April 13, 2026 • 59 mins
A 22-year active duty Marine officer. Four combat deployments to Iraq. A wife who couldn't open a laundromat because the state made it impossible. Now Chris Burnett is running for Congress in one of the toughest districts in the country — Maryland's 6th — against two opponents worth hundreds of millions of dollars. David Rutherford sits down with Burnett to break down what's actually happening in Maryland: a $1.5 billion state deficit, 25,000 federal jobs lost to DOGE, an economy built entirely on government dependency, and a regulatory environment that kills small business before it starts. Burnett lays out his "innovation corridor" plan — aligning federal highway funds with data center development, small modular nuclear reactors, AI and quantum research, and advanced manufacturing along the I-270 to I-68 corridor. They also go deep on Iran. Burnett spent his career watching Iranian proxies operate across the Middle East. His take: this military action is 47 years overdue, no boots on the ground, degrade the IRGC, open the Strait of Hormuz, and let the Iranian people determine their own future.
✅ Sponsor: ☕️ Black Rifle Coffee: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/
🏫 Get coaching by David Rutherford: https://www.froglogicinstitute.com/
📕 Get David's novel, The Poet Warrior: https://www.ballastbooks.com/ballast-bookstore/the-poet-warrior
📰 Sign up for David's newsletter for free coaching tips, updates, and more: https://davidrutherfordletter.substack.com/
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 — Cold Open
01:00 — Chris Burnett's background: 22 years active duty Marine Corps
04:12 — The campaign: running against two of the wealthiest members of Congress
08:06 — How Maryland's 6th District was gerrymandered blue
15:37 — His wife's American Dream blocked by Maryland regulation
17:39 — The innovation corridor: data centers, nuclear, advanced manufacturing
19:51 — 500 diesel generators next to a school — the data center problem
20:43 — Small modular reactors: what the Navy's used for decades, now commercialized
31:15 — Eminent domain abuse: destroying farmland for Virginia's data centers
33:44 — Term limits, no stock trading, no government shutdowns
38:58 — Iran: 4 deployments, the IRGC threat, and why this is overdue
41:02 — Strait of Hormuz: 20% of world oil, 30% of LNG
49:14 — Immigration, the Dignity Act, and the ICE facility fight in Washington County
55:48 — Where to support Burnett's campaign
Follow Clay & Buck on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today on the David Rutherford Show.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I welcome Chris Burnett, a twenty two year active duty
Marine JAG officer with four deployments Iraq. Now he's running
for Congress in one of the bluest states in the
country in Maryland. Join me today on the David Brutherford Show.
(00:27):
Mister Burnett, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm so.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Glad you could carve out a little time in your
race to the finish of campaigning to join me today.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
So welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Hey, I'm happy to be here, and I welcome the
break from the primary sprint.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I bet man, We've had a few former operators and
a military personnel that's on that have been running, and
just the magnitude of what it means to run at
even at a state level, but at a federal level
is just pretty substantial. Could you give us a little
(01:04):
bit background on currently, what your campaign looks like, what
your day to day looks like, and just how much
time the investment is in order to really get out
there and try and convince the people of your district
you're the man for the job.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
For a little bit of context, you know, I retired
last February after twenty two years on active duty. So
when I made the decision to run, which in part
was born out of necessity, my wife wanted to stay
in Maryland, my kids wanted to finish the schools they
were in. The decision was made last summer to run,
and it has been a steady increase in terms of
volume of work and just a number of commitments. And
(01:45):
it's been a great learning process for me coming off
active duty. And as you know, you really only have
one speed, and you're accustomed to just putting your head
down and grinding forward. What I'm finding out is this
is a very different environment. I'm working a lot of
with volunteers, I'm working with folks that are political activists,
and it's a very different environment. I'm very much accustomed to.
(02:10):
Everybody is mission centric and everybody sprints, and this has
been a very different experience to sort of bring along
sort of this coalition of the willing, if you will,
And it's been a challenge. But now that we're in
the sprint to the primary, very much at least two
to three hours of calls per day, trying to engage
(02:30):
supporters and donors, looking at constantly setting up events, some
cases events to just bring in and get your message out,
and then other events that are designed entirely for fundraising.
But there's really no letup. And that's what's also interesting,
is there's not a start or a stop. So I
find myself sending text messages before I go to the
gym at five in the morning, and I find myself
(02:53):
fielding calls at midnight because that's when somebody is available.
So it's a challenge. It feels a little different, But
I wish there were more veterans running for office because
quite frankly, we're built for this. We're built for the grind,
we're built for thankless work, and essentially our mindset is
to serve others. How do you set the conditions for
other people to succeed? And that's essentially what this is.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Well, I couldn't agree more with you.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
That's why we try and really focus on finding veterans
that have decided to jump into this political arena or battlefield,
which in my opinion, is a thousand times more difficult
than the regular battlefield, if you will, because it's pretty
black and white here there, and you know, politics is
just a whole myriad of different grays, right.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
One of the interesting things.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I remember I actually thought about running for and I
live in a pretty blue county down in southeast Florida
in the congressional district I was considering to run for
back in twenty two. It was predominantly Democrat, and.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
It was a traditionally had always gone Democrat.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
And they said, you know, as I was exploring it
mostly from the financial perspective, one of the things I
found out that it was about a three to five
million dollar district, just your basic introductory race, you know,
with your primary and then and then the main race,
and then if it was contested and the Democrats really
wanted to go for broke on it, it could flex
(04:25):
the twenty million dollars.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Can you describe what your district is?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
And and you know, I correct me if I'm wrong,
But like Camp David's where you're at, and I'm wearing
my Camp David shirt and your honor and all that,
you know, but what give us a spectrum of what
type of fundraising is a component of the district you're
running for.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
A little bit of context as well. So I'm in
western Maryland. Congressional District six starts in Montgomery County, which
is one of the bluest counties in the country and
one of the wealthier counties in the country. I live
in a town called gate Burg, which is at the
very bottom of Congressional District six district. The district itself
extends all the way up through Frederick County, Washington County,
(05:09):
then out along the Panhandle. In the district changes dramatically
from plus twenty five blue in Montgomery County to plus
twenty five and above out in Garrett, Alleghany and Washington Counties.
So with that dynamic, you have a very interesting tension
between your the wealthy sort of ultra left Montgomery County
(05:30):
and then the rest of the district, which is very
much read tried and true Republican, about as conservative as
you can get. So there's tension within the district. But
as you probably if you don't have to look far
to realize that two of the wealthiest people too have
ever served in Congress are currently competing in a primary
between the incumbent, April McLain Delaney, who is arguably worth
(05:53):
hundreds of millions of dollars, and she's running against David Trone,
who was the former Congressional District six represent until he
had spent sixty million dollars losing a primary to Also
Brooks when he ran for the Senate in twenty four.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
So I'm running against two of the wealthiest people who
have ever served in Congress ever, and they're in a
a brutal primary right now, which we're welcoming because the
argument goes, we're not going to even try to go
dollar for dollar. He spent sixty million losing a primary
in the Senate race. The thought is on ego alone,
(06:29):
he's going to spend thirty forty fifty million dollars. Our
approach is going to be to turn his and or
HER's strength into a weakness. They're going to be extremely overexposed.
They're racing to the far left. You can't turn around
without seeing a TV commercial, a digital ad, or something
on Facebook or any other social media site. And they're
(06:50):
sprinting to the left because they're both trying to secure
the Upper Montgomery ultra left vote. That's not going to
resonate across the district. And you can't win in this
district without performing in Frederick and at least performing across
the Panhandle. So we see this year as our greatest
opportunity to finally flip Maryland sixth because it not only
(07:11):
is going to result in a bruising primary on the
Democrat side either whoever emerges, they're going to be very
much far left and bruised over exposed. And then what
you're going to have on our side is I'm entering
this with an economic development argument, running on a military
record and very much representing the conservative values that have
been ignored across the Panhandle. So it's an uphill battle.
(07:35):
We're thinking that we're going to have to raise between
one point five and three million to their arguably ten
to twenty thirty million plus, knowing that we're going to
try to make data informed decisions, and we're going to
run a very much a grassroots campaign trying to meet
people where they are in actually solving problems and not
just speaking to platitudes.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
That's a great, a great explanation of what the current
spend looks like. You know, when I went and I
looked at the political history of the district, I went,
you know, all the way back to two thousand and
six with Roscoe Bartlett, you know, who looked like he
had that district pretty well wrapped up for years and
years and years before then he lost over to John Delaney.
(08:16):
Can you describe how that shift happened, because I do
realize that that district used to just be you know,
hardcore blue for years and years what took place to
where it became a more contested district.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
So you're right that this was a as red as
you could get district. Roscoe Bartlett was going on his
i think his eighteenth year or ninth term when it
had been jerrymandered to now include the Upper Montgomery portion.
And so after nine terms in Congress, a beloved Congressman,
Roscoe Bartlett was essentially jerry mandered out by April McLain
(08:54):
Delaney's husband, John Delaney. And so we've had a series
of out of district millionaire running CD six from out
of district since twenty twelve, and I've described it as
they've been playing national politics at the expense of a
majority of the district since twenty twelve. Just another tidbit
(09:15):
in there. Dan Bongino ran for CD six in twenty
fourteen in my very first campaign event. I did it
with Roscoe Bartlett, who, by the way, is one hundred
years old. And the funny thing about that, I couldn't
get a word in edgewise on stage with him. These
as sharp as ever. He was talking about electromagnetic pulse
(09:36):
attacks and living off the grid in West Virginia. He's
a great, great guy. I mean, it was I enjoyed
everything we talked about, from West Virginia to the electromagnetic
pulse attacks that you know, if you're familiar, and I'm
sure you are, what need were in the process of
moving some things around to make it less susceptible to
being close to a highway. I mean, there's some obvious
concerns we had that he had raised, that there's some
(09:58):
adjustments being made, but it was just interesting to hear
this one hundred year old, very accomplished individual talk about
everything from his time in Congress to being jerry mendered
out to living off the grid in West Virginia. So
it's very much a district that has been in flux.
What I mean by that is they gerrymandered the Republicans
out and we've been gaining ground ever since. In what
(10:21):
we think this particular year where we have an opportunity.
The fastest growing affiliation in Congressional District six is unaffiliated.
So I have to get through a closed primary, which
I have the lead on. I should get through the primary,
and we should go into the general election very strong.
But we've already tailored a message. It's designed to address
(10:43):
our base, but more importantly to be very receptive to
an unaffiliated voter or even a centrist Democrat. And that's
the innovation cord, which I hope we'll talk about later.
But really looking at economic development across the district as
opposed to just your normal talking points of Democrat you know,
platitudes and Republican platitudes, we're actually presenting a plan that
(11:05):
should benefit everybody in the district for some overdue economic
development that focuses on infrastructure, energy production, and most importantly
job creation.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
You know, I think that's always for me.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
The big thing about Maryland, right, you know, I think
you a lot of times y'all get lost and right
the shadow of DC politics obviously, but Maryland has is
such a remarkable state in many different ways, and it's
pretty diverse economically, but it has struggled, right, I mean,
there is a current one point five billion dollar deficit
(11:40):
going on right now. Obviously, the city centers of Baltimore
have just been decimated I remember, you know my best
friend I told you about who lived out in your
district for a while. You know, he grew up in Baltimore.
You know, family of four siblings, two parents. Dad work
you know for Johnson and Johnson. Mom worked at Baltimore
(12:03):
County Hospital, and you know, and they could survive on
on you know, those small salaries. But you look at
and also Baltimore was just this striving area is one
of my favorite places to go on on weekends when
we'd leave Penn State and go down and have Maryland
crabs down in Baltimore on the you know, and and
but that place doesn't seem to exist anymore. And you know,
(12:26):
as you look at some of the you know, the
the challenges. You know, there were twenty five thousand federal
job losses in twenty twenty five, right, you know you
did have some education, health services growth, and leisure, hospitality,
but professional business services were down four hundred and seventy
(12:49):
seven thousand jobs.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Can you talk about.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
The need to really get focused on economic develop innovation growth.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
I hear you talk a lot about.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Data center development, but not in traditional farmland area in
industrialized areas. Can you just talk about what your understanding
of current Maryland economic policy is, and then what you
think you'll be able to bring forward if you should
win the general election.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
There's a lot to unpack there. I'll start with the
economic mismanagement of the state. There's been a Democrat supermajority
for as long as anyone can remember, and there's been
a complete mismanagement of spending. There's not a revenue problem.
Maryland is one of the wealthier states in the country.
There's really a spending problem. There's zero accountability. But one
of the other problems is that Maryland has put all
(13:43):
of its eggs in essentially one basket, and that was
federal employees, contractors and state employees. That is not a
diversified income, diversified sources of income. And what happened is
then with Dose coming in and doing what was overdue,
they they paid a heavy price here in Maryland because
they have become so dependent on all that extra federal
(14:06):
employment support, whether it was employees or contractors. There was
a significant hit in Maryland, and I think a lot
of people realize that, Wow, we've been on this gravy
drain for a really long time, and we cannot rely
on federal employment, state jobs, and contracting positions to sustain
our economy. But what's happened also is that you hear
(14:28):
people talk about Maryland wanting to be the California of
the East. So we've had a series of policies and
laws that were passed. It make it almost impossible to
run a business. You have entire industries that were run
out of business, whether it was cool timber or dairy farming.
These things don't exist in Maryland anymore. And they were
staple industries for decades. And then you start to look
(14:49):
around and you realize something as like a small business.
You know. The last decision that my wife had to
make in terms of supporting my run for Congress was
when she was not able to start a business and
we talked, you know, briefly of off air for a moment.
She was not excited about me running for Congress. I'll
see the least. Now, over the course of twenty two years,
(15:10):
I had deployed five times four on the ground in Iraq,
once on a MEW, and a MEW workup is probably
harder than the actual MEW deployment. The deployment is one direction.
You go out, you come back the work up is
six months of on the ship, off the ship, on
the ship, off the ship, you know, some other type
of training. So we added it all up. At some
point over the course of our marriage. I was gone
(15:31):
almost six and a half seven years, so really she
wanted me back in the house with the kids in
having a normal life. And that's when I was like, well,
what do you think about running for Congress? And she
was not excited at all, And then inevitably she became
much more aware of the consequences of a political environment
when she decided she wanted to start a business. She
(15:53):
wanted to run a laundromat in Montgomery County, and as
a naturalized US citizen from West Africa, this was the
American dream for her, and I felt like it was
my duty to support her interest. She'd been following me
around raising our four kids. So we started looking into
it together and we realized it was going to take
over a year to get through the licensing, the permits,
(16:13):
the inspections, and everything else that's involved. And as a
single income military family living in Congressional District six, this
was just not feasible. And whenever you have small businesses
that are out of reach, you start to realize there's
a fundamental problem with your economy. If all you have
is the ability to make high end earning as a
(16:35):
federal or state employee, or you're going to be on
the lower end of a service economy that's going to
require federal or state assistance. Well that's not sustainable. That's
not healthy for the individuals living under that environment, and
it's not good for the state itself. So as I
started to look into this and I finally had her
blessing to run, I started to ask, you know, what
(16:56):
folks were concerned about, basically my neighbors, and it was consistent.
Everybody was concerned about infrastructure, the lack of infrastructure and
the congestion that is the Greater DC area of traffic,
everything from the American Legion Bridge to two seventy to
I seventy and I sixty eight. And then of course
this year in particular, was the energy problems. Most people's
energy bills went up, almost doubled, in some cases tripled.
(17:18):
And then another part of the district, where there's also
been a mismanagement of utilities, you have a water crisis
where water bills have skyrocketed across Alleghany and Garrett Counties.
And then the last part of that was, not only
do we have a problem with infrastructure and energy and water,
we have a real problem with good paying jobs. So
we have to bring back advanced manufacturing or bring back
(17:40):
something that's going to be good, middle income jobs that
are going to be here for the foreseeable future. So
when I looked at this problem as anybody in the
military would look for, Okay, how do I solve this?
This is a gigantic problem. Any one of these would
be difficult. Maybe instead of trying to solve one or
the other, we allow them. And that was the innovation
(18:01):
corridor was, Okay, how do I take existing resources, existing
capabilities and align that to the interests of the district.
And what we what I found was is that we
could take federal highway funds to build the infrastructure that's
needed to support growth. And now this would not only
be the federal highway network that's in place. This would
be refurbishing the American Legion Bridge, expanding I two seventy
(18:22):
all the way up to Frederick, looking at the I
seventy interchange, as well as the I sixty eight nine
eighty one corridors. Now, once you have that federal money
in place, that can serve as a carrot and a
stick for counties to get in line with appropriate zoning
that will align with or protect local residents. What we've
seen over the recent last couple of months, in particular
(18:43):
over the last several years, counties were quick to accommodate
data centers at the expense of local residents because they
saw dollar they saw the property tax benefit. So I
wanted to make sure we would use existing federal funds
to support national security priorities along our federal highway network
to build an infrastructure that would support development. Then what
(19:05):
you've done with that carrot and the stick, which could
be anywhere from eight to twelve billion dollars of federal money,
you get state in county alignment. So that now if
a data center is going to arrive, it goes where
we designated and this would be in what I've described
as an opportunity zone. This would be existing industrial commercial spaces.
These would be away from residential areas, certainly away from
(19:26):
schools or anywhere else that would not be impacted by
the existence of a data center. And it's some of
the things that are associated with it.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Now.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
The other problem with the data center and the economic
development plan is the data centers are arriving right now
and they're almost unregulated, and you have the state and
counties bending to the will of a data center, and
you don't have to look past Adamstown in Frederick County
where they're building this plane in flight. They didn't have
to do this if they had just done a little
bit of planning, they would have realized that five hundred
(19:55):
diesel generators running intermittently as emergency power is and not
a good thing. It's definitely not a good thing to
have within a half a mile of a school. Data
center developers solution was not to look at small modular
reactors as I've been proposing. Their solution was, we'll put
air monitors in your child's classroom. Could you imagine a
(20:16):
concerned mom being told, don't worry, we'll let you know
when the air is bad because we'll have a monitor
in your child's classroom.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
And it cracks me up too, because these are the
green New Deal freaks too, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (20:29):
These are the people. It's the hypocrisy. It knows no bounds, right,
it's just.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Now running as the Republican, I'm the one talking about
notod It's that odd. But I'm the one saying highest
environmental health and safety standards. I'm the one saying we
need to look at energy sources other than diesel generators.
I'm saying small modular reactors. You know, this idea of
what we've been using on aircraft carriers and submarines for
(20:56):
decades has been commercialized and you probably saw the article.
They took one from a factory floor, put it into
I think a C five fly out to a military base,
and flipped it on. I mean, you want to talk
about an extraordinary capability that's just waiting to solve our
energy crisis. That's it. We have a developer here in Rockville,
Maryland that we have the ability locally to support some
(21:20):
of our energy needs. So back to the Innovation Corridor
is looking at aligning those federal highway funds to get
counties and state in line. You would welcome a data
center if that's what the local residents want, knowing that
it's going to be in an area that's not going
to compromise farmland or residential areas, you require them to
have a small modular reactor and a water treatment plan.
(21:41):
And then what you'd also co locate with the data
center is AI in quantum research as well as advanced manufacturing.
And I know I don't have to tell you this,
but then twenty twenty six National Security Strategy listed all
of them as national security priorities. So when people come
back to me and say, well, Chris, this is a
pretty big proposal, I'm like, Oh, if you want to
get things done, you align it to national security priorities.
(22:04):
Suddenly federal money will find its way to support our
effort to focus on AI and quantum development, advanced manufacturing,
whether it's steel or semiconductors, all aligned to data centers,
which also represent a critical vulnerability when you're talking about
our national security interest. So you look at the infrastructure piece,
you look at the data center, development, energy, water, and
(22:27):
then the jobs would be the advanced manufacturing part. And
having that energy intensive advanced manufacturing, that's where you get
the sustainable jobs outside of the construction phase of a
data center. And then the somewhat empty data center in
an area that's already designated as an opportunity zone, away
from residential areas and away from schools. So that was
(22:47):
it in a nutshell as to how to address what
had been this super majority mismanagement of Maryland, particularly the
indifference towards Western Maryland, where we've had these out of
district millionaires playing national politics at the expensive locals. And
I've even gone so far as to describe Tron and
Delaney as sort of the let them eat cake mentality,
(23:09):
like they will sprinkle a little bit of federal money
on the district and say that they've done something for
the locals. Well, that's pennies on the dollar of what
these people need. And more importantly, what people need is
the dignity of work. They want to have the ability
to provide for their families with a job or some
opportunity associated with development, not a federal handout or a
state program.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
I just want to really talk about my incredible partnership
with one of my best friends, and that's Evid Hayfer
and the boys over at Black Rifle Coffee. I'm so
honored to be a part of their organization. It just
really can't thank them enough for allowing me to participate.
(23:49):
What I want you to do is go to Black
Riflecoffee dot com and I want to check out their
new energy drinks. They have these incredible energy drinks that
you can buy at all different kinds of stores Walmart,
Bath Sports and others. Or you can go online in
order and if you want to put in your little
(24:10):
promo code frog Logic to zero there you get a
little discount on stuff there.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I highly recommend that. For me.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
It's my morning coffee. I am addicted to. Black Rifle
Coffee is just black. I think the Tiger Stripe Canmo
definitely reels me in. The Other one I love is
the ak Espresso. This one right here is phenomenal. Love
these but they have so many different things that you
can get at Black Rifle Coffee.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
You will love it again when you go over.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Black Riflecoffee dot com and you're checking out, type in
frog Logic to zero, get your little discount quote and
tell them, oh ruddy rut send you. So to all
those folks out there who love coffee like I do,
please do yourself a favor and go over and check
out my brothers at br C c oh And We've
(25:02):
got a cool event coming up that I'm going to
be a part of out in Vegas. It's a staccato
shooting big shooting event with BRCC on April fifteen, So
Jordie and I are going to go out and participate
in that.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
We'll get some good footage and maybe a couple interviews,
all right.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Who Yeah, Well, I you know, I think you're spot on.
And and when you have politicians that are playing that
type of game right only to benefit themselves or whoever
their lobby firms are that are backing them, you know,
I think you know, you have this what this collapse
of hope within your your workforce, right, your labor force,
(25:41):
which I think a great portion of of obviously Eastern
Maryland has experienced at a high degree. But like these
innovation stretches that you're talking about could create that whole
new type of reindustrialization.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
We've had several.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Economists on the show who've talked about Trump's you know,
lan to reindustrialize America, and I think a primary source
of that will be in and around the defense industry.
Right He's gonna kind of break the lock of the
top five and you know, spread it out across some
more innovative firms out there that are doing really unique
things like the portable.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Energy systems, nuclear energy systems, you know, one.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Of my my best friend, Sean Ryan, and he had
one of the top guys who's doing those modular reactors
on a commercial level, and the technology's there, it's just
this bizarre, I don't know, it's like you said, let
them eat cake kind of mentality. One of the things
(26:42):
that obviously you're dealing with is, uh, you're dealing with
a substantial changing electorate and you you referenced it early
in the conversation about uh, you kind of have to
go after this independent base and that was really I
think the enlarge part the crew that really brought in
(27:04):
Trump and helped him win the popular vote in the
electoral College this time. That that also seems to be
a little a little upset with some of the promises
he made on the campaign trail. But it seems like
your message is really targeting the things that they're interested in.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Right when you talk about.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
The moms who want control of their own curriculum at
schools and who you know want their kind of the
Maha movement that's out there, you also have, you know,
people that want to be able to give more economic
opportunity to young people, the Generation Z, the zoomers, they're
being called now, which is actually in fact a larger
(27:45):
voting block than the boomers, who are you know, the
traditional hardcore Republican voters. What is the message that you
can give those kind of independent, younger voters, right, the
people that are in their early thirties, who had just
had their first kid, who maybe are looking at some
(28:06):
of the industry that they've been employed in kind of
moving away from from AI and potentially, you know, some
of the other sectors that seem to be maybe on
the brink of being exterminated, if you will. What is
the message, What is the clear message you're going to
tell them right now? How are you going to get
them out of their homes, out of their apartments? Right,
(28:28):
the renolds in order to vote for you to gain
economic prosperity.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Well, first and foremost, we can only address the affordability crisis.
It was really brought on by Democrat mismanagement with opportunity,
and this isn't going to happen on its own. We
have to dismantle some of the regulatory structure that was
put in place by Democrats. So we've got to get
people engaged in exciting.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Chris can I hop in real quick?
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I'm sorry I just I brought this up after I saw,
you know, the piece about your wife.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
I just caught up. So in Maryland, you know, for cleaning, dying.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Processing laundry, there's a trader's license, there's a zoning and
land use approval, UH, building electrical plumbing and ocupancy permits,
water and sewer approvals, fire department clearance inspection, health and
environmental improvements, local business licenses and permits, and some jurisdictions.
(29:27):
And then you have signage vending, annual personal property return,
employees unemployment.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Like it was that could not believe that extensive.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
That was to start a real what's what's been considered
by you know, legal and illegal immigrants for the history
of our country as one of those primary businesses for
entry to be able to feed your family and make
a living.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
And it was just that's a perfect segue because that
was that was the final straw for my wife, you know,
the American dream for her was to start a business.
I'd been moving her all around the country, had been
gone all this time. The thought was, okay, we're close.
I grew up in Pittsburgh, her family lives in New Carrollton.
This was a good place for us to stay, let
our kids enjoy, you know, being in one place for
(30:17):
a while, and coming off my last deployment, you know,
I was actually bouncing between Bagdad and Kuwait my last deployment,
so I had orders of the Pentagon's That's how we
landed in Gaithersburg. And we realized as we as we
started to kind of sink our roots in here and
make this our home, it was going to be almost
impossible to live that American dream for her. And we're
(30:38):
single income military family. I've got four school age kids.
It was going to be impossible. So whenever you start
looking at people like my family, you know, you're just
struggling in a state that has what should be enormous upside.
There's this incredibly well educated population, there's a tremendous federal
highway network, you have access to DC, you have access
(30:59):
to Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and throughout the Eastern seaboard. And
yet there's almost no opportunity because of this hyperregulation and
this sort of heavily bureaucratic state that wants to overregulate
to the point of control, but really creating dependency versus opportunity.
And so when I talk to young people, what they
really want is less government, but they want problems to
(31:21):
be solved. And that's where I see my role. You know,
as a congressman, I can't solve every problem, but I
can leverage federal money to serve as a carrot and
a stick to try to get the State of Maryland
in some of the counties in CD six to align
with opportunity to look at their environmental regulations, to look
at their licensing, and they're permitting and saying, if you
can just get out of the way Maryland or one
(31:43):
of the counties here in western Maryland, I'd say, we
can bring in the opportunity that your residents are needing.
This will give them the opportunity to have the job
that will provide for their families and then potentially allow
their children to go away to school or to go
take vocational training and have a job and stay local.
What I've heard from a lot of young people is
(32:04):
they've delayed getting married, they've delayed having children because they
just can't afford it. And then when I've talked to
people that are in their fifties and sixties, they say
that all of their children had to move away because
they just couldn't afford to stay here. And the only
way to address that is opportunity. And the way you
create opportunity is you look at taking existing federal money,
no new taxes, no new fees. You take existing federal money,
(32:28):
federal highway funds, and if you know the Chips Act
and the Innovation and Jobs Act, you align it to
national security priorities. You build the infrastructure that will set
the conditions for private sector investment of data centers, AI
and quantum computing, and then you also require advanced manufacturing.
And with the small modular reactor and the water treatment plant,
(32:48):
you have now transformed the economy around very real, tangible opportunity.
And this is sustainable even if in ten years data
centers become obsolete. Well, the energy production in the water
treatment will be aligned to the AI and quantum computing
research and development as well as the advanced manufacturing. So
we've got a baked in plan to deal with the
(33:09):
possibility of a data Sunday and becoming obsolete or moving
on to whatever's next. It's the advanced manufacturing and the
most important part is is designating the opportunity zone in
existing industrial commercial sites, not compromising an inch of farmland
so that we can build a giant steel building and really,
quite frankly, ruin what makes western Maryland so beautiful, which
(33:30):
is farmland and open spaces. I've seen, I'm sure you've
read about the imminent domain power lines that are cutting
across western Maryland, destroying farmland to deliver power to the
data centers in Louden County, Virginia, which is insane.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Imminent domain in and of itself is one of the
most I understand the necessity of it for obvious reasons,
but what's going on now just seems to be one
more and a long line of just like are you
kidding me? Like how why does Western Maryland farmland have
to take the hit for Virginia's inability to They've got
(34:10):
plenty of farmland, right, make them do it?
Speaker 3 (34:12):
That's the problem. I have. Eminent domain for public good.
Could be a large infrastructure project, it could be serving
a greater good. This is emminent domain from mismanagement, This
is poor planning. So this is in competence now taking property,
private property from owners in some cases generations of farmers
being told, hey, we need this because quite frankly, we're
(34:34):
terrible at our jobs. We couldn't think two steps ahead.
So we're going to take your land and we're going
to impose upon you a burden that you're not going
to receive the benefit of it. Oh, by the way,
it might actually drive your electric bill up because we're
offsetting the cost of infrastructure through residential usage.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
You talk about incompetence, and this is the Democrat supermajority
in Maryland.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Well, I think I mean obviously, you know, I think
the American population right or left right now is a
little bit fatigued with the incompetence that we're seeing across
the board. Right.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
You know, one of the great things that I always talk.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
About, and I've had, you know, some friends, decide to
take the leap and go up and be participate up
in Congress at a federal level. You know, obviously you're
gonna get up and you're gonna be forced to play
that DC game. You know, what are some of the
things that you're promising, you know, your constituency that you're
(35:30):
gonna be resolute on as you get to d C
when you win this thing.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Well, first, I've already signed the term limits pledge. I
will never stay in Congress beyond. If I'm lucky enough
to go once, I'll fight to stay there. I'll never
stay more than five terms. I think ten years is
already too long, right. Why did they move us around
so much in the military to avoid the stagnation and
comfort of being in one place, meaning the Marine Corps,
(35:56):
you know, I mean, it's just if you're not complaining,
you're you're not doing something right.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
But it kept you sharp, and it kept you, you know,
constantly engage in new ideas, in having to address what
you were doing and why you're doing it. So first,
I won't overstay my welcome. I see this as an
extension of my service in that service is to the
people of CD six. This is not for me to
have a long standing career and then to be wheeled
in to Congress, you know, as I'm in my seventies
(36:25):
or eighties. I mean, the way I see it is,
you go there, you sprint, and you move on the other.
Thing I've already said a dozen times, and I'll say
it a dozen more. I will not I don't own stock,
and I will not trade stock in Congress. How can
you possibly make an objective decision when you've got a
financial decision or financial interest, and decisions you're making, you
(36:46):
don't have to look back. There's a reason why most
members of Congress outperform your best investment firms in the
country in some cases by fifty to one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
And they'll say, well, it's not insider trading because it's
public knowledge. Well, it's not public acknowledge the moment that
they make the decision to buy or sell ahead of
a vote that they're about to take. So one, I'm
not going to overstand me. Welcome, I've already signed the
term moment's pledge. I want to buy, trade, or own
stock while I'm in Congress. And then the last part
of that, I do not believe in government shutdowns. You
(37:18):
exist to serve the interests of the public. If you
can't pass a budget that has all of government open,
the first people that don't get paid is Congress, and
then if it's remains closed, they don't leave session. This
idea that they get to go back to their district
and essentially campaign and talk to their constituents and get
paid while a part of our government is shut down
(37:38):
is insane. The fact that Department of Homeland Security as
we have active hostilities overseas. If there was ever a
time for Department of Homeland Security to be fully funded
and arguably augmented, it's right now. And to hold that
department hostage for a Democrat, you know, basically I've called
a temper tantrum. You know, they don't like what they
(38:00):
they saw. Had nothing to do with whether it was
legal or illegal. They just didn't like something, so they
held Department of Homeland Security hostage over an effort to
try to adjust policy, not change law. Is unacceptable. So
to go all the way back to answer your question,
how would I address this? Well by aligning affordability through
opportunity with national security, That's what I would hang my
(38:23):
hat on. These aren't just pipe dreams. This is not
me just telling people what they want to hear. In fact,
this is all very much on the cusp of execution.
You've got the Trump administration going all in on nuclear
So to leverage the fact that they're trying to get
licensing and approval for modular reactors within twelve to eighteen
months does not mean this is a five or a
(38:44):
ten year proposal. The Federal Highway funds. The question just
becomes whether or not we can get it designated for
Maryland as opposed to the thirty or forty or fifty
other projects. Well, the way you get it designated and
the way you build a coalition in Congress is to
align to national security priorities. There's a quid pro quo
exchange with the prioritization of national security. So I would
(39:06):
go there not with my hat in hand saying hey,
I made some promises, can you help me out. This
is me saying I'm offering a solution that the private
sector wants to pursue in furtherance of our national security
priorities by using existing sources of money Chips Act, Innovation
and Jobs Act in federal highway funds. So I would
go to Congress steadfast on transparency, accountability, and integrity and
(39:30):
using my approach in the Innovation cord Or to drive
everything that I would do. And then outside of that
economic development package, I would default to anything that's going
to remove government, anything that's going to lower taxes and
ease the burden on your average American citizen, that would
be my priority.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
That's good answer.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Now let's wrap it up with these kind of two ideas.
That are I would imagine very personal for you and
both of them. First and foremost, I want to talk
to you about your feelings on what's going.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
On over in Iran.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
As a guy that you know served the entirety of
your adult life. I mean, you were in your second
year of law school during when nine to eleven happened,
and you know, twenty two years active duty.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
You have committed your life at the highest order.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
What are your thoughts on where we're at in Iran
and what do you think is the greatest probable or
the greatest what would be the greatest outcome for our country?
Speaker 3 (40:36):
Well, first and foremost, this is overdue. You know, across
all those deployments, what was always in the background was Iran,
whether it was an Iranian proxy, Iranian equipment, Iranian trained
groups operating in Iran, Iraq, or elsewhere. Iran has been
a pervasive threat to US forces and US interest for
my entire adult life. There's an argument that goes back
(40:58):
that we should have done this forty seven years ago,
whenever the Iran hostage crisis. So this was overdue, and
I think the fact that we've allowed Iran to have
a stranglehold on the global economy by dictating the terms
of the straight Ohorn moves was unacceptable, which makes it
very difficult, I think for some people to grasp right
now that this isn't about gas prices. This is about
(41:18):
national security and the global economy. This has more to
do with resetting expectations around how do we interact with
other global economy participants and whether or not we're going
to let Iran dictate the terms of that. Right now,
you've got China in Southeast Asia really bearing the consequence
of the straight Ohorn moves closing, as well as Europe,
and so when you start looking at our NATO partners
(41:40):
that are apprehensive about assisting us, you really have to
ask them, Okay, what is the function of our alliance
if you see that we've been absorbing the brunt of
securing and ensuring passage through the straight Ohorn moves for decades.
We've been providing the safety and freedom of navigation that
you've taken for granted that have allowed you to invest
in your countries. Now that we're addressing the source of
(42:03):
that threat and what we've had to absorb over the
last decad several decades, you're unwilling to support us because
you've either lacked the ability to project power or you've
lacked the investment in your own defense that you can't
support our interest in making things better for you. So
my concern is is that we need to focus on
military objectives. We need to continue down the path that
(42:26):
we're on and finish the job, and that is to
not only degrade the IRGC completely, but to then set
the conditions for a transition of power internally without a
single boot on the ground that allows the Iranians to
decide how they want to govern themselves outside of the
theocracy that has dominated the last forty seven years in Iran. Now,
what will that look like? Well, first and foremost, we
(42:46):
have to open the straight overr moves and that has
to be a coalition that has to be a coalition
of countries that have benefited and will continue to benefit
from the nearly twenty percent of world oil that flows
through there and the nearly thirty percent of liquid natural gales.
As those countries need to take on the role and
responsibility of ensuring safe patches of their ships. Or if
we're going to do that, then we've got to figure
(43:07):
out how that the system is going to better aligned
to our interests globally and not have our forces and
our interests constantly under threat by Iran. So my hope
is is that we finally resolve this, that we're able
to achieve our military objectives completely, and then that will
set the conditions for a diplomatic solution, whether that's a
regional solution or an internal solution in Iran. But I
(43:27):
don't want to see an escalation beyond what we're doing
right now, which is an extremely effective air campaign and
then securing the safe passage through the straight up Hormuz,
either unilaterally or with a coalition of countries that ultimately
benefit from the products that move through there.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
One of the interesting things that I find when people
bring up kind of the NATO Alliance concept is, you know,
you with the European Union, and they're kind of progressive
values over you know, since really the European Union came
into existence, you know, there's been pretty much active chaos
going on in the Middle East, which has created a
(44:05):
profound immigration reality, whether you call it a fiasco or
a positive to most European countries. When you look at
demographics in Sweden, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, they have monster
populations of people that have come from these affected regions
(44:28):
where we've done either regime change or we've integrated in
whatever types of assistance, whether it was in Libya with
the removal of Kadafi or Iraq. Obviously, I don't know
where your feelings on are that, but we certainly know
that that regime change didn't go as we thought it
would go. You know, you can see in my mind
(44:48):
it makes sense because they have these monster populations, right
that they go then and start re engaging in whatever
militaristic activities in those straits or even around the straits
or whatever it might be. So to me, it makes sense,
you know, a lot more sense than than the desire
to want to get into it with Russia and Ukraine.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
That didn't make any sense to me at all.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
But I do understand the necessity for fuel consumption oil
as well as fertilizers. That's a big problem, right, you know,
a lot of fertilizer components passed through there. But what
I did like is that you said you didn't want
any boots on the ground.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
What do you think is is.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Is it feasible with the continued strategic targeted strikes of
IRGCC officials, people within the branch of the eye tollas structure.
Is it feasible that we're actually going to get to
somebody that we can negotiate that has a I don't
(45:55):
want to say control of the population, but has a
number of people, a number of a level of influence
where they can quell the growing animosity towards Israel and
the United States. Obviously, you know this right when we
went into Iraq and we started uh really annihilating the
(46:17):
power infrastructure, we created the insurgency right and and uh
as well as other places that we allowed, you know,
the flood of Iranian proxies into eastern Iraq. So you know,
the the challenge I have is you have a very
complicated situation as it is. How do we know who
to negotiate with and what are the circumstances that can
(46:42):
generate you know, uh uh an actual form of diplomacy.
I read this morning that Iran are, China and Russia
are now getting more involved uh and they're trying to
brokerr some Pakistani accords. You know, it's tell me what
that looks like in your mind? How how does that
(47:05):
how does that broke green of peace.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
Look what does that look like to you?
Speaker 3 (47:10):
So I'll start with the first question, which was can
we to use a crew crew term? Can we kill
our way out of this? The answer is no, you
know you can't at some point. But I do think
we can whittle down the leadership structure to the point
where we've essentially broken the will of the regime. And
that's what we need to do. And what you're going
(47:31):
to have is is the Iranian people have been living
under the suppressive regime for decades. The Iranian people want
a better solution than what they have. The question is
is how do we identify the core group of folks
that are vested in the regime. In other words, without
the regime, they don't exist. There's an existential threat, and
that's that's really as it's not a single answer. I
(47:55):
do think that we we cut off the head in
a way that has now created some chaos. Their economy
is failing. There's a tremendous amount of pressure amongst your iverage,
Iranian families and population. Those individuals at some point are
going to put pressure on folks that would either be
a part of the military or part of the organization
that was there to maintain some level of social order.
(48:17):
As that breaks down, whereas the military rank structure breaks down,
people either quit, they walk away, or they start fighting
their own insurgency. Will that remains to be seen, But
I do think that we've done a sufficient job so
far of identifying leadership eliminating the leadership. We're now responding
to what I think is a pre planned, decentralized response,
(48:40):
and that's why it seems chaotic, and that's why it's
not really achieving anything other than trying to foster chaos
throughout the region. But eventually, what should happen, Whether we
hit energy infrastructure or other infrastructure that's in support of
the war effort, it will put more and more pressure
on the regime. And if that regime cannot sustain the
pressure that's coming from us, coming from the region and
(49:03):
its own population, at some point it will collapse. The
problem that we had in Iraq, and I spent a
lot of time there, as I'm sure you had as well,
was the nation building in the hearts and minds. That
was our biggest mistake was getting beyond military objectives and
now getting into the realm of force diplomacy. We need
to go in focus on our military objectives, undermine the
ability of this regime to project power or to effectuate
(49:26):
any damage in the region, undermine its ability to control
its own population, and then allow for the diplomatic process
to unfold, which may involve US directly and it may not.
It could involve regional partners. There could be other global
partners that will broker a deal that will identify the
right people to set for the conditions for a transition
to a regime that will be at least neutral, if
(49:48):
not friendly to the West. And what we need, but
I mean by neutral is the straight h hor mooz
is an international strait we cannot tolerate. I ran running
roughshot over that region, and the global economy has an
interest in this traits of removes being opened by any regime.
My hope is that we've diminished the IRGC sufficiently enough
to take the theocracy that's in place and eliminated from
(50:12):
any relevant influence, and then allow for whatever the next
regime is going to be to occur without involving US
forces on the ground and without any nation building or
policing operations by US military.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
It's a good answer, you know. I never spent any time.
Speaker 2 (50:27):
I was in Afghanistan my whole time with the sealed teams,
Blackwater and the Central Intelligence Agency. But you know, definitely
had a lot of friends that spent a lot of time,
lost a lot of friends over there as well too.
Speaker 1 (50:39):
You Know, I really hope that our.
Speaker 2 (50:43):
Strategic partners kind of put pressure not so much. You know,
I understand why they don't want to jump in militaristically,
but you know, if they can help broker this deal,
I think that would benefit the entire world for sure,
because you're right, there is a choke point and they're
definitely exposing that vulnerability at the highest all Right, to
(51:04):
go back to the final thing, and one that I'm
sure is really dear to your heart is the national
immigration issue.
Speaker 1 (51:12):
We talked.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
I talked a little bit about the immigration challenges that
the European Union are seeing. You back up, and one
of you know, Trump's, you know, center pieces of his
entire campaign is shutting down the southern border, which he
has done, but then to go out and get rid
of all violent criminals that have flooded in and whatever
those numbers whatever you want to believe, as low as
(51:35):
eleven million, as high as thirty million, somewhere in there.
Speaker 1 (51:38):
We don't know because of just how open the border was.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
What's going to be your position on immigration moving forward?
Obviously there's a lot of independence, and I think some
more I don't. I don't know if there is such
thing as a progressive conservative, but you know, there were
a lot of conserve, younger conservatives who did not like
what transported in Minnesota, did not like kind of the massed,
(52:04):
tactical guys on the streets wrapping people up or pulling
workers off a rooftop or whatever, whatever the however it's.
Speaker 1 (52:12):
Being portrayed out there.
Speaker 2 (52:14):
I'd love to get your thoughts on immigration and what
you hoped how you hope to impact impact it.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
When you get to d C.
Speaker 3 (52:24):
Well, I start with we're a nation of laws, and
so the rule of law has to be first and foremost.
What we saw under the Biden administration was the big
breakdown of the rule of law. When you had them
saying that we need additional authority, we need to pass
more laws. Well that was the complete wrong answer. Enforce
existing laws. If you don't like existing laws, change them.
(52:47):
But this idea that we can cherry pick which laws
we're going to enforce or what we're going to ignore
or what's going to be deemed too hard is unacceptable.
The fact that we have states in counties that declare
themselves sanctuary areas is unacceptable. You know, we live in
a country of laws, and we start with accountability and
personal responsibility. What Trump did was the necessary first step,
(53:11):
which is you had to secure the border. You had
to stop the flow of illegal immigration. Now that you've
done that, you can now look at how do you
determine where the real problem is. And that could be
solved with the Dignity Act, which is comprehensive immigration reform
which I support, and it looks at saying anybody who
came in the last five years has to go. If
(53:32):
you came in as a part of that flood, then
you have to go because you've cut in line. It's unlawful,
it's unfair, and there's no way to reconcile that in
a nation of laws. Then there's at least provisions in
the Dignity Act. It says, if you've been a long
standing resident, perhaps in an illegal status, but you have
not accepted any state assistance, you've not committed any crimes,
(53:53):
and you've otherwise been a contributing member. Well, at least
then you can get in line for the possibility of
legal status. That it's a pathway to legal status. If
you're able to endure the seven years of transitioning from
illegal to legal status while paying a fine and continuing
to not provide, not receive any state assistance, then you've
(54:13):
at least made up the gap of everybody else you
jumped in front of. Then after those seven years you
can get in line to become a US citizen. That
at least addresses what is a longstanding existence here, whether
it was somebody who came here as a child and
has now finds themselves in an illegal status, but otherwise
contributing in somebody who has not had to have been
a burden. Quite frankly, but I think we have to
(54:36):
start looking at the ability to assimilate to the rule
of law. What makes this country so great is that
freedom is responsibility, and that responsibility is to adhere to
the rules and understanding the regulations that allow us to
prosper as individuals and as communities. And when that breaks down,
as it has, whether it's because of the influx of
illegal immigration or the inability to enforce federal law will
(54:59):
now the very essence of our system has been compromised.
So you have to restore accountability, you have to foster
personal responsibility, and you have to then address this through
comprehensive immigration reform, which I believe now can occur because
we've secured the border and we've demonstrated that we didn't
need more money. We didn't necessarily need more laws. We
(55:20):
simply needed to enforce what was there in place. In
CD six you probably have come across up in Washington County,
they put in an ice facility that would be a
transfer facility. This would hold individuals from anywhere from one
to three days as they're being adjudicated in this process.
These are going to be individuals that arguably already have
deportation orders or in an illegal status and have to
(55:42):
be held in custody. My two opponents, Trone and Delaney,
have come out in opposition to this, despite the fact
that nearly eighty percent of Washington County residents support it.
They support it from a rule of law perspective, they
support it from an economic development standpoint, and then the
last part of it is they see it as an
opportunity to partain dissipate in this process of addressing an
immigration crisis, in the fact that you have Trone and
(56:05):
delaineing out of district, multi millionaires now playing national politics
once again at the expense of local residents, contractors that
would benefit from upgrading the facility, local residents that would
work at the facility, and then assisting the overall interest
in providing some level of stability in a broken immigration
system just goes to show how out of touch they
are and how in where they put the residence of
(56:27):
CD six, which is that the back end of their
interest in national politics at the forefront. So the short
answer is I support the rule of law. I start
with accountability and transparency, and most importantly, I would support
comprehensive immigration reform, whether it's the whether it's the Dignity
Act in its current form or version of it, I
would certainly support because we've seen that inaction has led
(56:50):
us to where we are, which is a broken system
that's been flooded with illegal immigrants and a lack of enforcement.
Speaker 1 (56:56):
On a profound amount of corruption.
Speaker 2 (56:57):
Right, all you got to do is follow young Nick
Shirley and you can realize that just the magnitude of
of of funds that are just bleeding out, uh in
every every city, every state, you know, across the country
right now, it's it's an abomination. Well, Chris, I just
I really I think your answers and your descriptions of
(57:19):
what you're running on are are incredibly eloquent.
Speaker 1 (57:22):
They're well thought out.
Speaker 2 (57:23):
Obviously, your career as a JAG officer in the military
has prepared you hopefully for uh, what you're about the
next battlefield of what you're getting into. I just can't
thank you enough for coming on the show. Where can
people follow you? Support you? And and and what do
you got what's big coming next down the pipeline?
Speaker 3 (57:46):
Well, I really appreciate that. One that would add is
you know, in the Marine Corps, we're not jacks. You're
just a line officer with a lot of grit.
Speaker 1 (57:53):
That's right, That's right.
Speaker 3 (57:55):
So I was a company commander in Iraq. I was
am UXO whenever our XO had to go ashore. So,
you know, part of the draw of the Marine Corps
for lawyers is that you're a line officer. First, you're
expected to serve as a leader. And then where I
found myself more often than not, if I wasn't outside
of the wire with marines, was within the three shop
as a planner that I wasn't a special advisor to
(58:16):
the commander. I was. I brought a legal perspective to
a planning priority that was about setting conditions for marines
to get outside of the wire and come back as
best they possibly can, minimizing risk, and then focusing on
mission accomplishment. But I appreciate the opportunity to highlight the
website Burnett Forcongress dot com is where anybody could go
(58:37):
to sign up for our newsletter, they could sign up
to volunteer, and then also they could sign up to donate.
You know, we're running a grassroots campaign. Part of the
reason why I'm running was so that families like mine
and other families in CD six that are struggling could
have a voice. So we're gonna every penny we raise,
We're going to spend on voter engagement. This is not
(58:58):
going to be a this is it's not going to
be a fancy campaign. This is not going to have
a lot of polished TV ads. This is going to
be yard signs in town hall meetings. I'm talking about
the issues, trying to bring a conservative Republican voice back
to Congressional District six. So you can go onto the
website and donate, and I promise you every penny that
you trust me with, I will spend as wisely as
(59:19):
possible to make CD six a Republican stronghold again.
Speaker 2 (59:23):
Outstanding. Thank you so much, sir, good luck and God
bless you.
Speaker 3 (59:26):
Thank you,
Today on the David Rutherford Show.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I welcome Chris Burnett, a twenty two year active duty
Marine JAG officer with four deployments Iraq. Now he's running
for Congress in one of the bluest states in the
country in Maryland. Join me today on the David Brutherford Show.
(00:27):
Mister Burnett, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm so.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Glad you could carve out a little time in your
race to the finish of campaigning to join me today.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
So welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Hey, I'm happy to be here, and I welcome the
break from the primary sprint.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I bet man, We've had a few former operators and
a military personnel that's on that have been running, and
just the magnitude of what it means to run at
even at a state level, but at a federal level
is just pretty substantial. Could you give us a little
(01:04):
bit background on currently, what your campaign looks like, what
your day to day looks like, and just how much
time the investment is in order to really get out
there and try and convince the people of your district
you're the man for the job.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
For a little bit of context, you know, I retired
last February after twenty two years on active duty. So
when I made the decision to run, which in part
was born out of necessity, my wife wanted to stay
in Maryland, my kids wanted to finish the schools they
were in. The decision was made last summer to run,
and it has been a steady increase in terms of
volume of work and just a number of commitments. And
(01:45):
it's been a great learning process for me coming off
active duty. And as you know, you really only have
one speed, and you're accustomed to just putting your head
down and grinding forward. What I'm finding out is this
is a very different environment. I'm working a lot of
with volunteers, I'm working with folks that are political activists,
and it's a very different environment. I'm very much accustomed to.
(02:10):
Everybody is mission centric and everybody sprints, and this has
been a very different experience to sort of bring along
sort of this coalition of the willing, if you will,
And it's been a challenge. But now that we're in
the sprint to the primary, very much at least two
to three hours of calls per day, trying to engage
(02:30):
supporters and donors, looking at constantly setting up events, some
cases events to just bring in and get your message out,
and then other events that are designed entirely for fundraising.
But there's really no letup. And that's what's also interesting,
is there's not a start or a stop. So I
find myself sending text messages before I go to the
gym at five in the morning, and I find myself
(02:53):
fielding calls at midnight because that's when somebody is available.
So it's a challenge. It feels a little different, But
I wish there were more veterans running for office because
quite frankly, we're built for this. We're built for the grind,
we're built for thankless work, and essentially our mindset is
to serve others. How do you set the conditions for
other people to succeed? And that's essentially what this is.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Well, I couldn't agree more with you.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
That's why we try and really focus on finding veterans
that have decided to jump into this political arena or battlefield,
which in my opinion, is a thousand times more difficult
than the regular battlefield, if you will, because it's pretty
black and white here there, and you know, politics is
just a whole myriad of different grays, right.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
One of the interesting things.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I remember I actually thought about running for and I
live in a pretty blue county down in southeast Florida
in the congressional district I was considering to run for
back in twenty two. It was predominantly Democrat, and.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
It was a traditionally had always gone Democrat.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
And they said, you know, as I was exploring it
mostly from the financial perspective, one of the things I
found out that it was about a three to five
million dollar district, just your basic introductory race, you know,
with your primary and then and then the main race,
and then if it was contested and the Democrats really
wanted to go for broke on it, it could flex
(04:25):
the twenty million dollars.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Can you describe what your district is?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
And and you know, I correct me if I'm wrong,
But like Camp David's where you're at, and I'm wearing
my Camp David shirt and your honor and all that,
you know, but what give us a spectrum of what
type of fundraising is a component of the district you're
running for.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
A little bit of context as well. So I'm in
western Maryland. Congressional District six starts in Montgomery County, which
is one of the bluest counties in the country and
one of the wealthier counties in the country. I live
in a town called gate Burg, which is at the
very bottom of Congressional District six district. The district itself
extends all the way up through Frederick County, Washington County,
(05:09):
then out along the Panhandle. In the district changes dramatically
from plus twenty five blue in Montgomery County to plus
twenty five and above out in Garrett, Alleghany and Washington Counties.
So with that dynamic, you have a very interesting tension
between your the wealthy sort of ultra left Montgomery County
(05:30):
and then the rest of the district, which is very
much read tried and true Republican, about as conservative as
you can get. So there's tension within the district. But
as you probably if you don't have to look far
to realize that two of the wealthiest people too have
ever served in Congress are currently competing in a primary
between the incumbent, April McLain Delaney, who is arguably worth
(05:53):
hundreds of millions of dollars, and she's running against David Trone,
who was the former Congressional District six represent until he
had spent sixty million dollars losing a primary to Also
Brooks when he ran for the Senate in twenty four.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
So I'm running against two of the wealthiest people who
have ever served in Congress ever, and they're in a
a brutal primary right now, which we're welcoming because the
argument goes, we're not going to even try to go
dollar for dollar. He spent sixty million losing a primary
in the Senate race. The thought is on ego alone,
(06:29):
he's going to spend thirty forty fifty million dollars. Our
approach is going to be to turn his and or
HER's strength into a weakness. They're going to be extremely overexposed.
They're racing to the far left. You can't turn around
without seeing a TV commercial, a digital ad, or something
on Facebook or any other social media site. And they're
(06:50):
sprinting to the left because they're both trying to secure
the Upper Montgomery ultra left vote. That's not going to
resonate across the district. And you can't win in this
district without performing in Frederick and at least performing across
the Panhandle. So we see this year as our greatest
opportunity to finally flip Maryland sixth because it not only
(07:11):
is going to result in a bruising primary on the
Democrat side either whoever emerges, they're going to be very
much far left and bruised over exposed. And then what
you're going to have on our side is I'm entering
this with an economic development argument, running on a military
record and very much representing the conservative values that have
been ignored across the Panhandle. So it's an uphill battle.
(07:35):
We're thinking that we're going to have to raise between
one point five and three million to their arguably ten
to twenty thirty million plus, knowing that we're going to
try to make data informed decisions, and we're going to
run a very much a grassroots campaign trying to meet
people where they are in actually solving problems and not
just speaking to platitudes.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
That's a great, a great explanation of what the current
spend looks like. You know, when I went and I
looked at the political history of the district, I went,
you know, all the way back to two thousand and
six with Roscoe Bartlett, you know, who looked like he
had that district pretty well wrapped up for years and
years and years before then he lost over to John Delaney.
(08:16):
Can you describe how that shift happened, because I do
realize that that district used to just be you know,
hardcore blue for years and years what took place to
where it became a more contested district.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
So you're right that this was a as red as
you could get district. Roscoe Bartlett was going on his
i think his eighteenth year or ninth term when it
had been jerrymandered to now include the Upper Montgomery portion.
And so after nine terms in Congress, a beloved Congressman,
Roscoe Bartlett was essentially jerry mandered out by April McLain
(08:54):
Delaney's husband, John Delaney. And so we've had a series
of out of district millionaire running CD six from out
of district since twenty twelve, and I've described it as
they've been playing national politics at the expense of a
majority of the district since twenty twelve. Just another tidbit
(09:15):
in there. Dan Bongino ran for CD six in twenty
fourteen in my very first campaign event. I did it
with Roscoe Bartlett, who, by the way, is one hundred
years old. And the funny thing about that, I couldn't
get a word in edgewise on stage with him. These
as sharp as ever. He was talking about electromagnetic pulse
(09:36):
attacks and living off the grid in West Virginia. He's
a great, great guy. I mean, it was I enjoyed
everything we talked about, from West Virginia to the electromagnetic
pulse attacks that you know, if you're familiar, and I'm
sure you are, what need were in the process of
moving some things around to make it less susceptible to
being close to a highway. I mean, there's some obvious
concerns we had that he had raised, that there's some
(09:58):
adjustments being made, but it was just interesting to hear
this one hundred year old, very accomplished individual talk about
everything from his time in Congress to being jerry mendered
out to living off the grid in West Virginia. So
it's very much a district that has been in flux.
What I mean by that is they gerrymandered the Republicans
out and we've been gaining ground ever since. In what
(10:21):
we think this particular year where we have an opportunity.
The fastest growing affiliation in Congressional District six is unaffiliated.
So I have to get through a closed primary, which
I have the lead on. I should get through the primary,
and we should go into the general election very strong.
But we've already tailored a message. It's designed to address
(10:43):
our base, but more importantly to be very receptive to
an unaffiliated voter or even a centrist Democrat. And that's
the innovation cord, which I hope we'll talk about later.
But really looking at economic development across the district as
opposed to just your normal talking points of Democrat you know,
platitudes and Republican platitudes, we're actually presenting a plan that
(11:05):
should benefit everybody in the district for some overdue economic
development that focuses on infrastructure, energy production, and most importantly
job creation.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
You know, I think that's always for me.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
The big thing about Maryland, right, you know, I think
you a lot of times y'all get lost and right
the shadow of DC politics obviously, but Maryland has is
such a remarkable state in many different ways, and it's
pretty diverse economically, but it has struggled, right, I mean,
there is a current one point five billion dollar deficit
(11:40):
going on right now. Obviously, the city centers of Baltimore
have just been decimated I remember, you know my best
friend I told you about who lived out in your
district for a while. You know, he grew up in Baltimore.
You know, family of four siblings, two parents. Dad work
you know for Johnson and Johnson. Mom worked at Baltimore
(12:03):
County Hospital, and you know, and they could survive on
on you know, those small salaries. But you look at
and also Baltimore was just this striving area is one
of my favorite places to go on on weekends when
we'd leave Penn State and go down and have Maryland
crabs down in Baltimore on the you know, and and
but that place doesn't seem to exist anymore. And you know,
(12:26):
as you look at some of the you know, the
the challenges. You know, there were twenty five thousand federal
job losses in twenty twenty five, right, you know you
did have some education, health services growth, and leisure, hospitality,
but professional business services were down four hundred and seventy
(12:49):
seven thousand jobs.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Can you talk about.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
The need to really get focused on economic develop innovation growth.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
I hear you talk a lot about.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Data center development, but not in traditional farmland area in
industrialized areas. Can you just talk about what your understanding
of current Maryland economic policy is, and then what you
think you'll be able to bring forward if you should
win the general election.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
There's a lot to unpack there. I'll start with the
economic mismanagement of the state. There's been a Democrat supermajority
for as long as anyone can remember, and there's been
a complete mismanagement of spending. There's not a revenue problem.
Maryland is one of the wealthier states in the country.
There's really a spending problem. There's zero accountability. But one
of the other problems is that Maryland has put all
(13:43):
of its eggs in essentially one basket, and that was
federal employees, contractors and state employees. That is not a
diversified income, diversified sources of income. And what happened is
then with Dose coming in and doing what was overdue,
they they paid a heavy price here in Maryland because
they have become so dependent on all that extra federal
(14:06):
employment support, whether it was employees or contractors. There was
a significant hit in Maryland, and I think a lot
of people realize that, Wow, we've been on this gravy
drain for a really long time, and we cannot rely
on federal employment, state jobs, and contracting positions to sustain
our economy. But what's happened also is that you hear
(14:28):
people talk about Maryland wanting to be the California of
the East. So we've had a series of policies and
laws that were passed. It make it almost impossible to
run a business. You have entire industries that were run
out of business, whether it was cool timber or dairy farming.
These things don't exist in Maryland anymore. And they were
staple industries for decades. And then you start to look
(14:49):
around and you realize something as like a small business.
You know. The last decision that my wife had to
make in terms of supporting my run for Congress was
when she was not able to start a business and
we talked, you know, briefly of off air for a moment.
She was not excited about me running for Congress. I'll
see the least. Now, over the course of twenty two years,
(15:10):
I had deployed five times four on the ground in Iraq,
once on a MEW, and a MEW workup is probably
harder than the actual MEW deployment. The deployment is one direction.
You go out, you come back the work up is
six months of on the ship, off the ship, on
the ship, off the ship, you know, some other type
of training. So we added it all up. At some
point over the course of our marriage. I was gone
(15:31):
almost six and a half seven years, so really she
wanted me back in the house with the kids in
having a normal life. And that's when I was like, well,
what do you think about running for Congress? And she
was not excited at all, And then inevitably she became
much more aware of the consequences of a political environment
when she decided she wanted to start a business. She
(15:53):
wanted to run a laundromat in Montgomery County, and as
a naturalized US citizen from West Africa, this was the
American dream for her, and I felt like it was
my duty to support her interest. She'd been following me
around raising our four kids. So we started looking into
it together and we realized it was going to take
over a year to get through the licensing, the permits,
(16:13):
the inspections, and everything else that's involved. And as a
single income military family living in Congressional District six, this
was just not feasible. And whenever you have small businesses
that are out of reach, you start to realize there's
a fundamental problem with your economy. If all you have
is the ability to make high end earning as a
(16:35):
federal or state employee, or you're going to be on
the lower end of a service economy that's going to
require federal or state assistance. Well that's not sustainable. That's
not healthy for the individuals living under that environment, and
it's not good for the state itself. So as I
started to look into this and I finally had her
blessing to run, I started to ask, you know, what
(16:56):
folks were concerned about, basically my neighbors, and it was consistent.
Everybody was concerned about infrastructure, the lack of infrastructure and
the congestion that is the Greater DC area of traffic,
everything from the American Legion Bridge to two seventy to
I seventy and I sixty eight. And then of course
this year in particular, was the energy problems. Most people's
energy bills went up, almost doubled, in some cases tripled.
(17:18):
And then another part of the district, where there's also
been a mismanagement of utilities, you have a water crisis
where water bills have skyrocketed across Alleghany and Garrett Counties.
And then the last part of that was, not only
do we have a problem with infrastructure and energy and water,
we have a real problem with good paying jobs. So
we have to bring back advanced manufacturing or bring back
(17:40):
something that's going to be good, middle income jobs that
are going to be here for the foreseeable future. So
when I looked at this problem as anybody in the
military would look for, Okay, how do I solve this?
This is a gigantic problem. Any one of these would
be difficult. Maybe instead of trying to solve one or
the other, we allow them. And that was the innovation
(18:01):
corridor was, Okay, how do I take existing resources, existing
capabilities and align that to the interests of the district.
And what we what I found was is that we
could take federal highway funds to build the infrastructure that's
needed to support growth. And now this would not only
be the federal highway network that's in place. This would
be refurbishing the American Legion Bridge, expanding I two seventy
(18:22):
all the way up to Frederick, looking at the I
seventy interchange, as well as the I sixty eight nine
eighty one corridors. Now, once you have that federal money
in place, that can serve as a carrot and a
stick for counties to get in line with appropriate zoning
that will align with or protect local residents. What we've
seen over the recent last couple of months, in particular
(18:43):
over the last several years, counties were quick to accommodate
data centers at the expense of local residents because they
saw dollar they saw the property tax benefit. So I
wanted to make sure we would use existing federal funds
to support national security priorities along our federal highway network
to build an infrastructure that would support development. Then what
(19:05):
you've done with that carrot and the stick, which could
be anywhere from eight to twelve billion dollars of federal money,
you get state in county alignment. So that now if
a data center is going to arrive, it goes where
we designated and this would be in what I've described
as an opportunity zone. This would be existing industrial commercial spaces.
These would be away from residential areas, certainly away from
(19:26):
schools or anywhere else that would not be impacted by
the existence of a data center. And it's some of
the things that are associated with it.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Now.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
The other problem with the data center and the economic
development plan is the data centers are arriving right now
and they're almost unregulated, and you have the state and
counties bending to the will of a data center, and
you don't have to look past Adamstown in Frederick County
where they're building this plane in flight. They didn't have
to do this if they had just done a little
bit of planning, they would have realized that five hundred
(19:55):
diesel generators running intermittently as emergency power is and not
a good thing. It's definitely not a good thing to
have within a half a mile of a school. Data
center developers solution was not to look at small modular
reactors as I've been proposing. Their solution was, we'll put
air monitors in your child's classroom. Could you imagine a
(20:16):
concerned mom being told, don't worry, we'll let you know
when the air is bad because we'll have a monitor
in your child's classroom.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
And it cracks me up too, because these are the
green New Deal freaks too, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (20:29):
These are the people. It's the hypocrisy. It knows no bounds, right,
it's just.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Now running as the Republican, I'm the one talking about
notod It's that odd. But I'm the one saying highest
environmental health and safety standards. I'm the one saying we
need to look at energy sources other than diesel generators.
I'm saying small modular reactors. You know, this idea of
what we've been using on aircraft carriers and submarines for
(20:56):
decades has been commercialized and you probably saw the article.
They took one from a factory floor, put it into
I think a C five fly out to a military base,
and flipped it on. I mean, you want to talk
about an extraordinary capability that's just waiting to solve our
energy crisis. That's it. We have a developer here in Rockville,
Maryland that we have the ability locally to support some
(21:20):
of our energy needs. So back to the Innovation Corridor
is looking at aligning those federal highway funds to get
counties and state in line. You would welcome a data
center if that's what the local residents want, knowing that
it's going to be in an area that's not going
to compromise farmland or residential areas, you require them to
have a small modular reactor and a water treatment plan.
(21:41):
And then what you'd also co locate with the data
center is AI in quantum research as well as advanced manufacturing.
And I know I don't have to tell you this,
but then twenty twenty six National Security Strategy listed all
of them as national security priorities. So when people come
back to me and say, well, Chris, this is a
pretty big proposal, I'm like, Oh, if you want to
get things done, you align it to national security priorities.
(22:04):
Suddenly federal money will find its way to support our
effort to focus on AI and quantum development, advanced manufacturing,
whether it's steel or semiconductors, all aligned to data centers,
which also represent a critical vulnerability when you're talking about
our national security interest. So you look at the infrastructure piece,
you look at the data center, development, energy, water, and
(22:27):
then the jobs would be the advanced manufacturing part. And
having that energy intensive advanced manufacturing, that's where you get
the sustainable jobs outside of the construction phase of a
data center. And then the somewhat empty data center in
an area that's already designated as an opportunity zone, away
from residential areas and away from schools. So that was
(22:47):
it in a nutshell as to how to address what
had been this super majority mismanagement of Maryland, particularly the
indifference towards Western Maryland, where we've had these out of
district millionaires playing national politics at the expensive locals. And
I've even gone so far as to describe Tron and
Delaney as sort of the let them eat cake mentality,
(23:09):
like they will sprinkle a little bit of federal money
on the district and say that they've done something for
the locals. Well, that's pennies on the dollar of what
these people need. And more importantly, what people need is
the dignity of work. They want to have the ability
to provide for their families with a job or some
opportunity associated with development, not a federal handout or a
state program.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
I just want to really talk about my incredible partnership
with one of my best friends, and that's Evid Hayfer
and the boys over at Black Rifle Coffee. I'm so
honored to be a part of their organization. It just
really can't thank them enough for allowing me to participate.
(23:49):
What I want you to do is go to Black
Riflecoffee dot com and I want to check out their
new energy drinks. They have these incredible energy drinks that
you can buy at all different kinds of stores Walmart,
Bath Sports and others. Or you can go online in
order and if you want to put in your little
(24:10):
promo code frog Logic to zero there you get a
little discount on stuff there.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I highly recommend that. For me.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
It's my morning coffee. I am addicted to. Black Rifle
Coffee is just black. I think the Tiger Stripe Canmo
definitely reels me in. The Other one I love is
the ak Espresso. This one right here is phenomenal. Love
these but they have so many different things that you
can get at Black Rifle Coffee.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
You will love it again when you go over.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Black Riflecoffee dot com and you're checking out, type in
frog Logic to zero, get your little discount quote and
tell them, oh ruddy rut send you. So to all
those folks out there who love coffee like I do,
please do yourself a favor and go over and check
out my brothers at br C c oh And We've
(25:02):
got a cool event coming up that I'm going to
be a part of out in Vegas. It's a staccato
shooting big shooting event with BRCC on April fifteen, So
Jordie and I are going to go out and participate
in that.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
We'll get some good footage and maybe a couple interviews,
all right.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Who Yeah, Well, I you know, I think you're spot on.
And and when you have politicians that are playing that
type of game right only to benefit themselves or whoever
their lobby firms are that are backing them, you know,
I think you know, you have this what this collapse
of hope within your your workforce, right, your labor force,
(25:41):
which I think a great portion of of obviously Eastern
Maryland has experienced at a high degree. But like these
innovation stretches that you're talking about could create that whole
new type of reindustrialization.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
We've had several.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Economists on the show who've talked about Trump's you know,
lan to reindustrialize America, and I think a primary source
of that will be in and around the defense industry.
Right He's gonna kind of break the lock of the
top five and you know, spread it out across some
more innovative firms out there that are doing really unique
things like the portable.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Energy systems, nuclear energy systems, you know, one.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Of my my best friend, Sean Ryan, and he had
one of the top guys who's doing those modular reactors
on a commercial level, and the technology's there, it's just
this bizarre, I don't know, it's like you said, let
them eat cake kind of mentality. One of the things
(26:42):
that obviously you're dealing with is, uh, you're dealing with
a substantial changing electorate and you you referenced it early
in the conversation about uh, you kind of have to
go after this independent base and that was really I
think the enlarge part the crew that really brought in
(27:04):
Trump and helped him win the popular vote in the
electoral College this time. That that also seems to be
a little a little upset with some of the promises
he made on the campaign trail. But it seems like
your message is really targeting the things that they're interested in.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Right when you talk about.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
The moms who want control of their own curriculum at
schools and who you know want their kind of the
Maha movement that's out there, you also have, you know,
people that want to be able to give more economic
opportunity to young people, the Generation Z, the zoomers, they're
being called now, which is actually in fact a larger
(27:45):
voting block than the boomers, who are you know, the
traditional hardcore Republican voters. What is the message that you
can give those kind of independent, younger voters, right, the
people that are in their early thirties, who had just
had their first kid, who maybe are looking at some
(28:06):
of the industry that they've been employed in kind of
moving away from from AI and potentially, you know, some
of the other sectors that seem to be maybe on
the brink of being exterminated, if you will. What is
the message, What is the clear message you're going to
tell them right now? How are you going to get
them out of their homes, out of their apartments? Right,
(28:28):
the renolds in order to vote for you to gain
economic prosperity.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Well, first and foremost, we can only address the affordability crisis.
It was really brought on by Democrat mismanagement with opportunity,
and this isn't going to happen on its own. We
have to dismantle some of the regulatory structure that was
put in place by Democrats. So we've got to get
people engaged in exciting.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Chris can I hop in real quick?
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I'm sorry I just I brought this up after I saw,
you know, the piece about your wife.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
I just caught up. So in Maryland, you know, for cleaning, dying.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Processing laundry, there's a trader's license, there's a zoning and
land use approval, UH, building electrical plumbing and ocupancy permits,
water and sewer approvals, fire department clearance inspection, health and
environmental improvements, local business licenses and permits, and some jurisdictions.
(29:27):
And then you have signage vending, annual personal property return,
employees unemployment.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Like it was that could not believe that extensive.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
That was to start a real what's what's been considered
by you know, legal and illegal immigrants for the history
of our country as one of those primary businesses for
entry to be able to feed your family and make
a living.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
And it was just that's a perfect segue because that
was that was the final straw for my wife, you know,
the American dream for her was to start a business.
I'd been moving her all around the country, had been
gone all this time. The thought was, okay, we're close.
I grew up in Pittsburgh, her family lives in New Carrollton.
This was a good place for us to stay, let
our kids enjoy, you know, being in one place for
(30:17):
a while, and coming off my last deployment, you know,
I was actually bouncing between Bagdad and Kuwait my last deployment,
so I had orders of the Pentagon's That's how we
landed in Gaithersburg. And we realized as we as we
started to kind of sink our roots in here and
make this our home, it was going to be almost
impossible to live that American dream for her. And we're
(30:38):
single income military family. I've got four school age kids.
It was going to be impossible. So whenever you start
looking at people like my family, you know, you're just
struggling in a state that has what should be enormous upside.
There's this incredibly well educated population, there's a tremendous federal
highway network, you have access to DC, you have access
(30:59):
to Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and throughout the Eastern seaboard. And
yet there's almost no opportunity because of this hyperregulation and
this sort of heavily bureaucratic state that wants to overregulate
to the point of control, but really creating dependency versus opportunity.
And so when I talk to young people, what they
really want is less government, but they want problems to
(31:21):
be solved. And that's where I see my role. You know,
as a congressman, I can't solve every problem, but I
can leverage federal money to serve as a carrot and
a stick to try to get the State of Maryland
in some of the counties in CD six to align
with opportunity to look at their environmental regulations, to look
at their licensing, and they're permitting and saying, if you
can just get out of the way Maryland or one
(31:43):
of the counties here in western Maryland, I'd say, we
can bring in the opportunity that your residents are needing.
This will give them the opportunity to have the job
that will provide for their families and then potentially allow
their children to go away to school or to go
take vocational training and have a job and stay local.
What I've heard from a lot of young people is
(32:04):
they've delayed getting married, they've delayed having children because they
just can't afford it. And then when I've talked to
people that are in their fifties and sixties, they say
that all of their children had to move away because
they just couldn't afford to stay here. And the only
way to address that is opportunity. And the way you
create opportunity is you look at taking existing federal money,
no new taxes, no new fees. You take existing federal money,
(32:28):
federal highway funds, and if you know the Chips Act
and the Innovation and Jobs Act, you align it to
national security priorities. You build the infrastructure that will set
the conditions for private sector investment of data centers, AI
and quantum computing, and then you also require advanced manufacturing.
And with the small modular reactor and the water treatment plant,
(32:48):
you have now transformed the economy around very real, tangible opportunity.
And this is sustainable even if in ten years data
centers become obsolete. Well, the energy production in the water
treatment will be aligned to the AI and quantum computing
research and development as well as the advanced manufacturing. So
we've got a baked in plan to deal with the
(33:09):
possibility of a data Sunday and becoming obsolete or moving
on to whatever's next. It's the advanced manufacturing and the
most important part is is designating the opportunity zone in
existing industrial commercial sites, not compromising an inch of farmland
so that we can build a giant steel building and really,
quite frankly, ruin what makes western Maryland so beautiful, which
(33:30):
is farmland and open spaces. I've seen, I'm sure you've
read about the imminent domain power lines that are cutting
across western Maryland, destroying farmland to deliver power to the
data centers in Louden County, Virginia, which is insane.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Imminent domain in and of itself is one of the
most I understand the necessity of it for obvious reasons,
but what's going on now just seems to be one
more and a long line of just like are you
kidding me? Like how why does Western Maryland farmland have
to take the hit for Virginia's inability to They've got
(34:10):
plenty of farmland, right, make them do it?
Speaker 3 (34:12):
That's the problem. I have. Eminent domain for public good.
Could be a large infrastructure project, it could be serving
a greater good. This is emminent domain from mismanagement, This
is poor planning. So this is in competence now taking property,
private property from owners in some cases generations of farmers
being told, hey, we need this because quite frankly, we're
(34:34):
terrible at our jobs. We couldn't think two steps ahead.
So we're going to take your land and we're going
to impose upon you a burden that you're not going
to receive the benefit of it. Oh, by the way,
it might actually drive your electric bill up because we're
offsetting the cost of infrastructure through residential usage.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
You talk about incompetence, and this is the Democrat supermajority
in Maryland.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Well, I think I mean obviously, you know, I think
the American population right or left right now is a
little bit fatigued with the incompetence that we're seeing across
the board. Right.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
You know, one of the great things that I always talk.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
About, and I've had, you know, some friends, decide to
take the leap and go up and be participate up
in Congress at a federal level. You know, obviously you're
gonna get up and you're gonna be forced to play
that DC game. You know, what are some of the
things that you're promising, you know, your constituency that you're
(35:30):
gonna be resolute on as you get to d C
when you win this thing.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Well, first, I've already signed the term limits pledge. I
will never stay in Congress beyond. If I'm lucky enough
to go once, I'll fight to stay there. I'll never
stay more than five terms. I think ten years is
already too long, right. Why did they move us around
so much in the military to avoid the stagnation and
comfort of being in one place, meaning the Marine Corps,
(35:56):
you know, I mean, it's just if you're not complaining,
you're you're not doing something right.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
But it kept you sharp, and it kept you, you know,
constantly engage in new ideas, in having to address what
you were doing and why you're doing it. So first,
I won't overstay my welcome. I see this as an
extension of my service in that service is to the
people of CD six. This is not for me to
have a long standing career and then to be wheeled
in to Congress, you know, as I'm in my seventies
(36:25):
or eighties. I mean, the way I see it is,
you go there, you sprint, and you move on the other.
Thing I've already said a dozen times, and I'll say
it a dozen more. I will not I don't own stock,
and I will not trade stock in Congress. How can
you possibly make an objective decision when you've got a
financial decision or financial interest, and decisions you're making, you
(36:46):
don't have to look back. There's a reason why most
members of Congress outperform your best investment firms in the
country in some cases by fifty to one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
And they'll say, well, it's not insider trading because it's
public knowledge. Well, it's not public acknowledge the moment that
they make the decision to buy or sell ahead of
a vote that they're about to take. So one, I'm
not going to overstand me. Welcome, I've already signed the
term moment's pledge. I want to buy, trade, or own
stock while I'm in Congress. And then the last part
of that, I do not believe in government shutdowns. You
(37:18):
exist to serve the interests of the public. If you
can't pass a budget that has all of government open,
the first people that don't get paid is Congress, and
then if it's remains closed, they don't leave session. This
idea that they get to go back to their district
and essentially campaign and talk to their constituents and get
paid while a part of our government is shut down
(37:38):
is insane. The fact that Department of Homeland Security as
we have active hostilities overseas. If there was ever a
time for Department of Homeland Security to be fully funded
and arguably augmented, it's right now. And to hold that
department hostage for a Democrat, you know, basically I've called
a temper tantrum. You know, they don't like what they
(38:00):
they saw. Had nothing to do with whether it was
legal or illegal. They just didn't like something, so they
held Department of Homeland Security hostage over an effort to
try to adjust policy, not change law. Is unacceptable. So
to go all the way back to answer your question,
how would I address this? Well by aligning affordability through
opportunity with national security, That's what I would hang my
(38:23):
hat on. These aren't just pipe dreams. This is not
me just telling people what they want to hear. In fact,
this is all very much on the cusp of execution.
You've got the Trump administration going all in on nuclear
So to leverage the fact that they're trying to get
licensing and approval for modular reactors within twelve to eighteen
months does not mean this is a five or a
(38:44):
ten year proposal. The Federal Highway funds. The question just
becomes whether or not we can get it designated for
Maryland as opposed to the thirty or forty or fifty
other projects. Well, the way you get it designated and
the way you build a coalition in Congress is to
align to national security priorities. There's a quid pro quo
exchange with the prioritization of national security. So I would
(39:06):
go there not with my hat in hand saying hey,
I made some promises, can you help me out. This
is me saying I'm offering a solution that the private
sector wants to pursue in furtherance of our national security
priorities by using existing sources of money Chips Act, Innovation
and Jobs Act in federal highway funds. So I would
go to Congress steadfast on transparency, accountability, and integrity and
(39:30):
using my approach in the Innovation cord Or to drive
everything that I would do. And then outside of that
economic development package, I would default to anything that's going
to remove government, anything that's going to lower taxes and
ease the burden on your average American citizen, that would
be my priority.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
That's good answer.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Now let's wrap it up with these kind of two ideas.
That are I would imagine very personal for you and
both of them. First and foremost, I want to talk
to you about your feelings on what's going.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
On over in Iran.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
As a guy that you know served the entirety of
your adult life. I mean, you were in your second
year of law school during when nine to eleven happened,
and you know, twenty two years active duty.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
You have committed your life at the highest order.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
What are your thoughts on where we're at in Iran
and what do you think is the greatest probable or
the greatest what would be the greatest outcome for our country?
Speaker 3 (40:36):
Well, first and foremost, this is overdue. You know, across
all those deployments, what was always in the background was Iran,
whether it was an Iranian proxy, Iranian equipment, Iranian trained
groups operating in Iran, Iraq, or elsewhere. Iran has been
a pervasive threat to US forces and US interest for
my entire adult life. There's an argument that goes back
(40:58):
that we should have done this forty seven years ago,
whenever the Iran hostage crisis. So this was overdue, and
I think the fact that we've allowed Iran to have
a stranglehold on the global economy by dictating the terms
of the straight Ohorn moves was unacceptable, which makes it
very difficult, I think for some people to grasp right
now that this isn't about gas prices. This is about
(41:18):
national security and the global economy. This has more to
do with resetting expectations around how do we interact with
other global economy participants and whether or not we're going
to let Iran dictate the terms of that. Right now,
you've got China in Southeast Asia really bearing the consequence
of the straight Ohorn moves closing, as well as Europe,
and so when you start looking at our NATO partners
(41:40):
that are apprehensive about assisting us, you really have to
ask them, Okay, what is the function of our alliance
if you see that we've been absorbing the brunt of
securing and ensuring passage through the straight Ohorn moves for decades.
We've been providing the safety and freedom of navigation that
you've taken for granted that have allowed you to invest
in your countries. Now that we're addressing the source of
(42:03):
that threat and what we've had to absorb over the
last decad several decades, you're unwilling to support us because
you've either lacked the ability to project power or you've
lacked the investment in your own defense that you can't
support our interest in making things better for you. So
my concern is is that we need to focus on
military objectives. We need to continue down the path that
(42:26):
we're on and finish the job, and that is to
not only degrade the IRGC completely, but to then set
the conditions for a transition of power internally without a
single boot on the ground that allows the Iranians to
decide how they want to govern themselves outside of the
theocracy that has dominated the last forty seven years in Iran. Now,
what will that look like? Well, first and foremost, we
(42:46):
have to open the straight overr moves and that has
to be a coalition that has to be a coalition
of countries that have benefited and will continue to benefit
from the nearly twenty percent of world oil that flows
through there and the nearly thirty percent of liquid natural gales.
As those countries need to take on the role and
responsibility of ensuring safe patches of their ships. Or if
we're going to do that, then we've got to figure
(43:07):
out how that the system is going to better aligned
to our interests globally and not have our forces and
our interests constantly under threat by Iran. So my hope
is is that we finally resolve this, that we're able
to achieve our military objectives completely, and then that will
set the conditions for a diplomatic solution, whether that's a
regional solution or an internal solution in Iran. But I
(43:27):
don't want to see an escalation beyond what we're doing
right now, which is an extremely effective air campaign and
then securing the safe passage through the straight up Hormuz,
either unilaterally or with a coalition of countries that ultimately
benefit from the products that move through there.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
One of the interesting things that I find when people
bring up kind of the NATO Alliance concept is, you know,
you with the European Union, and they're kind of progressive
values over you know, since really the European Union came
into existence, you know, there's been pretty much active chaos
going on in the Middle East, which has created a
(44:05):
profound immigration reality, whether you call it a fiasco or
a positive to most European countries. When you look at
demographics in Sweden, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, they have monster
populations of people that have come from these affected regions
(44:28):
where we've done either regime change or we've integrated in
whatever types of assistance, whether it was in Libya with
the removal of Kadafi or Iraq. Obviously, I don't know
where your feelings on are that, but we certainly know
that that regime change didn't go as we thought it
would go. You know, you can see in my mind
(44:48):
it makes sense because they have these monster populations, right
that they go then and start re engaging in whatever
militaristic activities in those straits or even around the straits
or whatever it might be. So to me, it makes sense,
you know, a lot more sense than than the desire
to want to get into it with Russia and Ukraine.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
That didn't make any sense to me at all.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
But I do understand the necessity for fuel consumption oil
as well as fertilizers. That's a big problem, right, you know,
a lot of fertilizer components passed through there. But what
I did like is that you said you didn't want
any boots on the ground.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
What do you think is is.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Is it feasible with the continued strategic targeted strikes of
IRGCC officials, people within the branch of the eye tollas structure.
Is it feasible that we're actually going to get to
somebody that we can negotiate that has a I don't
(45:55):
want to say control of the population, but has a
number of people, a number of a level of influence
where they can quell the growing animosity towards Israel and
the United States. Obviously, you know this right when we
went into Iraq and we started uh really annihilating the
(46:17):
power infrastructure, we created the insurgency right and and uh
as well as other places that we allowed, you know,
the flood of Iranian proxies into eastern Iraq. So you know,
the the challenge I have is you have a very
complicated situation as it is. How do we know who
to negotiate with and what are the circumstances that can
(46:42):
generate you know, uh uh an actual form of diplomacy.
I read this morning that Iran are, China and Russia
are now getting more involved uh and they're trying to
brokerr some Pakistani accords. You know, it's tell me what
that looks like in your mind? How how does that
(47:05):
how does that broke green of peace.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
Look what does that look like to you?
Speaker 3 (47:10):
So I'll start with the first question, which was can
we to use a crew crew term? Can we kill
our way out of this? The answer is no, you
know you can't at some point. But I do think
we can whittle down the leadership structure to the point
where we've essentially broken the will of the regime. And
that's what we need to do. And what you're going
(47:31):
to have is is the Iranian people have been living
under the suppressive regime for decades. The Iranian people want
a better solution than what they have. The question is
is how do we identify the core group of folks
that are vested in the regime. In other words, without
the regime, they don't exist. There's an existential threat, and
that's that's really as it's not a single answer. I
(47:55):
do think that we we cut off the head in
a way that has now created some chaos. Their economy
is failing. There's a tremendous amount of pressure amongst your iverage,
Iranian families and population. Those individuals at some point are
going to put pressure on folks that would either be
a part of the military or part of the organization
that was there to maintain some level of social order.
(48:17):
As that breaks down, whereas the military rank structure breaks down,
people either quit, they walk away, or they start fighting
their own insurgency. Will that remains to be seen, But
I do think that we've done a sufficient job so
far of identifying leadership eliminating the leadership. We're now responding
to what I think is a pre planned, decentralized response,
(48:40):
and that's why it seems chaotic, and that's why it's
not really achieving anything other than trying to foster chaos
throughout the region. But eventually, what should happen, Whether we
hit energy infrastructure or other infrastructure that's in support of
the war effort, it will put more and more pressure
on the regime. And if that regime cannot sustain the
pressure that's coming from us, coming from the region and
(49:03):
its own population, at some point it will collapse. The
problem that we had in Iraq, and I spent a
lot of time there, as I'm sure you had as well,
was the nation building in the hearts and minds. That
was our biggest mistake was getting beyond military objectives and
now getting into the realm of force diplomacy. We need
to go in focus on our military objectives, undermine the
ability of this regime to project power or to effectuate
(49:26):
any damage in the region, undermine its ability to control
its own population, and then allow for the diplomatic process
to unfold, which may involve US directly and it may not.
It could involve regional partners. There could be other global
partners that will broker a deal that will identify the
right people to set for the conditions for a transition
to a regime that will be at least neutral, if
(49:48):
not friendly to the West. And what we need, but
I mean by neutral is the straight h hor mooz
is an international strait we cannot tolerate. I ran running
roughshot over that region, and the global economy has an
interest in this traits of removes being opened by any regime.
My hope is that we've diminished the IRGC sufficiently enough
to take the theocracy that's in place and eliminated from
(50:12):
any relevant influence, and then allow for whatever the next
regime is going to be to occur without involving US
forces on the ground and without any nation building or
policing operations by US military.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
It's a good answer, you know. I never spent any time.
Speaker 2 (50:27):
I was in Afghanistan my whole time with the sealed teams,
Blackwater and the Central Intelligence Agency. But you know, definitely
had a lot of friends that spent a lot of time,
lost a lot of friends over there as well too.
Speaker 1 (50:39):
You Know, I really hope that our.
Speaker 2 (50:43):
Strategic partners kind of put pressure not so much. You know,
I understand why they don't want to jump in militaristically,
but you know, if they can help broker this deal,
I think that would benefit the entire world for sure,
because you're right, there is a choke point and they're
definitely exposing that vulnerability at the highest all Right, to
(51:04):
go back to the final thing, and one that I'm
sure is really dear to your heart is the national
immigration issue.
Speaker 1 (51:12):
We talked.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
I talked a little bit about the immigration challenges that
the European Union are seeing. You back up, and one
of you know, Trump's, you know, center pieces of his
entire campaign is shutting down the southern border, which he
has done, but then to go out and get rid
of all violent criminals that have flooded in and whatever
those numbers whatever you want to believe, as low as
(51:35):
eleven million, as high as thirty million, somewhere in there.
Speaker 1 (51:38):
We don't know because of just how open the border was.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
What's going to be your position on immigration moving forward?
Obviously there's a lot of independence, and I think some
more I don't. I don't know if there is such
thing as a progressive conservative, but you know, there were
a lot of conserve, younger conservatives who did not like
what transported in Minnesota, did not like kind of the massed,
(52:04):
tactical guys on the streets wrapping people up or pulling
workers off a rooftop or whatever, whatever the however it's.
Speaker 1 (52:12):
Being portrayed out there.
Speaker 2 (52:14):
I'd love to get your thoughts on immigration and what
you hoped how you hope to impact impact it.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
When you get to d C.
Speaker 3 (52:24):
Well, I start with we're a nation of laws, and
so the rule of law has to be first and foremost.
What we saw under the Biden administration was the big
breakdown of the rule of law. When you had them
saying that we need additional authority, we need to pass
more laws. Well that was the complete wrong answer. Enforce
existing laws. If you don't like existing laws, change them.
(52:47):
But this idea that we can cherry pick which laws
we're going to enforce or what we're going to ignore
or what's going to be deemed too hard is unacceptable.
The fact that we have states in counties that declare
themselves sanctuary areas is unacceptable. You know, we live in
a country of laws, and we start with accountability and
personal responsibility. What Trump did was the necessary first step,
(53:11):
which is you had to secure the border. You had
to stop the flow of illegal immigration. Now that you've
done that, you can now look at how do you
determine where the real problem is. And that could be
solved with the Dignity Act, which is comprehensive immigration reform
which I support, and it looks at saying anybody who
came in the last five years has to go. If
(53:32):
you came in as a part of that flood, then
you have to go because you've cut in line. It's unlawful,
it's unfair, and there's no way to reconcile that in
a nation of laws. Then there's at least provisions in
the Dignity Act. It says, if you've been a long
standing resident, perhaps in an illegal status, but you have
not accepted any state assistance, you've not committed any crimes,
(53:53):
and you've otherwise been a contributing member. Well, at least
then you can get in line for the possibility of
legal status. That it's a pathway to legal status. If
you're able to endure the seven years of transitioning from
illegal to legal status while paying a fine and continuing
to not provide, not receive any state assistance, then you've
(54:13):
at least made up the gap of everybody else you
jumped in front of. Then after those seven years you
can get in line to become a US citizen. That
at least addresses what is a longstanding existence here, whether
it was somebody who came here as a child and
has now finds themselves in an illegal status, but otherwise
contributing in somebody who has not had to have been
a burden. Quite frankly, but I think we have to
(54:36):
start looking at the ability to assimilate to the rule
of law. What makes this country so great is that
freedom is responsibility, and that responsibility is to adhere to
the rules and understanding the regulations that allow us to
prosper as individuals and as communities. And when that breaks down,
as it has, whether it's because of the influx of
illegal immigration or the inability to enforce federal law will
(54:59):
now the very essence of our system has been compromised.
So you have to restore accountability, you have to foster
personal responsibility, and you have to then address this through
comprehensive immigration reform, which I believe now can occur because
we've secured the border and we've demonstrated that we didn't
need more money. We didn't necessarily need more laws. We
(55:20):
simply needed to enforce what was there in place. In
CD six you probably have come across up in Washington County,
they put in an ice facility that would be a
transfer facility. This would hold individuals from anywhere from one
to three days as they're being adjudicated in this process.
These are going to be individuals that arguably already have
deportation orders or in an illegal status and have to
(55:42):
be held in custody. My two opponents, Trone and Delaney,
have come out in opposition to this, despite the fact
that nearly eighty percent of Washington County residents support it.
They support it from a rule of law perspective, they
support it from an economic development standpoint, and then the
last part of it is they see it as an
opportunity to partain dissipate in this process of addressing an
immigration crisis, in the fact that you have Trone and
(56:05):
delaineing out of district, multi millionaires now playing national politics
once again at the expense of local residents, contractors that
would benefit from upgrading the facility, local residents that would
work at the facility, and then assisting the overall interest
in providing some level of stability in a broken immigration
system just goes to show how out of touch they
are and how in where they put the residence of
(56:27):
CD six, which is that the back end of their
interest in national politics at the forefront. So the short
answer is I support the rule of law. I start
with accountability and transparency, and most importantly, I would support
comprehensive immigration reform, whether it's the whether it's the Dignity
Act in its current form or version of it, I
would certainly support because we've seen that inaction has led
(56:50):
us to where we are, which is a broken system
that's been flooded with illegal immigrants and a lack of enforcement.
Speaker 1 (56:56):
On a profound amount of corruption.
Speaker 2 (56:57):
Right, all you got to do is follow young Nick
Shirley and you can realize that just the magnitude of
of of funds that are just bleeding out, uh in
every every city, every state, you know, across the country
right now, it's it's an abomination. Well, Chris, I just
I really I think your answers and your descriptions of
(57:19):
what you're running on are are incredibly eloquent.
Speaker 1 (57:22):
They're well thought out.
Speaker 2 (57:23):
Obviously, your career as a JAG officer in the military
has prepared you hopefully for uh, what you're about the
next battlefield of what you're getting into. I just can't
thank you enough for coming on the show. Where can
people follow you? Support you? And and and what do
you got what's big coming next down the pipeline?
Speaker 3 (57:46):
Well, I really appreciate that. One that would add is
you know, in the Marine Corps, we're not jacks. You're
just a line officer with a lot of grit.
Speaker 1 (57:53):
That's right, That's right.
Speaker 3 (57:55):
So I was a company commander in Iraq. I was
am UXO whenever our XO had to go ashore. So,
you know, part of the draw of the Marine Corps
for lawyers is that you're a line officer. First, you're
expected to serve as a leader. And then where I
found myself more often than not, if I wasn't outside
of the wire with marines, was within the three shop
as a planner that I wasn't a special advisor to
(58:16):
the commander. I was. I brought a legal perspective to
a planning priority that was about setting conditions for marines
to get outside of the wire and come back as
best they possibly can, minimizing risk, and then focusing on
mission accomplishment. But I appreciate the opportunity to highlight the
website Burnett Forcongress dot com is where anybody could go
(58:37):
to sign up for our newsletter, they could sign up
to volunteer, and then also they could sign up to donate.
You know, we're running a grassroots campaign. Part of the
reason why I'm running was so that families like mine
and other families in CD six that are struggling could
have a voice. So we're gonna every penny we raise,
We're going to spend on voter engagement. This is not
(58:58):
going to be a this is it's not going to
be a fancy campaign. This is not going to have
a lot of polished TV ads. This is going to
be yard signs in town hall meetings. I'm talking about
the issues, trying to bring a conservative Republican voice back
to Congressional District six. So you can go onto the
website and donate, and I promise you every penny that
you trust me with, I will spend as wisely as
(59:19):
possible to make CD six a Republican stronghold again.
Speaker 2 (59:23):
Outstanding. Thank you so much, sir, good luck and God
bless you.
Speaker 3 (59:26):
Thank you,
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show News
Hosts And Creators
Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
Show Links
WebsiteNewsletterPopular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Kingdom of Fraud
It’s the unlikeliest of criminal partnerships: a devout polygamist from an insular Utah sect joining forces with a shadowy Armenian tycoon from LA. The result - a billion dollar fraud conspiracy. In Kingdom of Fraud, investigative reporter Michele McPhee traces the origins of the extraordinary alliance between Jacob Kingston and Levon Termendzhyan. Together, the two men trigger the largest tax investigation in American history and weave around themselves a web of dirty cops, influential political relationships and transnational money laundering. All this is set against the backdrop of Jacob Kingston’s clan – The Order. A powerful and secretive polygamist organization in Salt Lake City. To whom Jacob is desperate to prove his worth. Kingdom of Fraud is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/. You can listen to new episodes of Kingdom of Fraud completely ad-free and 1 week early with an iHeart True Crime+ subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “iHeart True Crime+, and subscribe today!