Political Noise Is Ruining Ads And Entertainment

Midterm Ad Overload

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The midterm elections are only a couple weeks away, and if you're like me, you can't wait for it to be over because you are so ready for all these political ads to go away. And if you're like me, maybe a touch of a crotchety old man or woman, you might be fed up with a lot of people's opinions. So today on Share the Truggle Podcast, we're gonna gather around and shoot down all the nonsense going down across this great, beautiful land. That is so much more on this week's episode. Let me tell you something. Everybody struggles. The difference is some people choose to go through it and some choose to grow through it. The choice is completely yours. Which one you choose will have a very profound effect on the way you live your life. It's a struggle. Uncomfortable conversations challenge you, humble you, and they build you. You are right where you need to be.

Shake Review And Cold Studio

SPEAKER_00 1:49

What it do? What it do? What it h did it did it did it do. Glow Almighty. Am I so excited to be back with you? Oh, it is true. It is damn chew. Episode 328, and I'm feeling oh so great. Part of the reason why I'm feeling great is I just finished this new DQ shake that they came out with. My beautiful bride discovered this uh Savannah Banana shake today. A little must be a little tribute to the Savannah bananas. But this this cool daddy right here is a vanilla shake with strawberries and uh bananas and some chocolate pieces all blended together, and it is a delightful little treat. But it's also probably about 30 degrees outside, and I just finished this here ice cream and I'm recording in the gear, and I can't turn the heat on because if I do, um you're gonna hear it humming like a semi in the background. So I'm I'm a bit chilly, okay? I'm a bit chilly, which I guess is a depressing state in which we live in right now because I do feel like uh the cold is a coming. I do feel like if you're like me, you might want to get your your sweet little ass outside and get your projects done. All right, you might want to get your projects done. For me, I've got too many of them to get done. I have so many projects to get done. I got some lawnmower work to do, I got uh a lot of lawn to mow, I've got fence work to do, I've got gravel to buy for a driveway, services to be done on tractors. I still haven't unloaded the bus from our last big event. It's gotta get ready for the next one. Uh, I got all these things to do outside horse fencing, um, just nonsense. The Lau Proud American uh shed office storefront situation. I really want to tackle that soon. So I'm gonna have to empty that out and um call in some favors, get some help and get that thing, uh, that process rolling. I've got to uh clean up, fix up, touch up, butter up, sweeten up uh the trailer that I borrowed from Brother Woodcock and bring that back. We've got to winterize the camper. Uh thank you, Matt Perkins, for the reminder today on that one. Um, all these things to do, man. So many different things to do. Other business projects come and do, so many, so many things. Um, and then that's in between uh custom orders and certain things that are that are knocking on the door for me to get done. But I owed it to my family to slow down and get a few things done. And um, some of those things turned into inside projects, which, as much as I'd like to be outside taking care of um in all the outdoor stuff, while it's so uh nice out during the daytime, sometimes you just gotta prioritize things. Sometimes your priorities aren't the same as your wife's, okay? I'm just gonna put that out there. Sometimes your priorities are not the same as hers. So that happens. And uh, you know, I'm trying to be a better listener, I'm trying to be a better partner here, and uh a part of that is because I spend so much time on the road that um everything gets pushed off. You know what I

Marriage Priorities And Family Night

SPEAKER_00 5:16

mean? And it's it's funny, I had this conversation um with the wife last week because I saw this thing. This is kind of random, I didn't expect to have this conversation this week. Maybe I'll talk more about it next week. But our church, East Point, has uh been doing this um this family night where they provide daycare for the little ones and couples, you know, married couples, dating couples show up, and uh it's this family night. And um, you know, you you you're you're here for for fellowship and for prayer and for inspiration, and then you also break off in these table discussions with uh, you know, married couples. There's one that's leading it that you know, I think ours had well over 30 years of marriage, and um you gather around with other couples and and you share insights and struggles, and they ask questions, and it all relates to uh, you know, like a Bible passage, and you use that to uh fuel the discussion. So that was pretty cool. It was my idea to uh sign us up for this, and the wife went ahead and did so, and and it was the first one we were able to attend, and it was it was productive. It's nice to you know hear other people that are really thinking and struggling the same way you are, and realizing that a lot of it is just how men and women are different, you know what I mean? Because I'm sitting across from a couple other couples, and you know, all the husbands tend to think the same, all the wives tend to think the same. So uh it was kind of cool, it's comforting, and I think that's probably one part of the reason why they do it, is for you to realize that you're not alone and that a lot of relationships have the same, you know, the same discussions or the same uh difficulties, and but it also provoked a lot of further conversation after we left, which was which was really beneficial. And one of the things that I came clean about was that I know at this time of the year, it's hard for my wife to understand um like my priority list, or it's hard for her to understand uh why everything seems so chaotic and crazy. And for me, I have this short window where I have the ample most opportunity and time to make money to provide for my family, and then things slow down and get difficult, and I'm being pulled in so many different directions, as you know, you know, new father and all those things, and trying to take care of the you know the small family farm, take take care of my dad's duties that he used to take care of, um, the things that my my mom needs to do, and then you know, my obligation to my wife as a as a husband, as a partner, as a as a parent, all those things, and trying to build a brand and and and do all of that. Every day I wake up with this to-do list that's 70 items long, right? And when you realize you can't do all of them, for me, when I seek and destroy the list and I'm trying to find something that um I can get done, I tend to often look to what's the the item on the list that maybe um doesn't feel the best to do, isn't the most rewarding to do, isn't the most beneficial for my family to do, but it's the easiest one for me to get paid from. And that's what I do. I try to take everything I can to provide for the family and to get paid, and then eventually it all becomes overwhelming, and you also get to a time in the year where you realize, man, you put off a lot of things that your family requires of you. And uh, I've spent the past week trying to get back to some of the things that my family requires of me and the sense of being home, some of those obligations, because I feel like I do everything that I do for my family, but there's a difference, right? There's a difference between what you go to work and do and what you have to do at home and those things. And so this uh this past week or so since being home from the Freiburg fair, it's been a lot of that, and some indoors projects that I've been putting off that needed to be done, we've been getting done, and some organizational things have been been happening, and um it's all really good things, it's all things that um really benefits the family and um it helps clear your mind as well. But in the background, you know you have all these things piling up. But I didn't expect to have this conversation, but when I'm freezing me Batukisov here in the podcast studio this evening made me realize you might want to get your outdoor stuff done, boy, because that temp be droppin', okay? The temp is a dropping. And good old winter, it is a knocking. But that's not in any way what I set out to talk about today. Maybe we'll have some more of those, you know, relationship conversations in the future here, but that's not what I set out to talk about today. Um

Why Political Ads Feel Useless

SPEAKER_00 10:13

I wanted to talk about being annoyed by a few things. I wanted to talk about being ticked off by a few things. I wanted to talk about the desire to tell people to shut the hell up. You heard it in the um, you know, the the credits, the b-roll, the pre-show, whatever that little opener is that we had to start the show. I mentioned we're a couple weeks away from the midterms, and I'm ready for it to be over. I'm ready for the midterm elections to be over. Honestly, y'all know me. Um, Hannah La Cabello's catalog out of the sky, truth from this guy right here. Um, obviously, I'm hoping that uh the Republicans take care of business because I feel like that's important for my business, and I feel like it's important for the direction of this country and for my family. That's how I feel, and um, that's what I'm convicted to say today. And y'all signed up to hear me. So that is just what I'm gonna tell you is my truth, my gospel, my reason. And uh I'm hopeful for all of that, but um I'm hopeful to uh or encouraged to get the midterms over because I'm just sick and tired of all the nonsense. I'm so fed up with all the rallies all over the place. I'm so fed up with all of the mail, all of the garbage junk mail that I get. If we took some of the money that these politicians spend on advertising, on YouTube ads, on cable ads, on print ads, and just put that back into something constructive, maybe you could solve a lot of problems in each individual state if you just agreed, hey man, instead of advertising and doing all these things, let's just level the playing fields, let's uh, you know, do all of this. What if, can you imagine if like the the networks and stuff said, hey man, we're not gonna run any ads, you know, it's not about the money, it's about helping. Here's our budget, we're gonna give this back to the people, you know, we're gonna do tax relief stuff, we're gonna help homeless, we're gonna help uh, you know, opioid crisis, whatever we're gonna do, we're gonna take these political ads, all the millions and millions and probably billions of dollars that get spent to buy your vote, to influence your vote. If we just had a level playing field with real common sense, with debate and conversation, and all that money went into um a constructive plan, um I think we'd be so much further ahead, we'd already be halfway towards accomplishing our goals. You know what I mean? I just I don't know. I feel like I'm throwing out political ads by the handful every day. And I don't think there's a platform more annoying than YouTube. If you don't have a paid YouTube subscription, man, if I'm watching something live, I'm getting political ads every two to seven minutes. Like I'm not I know I'm not going over ten minutes without a commercial, and uh they're just back to back to back. And if you're watching something live and then this political ads come up, when it goes back to your program, they didn't pause it. So now you're behind the three minutes that those ads made, which makes me even that much more angry. And I don't know what it is, man. But when everyday people are on there just saying all the reasons why they like and don't like a candidate, I just but I don't I don't it doesn't affect me. It doesn't sway my opinion. When celebrities are on there, it doesn't sway my opinion. It's it's your actions that sway my opinion, it's your reputation, it's your it's your your resume, your your your years of employment for your state, for your country, what you've done and what you didn't do. That's what I'm gonna look into, right? The results that you provide, that's what I'm gonna look into. Not because you paid somebody to talk, not because you have a celebrity that's gonna endorse you, not because you have some shitty ass band that you uh you know that we used to listen to, that you paid uh more money than the next guy for them to stand up and say they believe in you and they're gonna sing for you. I'm not gonna listen to them. I'm going to look into your actions and your results. And if you've been a lifelong politician that's been overtaxing our state, that hasn't done anything for our state, then you're not gonna

Make Campaign Money Do Real Work

SPEAKER_00 14:30

get my vote, no matter how much I like the celebrity that you choose to endorse you. I just I'm over it. We are wasting so much money, America. I'm telling you, wasting so much money. I actually, during this conversation, I came up with a genius idea. What if we leveled the playing fields? What if YouTube and and and mainstream TV and news channels, they didn't take money for ads. There was no endorsements, there was no craziness. What if instead we had level playing fields where publicly they come out and talk, they have debates, conversations, rallies, whatever you want. You can go do your rallies and things like that. Because I think it is it can be good and motivating to uh to get people together and and to find that common ground. So let's just say you have all the rallies you want to have, and you have all the fundraisers you want to have for a productive cause, okay? But we're not gonna do all these ads, not all this, um, the these paper print ads. We're not gonna do commercials all the time, we're not gonna take shots at each other every chance that we get. And we're just gonna talk facts, and we can list out those facts, and we're gonna follow your resumes and all the money, let's say that running for a certain position, whether it's governor, whether it's senate, whatever it is, this is the budget that's spent. So let's just say that it's $25 million, which a lot of these depends on the states, but a lot of them are way more than that. Some of them might be that. I don't know. But let's just let's just take a basic number. Let's just say for your local governor's race, it's uh $25 million or it's $50 million, that's what's gonna be spent. What if we started the whole campaign trail off with a debate and an announcement where each each um party's candidate, so your Republican and your Democratic candidate, comes out and says, This is here's our budget. We're gonna spend $50 million. They come out and say, This is the cause I'm gonna stand behind. This is this is a cause I'm gonna run for. This is one of my core values and beliefs. It's a fundamental value of my campaign. And this is one of the ways that I think we could have the biggest impact on our state. Okay? This is one of the biggest ways we can impact the state of Maine. So each candidate, they take their $50 million, they make their announcement on how that that area that they're focusing on, that cause that they're trying to run on, how it's gonna impact the state, how it's the greatest, you know, needle mover for their state. And then that whole campaign term, that whole that whole you know, campaign run that they go on, that timed, you know, slotted amount of days, you take that entire budget and you use it. It's like we're we're seeing you in real time before we give you the job. Like it's like an internship, like a trial run. You let's see it. Let's see it. Did you take your $50 million and did you go broke in two months and not cause and affect a damn thing? Did you not move the needle in a positive direction at all? Well, guess what there, uh Charlie Brown. In the first two months, we realized you're not the one for the job. Okay? You're not the one. Let's just let this money just work for itself. Let's let your your your mouth and your ass run the campaign. You understand what I'm saying? Let's back it up what you're what you're what you're what you're bringing up, what you're spewing up. Let's have you back it up. So let's have this this start for every freaking state. Because listen, regardless of what's happening, regardless of who wins, we're causing affecting our states in a positive way. The money's getting spent anyways. These people are actually showing you firsthand whether they can do the damn job or not. I think it's a brilliant way to go. I really do. I think it's a brilliant way to go. And then you could have one person that maybe they blow their budget out and nothing happens, or the other the other candidates just they're making a real impressive impact, and maybe they started with 25 million bucks, and at the end of it, they they've got you know 75 million in that cause. You know what I mean? And and they're making this impact. We can see the results for themselves. I just thought about this. I'm gonna contribute this to DQ Savannah Banana Shake, but I feel really good about that. I'm certain that'll never happen. But isn't it just a genius way of doing things? I gotta I gotta fine-tune this and use it as a sales pitch. This just feels right. It feels oh, it's all right. And that's my sales pitch. And but here's the thing This is episode 328.

Keep Politics Out Of Concerts

SPEAKER_00 19:18

So if you're not new here, whether this is episode two for you or an episode 328 for you, you come back here expecting these types of conversations from me. You know what you don't expect is to spend $100, $300, $400 on a concert ticket, to go sit front row, to go sit in the in the nosebleeds, whatever it is, to spend your hard-earned money to look for the opportunity to unplug, to relax, to unwind, to enjoy yourself, and have your favorite band come out and spew their political rant all over you when you're trying to have a good time. You can expect some nonsense from me. You can expect to hear your point of view or a contradiction when you turn on the news channel, right? If I want to make myself angry, I'll turn on CNN. If I want to make myself angry but have some people agree with me, I'll turn on Fox. You understand what I'm saying? You you know what you um subscribe to, right? If you want to prescribe yourself a little uh mental relief, if you want to prescribe yourself some stress and anxiety, you know what to subscribe to. You understand what I'm saying? We shouldn't have to go to concerts and sporting events and unwillingly sign up for someone's political belief. I just don't I don't believe that's the way to do it. I I just I I've I've grown, maybe this is the old man in me get off my lawn scenario, but I'm so tired of musicians and actors and athletes trying to push their political beliefs on other people. I know as a kid I was heavily influenced by my favorite athletes. I know now as an adult, just because my favorite athlete was the best running back that I uh ever thought lived, or because my favorite athlete, you know, had great hands and can catch so many touchdown balls, doesn't mean I should really have him tell me who to vote for. Doesn't believe that his interests and mine are the same. Clearly, we're not in the same um financial realm as the people that we're taking this advice from. But as as youth, we're heavily influenced by them. And I'm not saying that athletes shouldn't have their opinions, I'm not saying that celebrities and musicians shouldn't be entitled to their opinions, but what I am saying is I think I've heard enough of everybody's opinion. You know what I mean? Uh I'm coming to you for a release, like we're giving you our hard earned money for it. Distraction. You're here to give us a distraction. You're here to entertain us. And I'm sorry, but we're allowed to make some rules because we're paying you. Like at some point, we're also your employer. You know what I'm saying? I'm not trying to subdue you and remove your voice from who it is and uh and what you do. And if you got to where you are based off of your core values and beliefs, if since day one you said, this is who I am, this is what I care about, this is what I stand for, this is my, you know, this this is my music. I'm gonna this is this is me telling you that um that I'm an atheist. This is me telling you that, you know, free Palestine. This is me telling you that I always hated Israel and I believed that America deserved 9-11. If those are the ways that you feel, and you've been saying them all along, and you're successful, then the people that are going to your concert, they already know that that's true about you. Okay? They already know that's how you believe, and then that's your people that are gonna go to that show. What I don't think is okay is for these musicians that have made it without staking or stating their beliefs, without staking their claim to who they are. And then you get to these shows and they come out and tell you free Palestine and um death to all Jews. Like, I didn't come here for this, man. And now that I know that our core values are completely disaligned, like I'm I want to leave your show. I don't even want to be here. So that's part of what I have a problem with. If you made it to where you are because you were convicted in your faith and in your values, and you said so all along the way, then great. But if there's so many people out there all of a sudden that they've made the case for being a Christian, they've made the case for these core values and beliefs that they have, and then all of a sudden they're at a concert somewhere and they come out with um these outlandish statements. You have all these people in the stands rooting for you, and you slow down and say, Oh, I just want to say something. I just gotta tell you something. Yeah, yeah, man, you tell us, and they just start spewing their political views on you and telling you what you should think and how you should vote. And all of a sudden you realize I I didn't sign up for this, and and you know what's something else? I I I didn't really need to spend $300 on this evening for you to tell me this, or for me to realize that you know what, we just we don't even align in any way, shape, or form. It's okay to have different opinions. I got friends in my circle that are Democrats and they think that I'm an idiot for uh being a Trump fan, but it doesn't mean they don't love me and we don't love each other. That's not that's

When Celebrities Push Their Views

SPEAKER_00 25:00

not the point. My point is that when I give you my hard-earned dollars and I didn't expect you to go on some power trip, I don't think you deserve the right to go on that power trip. I think about guys like Zach Bryan all of a sudden, who I think is just a complete chooch. When when he first came out, I thought he seemed like a good dude, and you know, then he's getting OUIs and telling cops you know who the hell I am, and he's trying to climb the fence to fight other artists, and he's coming out with free Palestine shirts and having all these conversations and nonsense. You think about Ed Sheeran asking Macklemore to not be on his tour anymore because all of his free Palestine speeches that he's giving when he's on tour. So now that's lumping Ed Sheeran into how McLemore feels. So he's telling him, hey man, there's not a place for this political divide, and then all of a sudden he's getting boycotted and he's getting canceled and he's getting backlash because he stood up for how he believed. I feel like when you're on tour, all these artists, it's pretty hard for them to all have the same beliefs. So when you come out with your convictions and you stand and say, This is how I feel, you're labeling and bundling everybody else on that tour into your into your beliefs and your values. And I don't think that's really what we should be doing right now. We're trying to unify a country. And I gotta be honest, I I don't really care what musicians have to say about those things, man. I'm here for a distraction. That's like when you spend all your hard-owned money on a on an NFL game, on an MLB game, and and they want to take the opportunity to protest and and and try to force some theories and nonsense down your throat. There's a few case points and examples about some of these things that we're gonna dig into. And we're gonna highlight uh a couple that I'm really proud of. But I'm just as we're as we're having this conversation, I'm thinking about like Bruce Springsteen has come out and been on these crazy rants about how he hates President Trump and he's been overseas and just totally crapping on America, and that's not what we do, man. We don't go to the neighbor's house and shit on your home. That's just not how this works. So I wouldn't give my money to Bruce Springsteen because I know what I'm expecting from his show. You know what I'm saying? I wouldn't pay to see John Legend because I know what he feels and believes, and that at the core of me and him we're not the same. When I know those things, I don't need to subscribe to those things. But when there's artists that have never spoken up and said those things, and all of a sudden they get on a platform and ruin your evening, I don't think that's okay. And I've read a lot about artists doing that as of late, and I'm not here to list all of them out, but I'm just shouting out examples. I think about some of the actors that I just no longer watch their movies because of the nonsense that I've heard from them. Robert De Niro. I don't care to ever support and listen to Robert De Niro ever again. I stay away from Tom Hanks. And it's unfortunate to to have these these feelings, but some of these people have come out and shown their true colors in a way that is just so un-American that I just I I refuse to give them any ounce of my money. Does that make sense? These people that some of them feel so crazy, I guess they feel like they've made enough money that it's okay to be crazy and and to uh, you know, not um care uh, you know, to receive money from people that love America and and might vote red. I I don't know.

WNBA Anthem Protests And Backlash

SPEAKER_00 28:31

And I think about like the WNBA, and I'm pretty sure we've already had conversations on here about the WNBA and how they refuse to protect women in sports and and and the outrage that's happened there when I really am so blown away by the WNBA because the W in WNBA is for women. It's the Women's National Basketball Association. Without the W, it's just the NBA. And I'm sorry to tell you, ladies, but none of you would make it in the NBA. And you actually wouldn't be here without the NBA because the NBA pays. They put a lot of money into the WNBA. And you want to know another reason why the WNBA is here? Because the fame and popularity of Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham. Because when Caitlin Clark made it to the WNBA, all of a sudden a lot of these um these teams they got to stop flying coach. They started getting private jets because of tension, because of uh sponsorship dollars, because of eyeballs that were now on the league, it made a difference. So much so that in the playoffs, when the Indiana Fever, the team of Sophie Cunningham and Um and Caitlin Clark was um eliminated from the playoffs, initial social media results was that the viewership plummeted by 76%. That the viewership after they were limited, the WNBA playoffs dropped by 76%. Now I've read through a bunch of official like uh sports reporters, uh research and data, and they're saying the viewership dropped by 47%. So not 76, not 80%, but damn near 50%. So you lose Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, and half of your viewership, literally 50%, half of your viewership just say, you know what, I'm done here. I don't need to watch this anymore. And they tune out. They stop coming back. Side note, um Sophie Cunningham was waived by the fever, so she's not going to be teamed up with Caitlin Clark next year. She signed with a team called the New York Liberty, which makes me feel like maybe Sophie Cunningham is even closer to being a Loud Proud American and closer to being a Liberty than ever before, because now she plays for the Liberty, which is rather fitting considering I made a giant six-foot Sophie Cunningham banner that I placed out front of the Loud Proud American tent, pointing into the tent, the infamous point scene around the world, with the words where what you stand for. So sorry, Sophie Cunningham, if I um stole some marketing from you, but uh everybody's doing it. And now she plays for Liberty, so just makes a lot of sense. Right. Makes a lot of sense. Part of what got me on this tangent today was um I noticed that the WNBA, I believe they're in their finals right now. I think it's their their championship game. Both teams, most of the girls, have been protesting the national anthem all over again. It's actually in the WNBA handbook that you have to stand for the national anthem. But their loophole is, well, if I'm not out there on the court, I don't have to stand. So these girls run in the locker room, the anthem happens, and then they all run back out. There's no penalty, there's no fine, there's no punishment. Let me tell you something. When casual fans show up to start watching the WNBA because they're moved by Sophie Cunningham, they're moved by her standing up for women, when you have fans that want to see Caitlin Clark, and you lose you'll lose 50% viewership because those two are out, but your viewership has increased because some of those fans that were watching them, they're now they now have a vested interest to see what happened. Maybe they're starting to be entertained. You want to go ahead and piss them off and and not respect America? I don't I can't think of a more entitled, ridiculous, selfish display of just anti-American nonsense than to not show up for the national anthem. Without America, where are you? What are you doing? You certainly ain't making millions of dollars playing basketball. It's unbelievable. It's like spitting in the face of America, spitting in the face of capitalism, and I just I can't take it anymore. I'm just so over it. And and and I want women's sports to succeed. Like I want women's sports to succeed, and I want to protect women's sports, hence the you know, the all the causes and the things that we stand for. But the way the WNBA is, the fact that they won't even protect women and they won't stand for America, and they want to outcast the ones that do, how can you want them to succeed? Like I I'd rather just have the WNBA go out of business and realize, wow, we really screwed up. We couldn't be any dumber. I don't would it fix anything? Maybe, maybe not. I'm not sure. But what I do know is if you continue to follow the path of spitting in the face of America to not being grateful and thankful for the opportunity and the blessings that you have, then I know the

Nike Boycotts And Market Decline

SPEAKER_00 34:14

result. I know the outcome. You could even um, you know, maybe poll the audience, maybe uh speak with the folks at Nike. Because I, for one, gave up on Nike years ago. When Nike started supporting the Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem, when all those things started happening, when Nike was uh was anti-American, when um Nike was uh was anti-white, I took a stand and I used to buy a lot of Nike. I used to wear only Nike shoes, and I used to buy uh a lot of Nike product, jerseys and all kinds of things. I have not given a dollar to Nike since. I have some Nike products though, but not that I bought it. It was either given to me or it just hasn't died. All of my Nike shoes, I threw them in the trash. So I gave up on Nike and I wasn't alone. Nike is experiencing a severe multi-year market decline, with its market capitalization plunging by roughly $200 billion. Would it be billion from a peak of over $260 billion in 2021 down to about $52 billion? Nike was officially removed from the SP 100 on September 21st, 2026, ending its 18-year run and the mega cap blue chip index. SP Dow Jones removed the sports rare giant during its quarterly rebalancing due to Nike's market capitalization dropping roughly 78%. Imagine losing over 200 billion dollars. I was not the only one to leave Nike in the past, because I certainly don't have that kind of cake. Go woke, go broke, my friends. And that is a statement and a move that is happening everywhere. I've I've read that uh Disney's making tons of changes. Um I've I've seen stuff about uh about Amazon, all these big companies making these these massive changes, and places like the WNBA, they're gonna realize this is gonna happen to you too. I'm so proud of the Patriots out there that said, I'm done with Nike. Number one, I'm not supporting you and your sweatshop roots, okay? You're making uh this garbage product, this sweatshop product for for pennies on the dollar. You you these some of the um these sweatshop situations that Nike has. I mean, how can we even stand for this? But it's because it was forced down our throats by by big brands like the NFL, like the NBA, like MLB, and all these athletes brainwashing people to buy. When athletes in these big businesses realize they can't tell you what to think, when they realize they can't tell you what to buy, when they realize they can't tell you how to vote, they will stop telling you how to live. And you can get back to using those things for what they were intended for. A distraction from our everyday life, a distraction from the rigors of the world, a distraction from the chaos, a distraction from our sometimes depressing situations, our difficult lives and occupations. We used to turn to sports for a distraction. We turned the music on for motivation, we went to concerts for relaxation. We did all those things because we weren't looking for someone to educate us on how we think and how we need to vote, to tell us that your God is good or yours is bad to tell you where to stand and how to believe. We didn't go for any of those things. We went to have fun, to be surrounded by other people that enjoyed the music that was there for a good time. We went to rally around other fans trying to watch your team win. It was a distraction, it wasn't another opportunity for you to be told how to think. I'm so disappointed that the things in my life that used to allow me a release, a mental release, and a distraction are now the things that are forcing their beliefs on me. It's not going to allow my little girl to grow up with these safe zones and safe spaces to escape reality. Because in fact, those safe zones and spaces have been invaded by agendas, they've been invaded by people's just ridiculous motives and beliefs, and it's depressing and it's sad. And I just wish we could get back to the way things used to be. Man, don't I sound like a qurotchety old man telling the kids to get off his freaking lawn. But I'm over it.

Wear What You Stand For

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Let me say this if you want to buy something to show how you believe, if you want to buy something to support your common values and beliefs, if you want to support something that supports what it is that you believe in, if you want to support something that helps grow America, if you want to support something that that benefits American jobs, that supports your neighbors, that supports your friends, that to build families, then you should be supporting Lau Proud American. Give your money to other small businesses like Lau Proud American. Listen, all I can hope for is some of you listening say, you know what? I believe in what this guy believes in. I stand for his values and core beliefs. And I'm willing to wear what I stand for. I'm willing to invest in a product that is built on values and beliefs. That is a faith-based, patriotic brand. I'm going to give that business and that brand my money because it's American jobs, because it's a person and a family that I care about. It's core values and beliefs that align with mine. I'm going to support that. That's making a statement. And you chose to make a statement. You didn't choose to make a statement when you tuned into your favorite baseball team. You didn't choose to make that statement when you when you spent your hard-earned dollars to go to a concert and then have their beliefs spewed all over you. You understand what I'm saying? You choose to support your beliefs and your values when you make a purchase with Lyle Proud American, not when you turn your TV on to watch the WNBA finals. That's how I feel about it. I'm grateful and thankful for all of you that see things and feel things the way I do, and that you're willing to support somebody like me trying to chase a dream and to build a brand that supports this great country and this great land, because I am as patriotic as can be. I'm as proud to be American as anybody you will meet. I believe in helping others. I believe in providing for each other. I believe in God. I believe in family, and I believe in country. And if you believe in the things that I believe, then by all means, head on over to www.looproudamerican.shop and you can align with other people that believe the same way we believe. Where would you stand for? You make that statement because you signed up to make that statement. You didn't sign up to make that statement when you need a release. And the people that we give our hard-earned dollars to to entertain us and to give us a release are trying to force their political ideology and beliefs on us. And it's unfortunate. And it's sad.

Metallica Model For Pure Entertainment

SPEAKER_00 42:21

I wish more people would take the approach of James Hatfield and Metallica. For all the outside bullshit. We're here to entertain you. Our only agenda is love, energy, and heavy music. Thank you, Hetfield and Metallica. Listen, there's times and opportunities where I'm going for the political shit. I'm going for the united war here for a cause. Right? If I go to a rally, that's what I expect. If I'm going to a function, a line for those things, that's why I'm going. I'm actually gonna go to one of those functions here shortly, and I'm sure I'll share that with you. That's what I signed up to do. If I just see one of my favorite bands come into town, and I want to take some hard orn money from my Family's account. Like if I say, hey, can we afford this? We're gonna sacrifice this, this, and this to reward ourselves with this, and I go and show up and I'm having a great time. I didn't sign up. In the words of James Hetfield, for all the other shit, for all the bullshit. I'm here for a distraction. I wish this country would get back to providing equal opportunity distractions, no political beliefs, no agendas, no ideology, just entertainment. And the more this country was just entertained, the more this country would find common ground and common belief, and we could get back to having constructive conversations. And if we get enough people to see things the way I do, maybe these political yahoos could remove some of the political ads, and they can put their money where their mouth is, and we can put them all on a f come see, come do trial interim basis to decide if we should give you our vote. I'm a big fan of that one. I'm proud of it. Sorry for the rant today. But I needed to get it out, man. I love it to hear. With the political nonsense. All the ads, the commercials, the mailers. And I'm over it. With all that, I gotta take a stand. I gotta ruin your night because you already paid me. And I gotta tell you that's all you I gotta ruin your moment and I gotta rub your nose in it when I don't show up to the national anthem. That stuff has got to stop. And if you believe, like I believe, that that stuff has to stop, and you wanna make a stand and aware what you stand for, then you know where to shop. LowerPod American dot shop. Until then, y'all, I thank each and every one of you for supporting my American dream. Now go wash your friggin' hands, you filthy savage. That's it, and that's all, Biggie Smalls.

Socials Thanks And Sign Off

SPEAKER_00 46:34

If you're a Loud Proud American and you find yourself just wanting more, find me on YouTube and Facebook at Loud Proud American with Facebook, as my mama calls it. If you're fan of the Graham Kraken, you wanna find me on Instagram or all the kids of Tickety Talkin on the TikTok, you can find me on both of those at loud underscore proud underscore American Big old thank you to the boys from the Gut Truckers for the background beats and the theme song to this year podcast. If you are enjoying what you're hearing, track down the gut truckers on Facebook Just Sir Gut Truckers. Give that motherfucker a like I truly thank you for supporting my American dream. Now go wash your fucking hands, you filthy savage.