Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / Justin Haskins Discusses His New Think Tank

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Justin Haskins Discusses His New Think Tank · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

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  Speaker 1: Welcome friends to the third hour of the Morning Show
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  Speaker 1: with Preston Scott and it is a delight to have
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  Speaker 1: with us. Justin Haskins. He is a writer, author, researcher
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  Speaker 1: and now as well the President Senior Fellow of Our Republic.
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  Speaker 1: It is our hyphenrepublic dot org. Justin, How in the
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  Speaker 1: world are you.
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  Speaker 2: I'm I'm doing really well, doing really well. Just started
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  Speaker 2: my very own public policy organization after being doing this
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  Speaker 2: at the Heartland Institute for many years over a decade,
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  Speaker 2: started my own organization and very excited about that and
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  Speaker 2: ready to get to work.
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  Speaker 1: Well, let's tell everybody a little bit more about it,
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  Speaker 1: kind of give us the focus and what you really
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  Speaker 1: are driving on.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Our Republic is this idea I've had for an
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  Speaker 2: organization for a long time. I wanted to do things
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  Speaker 2: differently than the way other think tanks and advocacy groups
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  Speaker 2: the right have been doing things. Rather than talk about
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  Speaker 2: the same tired issues over and over and over again,
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  Speaker 2: I really wanted. I wanted an organization that would be
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  Speaker 2: focused on what I call emerging issues, issues that are
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  Speaker 2: new that most people don't know about. And that's sort
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  Speaker 2: of what I've built my career on, you know, coming
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  Speaker 2: up with ideas that people haven't heard about before, like
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  Speaker 2: ESG and the Great Resets and the Great New Deal.
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  Speaker 2: Was I was the very first person to make that
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  Speaker 2: a national issue. I mean, these are things that people
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  Speaker 2: now all know about, but when I first started writing
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  Speaker 2: about and talking about and researching them, nobody had ever
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  Speaker 2: heard of them. So I wanted to come up with
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  Speaker 2: an I think think that was dedicated to that mission,
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  Speaker 2: as well as things that people do know about, like
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  Speaker 2: say the rise of socialism and things like that, but
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  Speaker 2: things that I think are of the highest importance. So
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  Speaker 2: we're not focusing on stuff that's been already the ground
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  Speaker 2: has been worn out for a long time by other organizations.
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  Speaker 2: We're not just copycatting what other groups are doing. We're
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  Speaker 2: doing new things the most important things. That's focus of
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  Speaker 2: the organization.
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  Speaker 1: How can people listening, support, get involved and know more?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, going to the website, it's a great place
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  Speaker 2: to start. Our republic dot org. There's a hyphen between
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  Speaker 2: our and republic, so our hyphenrepublic dot org. And you
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  Speaker 2: can find all sorts of information out there about how
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  Speaker 2: you can help out, how you can stay involved in contact.
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  Speaker 2: If you have the money to donate money to help
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  Speaker 2: the cause. That would be much appreciated. We are five
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  Speaker 2: point one c three organizations past deductible organization when you
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  Speaker 2: make donations. So all those things are on the website
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  Speaker 2: for people to learn more.
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  Speaker 1: Justin how are you going to get your information out?
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  Speaker 1: There's there you know, obviously there are newsletters that some
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  Speaker 1: organizations put out on a weekly, a daily, a monthly basis.
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  Speaker 1: What is going to be your modus operandi?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we're doing a little bit a little bit
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  Speaker 2: of everything. As you know, We're going to have a
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  Speaker 2: newsletter that's going to go out for people who want
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  Speaker 2: to get those in their email boxes. We're going to
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  Speaker 2: be doing a lot of media ramping that up, lots
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  Speaker 2: of videos and podcasting and sort of the new media
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  Speaker 2: are going to be very involved in that as well
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  Speaker 2: as putting out policy papers, meeting with lawmakers, doing all
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  Speaker 2: those things to the sort of traditional fintank stuff. So
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  Speaker 2: we're gonna be doing a little bit of everything. It's
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  Speaker 2: a little overwhelming when you first start out, but it's
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  Speaker 2: something that I've been doing for over a decade, so
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  Speaker 2: I feel really confident about it and excited to get
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  Speaker 2: going and to be adding something to the free market
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  Speaker 2: pro liberty movement that I think isn't really there in
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  Speaker 2: the way that it should be right now.
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  Speaker 1: Sounds like it ought to be theme music for the
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  Speaker 1: new website republic dot org with a hyphen in between
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  Speaker 1: our and republic. Justin askins with us Justin when we
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  Speaker 1: were sharing some thoughts about our visit here today. You
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  Speaker 1: mentioned something about the strategy that the Republicans likely don't
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  Speaker 1: have because they generally don't have any strategy that's cohesive
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  Speaker 1: and coherent. But yet the left, the illiberal left, the
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  Speaker 1: Democrat socialist Democrat Party, now, uh, they are the gift
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  Speaker 1: that just keeps on giving. They are giving opportunities to
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  Speaker 1: the right to somehow hold serve in this election. But
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  Speaker 1: you have an interesting set of thoughts on how they
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  Speaker 1: need to maybe consider doing it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, So I think that what the Republicans and
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  Speaker 2: the and really the conservative movement right now in general
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  Speaker 2: is missing is that they've been over promising and under
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  Speaker 2: delivering for the entire time that's he's been in office. Yep.
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  Speaker 2: And I think it started with the Trumpet administration right
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  Speaker 2: from the very beginning of the second term in the
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  Speaker 2: campaign saying this was going to be the American Golden
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  Speaker 2: Era and highlighting that and making that focus, and I
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  Speaker 2: understand why he did it, but the reality is this
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  Speaker 2: isn't the Golden era, and everybody knows that right now.
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  Speaker 2: People are still having a lot of the same problems
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  Speaker 2: they had under Biden, and a big reason for that.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, this election is coming down to the economy.
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  Speaker 2: That's what this is all about. That's what the rise
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  Speaker 2: of democratic socialism is about. For young people. People are angry,
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  Speaker 2: they're unhappy, they don't feel like they can build wealth.
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  Speaker 2: They feel like they're drowning in debt. The price of
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  Speaker 2: the house is way too high, the price of a
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  Speaker 2: car is way too high. Everything that you really really
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  Speaker 2: want in life, the prices of those things have not
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  Speaker 2: gone down since Trump has off has come into office
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  Speaker 2: and people so people are still feeling that pain and
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  Speaker 2: they want radical change, and that's why they put Trump
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  Speaker 2: into office in the first place. And they have not
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  Speaker 2: seen the results. But the problem is there actually has
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  Speaker 2: been some positive movements in a lot of those areas.
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  Speaker 2: We've seen actually wages at times throughout this second Trump term,
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  Speaker 2: wages outpace inflation. We're not seeing inflation dramatically increase. You
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't know it by reading the news, but inflation in
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty six is actually lower than it was in
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, in Biden's last year, when supposedly the
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  Speaker 2: inflation crisis was already over. So there has been some
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  Speaker 2: more stability that way, and there has been some improvements.
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  Speaker 2: We don't have a crisis at the border, millions and
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  Speaker 2: millions of people flooding into the border. You know, there's
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  Speaker 2: all sorts of improvements the energy sector. Domestic energy production
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  Speaker 2: is ramping up, and that's going to help our long
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  Speaker 2: term stability. Where you know, all of these things are great,
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  Speaker 2: very positive things, but the focus and the focus needs
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  Speaker 2: to be and to really should have been this all
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  Speaker 2: along that Biden created. The Biden administration and Democrats with
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  Speaker 2: their policies created one of the worst economic situations imaginable.
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  Speaker 2: We had a horrible inflation crisis and the unaffordability crisis
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  Speaker 2: happened because of Democrat left wing policies. The average price
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  Speaker 2: of the home went up over one hundred thousand dollars
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  Speaker 2: in the first two years of Biden being in office.
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  Speaker 2: And if you put Democrats back into power, they want
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  Speaker 2: even more radical policies than they had during the Biden administration.
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  Speaker 2: We're going back to that. Well, this is sort of
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  Speaker 2: the situation that Barack Obama was in in twenty twelve
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  Speaker 2: when he was running for re election, and what he
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  Speaker 2: found himself. He was not wildly popular anymore. At that point.
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  Speaker 2: People were unsure, they weren't really happy with the way
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  Speaker 2: things were going with the economy. And what Barack Obama
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  Speaker 2: did very effectively was say, look, I need more time.
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  Speaker 2: I need the ability for my policies to go into
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  Speaker 2: a effect. We don't want to go back to the
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  Speaker 2: failing policies of the Trump administration, of the Bush administration
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  Speaker 2: that got us into this mess in the first place.
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  Speaker 2: And I inherited the worst economic crisis in history. He
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  Speaker 2: wasn't talking about an American Golden age. He was saying, look,
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  Speaker 2: we've made some improvements, I need more time. But I
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  Speaker 2: inherited a mess and people believed it. And the reality is,
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  Speaker 2: I think Barack Obama was a terrible president, and I
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  Speaker 2: don't think his policies worked at all. I think Trump
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  Speaker 2: administration's policies have been much better for the economy. But
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  Speaker 2: that should be the message, that should be the focus.
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  Speaker 2: I inherited a horrible situation from the Biden administration, and
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  Speaker 2: I need more time to fix that. We've seen improvements,
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  Speaker 2: here's what they are, but we need more time. And
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  Speaker 2: if you elect Democrats, we're not going to have more
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  Speaker 2: time to fix this.
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  Speaker 1: Getting snappy here on the radio program with Justin Haskins again,
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  Speaker 1: our hyphen Republic, just the hyphen symbol, not don't spell
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  Speaker 1: it out, hyphen Republic, ourrepublic dot org. The President and
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  Speaker 1: senior fellow Justin Haskins with us. We know that Republicans
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  Speaker 1: don't message. We know they're terrible at it because they
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  Speaker 1: should have been messaging when Biden was in office. I've
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  Speaker 1: seen numbers justin that show that the inflation under President
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  Speaker 1: Trump is below nearly every president since Bill Clinton. And
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  Speaker 1: it's just a matter of getting these this information out.
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  Speaker 1: Going back to your primary argument, which is, Okay, we've
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  Speaker 1: got a very big ship and a very small rudder,
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  Speaker 1: and it's going to take time to turn it. Do
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  Speaker 1: you see any sign of Republicans in mass using any
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  Speaker 1: kind of cohesive messaging to save the midterm?
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  Speaker 2: No, oh, I don't. I don't see that. I think, well,
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  Speaker 2: that's not entirely true. I would say, the focus is
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  Speaker 2: now turned toward how radical the left is, how radical
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  Speaker 2: the left has become, which and it's all true, true, yes,
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  Speaker 2: one hundred percent true. The Democrat Party is you know,
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  Speaker 2: the socialists within the Democrat Party are becoming increasingly more powerful.
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  Speaker 2: They had a little wave that happened back when AOC
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  Speaker 2: came into office a long time ago. They're now getting
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  Speaker 2: another wave of it. And the reason is because of
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  Speaker 2: the economics. It works in their favor to tell people
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  Speaker 2: you've been screwed, which is sort of the Trump administration's message,
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  Speaker 2: You've been screwed when they were running for office by
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  Speaker 2: the establishment, and instead of going the Trump way, what
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  Speaker 2: their message is, let's just burn the whole thing down
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  Speaker 2: and start all over again with a socialist communist type model.
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  Speaker 2: That's essentially what the DSA people, the Democratic Socialist of America,
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  Speaker 2: that's what they want. And so that that is a
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  Speaker 2: good message. But the reality is you you typically do
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  Speaker 2: not win elections, especially when you're the one in power.
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  Speaker 2: You typically do not win elections when you focus on
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  Speaker 2: how bad the other guy is. You typically win elections
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  Speaker 2: by promising something positive and what are you going to
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  Speaker 2: do for me? Because they have positive vision in their minds.
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  Speaker 2: They're going to make everything more affordable. They're going to
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  Speaker 2: help people who are struggling, they're going to help the impoverish.
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  Speaker 2: They're going to do all these things. They have a
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  Speaker 2: positive message, and so far, the Republican message is basically,
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  Speaker 2: they're terrible and they're going to destroy everything and make
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  Speaker 2: everything worse, So don't vote for them. And I just
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  Speaker 2: don't think that that's a that will work with some people.
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  Speaker 2: But I think you have to have your own positive
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  Speaker 2: vision and the focus needs the look the reason we
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  Speaker 2: haven't seen. We agree there hasn't been enough improvement. We
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  Speaker 2: need more improvement, we need more affordability, we need better jobs,
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  Speaker 2: we need all of that stuff. But we inherited one
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  Speaker 2: of the worst economics. It's the worst inflation crisis in
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  Speaker 2: forty years. We inherited that. That was our fault. We
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: inherited political instability around the world that wasn't our fault.
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  Speaker 2: Russia had already invaded Ukraine, the Taliban had already taken Afghanistan.
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  Speaker 2: These were things that happened because the Biden administration was weak.
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  Speaker 2: We had millions of immigrants coming across the border every
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  Speaker 2: year that we can't afford to have here in America.
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  Speaker 2: That wasn't our fault. We fixed a lot of these problems.
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  Speaker 2: We're trying to solve more problems. The economy is transitioning,
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  Speaker 2: is getting better, you know. And the reason the stock
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  Speaker 2: market keeps going up is because investors still believe that
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  Speaker 2: things are going to get better. But we need more time,
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  Speaker 2: and I think that needs to be the focus, and
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  Speaker 2: they're just there is no focus.
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  Speaker 1: As you said, what about a hybrid message, which is,
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  Speaker 1: here's why what the other party is moving to with
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  Speaker 1: the Democrat, socialism and so forth, why it will not work,
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  Speaker 1: why it has not worked, here's what we think is better.
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  Speaker 1: I feel like there has to be a little messaging
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  Speaker 1: on the danger of what they're proposing and what history
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  Speaker 1: teaches us, and that we're not more enlightened. They're not
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  Speaker 1: the enlightened ones that now know suddenly how to make
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  Speaker 1: socialism work. It doesn't work, but here's what we need
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  Speaker 1: to do, but we can't do it with obstructionists that
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  Speaker 1: are socialists.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, a whole one hundred percent. Yeah, And that is
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  Speaker 2: the Obama model. In twenty twelve, it was let's not
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  Speaker 2: go back to the things that campaign one of the
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  Speaker 2: campaigns looks was forward. Let's not go back and the
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  Speaker 2: way things were under the of the the Bush administration.
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  Speaker 2: They're the ones that created that giant economic crash. Remember
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  Speaker 2: that that was the messaging. And so I think the
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  Speaker 2: way to say this is look, having big, powerful government,
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  Speaker 2: socialistic programs. That's what got us into this mess in
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  Speaker 2: the first place, government spending, that's the primary cause of
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  Speaker 2: the inflation crisis. These lestling policies cause this. We don't
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  Speaker 2: want to go back to those things. Do you do
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  Speaker 2: you want to go back to the to the inflation
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  Speaker 2: crisis that we were just getting out of now, No,
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  Speaker 2: of course not. But then what the positive vision and
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  Speaker 2: then that's when you transition to freer markets and all
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  Speaker 2: of the positive things that have been happening, stability at
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  Speaker 2: the border less crime, all of that stuff, and that
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  Speaker 2: that strategy I really think will work with regular people.
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  Speaker 2: But there has to be a cohesive strategy, cohesive messaging.
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  Speaker 2: Republicans have to adopt it fully. It can't just be
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  Speaker 2: all fear mongering. And right now that's all we're getting
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  Speaker 2: from them.
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  Speaker 1: Well, maybe they'll listen to you. Because the chair of
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  Speaker 1: the state party here in Florida hates my guts so
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  Speaker 1: because I think they're stupid and they don't do the
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  Speaker 1: right messaging. So I'm persona non grana. Justin, you're the best, buddy,
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  Speaker 1: and we're praying for you. And thanks so much. We'll
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  Speaker 1: talk to you next month.
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  Speaker 2: Appreciate it. Thanks Presdon take here, Douglass.
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  Speaker 1: Justin Haskins our republic dot org. Yeah yeah, come on,
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  Speaker 1: come on, ruminators, rally support him. Drops, send some checks
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: his way every month, support the work. He is one
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  Speaker 1: of the best we've got in our country.