Pundits and Pearls of Wisdom, with Rodger Friedman

In this engaging conversation, Samantha Jade interviews author Rodger Friedman, a former chartered retirement planning counselor and investment advisor with 40 years’ experience.  They discuss the importance of border security, the impact of illegal immigration on elections, and negotiation strategies in politics. The discussion also emphasizes the importance of setting boundaries in communication and offers actionable advice on how individuals can create change in their communities. 

• More about Rodger: He is the author of seven books, with his latest being the Amazon bestseller Erasing America Broken Politics, Broken Country. Rodger writes a bi-weekly newsletter, The Equal Opportunity Times, which is available as a free subscription, on his website EOCritic.com 
• Also, check out Quantum Energy Squares (Caffeine + Protein Energy Bars) and use my promo code JADE for 25% off your entire order! https://quantumsquares.com  

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Hey everyone, my guest today is Rodger Friedman, a former
Chartered Retirement Planning counselor and investment advisor
with 40 years experience. Rodger is the author of seven
books, with his latest being theAmazon bestseller Erasing
America, Broken Politics, BrokenCountry.
Rodger writes a biweekly newsletter, The Equal
Opportunity Times, which is available as a free subscription

(00:32):
on his website, eocritic.com. Welcome, Rodger.
Samantha, thank you. Yes, thank you.
Do you want to talk about your your free subscription a little
bit? Sure.
OK, about four years ago, you know, deep into the Biden
administration, I'd read the paper every morning and I'd get

(00:52):
so angry, Samantha, at what I was reading, what Pelosi was
doing and Hakeem Jeffries and Biden and Blinken and and all
that cast of characters. And I actually started writing
A1 page e-mail to my friends andfamily saying, did you see this?

(01:13):
Do you believe what they're doing?
And I just, you know, made it mySunday memo.
Every week I would send out A1 pager to everyone.
And everyone really kind of liked it.
And then two things happened #1Iwith all the madness that I saw,
I couldn't contain it to one page.

(01:35):
So it became around 3000 to 4000words.
And then my, my sister Diane, God lover, she said after
looking at 48 Sunday memos, she said, you know, you got a book
here. And I'm like, you know, you're

(01:56):
right. So I, I made a racing America,
Broken politics, broken country,which of course, is available on
Amazon. It's the last bookstore in the
Galaxy, I think. Yeah, but that was numbers one
through 48. And right now, I'm working on

(02:17):
#105 So I might have another book here, but, you know, we're
knee deep right now into the Trump administration and what
we're seeing, the difference between the two administrations
is remarkable. OK.
You know, just, you know, the news with the agreement with

(02:40):
Japan in the last 12 hours. OK.
So there's plenty to write about.
And I don't just want to write about what happened under Biden.
I'd like to write about the transformation that we're seeing
and how the country is undergoing a real change now.
Yeah, it's it's been so fast. The news is the the Trump

(03:04):
administration is working so fast.
They're doing so much. It's it's a night and day
difference on what's happening. He built around him a world
class cabinet and all the progressives are yelling, oh,
it's just you and a bunch of billionaires.
OK, You know the secretary of commerce?

(03:26):
OK, I forgot his name. It escapes me right now.
The guy with the beard. Oh, Howard Lutnick.
Howard Lutnick? Yep.
OK, OK. Do you happen to know his story?
No, I, I don't know very much about him.
It's. It's remarkable.
He was the head of a big financial firm called Cantor

(03:46):
Fitzgerald on the 104th floor ofthe World Trade Center.
While he was out for the day with his kids, over 600 of his
employees died. Oh wow, yeah.
And to be able to come back fromthat, yeah, is nothing short of

(04:10):
remarkable. But him and Besant and all of
the others are moving this country ahead beautifully,
beautifully. Yeah, it's been fun to see.
It's some people. It makes a couple of people I've
talked to, they're like, I like this, but I'm kind of nervous

(04:31):
because it's everything's movingso.
Quickly, I was nervous for four years.
Yeah, well, yeah. Now at least I could, you know,
stop holding my breath. Yeah, yeah, that is true.
I oh, both of those election nights, 2020 and 2024, I will, I
will never forget the I will never forget those nights in

(04:52):
the, you know, waking up the morning after the 2020 election.
And and so then for the 2024, I would not go to bed until I
heard, you know, it's final, youknow, Trump won because I'm
like, I'm not going to bed about.
The 24 election that makes me scratch my head.

(05:12):
Number one, Trump won the Electoral College by by yards
and yards, yeah. 3/12 right? Yeah, and the other thing is
that over 70 million Americans voted for Kamala Harris.

(05:33):
Now, I heard a long time ago, you may have heard this, you may
not have I heard that the average American is an idiot.
I don't know who to attract about you, but I kind of think
that person might have been on to something.
Because if you listen to her unedited interviews and her word

(05:58):
salad, she can't put together a thoughtful sentence, right?
OK. And if that's who was leading
now with what's going on with Israel, Iran, Russia, the
Ukraine, North Korea and every other hotspot, God help the USA
if she was in the White House. Yeah, it's how she got there in

(06:22):
the in the 1st place is amazing.But and then, yeah, the, the
votes, the, I mean, just the, I don't, I don't know how she
could possibly have gotten that many votes.
I mean, I know a lot of people hate Donald Trump, but that's

(06:44):
the so here's, you know. If you were made aware that
someone who was coming to your House voted for Kamala Harris,
would you open the door for them?
Yes, I might hide my. That's the difference.
Between you and me. I'd maybe all my Trump gear,

(07:06):
there's like stuff behind, you know, but just to make them more
comfortable. So yeah, I guess I don't.
Want them to be comfortable. I want them to be in the street
and cold. And it's not freezing in Tampa
Bay and it doesn't snow here, but I'd leave them out in the
cold. Yeah, yeah.
You're a nicer person than I am.Well, so I was a Democrat until

(07:30):
2015. And I just so I had, I had moved
to Texas and made friends with people from Mexico, Colombia,
you know, and I saw how hard that they had to work to become
legal citizens. And I know people who didn't,
you know, you come across the border at a certain year,

(07:50):
certain things apply to you thatthat don't or didn't apply to
the people at the Biden administration.
It's like, well, why don't you just walk across the border and
then walk right back and you'll be good.
You'll save yourself thousands of dollars and so just seeing
that first hand, you know, I, I moved to Austin, TX, then I
moved, then I lived in Bastrop 2.
Very. Austin is very, very liberal.

(08:12):
Yes, it but it was almost like it was so liberal that I'm like,
I don't like this, you know, it really opened my eyes to it.
Consider. It part of Texas.
It's it's completely different. It is completely different.
And then, yeah, I moved back to Iowa.
What still supporting Hillary, but then Trump came down the

(08:32):
escalator and said all of the things that I wanted to hear on
illegal immigration, you know, and, and never I'll, I'll never
vote for a Democrat again. Well, you.
Know, I, I remember growing up, I was a kid of the 60s and I
grew up in Manhattan. So Donald Trump, you know, I
knew that name from when I was akid because my dad had a laundry

(08:55):
near Times Square and I used to deliver to Trump Tower.
OK, I never met him, but, you know, I delivered to there and I
saw the opulence and the wealth and his name plastered
everywhere. You know, how could you not be
aware? You know, he had, you know,
resorts in Atlantic City, you know, the golf courses, the

(09:15):
hotels, you know, everything. But, you know, I remember, you
know, thinking my parents were Democrats, centrist Democrats.
There was no progressive, liberal wing of the Democratic
Party. These were John F Kennedy
Democrats. Yeah.

(09:36):
And I don't think you could findany of those anymore.
Yeah, yeah, there's a big difference between from.
My my dad would roll over in hisgrave of 30 years if he saw what
the Democrats look like now. Oh, I can't.
I can't imagine. It's interesting because I do
talk to people who have been Democrats their whole life, and

(09:57):
it seems like there's still hopeand still believe in some of the
old stuff, but they're going to.They just go right along with
all the crazy crap that's out there right now.
And it's like, will you just research it a little bit?
I, I read not 15 minutes ago, because now I find I'm going to
the news outlets 345 times a day.

(10:21):
You know, I don't want to miss any juicy headlines, you know,
fear of missing out. I think that's what they call
it. And in Denver, ICE rounded up
about 243 illegals, murderers, rapists, kidnappers.
And I know people in Denver and I, I want to say, are you out of

(10:46):
your mind? You're walking your kids down
the street and these people are here.
Won't you want ICE to get them out?
Yep. You know.
They're brain dead. Yeah, you know, there's, I'm in
a very small town. It's only I'm actually in
Denver, IA and we call it the Mile Wide city.

(11:06):
So it's you and your mom, right?Huh.
Yeah, yeah, just just us 2 here population.
Yeah, yeah, it's a it's very small, but we do have our own
school in it. And I know some of my great, my
great niece and great nephew aregoing to go to school here and
it's like, I don't feel like I have to worry about them because
they're in the, in a small area.We're just so much safer, you

(11:30):
know, the cities I'd, I'd be so worried about.
You should get AT shirt. We don't live in that, Denver in
that. Denver.
That's funny. That would be a good one.
I bet a lot of people would wearit and.
But yeah. Yeah, you can make a couple
bucks. Yeah, yeah, that's a really good
idea. How do you feel about the wall

(11:54):
and getting it done? I, it needs to get done as soon
as possible. And I think there's no way that
we can't, you know, everyone's fighting for due process.
Well, everyone, certain people are fighting for due process for
the illegals that are here rightnow and there is no way that we
can process them. I I no.

(12:16):
We don't have a million judges. Right, right.
And so first we need to get themto stop coming in illegally and
then, you know, once we get themto the other side, do.
You believe that the Biden administration was actively
selling off wall components for pennies on the dollar?

(12:36):
That is it it that's so wild. I, I remember seeing that and
it's just, it can't be more obvious that they're trying to
tank what people voted for. People voted for Donald Trump
for that, you know, in the in the 2016 election and then he
comes around in 2020 and it's just like a slap in the face to

(12:57):
everyone who who was trying to make our country better or any,
you know, basically any Republican or anyone on the
right by selling off that borderwall for that cheap.
You know it there. There's obviously no good
intentions with. That and the overall Democratic
strategy in less than 60 secondsis to flood the country with

(13:19):
illegals, make them all voting Democrats, redistricting so that
they gain houses in Congress because they all move to the
blue cities and the blue states.And then you'd have one party
permanent role. That's what the Democrats were
trying to achieve. Now I understand.

(13:41):
It's genius. Right and.
It's also lacking of all ethics.Yeah.
OK. And can, can you explain?
I, I think a lot of people they're, oh, well, illegals
can't vote. So can you explain how illegal
immigration effects elections bydoing what you're just saying?

(14:02):
In the Constitution might be Article 2, I really don't
remember. The point is that they say that
congressional representation is a portion by population and they
don't say population of citizens.
They said persons counted. OK, so right now for every about

(14:25):
745,000 people there is one congressperson.
OK, so let's say for the sake ofargument AO CS districts in
Queens and the Bronx that they brought in another 3/4 of a
million illegals. Now there would be two Congress

(14:46):
people for for that population. And if you brought in 10152030
million illegals and the Democrats give them all this
free stuff, OK, you know they'regoing to be where the free stuff
is. New York, LS, Chicago, Denver,

(15:08):
Washington state, Portland, you know, all those places.
And so when the census comes andthere's the count of the
population, you're going to havea dozen to two dozen more
congressional seats that are solidly Democrat, which will

(15:30):
force a change in representation.
OK. They'll be much more Democrats
than Republicans. And then the Republicans could
could never win again. It'll be a one party rule.
It's insidious. Right.
And I, I think that is one thingthat that a lot of people don't,

(15:50):
don't understand is that it's, it's exactly how.
It works. Congress, now that they want to
have another census just for citizens, I think that's
phenomenal. Yeah.
OK, because it should only be drawn on citizens, not people
that are subject to deportation.Right, Yep, that would be that

(16:12):
would be nice to get that in place.
I see a lot of states are considering redistricting.
Right now it looks like both both red and blue areas worth
considering redistricting, so I but I haven't looked too far
into who would come out ahead with all of it.

(16:33):
I haven't looked at it either. There's only a couple things
that I could keep in my brain atonce.
Yeah, I'm not interested in the Kohlberger murder, which is on
the front page. Every single thing.
I'm not interested in Epstein. He's dead.
He was a dog while he was alive,and I'm not going to spend any
brain power on that. But you know what's going on

(16:54):
with the auto pen and Senator Rand Paul.
Half the time I want to kick himin the ass.
I know. Other half of the time he he
makes a good point. So he wants to try to bring
Fauci up on charges of lying to Congress, which he did, saying
there was no gain of function research in Wahoon, China, or

(17:19):
however you pronounce it. And let's see, because it'll go
right to the court. If that auto pen Biden may or
may not have been aware of is going to keep him out of jail.
That would be an interesting case.
I, I one person I do want to seeprosecuted out of all of this is

(17:40):
Fauci. It's.
And also all the people in Biden's inner circle who all
lied about his competence. Yeah, yeah.
I want to see people go to jail.You know, Samantha, I don't know
how it is in Iowa, but in Tampa Bay, we want to see people go to
jail. Yeah, a lot of people around

(18:00):
here would like that. I, I don't know, I think Florida
might be a little bit better than Iowa as far, as far.
As I don't know but. Iowa's not bad.
It's yeah, yeah, I watching RandPaul lay into Fauci, you know,
during the when they're questioning him.
I I can't remember what kind of their.

(18:22):
I don't know. Paul was just showing showing
Fauci all the places that he lied and he just continued it.
It was the funniest thing to watch Fauci squirm, you know?
And I, I mean, I can't imagine what could be done with the if
with the autopen scandal, like how many people could be in

(18:43):
trouble? Another thing close to my heart
is get finally getting a a bill out of Congress for President
Trump to sign to prohibit trading of stocks by members of
Congress. You know how someone who makes
$174,800 a year has a net worth of $44 million?

(19:07):
I'm pretty good at math, Samantha.
I don't understand that math. Yeah.
What do you think about? I saw Elon Musk and some others
have talked about raises for these politicians so to deter
them from committing crimes to make more money.

(19:28):
Well, you know, to me, you get araise for doing a good job going
above and beyond. And I, and I was just, I was
just reading in my book where all of these unions were getting
raises of between 17% for transit union workers and 25%
for longshoremen. You know, when I grew up in the

(19:51):
60s, a 5% raise. You danced all night.
Yeah. OK.
A 20% raise. That's insane.
Not in this universe. That doesn't happen.
OK, but nowadays you know like Newsome increased the minimum

(20:11):
wage from $16.00 remember to fast food workers to $40 and
yesterday it came out that the fast food industry in California
has lost 18,000 workers in the last year.
How is it losing workers? Just, oh, you know the.

(20:34):
The the Taco Bells, the McDonald's, the Burger King, so
on so forth. You know they will put an iPad
on a table, robot make French fries.
They will make people part time instead of full time.
They don't want to give a robot sick days or benefits or
vacation. Time.
Yep, Yep, that makes sense. 18,000 people have lost their

(20:56):
jobs and the problem is all these progressive liberals in
the California legislature, noneof them, to my knowledge, have
ever owned or run a business. Parentheses successfully close
parentheses now that they have no idea.
Just like this idiot who won themayoral primary in New York

(21:19):
City. Oh, let's have city run grocery
stores, OK? That's a terrible idea.
Why don't you go to Venezuela? I'll give you a month there.
Maybe I'll give you back your passport, not sure yet.
And I'll let you think about it.Yeah, I think a lot of people

(21:41):
run with ideas and don't consider the consequences.
Oh, exactly the the unintended kind.
They have no idea. Yeah, and you know, your, your
idea about giving the congressional representatives
and senators raises well, the the average, the the median

(22:01):
income in this in the USI read is somewhere around 60 odd
grand. Yeah.
So they're making almost triple that.
Yeah. Should it be quadruple?
Right. That's yeah, the people in
support of it, it's like, well, they have to have a house in
their district and they have to have a house in DC.
It's like, why do they have to have a house in DC?

(22:23):
That if I mean. They they could rent an
apartment. But then again, OK, so Samantha,
here's some inside baseball. I lived and worked in DC for
decades and then I lived and worked right outside of DC in
the suburbs. So I have about 3035 years in
the this in the District area and it is very, very expensive.

(22:47):
That's what I heard, yeah. So you could have a one bedroom
apartment in an OK building. I'm I'm not talking to Taj
Mahal, I'm talking to an OK building. 2500 a month.
So that's 30,000 a year just forthe apartment.
Then there's parking, insurance,you know, everything else.

(23:09):
Yeah, and I suppose you, I mean you want them to to be there,
you know, and doing their job. Yeah.
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Well. How's about this?
So you know that Texas just agreed there's a million acre

(24:18):
military base there, maybe Fort McKinley or?
Oh, OK. Like that I read it 2 days ago.
They're going to house 5000 illegals there in tents.
Yes, it oh in tents. Yeah, people.
Are going to throw a fit about that?
Well, that's fine. Let it grow fit.
But yeah, a couple things to think about #1 a million acres.

(24:42):
When I Googled that, I think it was either 150 square miles or
250 square miles. That's a lot of mileage.
Yeah, that base is gigantic. Yeah.
OK, so you could put those tentssomewhere and they won't see
them anywhere. OK.
You know, put it 60 miles from the front gate.

(25:02):
Right. Yeah.
And then if you don't let anybody in, then yeah.
If a tent city is good enough for illegals, what about
Congressman and congresswoman? Let's put them all in a door.
Well, yeah, a campground. You know, like here.
Here, $1000 a month, air conditioning included.

(25:23):
Yeah. I think we're on to something.
Yeah, yeah. You and I could have a real
estate partnership and we'll have, you know, a tents for
Congress. Yeah.
Yeah, Oh my gosh, there. Well, there'd be a lot less
people with bad intentions running for Congress if that's
the, you know, I, I think a lot of these people get into it to

(25:46):
make money or to get attention, you know, and not actually to
better the country, so. I don't think AOC has had one
bill brought to the floor yet. And her district is a cesspool
and it's always written up. The crime there in the
prostitution is unbelievable. And no one can get her office on

(26:11):
the phone to do anything. Instead, she's on oligarchy
tours with, you know, Comrade Bernie Sanders and their
oligarchy jet paid for by somebody.
Right, right. Not not concerned about climate
change or anything with their. Transportation about the people
that voted for her. Now those people are off their

(26:34):
rockers because they voted for her not once, but twice.
Yeah, that's insane. That's.
So I used to live in the area ofQueens when I was poor.
I live near Roosevelt Ave., MainStreet just to put it in

(26:54):
perspective. Maybe couple miles from the US
Open where they play the tennis.The old World's Fair in
LaGuardia Airport. That's where Flushing Queens is,
and it's as nice as the name sounds.
Yeah. So, you know, there are a lot of

(27:17):
hard working people. They are yes, But the amount of
illegals there and prostitution and crime is is off the charts.
Do you think there's a cure for for this?
Do you think if we are on track,we stay on track with President
Trump and his agenda or, or just, you know, the general

(27:38):
thing, maybe we get JD Vance or a different candidate with
similar goals and similar ambition to get stuff done.
Do you think there's a way to reverse the mess?
Yeah. Absolutely.
As long as we can keep Republicans in power so that
they can fight against all the destructive acts that the the

(28:01):
Democrats did, I think we have awonderful opportunity to, you
know, get the train back on the tracks, OK?
Because it literally fell into aravine, you know, So it's a
matter of getting the train backon the tracks, you know, putting
some coal in in the engine and like, you know, let it go.

(28:24):
But Trump is doing a wonderful, wonderful job at and as you said
before, at breathtaking speed, OK.
Because when you look at 8:00 AMin the morning and see an
unbelievable headline by three Oclock, there's a new
unbelievable headline. Oh my gosh, two in one day.

(28:46):
I swear he only sleeps like 5 hours a night sometimes.
Indonesia, Philippines and then Japan all in 24 hours.
And Japan's going to invest 550 billion and open up markets that
have been closed to us. Yeah, 'cause Japan had a 300%

(29:08):
tariff on rice, we couldn't explore rice stuff.
OK, OK. They were protecting their own
industry. Right, right.
Yeah. What do you think?
Is that aside, you know, like, is it just strong arming or, or
just just finally these like people are being held

(29:31):
accountable or what do you thinkit is that's making so many
countries turn around and actually, you know, make deals
with us? I'm glad you asked that question
and I'm going to give you a longanswer.
OK, cool. I don't know how old you are and
I won't be rude and I won't ask.OK so but do you remember the TV

(29:54):
show The Apprentice? Yes, yeah.
Donald Trump, two teams, they try to do stuff and sell and
make money and all that. OK, So I want you to think for a
moment. Donald Trump on that.
Raised as in the chair. Do you remember the little guy

(30:14):
sitting next to him? No, I don't.
That's OK. So there was a little guy
sitting next to him. OK, his name was George Ross.
OK. Why do I bring that up?
Well, George Ross was is a phenomenal attorney with a

(30:37):
specialization in real estate. And before Trump and Ross got
together, Ross worked for some billionaire developers and
closed 700 gigantic real estate sales in Manhattan.

(31:00):
And then Trump invited him to help him when Trump became
famous with the Hyatt Hotel on 42nd St. and redeveloping the
Commodore Hotel. Which is what put him on a
rocket to notoriety. Yeah.
So George Ross was Trump's chiefnegotiator.

(31:25):
OK, you ever hear of NYU? Yes, yeah.
OK, George Ross taught the course on negotiation at N1.
Yeah, this book Trump style negotiation, that's Donald and
that's George Ross. He looks familiar.
Yeah, OK. I've read this book three times.

(31:48):
You want to learn how to negotiate like Donald Trump?
You read this book Trump style negotiation.
So why do I bring that up? I don't believe that anyone in
the Biden administration knew the first thing about
negotiating with any other country because they certainly

(32:10):
had poor results in negotiating everything.
OK. And in the first in the forward
of this book and which was written by Donald Trump, he
said, I operate in broad brush strokes.
I leave the details to others, but it's his vision.

(32:33):
So he basically creates the broad vision.
He has others painting in between the lines and he has
charged his cabinet with fillingin the blanks.
But he is a master negotiator and he will go toe to toe with

(32:53):
any leader on the planet. Biden couldn't even find the
right room to go in to do the negotiation.
OK, so for the first time and God knows how long, you have a
master negotiator and look what's happening.
I heard last week that he's now brought in or had commitments

(33:16):
for 16 trillion of investment inthe US Yeah, that is
breathtaking, Samantha. Yep, 550 billion yesterday.
I mean, I I can't keep up. Yep, it So my husband likes to

(33:37):
watch just the weather on his Onhis lunch break, he comes home
and he watches the weather. Watch the weather on your phone
now. I know, I don't know what it is.
It's some, I don't know, habit he's had for, you know, over a
decade. But you know, we'll end up
sneaking in. We'll end up watching some of
the news on accident. They never talk about anything

(34:00):
good like this. And if they do, they just real
quick mention it and then all right, let's go.
Oh, you're you're sad in. The Trump administration, you
know what I put on my phone? Both Fox News and Newsmax.
If you're not familiar with Newsmax, put it on your phone.
They are straight shooters. They are conservative, and to

(34:21):
the best of my knowledge, they don't lie.
CBSNBCABCI grew up with all three.
I won't give them the time of day.
Same with the Washington Post and the New York Times.
MSNBCCNBC, Reuters. They are all far left.
OK. That's the corporate media and
that's who I don't listen to because, you know, you can't

(34:44):
trust what they're saying. Yeah, and.
CNN lies through their teeth. Yeah, yeah, it's that CNN is is
rough and I know a lot of CNN watchers do you get on X at all
for your news do. I get on you.
On Twitter, do you look? Yeah, OK.

(35:09):
I go on Twitter once a month whether I need to or not.
Yeah, yeah, just. I do a lot of posting on
Facebook simply because I'm old.You could tell.
And us old people use Facebook. I'm told, you know, I'm not cool
enough to use X and and I am technologically inferior to my

(35:29):
son. You know who Who?
Who communicates with his thumbs.
Yeah, right. I can't communicate with my
thumbs. Yeah.
If I pick up my phone, I I are you?
Are you sitting down? I actually use my phone to call
people. He would never think to use his

(35:51):
phone to make a phone call. Yeah, yeah.
That's. Go figure.
But that's what I. Yeah, that's I, I, not to go on
too much of A tangent, I, I think I'm right on the cusp of
that where I sure, I'd rather send a text, but so yeah, I'm
almost 40. I've got some nieces and nephews

(36:13):
and to communicate with them, they don't even text.
It's Snapchat. They don't.
Text. They they will message through
Snapchat so I noticed once you. Yeah, I don't know how to do
that. Yeah, you you almost have to
have your own like different apps for different, different
age groups. Well, let me ask you a question.

(36:34):
First of all, do you have your own business or do you work for
somebody? Or I I work for for a city.
OK, so I learned a lot about marketing from my mentor, Dan
Kennedy. And Dan is from Ohio.
He's written around 25 books. He is a genius at marketing and

(36:56):
a he's called the Millionaire Maker.
And one of the things that he talks about is the rules for
communicating with me. And it's very, very interesting.
So I'm not going to tell you adopt his rules.
You adopt what works for you, but for him.

(37:17):
He doesn't have a cell phone. He doesn't use the Internet.
You cannot e-mail him because hedoesn't have an e-mail address.
He doesn't have a cell phone. If you want to communicate with
him, you send him a letter or you send him a fax.
Wow. He takes no unscheduled phone

(37:40):
calls, OK. That.
That's probably frees up time over $5,000,000 a year.
Yeah. OK he has his rules for
communicating with him and they cannot be violated.
OK so me you know when it comes to texting I only text and

(38:04):
accept text from my family. No one else gets to text me
because I am not going to be looking at my phone every 10
seconds, every time it beeps andburps and squeaks and alarms and
you know, whatever, OK. And the other thing is that so
many people have an expectation of an immediate response.

(38:31):
And if you don't respond to your6 year old niece in under 12
seconds, woe beyond to you. You got to set the rules for
that for the road. Yeah, that's I, I actually
really like that because I, I have people that will message me
on Facebook Messenger and certain apps on my phone are

(38:54):
hidden away so that I don't get the notifications.
I don't even see them. And then people are wondering
why I'm not responding. Like I told you to call me if
you have an emergency, but they won't.
So I guess it's not an emergency.
So I'll go days now without messaging people, but if they
don't stop. I know I'd have conversations

(39:15):
with my daughter and people would text her and phone her at
8:00 on a Sunday night. And I said don't answer the
phone. You look at your phone at 9:00
AM on Monday morning, Yeah, you're not paid for Sunday
evening at 8:00. That's family time.

(39:37):
Yeah, yeah. It's good to set boundaries like
that. That's something I need to work
on for sure. Setting boundaries.
Absolutely. Yeah, Yeah.
The only one who gets an immediate response is my wife.
Yeah, yes, I. See my text.
Yes, yeah, I I do have my phone on do not disturb during certain

(39:58):
hours. So if there is an emergency, if
people remember, they need to call my husband and my husband
can get a hold of me. There you go.
So, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but I I work 2nd shift
right now so it's a little weird.
I'm up late when everyone's sleeping so I'm like, well I
need to sleep in so. So it sounds like you're a hard

(40:18):
worker by by what you said, so I'm going to recommend the book
now. The guy is full of himself.
What put that right out? His name is Grant Cardone and
the book is called 10X. He wrote it about 10 years ago.

(40:39):
If I read something of his now at my head would probably
explode, OK because he's full ofhimself.
But the 10X book is superb, OK? And I read it with a pen and
paper next to me because there was so many writer Downers.
So if you're someone who is motivated and actually works 2

(41:01):
jobs, you want to read 10X OK. Yeah.
Because you don't become wealthyby working for the city.
Yeah. I could tell you that right now.
Yeah, it's, it's definitely not something I'm passionate about
either it, you know, which is why I'm doing.
This it's a rung on the water. Yeah, Yep.

(41:22):
So would it be OK if I recommended one more book?
Yeah, Oh I I love reading. You can recommend everything you
want. OK, so let's see this one.
I know the author OK and you read the title.
It's you. Yes, it's me.
That's why I know the author. Yes.
It's called 18 wealth lessons, OK?

(41:45):
That will transform your thinking, OK.
And, you know, after 40 years asa financial advisor and
retirement strategist, I saw very, very clearly what the
successful do that the unsuccessful are not willing to
do. OK.
And I wrote about it. I made it interactive.

(42:05):
OK. And again, you know, it's
available on Amazon, which is the last bookstore in the
Galaxy. Yeah.
Yeah. But.
You know. I'm going to go to Barnes and
Noble. Do you have a Barnes and Noble?
Is that a Midwest? Thing noble here.
OK. The funny No, sorry, I was there
last week. I got a.
Wonderful book on Vincent van Gogh and I got tickets to the

(42:27):
Van Gogh exhibition in Tampa next week.
I don't know why, You know, I was looking at Starry Starry
Night and I'm like, I really like it.
So, you know, I bought a book, Igot the tickets.
Well, I was in Barnes and Noble last week and I'm in the
business section and I'm lookingfor another book by Grant
Cardone. And it occurred to me as I'm

(42:49):
reviewing the books, I said, andI pulled one of the little
workers over. I say little.
She was like 4 foot 9. I said, why isn't this
alphabetical by author? Oh, they made us change it.
Now it's by popularity. Well, popularity to who?

(43:13):
She couldn't answer the question.
And how are you supposed? So you're there.
So the business section has, I don't know, 300 books, 400
books. And I'm looking and I'm looking
and I'm finally I gave up and discussed because the logical
thing is alphabetical by author.That way you know where to look.

(43:35):
Yeah. Don't tell Barnes and Noble
that. Well, they're going to.
They're just going to give Amazon more business by doing
that, because if that happens tome when I go tomorrow, I'm I'm
going to. Remind me of, you know, the old,
the old thing about you when youget on a plane, you know, why
don't you fill it up from the back?

(43:56):
Yeah. Oh, no, that's logical.
We don't do that anymore. Right.
No. My gosh.
What other hot topics should we discuss?
How about five ways that we the people can create change?
One of the things that's been going on for years that is
stalled is a constitutional convention of the states.

(44:17):
You may have read about it, you know, because there are two ways
to change the Constitution. One is an amendment, OK.
And if you got a whole bunch of senators and Congress people you
know that are against it, there's no way that amendment
will ever pass. The other is by a convention of
the States, and it's some numerical majority of the

(44:41):
states. I don't remember the exact
mechanism, but it's been stalledfor a number of years.
And there are websites that can tell you about, you know, where
you know how it stands in every state.
And that there are a number of issues that they want to do to

(45:02):
work to change the Constitution in, in good ways that the states
can do because Congress is unwilling to.
So that's something that the people can get behind and push
their state legislators to go for the Convention of States.

(45:25):
That's the first thing. The second idea is for people to
get the hell off the couch and become involved.
So when I moved down to Florida,I Googled all the Republican
clubs and societies in my county.

(45:48):
And, you know, I walked through and there are quite a few of
them, and I selected a number ofthem.
And I started going to meetings,not to make myself heard, but to
listen and to become educated, OK.
And then finally I met some people.
You know, you'd see the same people each and every month.
And you know, you learned what the local issues are, the grass

(46:10):
roots issues, and it makes senseto become involved.
So becoming educated, becoming involved, getting your ass off
the couch is number 2 #3 is if you believe in something
passionately put your money where your mouth is.

(46:34):
OK, When was the last time you gave money to the the party in
your state, in your county, or to a senator's campaign or a
congressman's campaign, Congresswoman's campaign or for
president? OK, You got to put your money
where your mouth is. OK.

(46:55):
I write checks every quarter. And I think it's one of the most
important things I could do because it helps to spread the
message. So that's three things out of
the five that you asked about #4is become well read.
I saw yesterday I was reading a book and it was mentioning that

(47:20):
the average American, once they graduate high school or college
reads not even one book a year. I mean, that's busting.
So. So in my mind, they pick it up,
they leaf through it and then goand they put it back down so

(47:43):
it's less than one. They don't even get to the last
page of one book. How do you feel about that,
Samantha? That's I don't, I guess I don't
understand. I don't know.
I don't understand it. My husband doesn't read.
I, I read a lot. I try to read everyday and I I I
mean you don't you don't better your views on anything by not.

(48:10):
But you know, I I have a saying and I got it from somewhere, so
it's not original. I just don't remember who said
it. But basically, if you don't read
or no, if you refuse to read, you will never become more than
average. I don't know about you, but
average ain't enough for me. Yeah, yeah.

(48:32):
OK, I read between 80 and 100 books a year.
OK, Every day I'm sitting down for an hour, an hour and a half,
make sure that I'm reading. And, you know, this is this is
my current pile right on my table here.
And that section right there, that's books that I still have

(48:54):
to read. There's around 20 over there.
Yeah. So I got plenty on the reading
do. You read a variety of different
types. Yes, yeah, I, I, I read, you
know, so I just got Warrior Diplomat by Michael Waltz.

(49:16):
He was a Green Beret and he's now a congressman.
And I'm told it's a very, very good book and do as I say, not
as I do profiles and liberal hypocrisy.
I thought that was a great. One.
Yeah, yeah. Glenn Beck arguing with idiots.
OK, so now there are a number ofones.

(49:37):
Any I just, you know, because I haven't had time.
I just retired on July 1st and now I want the time to read.
Yeah. So I really enjoyed.
So you asked about 5 things. Here's the fifth thing.
Talk with other people that are similarly minded to you and
learn from them. OK, Now you always want to hang

(50:01):
out with people that are smarterthan you are.
Samantha, you know, for example,let's say you like tennis and do
you know how how it goes in tennis?
If you're a A1 O, you suck. If you're a 5 O, you're
excellent. OK, so my wife was like A-35 or
A4 O very, very good until she hurt her collarbone.

(50:23):
OK, but if I'm a three O, Yeah, right.
But if I'm a three O, I'm not going to hang out with people
that are a 2O. Yeah, I want to hang out with
people that are 4 O. Right.
Prove my game, make me work harder, make me think better.
So you want to hang out with people that'll make you grow?

(50:44):
Yep, yeah, I can't wait until myhusband gets home today and I'm
going to tell him he's just average because he doesn't read.
You refuse to read. You will never be more than ever
because you know most leaders are readers.
OK? And if you took a poll of CE OS,

(51:07):
on average you'd find they read about 60 books a year.
OK. OK.
And it's a reason why they're wealthy.
They're well read. That's one of the reasons, yeah.
That makes sense. Yeah, those are all really good,
really good suggestions. I I did my first Iowa caucus

(51:27):
this year. I was a caucus captain for
Trump. And so it was very nerve
wracking because. I.
Thank you. It was a great night.
It was nerve wracking. It was nerve wracking because I
gave a speech and everything andI'd never been to caucus before.
And I was like, we're doing this, you know, I just fully
immersed myself in it. And you.
Haven't given a speech before. Not in front of that many

(51:52):
people, and really not, I mean, I guess.
It's a good skill to sharpen. Yeah, it in it, I mean, I always
did well in college. And so then I guess aside from
that and the the college I went to, we have a a botanical center
and I would kind of give tours and guided tours, but not not

(52:14):
speeches or anything. So it was, yeah.
Aside from college, I hadn't really done how many?
People were you speaking to at the caucus?
Maybe, maybe 300 tops. Wonderful.
But yeah, it oh, I can't believeyou couldn't see me shaking from
the I was so nervous. It's.
OK to shake. Yeah, but I my goal with the

(52:37):
next election is to do the same and try and recruit more people
closer to my age because no one's no one's going to caucus
like it. I was probably the youngest
person there aside from one friend that I made go and.
You may want to make that as a goal.
Yeah. Next year.
Yeah, yeah. And you know, in so far as being

(53:01):
in front of 300 people, Samantha, if you got 100 people
about your age in a room and youasked how many would be willing
to stand up and give a speech infront of 300 people, it would be
woefully small. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I, I think a, a lot of people like what's with a couple of the

(53:23):
five things that you mentioned? People are afraid of new, new
experiences. They're afraid to do something
for the first time. So it's like, OK, well, now that
I've done it and I can explain it to other people, maybe we can
get some more people to get off the couch and make some more
change. More afraid to get out of their
comfort zone. You, you, you.

(53:44):
You have the most growth when you are out of your comfort
zone. Yeah.
So if you find yourself in your comfort zone, get the hell out.
Yep, I like that. Yeah, I think those are really
good. I'm going to suggest these these

(54:05):
tips to. Sit down with your husband.
Yeah. Oh yeah, he's I'm.
Going to have a zoom with me I'll talk to.
Him, yeah, yeah, he does great. He just, you know, he just.
Oh well, let me give just, you know, one commercial.
So my my website, I am the equalopportunity critic.

(54:27):
My website is EO critic dot com.You could sign up for a bi
weekly newsletter. It is free for the foreseeable
future. I call it the equal opportunity
times. How does that sound?
I like it. Better than the Sunday memo,
Better neighbor, right? So I send that out basically
8:00 AM every other Sunday. And my book, Erasing America,

(54:50):
Broken Politics, Broken Country,is available throughout the
Galaxy on Amazon. Yes, yes, I found I found it on
Amazon last night and I sent, I actually sent the link to my
husband. I'm like, hey, we're going to
get this book. Thank you.
Yeah. Well, this has been a lot of
fun, Samantha. Yeah, yeah.
Is there anything else that you wanted to discuss or?

(55:17):
I think you should run for Congress.
Do not set your sights too low because you might achieve them.
I actually was thinking like starting with City Council and
working. Good, that's a good place to
start. Yeah, yeah, that's, I don't
know, I, I feel maybe I'm not asbuttoned up as I need to be to,

(55:39):
to step into the political world.
You will. You will never be, you will
never be more ready than you aretoday.
OK? There is never any perfect time
to start something, and you knowthat that guy, Grant Cardone,
you know, he said Say yes and then figure out how to do it.

(56:02):
Yeah, I like that, yes. OK, so that puts you under the
gun to figure out how am I goingto get this done because I
already said. Yes.
Yeah, that makes sense. Makes you grow whether you like
it or. Not yeah, yeah, sometimes a
little bit of pressure is. Well, that's a lot of pressure.

(56:23):
Yeah, yeah, true, true. Yeah, I'm one of those people
that works better under stress. So it's.
I totally get that. Yeah, yeah.
Awesome. I really enjoyed this
conversation. Yeah.
We we could do it again sometime, yeah, after some big
change and we'll see what happens and we could debate
that. Yeah, yeah, I like that.