's you know, you're you're not going to be able to effectuate change.
• 21:00
  It's you know, you're you're not going to be able to effectuate change.
• 21:03
  So yes, I just say a political Republican political consultant.
• 21:03
  So yes, I just say a political Republican political consultant.
• 21:08
  Yeah, and then we'll get back um to what we were talking about before the break.
• 21:08
  Yeah, and then we'll get back um to what we were talking about before the break.
• 21:13
  Do you think that uh most Kennedy supporters after he left the race and endorsed Trump ended up supporting Trump?
• 21:13
  Do you think that uh most Kennedy supporters after he left the race and endorsed Trump ended up supporting Trump or do you I mean I imagine there are stragglers here and there who voted for
• 21:23
  Or do you I mean I imagine there are stragglers here and there who probably voted for Kamala Harris, but what are your so I only have I only have internal polling at the time that we did and talking to state directors who were who are struggling because the the group that I was working with, we came out early on, and our our motto was our slogan was a vote for Trump is a vote for Kennedy.
• 21:51
  And so we were we back in July, we had started to work with other individuals in the Republican Party and sending messages to Bobby Kennedy that you know this is at this point of the election, you didn't get on the ballot.
• 22:07
  Sorry, you you didn't go on the debate stage New York by the middle of June.
• 22:13
  We understood in the campaign, we understood ourselves the dynamic of the New York um what the new new what the New York decision was going to be.
• 22:23
  So we knew that he wasn't going to get on that ballot.
• 22:25
  And uh a lot of us were under were under the belief that if he did not get on the New York ballot, because New York the issue with the New York ballot was his place of residency.
• 22:36
  And on all the other ballots, his place of residency was New York.
• 22:41
  So if he was kicked off the New York ballot, it would cascade um down.
• 22:46
  So we had been big supporters of this.
• 22:48
  But I would say that um after the after Bobby officially kind of came out and endorsed Donald Trump.
• 22:55
  I would say the split was probably 70 30 for Trump, 30% voting for maybe Jill Stein, um Chase Oliver or Kamala Harris.
• 23:07
  And that was it that was bound to happen.
• 23:13
  And through and that kind of evolved over the campaign.
• 23:17
  So we you know, we had these volunteers in these states, we were having them go out and engage in activities about raising six getting signatures.
• 23:26
  Um and one of the best places that we found to go to get signatures were was gun shows.
• 23:34
  So we were continually sending our people to gun shows, and these were folks who were probably um horrified by the second amendment maybe five years ago, but were stuck in these buildings with these folks who were you know uh two A's and things like that.
• 23:51
  And that that could that the gun show community was very accepting to the Kennedy folk who were out getting petitions.
• 23:59
  The Republicans in general were just really receptive to Kennedy the Kennedy folk who were out getting petitions.
• 24:06
  Um on the other on the flip side of that, we had Democrats who were spinning out our people when they were going up and doing petitions.
• 24:18
  When we had rallies, we had the Democrats would uh rent these um panel vans with these images on them, uh kind of making fun of Bobby and drive them around.
• 24:29
  Um in Texas, the whole campaign got some pictures with them.
• 24:32
  I thought it was kind of funny that they'd go to this um that they'd go to this extent.
• 24:36
  And then what you talk what you talked about earlier, it was you know, if if you're the Democratic Party and you want to keep somebody off the ballot, you're gonna challenge them at every opportunity you can to make sure they dotted their I's and crosses cross their T's.
• 24:52
  And we had decided to run as an independent in October, early November.
• 25:00
  We really weren't able to go out and start gathering as many signatures as we needed until eight until April because we didn't have a vice president on the ticket.
• 25:11
  So there was a lot of rush on our part too to get things done.
• 25:15
  But they were looking at um they the Democrats were just hounding us everywhere.
• 25:21
  So when um Kennedy decided to back Trump, it was a big um, it was kind of a natural progression for all of these Republicans or sorry, all these Kennedy voters to move over into the Trump camp.
• 25:37
  And you know, and I do agree with you in the battleground states.
• 25:41
  I do think that those maybe two, three, maybe even four percent at that time was just it was really crucial to winning those states.
• 25:49
  Even one percent increase really helped him move him over the line.
• 25:55
  Yeah, and it was interesting.
• 25:57
  You talked about um uh him declaring or becoming an independent.
• 26:03
  I remember um I remember he had a campaign stop.
• 26:08
  I I actually interviewed, uh had my first one-on-one and a and over a year with um RFK Jr.
• 26:16
  last week at a regenerative farm up in northern Ohio, and um he was touring it, and but I remember interviewing him much like that at uh an organic farm in New Hampshire when he was still running as a Democrat.
• 26:34
  And I remember wherever he went in New Hampshire, I went covering it.
• 26:39
  And um, and I was on my way, I was planning on going home back here to Southern Ohio, and then I had uh my dog with me and uh was driving it was about to drive home, and then we learned that um the uh DNC was gonna hold a meeting to essentially vote to not allow anyone but Biden run and or make it impossible for anyone but Biden, uh President Biden at the time to run in the I think it was Maine and a couple other states.
• 27:17
  New Hampshire, you couldn't step foot in New Hampshire before some certain date, or you would lose you couldn't get any delegates out of New Hampshire.
• 27:24
  Yeah, I knew it was a New England state, and I uh but it I long to I had to drive there, make a detour and cover that.
• 27:34
  And at that point, I kind of uh that's when I realized, well, he's he's gonna end up running as an independent.
• 27:41
  And sure enough that speech, which I think was I I was just amazed.
• 27:48
  I had chills covering it.
• 27:50
  It's uh it was that was an impactful, that was an amazing event in Philadelphia when he uh announced he was running as an independent.
• 27:59
  There were several thousand there.
• 28:00
  Several thousand there.
• 28:02
  I can't remember.
• 28:02
  I can't remember.
• 28:03
  I would I don't know.
• 28:03
  I would I don't know, I'm not good with numbers estimating, but uh I would say there are at least uh three or four or five thousand there.
• 28:04
  I'm not good with numbers estimating, but uh I would say there are at least uh three or four or five thousand there.
• 28:10
  I'd say so too.
• 28:10
  I'd say so too.
• 28:11
  And um I just thought that that was uh remarkable time, but um I mean the DNC kept on doing that because then leading up to the ballot access trials, they they would have done that uh every single state, knowing that.
• 28:11
  And um I just thought that that was uh remarkable time, but um I mean the DNC kept on doing that because then leading up to the ballot access trials, they they would have done that uh every single state, knowing that they likely wouldn't win them, but it would drain so many financial resources and focus where he had to focus on that and he couldn't be out doing his town halls and uh you know it's pretty much I think uh just from a journalist perspective, I could see that uh, and I know you you knew it since you're inside the campaign, but you it was kind of obvious he there was no way they were gonna let him uh win.
• 28:59
  No, we one of the one of the issues.
• 29:03
  If you were going to run for an we were kind of thrust into the independent world, but if you would sit out and you would plan out a a presidential run for an independent, you would need to have your ducks in a row.
• 29:17
  Um, like we would have needed to be ready to go on June 1st, in my opinion, at least on June 1st, 2023, and we would have needed to spend um, we would have needed much more time to have done it successfully.
• 29:31
  We were we were kind of rushing to catch up, and it was it was a difficult process.
• 29:37
  And there was a one of the bad things about um, and this is what I've seen is that with independent politics as such, is you'll have a very good, a very serious independent candidate come up, he'll create a good infrastructure around him, the candidate will lose, and then that infrastructure is lost, and there's no party that is supporting there, there's not a democratic uh political you know, consultants supporting this, or there's not Republicans.
• 30:08
  So this knowledge base that uh political strategist and campaigns learned over the course of a campaign is just lost.
• 30:17
  So every campaign that starts up new is always always reinventing the will each time.
• 30:25
  And we were really part of that process.
• 30:27
  There wasn't a candidate who had really run a serious 50 state ballot access campaign in a long time, uh, especially under the new laws.
• 30:37
  The laws really changed starting about the 2000s to about the two thousand 2016, 2017.
• 30:44
  State laws had made even more difficult.
• 30:46
  So nobody really tried to run under those conditions.
• 30:49
  Um, it was definitely learning experience.
• 30:52
  Um I've set tried to sit down with other candidates who are considering independent presidential runs and kind of told tried to felt it as it's a good thing to explain to them where some of the hurdles are and where they need to be if they really want to make a serious run at this.
• 31:11
  And we're gonna get into Maha on the midterms, but this is somewhat related though, for the way the political climate is what you're talking about.
• 31:21
  Do you think that and I know um RFK Jr.
• 31:25
  the the we the people party was created because it made it easier for him to get on the ballot in some states by creating a uh a third party.
• 31:36
  Um do you think that the climate is ripe for I know your focus is on local politics, and I I've written about this uh on social media recently here in Ohio.
• 31:49
  I I just firmly believe that it's ripe for uh in my case, I I consider myself a conservative independent, but personally in the uh that uh a third party that is focused on a state, not a national, because obviously that'd take years and years, but a state it just seems like it's feasible, like if you focus on the local level, but uh what are your thoughts on that as far as do you think the climate is ripe for that, or do you think we're still way a long way away?
• 32:24
  No, I think that um the more well, a lot of things are going to change come 2028.
• 32:32
  I'm I'm curious to see what happens when Donald Trump goes out of office.
• 32:37
  Um, because what I've seen in a lot of states is the the Trump endorsement has taken over all of politics.
• 32:47
  Um, and I was talking to some local uh some Texas state elected officials uh a couple months ago, and I asked them about when did you start getting endorsed by the governor and the president of the United States?
• 33:01
  And one of them told me this is the first time I've ever been endorsed with a president.
• 33:05
  So in the past, what you had was you had local counties, Democratic, Republican counties, and if somebody was running for a US House race or they were running for a uh a state house race or state senate race, your local party structure was real was very important.
• 33:23
  And when Donald Trump came in, the I think the initial um the the dismant there was there's been a dismantling of the party system, really, and the party influence of county chairs, um, all of these folks in during the time Trump has been a Republican.
• 33:42
  And in Texas, one of the things you can see this is now you have these grassroots groups that are offering county parties bonuses if they can get enough delegates to the state house.
• 33:54
  And I think this is happening a lot of places.
• 33:57
  Um so Donald Trump has really because his endorsement so means so much, because he endorses now in down ballot races that presidents used to never endorse.
• 34:11
  I'm curious to see what is going to happen to the Republican Party after Donald Trump exits the scenes, and you don't have this endorsement heavy primaries.
• 34:21
  And I think as of now, and I say Indiana, I'm gonna use Indiana as a bell weather, the Trump endorsement still means everything.
• 34:31
  Um, but in a in a Republican primary, when it comes to getting, I would say, conservatives to vote for a candidate.
• 34:40
  But I definitely think that there is a possibility that once Trump exits the scene that the Republican Party is going to be so damaged.
• 34:48
  I think the Democratic Party is just as damaged as the Republican Party.
• 34:53
  And you do have new issues that are starting to rise.
• 34:57
  I don't know if you've seen it, but data centers are a huge issue now.
• 35:00
  Are a huge issue now.
• 35:01
  Yeah, well, that's huge in Ohio.
• 35:01
  Well, that's huge in Ohio.
• 35:03
  It's huge in Ohio.
• 35:03
  It's huge in Ohio.
• 35:05
  And the the part in the establishment party always seems to support it.
• 35:05
  And the the part in the establishment party always seems to support it.
• 35:11
  So in Texas, the repo the Republicans have been very strongly behind it.
• 35:11
  So in Texas, the repo the Republicans have been very strongly behind it.
• 35:15
  So you have a lot of conservative Republicans who are not happy with that.
• 35:15
  So you have a lot of conservative Republicans who are not happy with that.
• 35:20
  And I I do think that a right um a right state level um candidate that comes up with a party behind them, can I think shake up uh
• 35:20
  And I do think that a right state level candidate that comes up with a party behind them can, I think, shake up can really shake up what's going on in a lot of these states.
• 35:34
  I would like to see it.
• 35:35
  And I really think that's the place that we we need to go.
• 35:39
  Because you know, politics really up until the 80s, I would say it was not nationalized.
• 35:45
  It was mainly state and local.
• 35:46
  It wasn't until the invention, or at least in my opinion, cable TV, um and other things like that, that politics um really became as partisan as a nationalized.
• 35:59
  I want to say before the 19 end of the 1960s, the the roll call vote in Washington was not published.
• 36:07
  So you so there was no real way to get at how your local representative voted on things.
• 36:13
  You know, so stuff would happen in stuff would happen in um Washington and it would just kind of happen.
• 36:19
  Um, but now all politics seems to be national politics.
• 36:25
  Uh knocking doors on a tax assessor collector campaign.
• 36:29
  Some guy told me, I don't need to talk to you, I vote for Donald Trump.
• 36:32
  He takes care of everything.
• 36:34
  I was like, um, maybe takes care of a lot, but not not the job of your tax assessor collector.
• 36:40
  So it's it's interesting to it's gonna be interesting to see that change and to see how how America reacts to it.
• 36:48
  Well, we're gonna go to our final break, and then when we come back, we're gonna talk specifically about Maha in the midterms.
• 36:56
  You're listening to the Maha Lowdown.
• 36:58
  Um, Jeff Lauterbach will be back in a moment.
• 37:00
  We wouldn't go a day without washing our hands, brushing our teeth, and washing our nose.
• 37:05
  Well, wait, we wash our nose.
• 37:07
  Yes, the number one place where bacteria, viruses, and pollen enter the body is through the nose.
• 37:12
  So the average person breathes over 23,000 times a day.
• 37:16
  That's 23,000 opportunities for bacteria, viruses, and irritants to get into your nose and make you sick for an extra layer of protection, wash your nose with clear.
• 37:26
  That is clear, X L E A R.
• 37:29
  Clear's drug-free nasal spray features xylitol, an ingredient proven to block adhesion of many nasty bacteria and viruses, and effectively clean, not just rinse like a saline, but wash your nose.
• 37:42
  Clear nasal spray quickly alleviates congestion, opens your airway, and ensures your body's natural defenses are strong.
• 37:49
  Read the research studies for yourself at clear.com.
• 37:52
  That's XLEAR.com.
• 37:55
  Protect yourself from the pathogens and junk you breathe.
• 37:58
  Pick up a bottle for you and your family today.
• 38:00
  Have you been looking for a healthy snack for on the go?
• 38:04
  Well, not all energy bars are soft and sugary.
• 38:08
  Bear bars or a crunchy savory bar made from just six simple natural ingredients.
• 38:15
  Bear bars are plant-based, organic gluten-free, contain six grams of protein and are low temperature dried for unique crunch.
• 38:24
  Most energy bars are based on chocolate or fruit and are held together with syrups or sweeteners.
• 38:31
  To learn more, just visit barebar.com slash out loud.
• 38:43
  Welcome back to the Maha Lowdown.
• 38:46
  I'm Jeff Lauder back with my guest today, Jeff Putt, who's a Republican political consultant down in Texas, and uh had a uh national field director's role in the RFK junior campaign.
• 39:00
  So he's well versed in politics across the aisle and uh independence and third parties.
• 39:07
  And that relates really, Jeff, to uh what we're specifically talking about.
• 39:13
  Um Maha in the midterms, because we talked about the influence of Kennedy voters on the 2024 presidential election.
• 39:23
  Now we have uh midterms, which obviously historically favors the office, not in the White House.
• 39:32
  It just seems to have always been that way, or mostly it's been that way.
• 39:37
  And I know right now you touched on the war.
• 39:40
  I know that's a hot button issue.
• 39:42
  Data centers are hot here in Ohio.
• 39:45
  Uh well, I know Texas is up there, Virginia, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania.
• 39:51
  Those are uh states among the states they're having uh fight against uh data centers.
• 39:58
  So there are issues like that, but Maha, uh President Trump with his uh glyphosate order had uh I know that's created some some turmoil or some anger among uh Maha supporters and uh what are your thoughts about that as far as um what you think the impact will be?
• 40:19
  Well, Maha voters look at the big picture, or will a few issues like glyphosate uh have a huge impact.
• 40:30
  Well, I think there's a lot of Maha voters that were naturally Republican voters when Maha really came about.
• 40:37
  A lot of Republicans, I we talked about this earlier.
• 40:39
  I think we're able to jump onto this and seize it.
• 40:42
  That's why when you look around, most of your Maha caucuses on these state levels are Republican.
• 40:49
  So those people, no.
• 40:51
  I think those people are really um they're they were gonna vote Republican anyway.
• 40:58
  Um the question really needs to be looked at is who are the Maha voters that Kennedy brought into the into the arena and what type of voters are those.
• 41:13
  And I would say that a lot of the voters who ended up voting, uh a lot of Kennedy supporters were not um strong voters.
• 41:23
  And what I mean is not strong voters is they may vote in a presidential election, and they saw most of their political activity with going to farmers markets or the type of music they listen to.
• 41:37
  Um I'm not downgrading, I'm just this, I think this is just a way a lot of people are.
• 41:42
  And so they're not strong voters.
• 41:44
  They're not, they don't normally go out and vote.
• 41:47
  And in politics, one of the things I always try to say is one of the hardest things to do is to get convinced somebody to vote who doesn't vote out of habit.
• 41:57
  Um there's some people that drive by the elections office every Monday to see if there's an election.
• 42:00
  Office every Monday to see if there's an election.
• 42:02
  There's somebody, there's some and on the other extreme, there's the folks who, you know, presidential election goes by and they don't realize it happened.
• 42:02
  There's somebody there's some and on the other extreme, there's the folks who you know, presidential election goes by and they don't realize it happened.
• 42:10
  Um so I don't really think that if the Republicans are looking saying that we have a problem going into the midterms, that it's going to be solved by these Kennedy supporters that came on.
• 42:10
  Um so I don't really think that if the Republicans are looking saying that we have a problem going into the midterms, that it's going to be solved by these Kennedy supporters that came on.
• 42:26
  I think they're really um, I think they're really missing the boat.
• 42:26
  I think they're really um, I think they're really missing the boat.
• 42:30
  And I don't think it has much it does have something to do with policy, and I'll get into that, but it comes a lot more into habit.
• 42:37
  I'm not too sure those that that group of voters would vote anyway.
• 42:42
  Um I would say the war is the war is important, and just out of like internal polling talking to folks.
• 42:52
  I would say like the the anti the ending forever war, um is probably 70, 75 percent of the folks who I knew in Maha.
• 43:03
  So that I think above everything else has been what's really in that and like I said, a lot of those Maha voters probably um I don't really see them come out and voting.
• 43:19
  However, I do imagine that if there wasn't the war in Iran, that a lot of those voters would stay home, but that the fact that there is a war in Iran, I do worry that they're gonna be motivated to come out to send a message to Donald Trump because they didn't vote for Donald Trump and they didn't vote for Republicans, they voted for Bobby Kennedy specifically.
• 43:44
  And Bobby Kennedy is not on the ballot, and it's gonna be hard to motivate them to come out and vote.
• 43:52
  And you had mentioned Indiana, that's a neighboring state here to Ohio.
• 43:58
  The Trump uh endorsement definitely had a monumental impact on the the uh Republican senators, state senators who opposed redistricting.
• 44:12
  And the they were obliterated.
• 44:16
  I think uh what five or so lost their primaries, yes.
• 44:22
  Um so I typically don't uh talk about dates on the show, so because uh obviously uh you know, people could listen to it whenever they want, but but we are uh a week away from the Thomas Massey uh primary down here in well, an hour south of me in northern Kentucky, and I'm covering that for the Epic Times, the Thomas Massey Ed Garrine primary, which the winner uh barring a monumental upset will be the next representative there because it's a R plus 18 district.
• 45:04
  So that will be interesting because that's the already the most expensive race in House history, I believe, as far as um money being involved.
• 45:16
  And it's I mean, you'd have to be under Iraq if if you are interested in politics to not know that uh President Trump does not want Thomas Massey to be re-elected, and Ed Gallrine is his candidate, and a lot of money uh is being thrown into that race on both sides.
• 45:38
  And Thomas Massey has a I mean, you look at his congressional voting record and all his liberty scores, he's if not the most, one of the most uh conservative congressmen.
• 45:52
  And but the camp that uh fully supports whatever uh President Trump wants, they're they're behind getting him out.
• 46:03
  So I think this is a fascinating race, and I know I'm sure you have thoughts about that.
• 46:08
  Oh, Thomas Massey was one of on the campaign trail, he was volunteer and campaign worker alike.
• 46:15
  He was one of our heroes, one of the first people to come out and endorse um speak well of uh Bobby Kennedy.
• 46:24
  Um he was he's very beloved in the um in the Maha world.
• 46:29
  And I would say that you know, if you have a real Maha candidate in real Mahaw supporters in Kentucky, they're gonna vote for they're gonna vote for Thomas Massey, regardless what the kind of the national Maha organizations want them to do.
• 46:53
  That race is in particular unique because you know, he's a he is really a politically monumental figure.
• 47:02
  Um, and I have to, you know, I'm being Republican Liberty caucus guy.
• 47:07
  I mean, I'm a little bit biased when it comes to him.
• 47:10
  But I do think his race is it's it's a little bit of an anomaly um in terms of all the other races, just because he is so well loved in the movement.
• 47:22
  Yeah, well, he's well loved in the Maha movement, but um I've been going all around Northern Kentucky, his district, um, which is pretty vast.
• 47:31
  It extends from the Ohio River, uh, separating Ohio and Kentucky all the way to Louisville.
• 47:39
  And um, I mean, that's that's a lot for people who are familiar with this area, this region that is uh widespread.
• 47:48
  That's a pretty big district, but uh he appears to be very well liked, not just with uh the Maha crowd, but in general with that district, which that'll be interesting to see whether Trump's influence will um will persuade people there who I mean we're talking about a state who has elected, even though it's primarily a Republican state.
• 48:16
  I covered the Andy Bashir, Daniel Cameron gubernatorial race uh a couple weeks, we've been a few years ago, and uh Andy Bashir, who's considered a moderate Democrat, he he won.
• 48:29
  Uh obviously it's the home state of Rand Paul, who is really a lot, or Thomas Massey is a lot like Rand Paul, and uh then you have Mitch McConnell who a lot of conservatives aren't fond of, but he's been elected over and over again.
• 48:48
  And I know that Senate race is big.
• 48:50
  I know President Trump just endorsed I think Andy Barr in that race.
• 48:55
  And then you have Daniel Cameron running, and you have Nate Morris, who I think is a was given a bunch of money, millions of dollars from someone.
• 49:00
  It was given a bunch of money, millions of dollars from someone.
• 49:04
  I don't know if it was Elon Musk or someone has given him a lot of money, Nate Morris.
• 49:04
  I don't know if it was Elon Musk or someone has given him a lot of money, Nate Morris.
• 49:12
  But I know that's kind of a long winded tangent, uh, but that's I mean, it's fat Kentucky's fascinating that way.
• 49:12
  But I know that's kind of a long-winded tangent, uh, but that's I mean, it's fat Kentucky's fascinating that way.
• 49:20
  Two things I think you need to we need to consider.
• 49:20
  Two things I think you need to we need to consider.
• 49:23
  One, it's going to be a closed primary.
• 49:23
  One, it's gonna be a closed primary, so that's gonna really limit the amount of independents who can come over and
• 49:25
  So that's going to really limit the amount of independents who can come over and um and vote for Thomas Massey.
• 49:33
  So Democrats who would say normally Democrats are leaning folks would come out and vote for him in a general election if this were a general election.
• 49:40
  And I got to go back to the Indiana situation.
• 49:44
  I mean, if there's any example of how Trump is viewed in the Republican Party, that's a great example.
• 49:54
  I mean, that's that's that's he is a force of nature that's hard to hard to win against.
• 50:00
  And it's interesting.
• 50:01
  I his supporters, and I I don't mean this negatively, but they there's no other way I guess I can put it out.
• 50:09
  They seem to be really low information conservatives that are wielded to the Trump brand above whatever principles that they kind of expoused at one time.
• 50:22
  And I just it I think it's going to be tough for Thomas Massey.
• 50:26
  I've people have sent me poly uh polymarkets and show that he's really likely to win, but I don't know.
• 50:33
  Two things I say one close primary, two that Trump endorsement is really tough.
• 50:39
  And then I mean, I really think you have to you have to wonder um is if if Thomas Massey loses, I mean, are we really doing him a where it's a disservice to the country?
• 50:51
  But you know, for him, he goes up there and he he bangs his wall, he bangs his head against um you know the system and he doesn't get anywhere.
• 51:00
  So maybe retire maybe retiring out of this and going on to something else would be something that would be good for him in a long term.
• 51:07
  I don't want to encourage people not to vote for him, certainly.
• 51:11
  But um, I'm hopefully regardless what happens when this primary that even if that things are changing rapidly, and that I do believe Thomas Massey has a big place, has a big role to play within the uh Republican Party.
• 51:27
  So I'm just I'm curious to see what happens.
• 51:29
  Um I on the flip side of it, you know, like the um the the Maha um national organizations endorsements in Louisiana in the Senate race.
• 51:44
  Um I do think is going to be more impactful because I don't think they're it's because the candidates aren't the the candidates aren't so populist in nature, or it's not a Thomas Massey like candidate.
• 51:57
  And I think that's a much more interesting race to look at, considering that Fleming has been a Maha Bobby Kennedy supporter for a long time, but yet we're coming out.
• 52:09
  The the national organizations are coming out and endorsing a Republican that has um no real kind of credentials with the movement over Fleming in that race.
• 52:22
  And that's against Thompson.
• 52:25
  Yes.
• 52:26
  Yep.
• 52:26
  Yes, that race.
• 52:28
  And that's an interesting race to look at because in that spectrum there, you have you know, the incumbent is establishment old school Republican.
• 52:38
  You have Fleming in the middle, who is this um, I would say grassroots, Republican, Ron Paul esque side of it.
• 52:47
  And then you have this third candidate who is the Donald Trump candidate.
• 52:51
  So that to me is a fascinating race.
• 52:53
  I'm looking forward to see how that one winds out.
• 52:56
  And it's close too.
• 52:57
  I was looking at polling, and you know, the polling is within three, four points, and everybody's in the 20s um in that election.
• 53:04
  So which means if there's three candidates and everybody's in the 20s, there's a lot of undecided voters to see how they'll move.
• 53:13
  Um, still uh Cassidy, correct?
• 53:18
  Yes.
• 53:20
  Yes, that's that's that's that race.
• 53:23
  Um and um, you know, and there was, and I think you know, the Trump's opposition to him has more to do, has more to do with the fact that he voted for impeachment than Maha is kind of being brought into it to boyster that opposition.
• 53:44
  Whereas I think if Maha was natural, it was allowed to um endorse who the people wanted, they would be endorsing Fleming, which really comes down to I think a problems with endorsements and on you know, all these national organizations need to really listen to what what the state organizations are talking about before they ever go to make an endorsement, and maybe not make an endorsement at all, but just fund those local.
• 54:12
  Um it'd be better to see.
• 54:14
  I'd rather see instead of money going into races, money going into build organizations that are there.
• 54:21
  Um, but I'm not in control of that.
• 54:24
  So you know, my wishes are whatever they are.
• 54:27
  Yeah, well, you're uh we we have similar viewpoints across the board on a lot of things, and I know uh, and I would like to uh have you back where in our last minute, but I would like to maybe later in the season when the midterm, I mean the primaries are done, we uh you could come back on and we could have another discussion.
• 54:49
  But I I think that's critical.
• 54:51
  I'm I'm not uh I I'm a firm believer that like county Republican parties and the state Republican party should never endorse a candidate in a competitive primary and I would destroy the party.
• 55:06
  I would like to see uh strong third party emerge, at least at the local, you know, that can impact local county and state races like in a state.
• 55:17
  Yes.
• 55:18
  I know you just can't magically create a third party and it contend on the national level, but I think it can locally, and I look forward to talking to you further about that.
• 55:29
  Where where can people uh do you have a website or anything or do you uh I'm working with uh American Health Action Um dot org?
• 55:39
  Um it's a uh it's a C4, it's you know, nonpartisan.
• 55:44
  I'm talking about education and helping um promoting issues and um by way of promoting um issues, kind of uh looking for candidates that also kind of support this real health freedom agenda, regenerative farming, clean food, clean water, um trying to find that middle ground.
• 56:00
  Farming, clean food, clean water, um, trying to find that middle ground.
• 56:05
  Yeah, and I think that's great.
• 56:05
  Yeah, and I think that's great.
• 56:07
  And uh I appreciate you taking time to talk.
• 56:07
  And uh I appreciate you taking time to talk and um for for people who want to find you, they could go to that website then.
• 56:09
  And um for people who want to find you, they could go to that website then.
• 56:15
  Can you uh say that website again?
• 56:15
  Can you uh say that website again?
• 56:18
  Oh, it's American Health Action.org.
• 56:18
  Oh, it's American HealthAction.org.
• 56:20
  Okay.
• 56:20
  Okay.
• 56:21
  Well, uh, American Health Action.org, and I'll make sure I put that up on the uh website.
• 56:21
  Well, uh American Health Action.org, and I'll make sure I put that up on the uh website and uh Jeff Hudd, I appreciate you for uh
• 56:27
  And uh, Jeff Hudd, I appreciate you for uh joining us yet again.
• 56:31
  Thank you.
• 56:32
  It was great.
• 56:32
  It's it's great to talk to you again.
• 56:34
  It's it's we we've been having this conversation back and forth for a long time.
• 56:37
  So it's good to be able to talk about then and now and see where the movement's going.
• 56:42
  Really appreciate your persp your perspectives.
• 56:44
  Yeah, likewise.
• 56:45
  And um, I appreciate everyone for listening.
• 56:47
  I'm Jeff Lauderbach, and that's the Mahalo Down.