December 11, 2024 • 55 mins
Summary
In this engaging conversation, Kathy Barnette and Joe Penland discuss the importance of community, the role of non-state actors in society, and the personal journeys that shape their perspectives. They explore themes of giving, the American dream, and the significance of diversity of thought over diversity of color. The discussion highlights the challenges and barriers faced in society while emphasizing the need for personal responsibility and the power of helping others. In this conversation, Kathy Barnette discusses her reflections on racism, personal growth, and the importance of focusing on economic strength rather than divisive issues. She emphasizes the need for individuals to take responsibility for change, acknowledges the historical context of race relations, and warns against the dangers of unsustainable national debt and the threat of communism. Throughout the dialogue, Barnette highlights the commonalities among people despite their differences and advocates for strong leadership to guide the nation towards a better future.
Takeaways
Community building is essential for creating a force for change.
Non-state actors play a crucial role in shaping society.
Personal experiences of adversity can lead to greater empathy and community support.
Giving is a blessing that benefits both the giver and receiver.
Helping others is a fundamental part of the American story.
The American dream is rooted in hard work and personal responsibility.
Diversity of thought is more important than diversity of color.
Barriers exist, but opportunities are available for those who seek them.
Leadership is needed to address the challenges facing America today.
We must focus on unity and collective action in times of crisis. Racism exists, but personal growth is more important.
Economic strength is crucial for national security.
People are not as different as they are made to believe.
Individuals have a role in shaping the future of the country.
Historical context should not define current identities.
Strong leadership is necessary for national stability.
National debt is a pressing issue that needs addressing.
Unsustainable debt can lead to national decline.
Communism poses a significant threat to freedom.
Personal responsibility is key to societal progress.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Community Building
02:09 The Role of Non-State Actors in Society
03:30 Personal Journey and Community Impact
06:11 Overcoming Adversity and Personal Growth
10:27 The Blessing of Giving and Community Support
12:52 The Importance of Helping Others
15:54 The American Dream and Personal Responsibility
18:12 Color and Opportunity in America
21:30 Diversity of Thought vs. Diversity of Color
24:51 Barriers and Opportunities in Society
27:36 Reflections on Racism and Personal Growth
30:44 The Importance of Economic Strength
33:38 Common Ground Amidst Differences
36:30 The Role of Individuals in Change
39:53 Acknowledging Historical Context
42:40 The Need for Strong Leadership
45:33 Addressing National Debt and Social Security
49:18 The Dangers of Unsustainable Debt
53:01 The Threat of Communism and the Value of Freedom
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Well, hello, Mr.
Joe Penland.
How are you?
I'm doing fine, Kathy, and yourself?
I am doing well.
Thank you so much for being a part, coming on to the Kathy Barnett podcast.
To everyone who's listening, make sure you are liking, subscribing, hitting thatnotification button, and of course, share, as well as leave a comment.
(00:24):
This is all about us creating our own community and being a force to reckon with.
So, Mr.
Joe.
Thank you again for coming on.
You know, I met you maybe, I don't even know.
It feels like I've known you a little bit longer than what I think we have actuallystarted talking with one another maybe a couple of months ago.
(00:45):
But immediately when I went out to your website at joefortexas.com and I started talkingto some mutual friends of ours, you...
put me in mind of there's this documentary called Men Who Built America.
It's the Vanderbilt, the Carnegie, the Rockefellers, the JP Morgan, the Henry Ford.
(01:11):
It was, and I watched this documentary as well as read the book.
And when it came out,
But fast forward to today, I'm looking around, I'm looking at the Tucker Carlson's, theElon Musk of a vague Ramaswamis.
It is the Joe Penlands.
It's these non-state actors.
(01:31):
You're not elected officials.
You're members of the society.
They call you non-state actors, if you didn't know that already.
But you are making a difference.
And when I heard about you, read about you, met you, I immediately thought about the JPMorgan's, the men who were not elected officials, but rose up at such a time that they
(01:56):
were needed in the nation to direct the country in the way that they should go.
And obviously, if you look from what, you know, the Vanderbilt's and everyone else, we'vebenefited greatly.
And here you are.
today, did you sense that you were this man of growing importance on a national andinternational stage or is it just something you fell into?
(02:20):
Well, I've always felt important to my children and my family and my employees.
And then over the time that we grew as a business, I've become that I was known more inthe community and we started helping, being able to help more people in the community.
And as you helped,
Kathy, you see that there's a lot more need because you start looking further and furtheraway from your circle and you look further out there.
(02:46):
And that's what got me to pay in closer attention to people in other counties and in otherstates.
And that's why I started looking at this, this situation that we have right now, whatwe're under this, this horrible situation financially as a nation.
know, being a child on social security back in the fifties,
And then hearing a few years ago that Social Security was in trouble again and was goingto run out within another 10 years got me to wondering what could I do?
(03:14):
You know, because we help people here, our local foundation, we help people in our area.
But how can you help the millions of people across America?
We have to get out of Beaumont, Texas.
And that's why we started this journey that says JoefromTexas.com.
And what a journey it's been, actually.
You were one of the primary sponsors for the Tucker Carlson tour that went across theentire nation.
(03:40):
I think you guys did 16 or 18 stops across the country.
Well, we were scheduled to do 16.
One of them got canceled because of the hurricane, but we're actually going to we're goingto reschedule that.
think it's for next week.
We are going to pick that one back up.
It's not in the same city, obviously, because that city had a lot of problems with thehurricane.
(04:00):
But I think we're going to go back to one of the swing states and that'll finish the tour.
that was, that was something life changing for me because I got to actually speak in frontof tens of thousands of people and meet just a hundreds and hundreds of people each night,
just firsthand.
And that was a great experience.
I mean, that was so awesome.
I got to meet you and some of your team members.
(04:24):
behind the stage at the Tucker Carlson tour that came to Reading, Pennsylvania.
It was amazing.
It was tens of thousands of people under one roof.
And we're actually gonna show a little bit of that clip and specifically the story youtold about your infamous cousin, Andy.
(04:46):
I still remember that.
And I love the point of freedom.
Can you share that?
Well, yeah, that was, I think we all have a cousin that we didn't really, when excitedwhen mom said that Billy or Susie was coming over and ours was Andy.
So it seemed like we always got in trouble when Andy got there and Andy had considerablymore than us and he let us know it.
(05:13):
And so I just didn't like spending time with Andy and that's why that story came out.
Yeah, you know, and one of the things, you know, and I want people to get to know youbecause again, I think you are going to be one of those names that generations from now
will be talking about in the same sense of the Vanderbilt and the Carnegie.
(05:34):
It's a different level of influence.
You're not, I mean, you are a man in your own right, have, you know, tremendousaccomplishments and your own inventions and you're an entrepreneur in your own right as
well as Vivek Ramaswamy and others.
But today, the impact you're making is one of, you know, a national discourse about who weare, what our priorities are, why Americans need to get engaged like never before.
(06:03):
And I think when that story gets told, names like yours is going to be mentioned in there.
And so you're up there.
But you haven't always been in this position.
You talked in that story about Andy, about your own struggles as a family.
Talk to me, tell us a little bit about that, who you are.
(06:25):
Well, you know, that starts back in 1950 in Frisco, Texas, when I was born and we stayedthere from 1950 to 1960.
My father had a bad stroke in 1957 and...
Unfortunately, he was an alcoholic and we didn't have any reserve.
He was not a bad dad.
I don't want to paint that picture because he was not.
He just drank up everything that we didn't consume at that time.
(06:49):
So two weeks after he was in the VA hospital, we didn't have enough to eat and we fell onsome severe hard times.
My mom had four little boys to take care of.
So she took in laundry from the neighbors just to feed us.
Took a while and finally we started getting a little social security check.
Several months later, dad got out of the hospital, but he couldn't do anything.
So that was just another mouth to feed.
(07:11):
And that went on for a few years and then he passed away.
And I know people struggle and we struggled and there was nothing wrong with working andgetting up every morning, going to work, coming after school and working.
All those things are good.
It's just when you see people that are struggling beyond what they can do.
And we were struggling beyond what we could do.
(07:31):
There's no way, we just could not keep up.
And when people brought us things from the church and food to eat and clothes and things,I never forgot that mama taught us that lesson on why people were doing it and why they
were happy to do it and why they felt so they glowed when they walked away from the doorthat they were so appreciative that we were letting, we were blessing them.
(07:52):
I never understood the blessing until mama explained it to me.
But isn't that interesting?
mean like double click on that for a minute, Joe.
Isn't that interesting?
Is that?
I mean, it is a blessing when someone has extra resources and they have the ability togive it to someone else.
How, in fact, not only is the person who's receiving the gift is blessed, but the one whois giving is blessed and feel good about themselves.
(08:22):
Double click on that a little bit.
OK, well, you know, when we had a gentleman came to our door late in the year that year,
and had a double-armed load of groceries to give my mom.
And he was so happy and smiling the whole time and thanked her when he walked away fromthe door.
said, thank you, Miss Pilling, for the blessing.
(08:44):
And we shut the door and we had the groceries and I asked her, how did she bless him?
And she said, Joe, that's what God wants us to do.
He wants us to help each other.
And I said, well, I don't understand.
She said, well, you will someday.
A month later went by and that same gentleman knocked on the door and I answered the doorand he said,
Can I speak to your mom?
So I went and got her.
This time he had a lady with him.
(09:06):
And when mom came to the door, said, Miss Pellin, do you remember me?
And she said, yes, I do.
He said, I'm from First Baptist Frisco.
I have some more groceries for your Christmas dinner.
My wife has some presents for your boys and clothes.
I know you can use the help.
And so mama was so happy and they looked at one another and they were happy, but they weresmiling, but they were crying.
(09:28):
Tears were running down.
I'm coming on eight years old.
I'm trying to figure out what's going on.
And he said, Ms.
Penland, this is the best Christmas me and my wife have ever had.
Thank you for blessing our family and I'll see you later.
So when they left and we brought that inside, I asked mama, said, you're going to have toexplain this.
I don't understand.
These people are not kin to us.
(09:48):
I don't know these people and how are we continuing to bless these people?
And she said, Joe, me my Bible.
And so I handed her a Bible that she thumped through it like she did every night.
And she came to her passage and she said, the king says, when you've done for the least ofmine, you've done unto me.
And she closed the Bible and she said, do you understand?
I said, no, ma'am.
(10:09):
said, but sit down and let me explain it.
So she explained it.
And when she got through us, well, mama, not if I can, but when I can, I'll help somebodyevery day.
Cause I want to be happy like that man and lady are.
my goodness.
And I'm tearing up just hearing it because it is.
It's not, it is the story of the Bible, but not just the story of the Bible, but it is thestory of our country as well.
(10:35):
I remember growing up on a little pig farm in Southern Alabama.
I mean, we were so poor.
We lived in a house with no installation, no running water, outhouse in the back, well onthe side.
But I was so rich in love.
I had no idea as a kid how poor we were because in a farm, you know, you had everythingyou need, but we were...
(10:56):
extremely impoverished, but I remember my grandfather slaughtering a hog and me sitting inthe front cab with him as he drove from house to house in our little community, sharing a
portion of our wealth.
I remember as a little girl waking up and someone had left a bunch of collard greens onthe front porch and just kind of drove off.
(11:19):
And that really is the story of the Bible, but also the story of this country.
of where we come alongside people and we help the least of us.
And it's a blessing to help.
And yet we've gotten into a point in this nation where we have a lot of victim mentalityindividuals where they feel like it's our obligation to help them.
(11:46):
And now not just Americans, but illegals who are coming on receiving social securitybenefits as if it's their right.
Well, I mean, that's a great point because, know, we're not we're we're born here.
The good Lord gave us all life and we're created equal and we're supposed to start outthat way and we're supposed to do the very best we can.
(12:07):
And, you know, I don't mind helping people that strongly need help.
That's really and I don't want to help somebody just because they expect it.
That's not that you don't get the joy that way.
My joy is helping thousands of people that I'll never meet that I know need the help.
And we know me, Lyndon the good Lord know we've done some good.
(12:27):
And that's what we're trying to do now on the journey I'm on right now.
I can help a few thousand people around here, but I can't help millions of people unless Iget out of Beaumont.
And that's why we got on the tour.
And that's why there's Joe from Texas.
And that's the reason we're doing what we're doing.
And that's why we came up with the contract from the American people with 10 things that Iknow are vitally important to 340 million Americans.
(12:50):
And that's what we're up to right now.
and we're gonna get it done.
Well, I love that.
And before I move from this particular topic, I think it is, again, not just a biblicalprinciple of reciprocity.
Whatever you sow, you will reap, and that when you do it to the least, you are actuallydoing it to Jesus.
(13:13):
You know, that was one of the parables of Jesus.
I read this not too long ago to my daughter, maybe a couple of days ago, of where Jesussaid,
the parable where he said that I'm going to say, did you give me water?
Did you give someone drink?
Then you gave it to me.
Then the person says, well, when did I ever give you water?
(13:35):
Again, he says, when you did it to the least, you did it to me.
Yes, that is an absolute principle within the Bible, but also a part of the American storyof just this natural.
What I grew up watching and what I see even among my neighbors today is this heart ofgenerosity and to do it happily.
(13:59):
But I think there's a lot of resentment that is beginning to ferment in the hearts of manyAmericans that will cause us to look at me, myself, and I versus my neighbor and the
greater good only because it's this cloud of
you know, reparations, you need to give me something.
(14:22):
You need to take and give it to me, make us all equitable, which of course will neverhappen.
Well, you're right.
You know, the good is when you're giving people and it's out of your heart.
When you have to do something, kind of takes the shine away.
And that's what I see is happening to America today.
(14:43):
know, I've crisscrossed America like we've been doing, I see that people are actually alot like me and you.
They love America.
They want to make it on their own.
They want to help people that they know are down and out.
They appreciate the fact that we live in a great country and they know our country is indecline because of the leadership and they want to step up and do something to help it.
(15:06):
You want to step up and do something to help your community and this country.
There's no two ways about it.
And that's what America's about is pulling together when times are down.
That's when you have to all pull together.
When times are good, people waste too much.
They don't understand it.
When you were a child and I was a child, we didn't know we were poor.
We knew we had a lot of love around us and look where you are today.
(15:29):
I mean, you've done this yourself.
Nobody handed you behind that mic.
You did it.
And that's what America is supposed to be about.
It's not because you're a female or I'm a guy.
That has nothing to do with it.
It's what's in your heart and what's in your gut is how you make what you make.
(15:50):
Now, if somebody just walks up and gives it to you, you don't appreciate it anyway.
You have to earn it.
And that's what America is about working and earning and taking care of one another.
Yeah, you know, I mean, I've certainly earned where I am.
I'm grateful to God.
know, Revelations chapter three, Jesus said that I set before you an open door ofopportunity that no man can close.
(16:13):
Or if I close it, no one can open.
And I've often said it is God who has set doors of opportunities in front of me to walkthrough.
But
He uses our hands to hold that door open.
And as I look through out my life and I look at the hands that were on that door, theyweren't always people who looked like me.
(16:35):
Black people.
In fact, I can only think of one black person who held the door open for me to walkthrough.
was always a white hand on that door.
And I say that I would tell that story to my children and to the public when
You know, especially, you know, starting in 20, you know, starting when Obama got inoffice, all of a sudden, the color of my skin was supposed to define me.
(17:01):
And and because of the color of my skin, I'm supposed to feel like a victim and that I'msupposed to feel like people who are not black or my oppressors.
And that's a lie.
I reject that.
because of how my own experience of living through life and being honest to that story.
(17:21):
So you're absolutely correct.
And I believe that a lot of people are, you I can sense it.
People are feeling oppressed because of the horrible leadership we've had to live underthese past three and a half years.
But let me go back to what you were talking about, your own upbringing, because you arecertainly not that little poor kid
(17:45):
in Colleen, Texas any longer.
You have done quite well for yourself.
And I think this too is a testament to America and to that and a testament to an attitudeof not sitting around waiting for someone to make right by you.
Can you share a little bit of that part of your story?
(18:08):
Well, I think coming up, poor,
and not having the money to go off to college and so forth and working, you know, helpingyourself go through school, helping your younger children in the family, your younger
brother and helping mom feed, actually feed us.
It taught me a lot of a lesson of how to become a man early in life.
(18:33):
And I think, you know, if you're going to make a knife, you have to temper it slow.
can't do it real quick.
And so you learn these things as you grow.
And I knew that I wanted to get off of the street I lived on because I had some, I relatedthat to being poor.
I wanted to get off the street.
I didn't want to go to college.
I wanted to get out and get a full-time job so I could help my mom and help myself.
(18:57):
And it teaches you, those hard roads teach you a lot of lessons.
Don't go back down that road.
It's a bumpy road.
Don't do that one no more.
Find something smoother.
And there's always a...
a brighter day and a new horizon.
So I knew I needed to get off that.
So I guess actually I look at it as a blessing because I know I came up a way that I didnot want to go back to as a grownup.
(19:23):
And I wanted to help people that was in that same situation.
And if you experience it, then you know how to relate back to it.
You know, and getting if I can touch a little bit on your color and my color and let'sjust go there for a minute.
Okay.
People use that in a lot of wrong ways.
I had cancer a few years ago, many years ago.
(19:45):
I had kidney cancer.
And when they told me I had that, I wanted to get to MD Anderson as quick as I could.
I wanted to get the problem solved and get back on with life.
I did not care if the surgeon was black, white, male or female.
I wanted the best.
When you ride an airplane,
You want the best pilot that American Airlines has.
(20:08):
If you get in an accident, you want the best ambulance driver to get there.
You want the best teacher for your children.
When you want the best for your family and your country, you don't see color.
You don't see, is it a man or a woman?
You want the best.
And we need to always strive to have the best for our family and our country.
(20:29):
And if it happens to be a black man, I'm for that.
If it happens to be a black woman, I'm for that.
Matter of fact, the surgeon that operated on me was a black man.
The lady that came back after I had complications to follow up was a white woman.
That was fine with me.
Matter of fact, I slept the seven and half hours.
(20:49):
I wasn't having to eat with them or be off with them.
What you want is you want the best for yourself and more importantly for your family andmore importantly than that for this country.
We need to get the chip off our shoulder.
and go with who will do the best for this country.
And we know that we don't have that in Washington today.
And that's why we have to change.
(21:10):
Absolutely.
And what was really interesting is when I was running for US Senate here in the state ofPennsylvania against Dr.
Oz and several others back in 2022, every time I had an open air and outside rally, BlackLives Matter would show up.
every single time to protest against me.
(21:33):
And there was not a black person in the bunch of them.
It was all a bunch of white, young kids wearing Prada or Louis Vuitton or Veronica Beardblazer.
And I would get off the stage when I was done and I would do a beeline to these littlekids, because they're children and they have no idea what it is that they're talking
(21:56):
about.
They don't...
understand that you're literally protesting a Black woman who have the blood of slavescoursing through her veins, but you have been brainwashed that there is no diversity of
thought.
You're looking at diversity of color.
And as a Black person, you know, I do acknowledge that color exists and that being Black,being a woman, being shorter than I would like,
(22:25):
All of these things have influenced me and how I show up in the world, but it's not themost important thing that identifies who I am.
Diversity of thought is far more important than diversity of color.
And what I have tried to explain over the years is that, you know, Black people especiallyis not benefiting.
(22:48):
Well, I'll tell you, I'll tell you what, Kathy, we don't use that when we look at sports.
Because think about that, you know, I mean, they'll tell you that we need to have 20 % oncontract contractors.
We have to award so many contracts to minorities.
Okay.
20%.
But we don't, we don't look at that when we look at professional baseball, football orbasketball.
(23:10):
But that owner of that team wants the very best player he can put out there on the court.
Cause that's what fills the bleachers up.
And when you look out there, then then all of a sudden the percentage of people doesn'tadd up.
When you look at basketball, if I turned on the basketball, the turned on basketball day,and there was no black people playing basketball, wouldn't it be many people watch that
(23:34):
sport because they dominate it because they play so well.
They can shoot 50 from mid court.
They can run fast.
They get higher and they get paid millions of dollars on their ability, not their color.
On their ability.
That's what fills the stands up.
Not a bunch of people that are white or black or whatever, they want to win.
(23:56):
They want the banner.
They want the trophy.
So that's why the owners hire the best.
And if that happens to be a guy that can throw the ball 100 miles an hour and he's a blackpitcher, he gets the job.
Or if it happens to be a white pitcher that can do it, he gets the job.
don't have a color barrier when we look at sports.
(24:17):
Look at Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest boxers ever was.
that will ever be.
He just happened to be a black man.
But he showed everybody he would he would even tell you what round he was gonna knock hisopponent out.
That's how good he was.
Now did he get that job?
Did he get that title because he was black?
No, he got it because he was the greatest boxer to ever get into the ring.
(24:42):
I'm sure I'm sure but I'm sure Joe you would you would acknowledge that there has beenbarriers and then the history of this country.
that there has been barriers to entry into different industries and different professions,hurdles, obstacles that have been placed in front of the best because of the color of
(25:05):
their skin.
Like that is a part of the history of this country.
You would acknowledge that, right?
I personally have never had any problem with that.
Because, you know, grass for a living, didn't matter what color you were.
Picking cotton.
In Frisco, Texas, the whole families went to the cotton field.
Wow.
(25:25):
daddy's children, all of us went.
They let school And I can appreciate that.
can appreciate that.
for me, I've never had that problem.
And working where I worked, hanging iron, hanging steel around the country, if you havenerve enough to get up there five or six or 700 feet, speaks to your 70 stories, you got
the job.
It wasn't a color barrier for me as whether you could, whether you can handle the job.
(25:46):
Now, do I see that today?
Do I hear a lot of that today?
Obviously you do.
You know, we have a lot of distractions in America today to keep us from being focused onthe real issue.
Like today, there's all kinds of hot buttons and distractions that the media puts outthere to keep America not paying attention to the border, not paying attention to the
(26:09):
debt, not paying attention to a lot of things that you talk about that I've heard you talkabout before.
But is there barriers out there?
Sure, there is.
There was barriers that women couldn't even vote just a few years ago.
If you look at just a snapshot of time, that wasn't right.
You know, they couldn't own land.
There's all kinds of things.
If we can go back far enough to find a problem.
(26:30):
And I think when they built the pyramids, they used slaves then and most of them werewhite.
Yeah.
I agree.
I agree with you.
I do because.
You know, I say to my children, I only get 24 hours in a day, and I have to figure out howI'm going to best use my time.
(26:52):
I am here, we're all here for a short amount of time, and then it's a wrap, and you'regone, right?
And there is no second act here in this life, in this time-space continuum.
It's over.
And so I try to be as diligent with my time and as best of a steward with my time that Ipossibly can be.
(27:15):
And yes, I can walk into a space growing up the way that I grew up in the very deep ruralsouth of Alabama.
I know what racism feels like.
I know what it feels like when someone feels some kind of way because of the color of yourskin.
But now I'm a grown woman.
I'm many decades past that.
(27:36):
that time when I lived in that space.
But, you know, those things are still kind of rooted inside of you.
So I can walk into a space today up here outside of Philadelphia, and maybe people arebehaving a certain way.
And like I say to my kids, how much of my time?
Should I set aside to trying to figure out if this person likes me or doesn't like me andif they don't like me because of the color of my skin or because I'm a woman or because of
(28:06):
this, that, and the third?
Or should I use my time to try to be the best person I can be?
Which one is a better equation for me?
I acknowledge and I believe racism exists.
I believe that our country had, had,
Prior to probably Obama getting into office, I think our country had done as good of a jobas it was pro- I think we had come to the point where racism being a hindrance to someone
(28:38):
like myself was as low as it had ever been.
And since Obama took office, I feel as though it is probably as high as it has ever beenin my lifetime.
And I don't think we're better off because we have Black Lives Matter.
(28:58):
I don't think we're better off because we have Antifa.
I don't think, you know, and these people who constantly put a spotlight on everymicroaggression they see, I don't think our hyperfocus on the color of my skin today has
made me more free or have presented me with more opportunities.
(29:21):
In fact, I feel the opposite.
I feel less opportunities now because people are having such a rejection to what is beingshoved down their throats.
What do you think?
Well, I didn't like castor oil when I was little and they shoved it down the throat.
I hate castor oil.
(29:42):
Yeah, I'd have to say anything that shoved down your throat generally doesn't taste well.
No doesn't.
can agree with that.
know, I came my goodness.
I came up through the 50s and the 60s.
I came up through whenever we got a lot of bad put behind this country.
And like you say, it was going in a pretty good direction and things were getting betterevery day for people.
(30:08):
us as kids going to school, we never knew that there was a difference.
Society started pointing it out later.
You know, you knew it, you was a child and you were poor and I was a child and I was poor.
But you know, if we look at your childhood and mine, it wasn't a lot different.
We were both poor.
You know, it didn't matter.
(30:28):
And we had love and our parents or grandparents read the Bible to us and all that.
And maybe that's why me and you made it.
We didn't make it on our color.
We made it because of who we are and our family and what's in our heart.
And I mean, and that's it.
Like I said, there's too many distractions out there.
I'm not a politician.
I don't hit the hot buttons.
don't look, I don't get out there and discuss all of the things that are, that I think arecontroversial because that wasn't my mission.
(30:55):
My mission was to go out here and see if I could make people understand that we weresuffering financially.
And the only way to help this country is to get our country back on its feet financially,because we have to have a strong military to keep our superpower status.
And the only way you can is to have a strong economy.
And those two things work hand in hand.
(31:16):
And if you don't have a strong economy, you don't have a strong military, the rest ofthese things that are distractions, don't take us all down anyway.
I agree.
I'm going to get back to this.
But let me just say, I have not heard anyone talk about having to take castor oil.
Castor oil.
Yes.
Yes.
(31:36):
Well, I call it castor oil, but yes.
And I bought some when I had my own kids.
Like, this is a rite of passage for children.
But I read the back of the bottle and it said, not for internal use.
I don't think they were supposed to give that stuff to us.
(31:56):
If you guys, if you who are listening don't know what I'm talking about, you haveliterally missed out on, I mean, it was horrible, but it was a rite of passage, I think,
to every child.
I don't know, maybe only poor people took that.
I have no idea.
We took it.
We took it and it you out.
(32:18):
That's what my grandmama says.
So we took it.
Anyway, I just had to pause there.
I know I kind of went on a squirrel moment, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone I canidentify with actually taking that stuff.
It is so gross.
But we took it every year.
Anyway, that's they hailed your nose because it was gross.
(32:39):
a piece of peppermint candy.
remember my grandmother, my brother and I, we would wake up in the morning.
And if we saw the castor oil bottle sitting on top of the stove, we would stay outside foras long as we could stay outside, thinking somehow she will forget.
But when we came in, grandmama had it, pinched our nose, somebody held us, and we had totake this nasty stuff.
(33:05):
But we're healthy.
I I don't recall ever having to go to the doctor.
Yeah, there you go.
I know.
OK, let's get back on topic.
Because, I think this is so important that not only are you and I different in the factthat I'm a woman and you're a man, not only are we different in the fact that you're white
and I'm Black, not only are we different and that what are the different, differentgenerations that we have grown up in.
(33:38):
One of the things I would say to people all the time when I speak to them is that we arenot as different as some would have us to believe.
And, you know, like when I would, you know, when I was on the debate stage and they wouldsay, Kathy, you're Black.
Yeah, I am.
I've Black all my life.
And they would say, well, speak to us about what do Black people want?
(33:59):
And I would start with Black people are not special little unicorns.
We want what everyone else wants.
Do you want good schools?
Do you want safe streets?
Do you want liquor stores on every street corner?
Or do you want thriving businesses that will increase your tax base and your schools andelevate so much around you?
(34:21):
But I understand from a political perspective, from an industry perspective, their job isto segment us because if they can segment us into smaller and smaller categories, they can
control us, control the information better.
And usually it doesn't benefit the ones who are being segmented.
It benefits those much higher up in the food chain.
(34:44):
But I think this is what is needed.
I'm so grateful for what you and several others sponsored in order for Tucker Carlson togo around the nation and bring different voices up on stage and just have a conversation.
I am hopeful that as we...
move into 2025, we do what exactly what you and I are doing right now.
(35:08):
Getting in front of people, we have a lot of differences on the outside and on paper, butat the end of the day, what matters, we're not that far off from one another.
And I believe that's true for the entire nation.
I think you're right.
I mean, there's no two ways about it.
We're all God's people.
And if we just focus on that, then you really don't have a lot of problems.
(35:32):
That's what I say.
I want people to progress in this country.
I want them to all do better.
You want your kids to have more than you had.
You want your grandkids to have it easier than that.
And to the point that I think we've gotten to where we want things to be too easy for ourchildren and our grandchildren.
And we got away from how we had it when we were there.
(35:52):
It's okay to work.
There's nothing wrong with work.
Hard work is okay.
I don't think hard work kills anybody.
It'll get you tired.
You don't have to have all the things.
lot of people have to go to sleep at night.
I sleep pretty easy, you know, cause I still put in a full day and I'm sure you do too.
But we, we, we want to do better.
That's just in your DNA to want to do better.
(36:15):
There's nothing wrong with that, but nobody owes me better.
They don't owe me anything.
love that.
I love that.
And I love in that story that you, that you shared when you were on stage with TuckerCarlson.
November 6th is, it'll be 60 years, I think you said, that your father would have passedaway.
(36:38):
And you're going to vote on November 5th if you haven't already.
But the day after November 5th, November 6th, you're going to go to the grave where yourfather is and you're going to tell him, you said, I did what I could do while it was on my
watch to do it.
(36:58):
I think that is so profound because, and again, mean, literally you and I are so similarin the things that we speak about.
I have often said, especially within Republican circles, we love to quote our foundingfathers.
Our founding fathers said this, that, and the third, and I would say to them, our foundingfathers are no longer here.
(37:24):
But while they were here, they did their part.
to secure a better way for all of us.
While it was on their watch to do it, they did it.
And it reminded me of that, what I would say when I heard you say the same thing, you'regonna go and stand before your father and say, I did what I knew to do.
(37:45):
I think that is so profound that we are not helpless.
We do not have to keep pivoting to the federal government or somebody higher from a humanperspective to bail us out of everything.
but that each and every one of us have a role to play in pulling this country off theprecipice.
(38:05):
Well, you you said a lot right there and I appreciate that you remembered my speech thatmuch.
I'm impressed with that.
But you're a quick study when you listen to people and you convey yourself very well.
But you know, you touched on something about our forefathers and...
If you look back in time, you know, we're coming on 250 years here in a couple of years,but you think about all the things that went well in our nation and then all the things
(38:34):
that went bad in our nation.
And our politicians today, they always brag about how great this country is.
We're still, no matter what you tell them that's wrong, say, well, know, Joe, we stilllive in the best country in the world.
And I tell them all this too.
You didn't have anything to do with making it the best country in the world.
(38:54):
You inherited the best country in the world.
don't, you what you've got is you got your hand in making it not so good.
And we need to go back to what it was.
And I, and I think too, Kathy, that what happened years ago, that was, that was a bad timein America.
Nobody living today had anything to do with that.
(39:17):
We didn't have anything to do with that.
No matter what your great, great grandfather did or mine did or whatever.
That's not us.
People should not judge me or you on what happened 200 years ago.
They need to look at me and you and look at our accomplishments and see what kind ofpeople we are and judge us from that.
And that's what I'd like to see for America.
(39:38):
I would agree.
And yet, you know, we still have a ways to go in our country.
You know, I often say to people, you know, growing up in the manner in which I did, havingthe blood of slaves coursing through my veins.
and understanding science that those gametes are still a part of my DNA, that we inheritthem and it's kind of a blueprint in all of us, that I believe our country has done a
(40:06):
significant amount to right many of those wrongs that were inflicted upon people, Blackpeople, myself included, or my lineage included.
And we are not a perfect nation.
But I do believe there is no one running a close second.
(40:27):
However, as I stand here today, you're absolutely correct.
These politicians have done nothing to really contribute to America being as great as itis, but they are working overtime to sully every good thing about us.
And as I look at the geopolitics of the world, I mean, right off the top of my head,
(40:49):
I was talking to a friend, I can name 17 different wars that are going on all around theworld and America is somehow intertwined in almost all of them.
And I'm looking at our dominance.
Although we are a dominant nation, that has quickly shifted with Iran, with primarilyChina, India, Russia, specifically Russia and China and their relationship.
(41:16):
and how that is growing.
And we have now not a unipolar dominant power, the US, but it is a multipolar dominancewith these other nations that are rising.
And it gives me great concern of what is happening to our country and where the inevitableprogression of this is going to go if we do not stop it today.
(41:45):
And that is why, I mean, I was just in tears when I was at the Tech Across St.
Conference because I'm thinking of all of these different inputs and how truly as simpleas it might be, because most of us think about the presidents and federal and all, it
starts with individuals like yourself standing up and saying, what can I do to beeffective right here?
(42:12):
with the resources that I have, or small, and you did that.
And that, I believe, is what is going to change this nation, is by awakening our people.
And when you told that story about Andy taking away your freedom, it was, and how you beathim up, how you engage to make sure he did not take your freedom.
(42:40):
We're not advocating people go out here and literally enter into a fist fight, but we are.
We have to encourage people and inspire people to get involved in making sure no one takesyour freedom away from you.
Well, absolutely.
I talk a lot of times about the freedom and look at World War I and World War II and Koreaand the depression and all the bad things that have happened to America.
(43:10):
in a short period of time, but we always take it head on and we come out on top.
know, that's, we stand up for ourselves and we stand up for our neighbors.
And that's what we should always do.
And I, you know, I'm not the guy that's going to walk down the sidewalk and see a womanbeing beaten or molested and just walk by and take, and gonna take my phone and record it.
(43:32):
I'm going to get involved and I shouldn't probably, but I will.
That's just in my DNA.
I'm going to stand up for you.
Kathy, if somebody's picking on you, I'm gonna stand up for you.
That's just what I, that's how I was raised.
And if it's Andy, well then Andy will get what he's got coming.
Yes, I love it.
Right before I let you go, I just want to touch on your contract for America.
(43:53):
I was up this morning looking at the U.S.
debt clock.
A lot of people don't talk about our debt.
You talk about it a lot.
So much so you created a contract.
But just so people know, our debt, I'm looking at it right now, our U.S.
national debt is $35.8 trillion.
And these numbers are, if you look at the U.S.
(44:15):
debt clock, just go there, you will see these numbers are constantly running.
But I went, maybe about a week ago, I was looking at the Social Security report and, youknow, they list a number of reasons why we are insolvent.
and will become really insolvent with our social security in a very short amount of time,but you created a contract and you spend a lot of time talking about the national debt,
(44:49):
controlling the debt, the social security.
You guys can go to JoefromTexas.com and you can go to the homepage and he has thiscontract from the American people.
And you've been taking this contract around, sitting with our elected officials andgetting them to sign on to this contract.
(45:10):
And you also ask people to sign, I signed, I signed my name to this contract as well.
These are very common sense things that if you want to protect your own, you would wantthis.
What kind of reception have you gotten from politicians and from people?
(45:33):
Well, we calculate we've touched on about 39 million people now that we've contacted inlast two and a half years.
In the last month, we contacted over 8,000 people in the swing states because we knowthat's what this battleground is.
Okay.
And we've got a lot of response and we've been in contact with President Trump.
(45:56):
We've visited with him.
We've been in contact with his team and I know we're on the right path here.
We need a real businessman back right now.
You may not like his demeanor, but let me tell you something.
He'll balance the budget if you give him enough time.
He needs eight years to do it, just like Bill Clinton took eight years to do it.
(46:16):
Bill Clinton's first four years, he didn't balance it not once, but he worked withRepublican Congress, with Newt Gingrich in the last four years.
They balanced the budget four times and paid it down twice.
Donald Trump was fixing to do that.
He was getting the con.
You have to get the economy going first and get 150, 160 million people working and thenCOVID come up.
(46:38):
So he got an unfair, that slapped him upside the head that he shouldn't have got.
That was no president could have done anything any different than that.
But you need somebody that can, that can get in there that's, that's had to work, had topay the bills, had to watch what you do.
Now, did he, did he accomplish everything he ever sent out to do?
Nobody does.
Is he perfect?
Nobody is.
(46:59):
The only time we ever had anything perfect in this country, on this earth, we nailed himon the cross.
I don't want to be perfect.
I want to get as close as I can to it.
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, I mean, it's a no brainer.
But I think when Donald Trump left office, he handed an inflation over to Joe Biden of1.2, 1.8 percent, I can't recall, but it's one of those two.
(47:24):
And now we're far removed from that.
I wasn't counting up 17 different wars, which means something to me, by the way, for anumber of reasons.
One of the reasons being my son just turned 18 and had to sign up for a selective service.
So I'm very mindful of the engagement, the entanglements we get ourselves involved inbecause we have a 25 % military deficit in our recruitment.
(47:52):
And so where are you going to find these able-bodied young men?
Right.
And I don't want what is happening to Ukraine to happen to our nation.
It's certainly not my son.
And so I love that you're doing this.
Over 39 million people you've touched with this contract and you're just Joe from Texas.
(48:12):
Looked around and said, what can I do?
And the response has been because it is just Joe from Texas.
I'm not a politician.
I'm not a celebrity.
I'm a hardworking guy.
I'm a God-fearing man that loves his family, loves his country.
And you're right.
You know, we've got a lot of things festering up around the world right now that's notgood.
(48:34):
You know, this world's always going to be a lot safer world if it's led by a strongAmerica, not by China or Russia.
And that's why we have to have a strong leader.
You know, things have happened around the world that would not have happened if we'd havekept a strong leader in Washington.
We have to do that.
We are the superpower.
We have some responsibilities that other countries don't have.
(48:55):
It just is what it is.
Our currency has always been the favorite currency.
We don't want to lose that.
There's so many things in jeopardy today that's going to affect us down the line.
And you touched on Social Security.
Almost 68 million people are drawing Social Security.
Five million of those people, Kathy, are raising their grandkids.
If you give them a 20 % or 25 % cut, that's an un-American thing to do.
(49:18):
and I'm fighting to make sure that Social Security gets reformed.
And that's what it has to do.
We have to reform it.
We can't turn our blind eye to it and let it go away.
You think about it when it started out in 1935.
The average age for me and you was 59.
The average age for me and you now is 78 or 80.
We've outgrown the program.
(49:39):
It needs to be reformed, but we can fix it.
It's the easiest program that we have right now that's in jeopardy to fix.
And it's arguably the best program and the most favorite program the American people haveever had.
We can't let these American people down.
They're elderly, a lot of them.
If you cut social security, you're going double the poverty rate overnight in elderlypeople.
(50:02):
That's an un-American event.
I know.
It's just so sad what is happening to our country.
And it doesn't have to be this way.
There is no reason why I think we have more than 20 million illegals in this country rightnow.
And the fact that they're drawing on Social Security makes no sense.
(50:25):
When you understand what it is you just shared with us, that we have our own and the needto take care of our own, as well as being strong enough that we have great influence in
the world, I believe both of those things can be accomplished.
but it doesn't have to be accomplished on the backs of or at the expense of Americancitizens, especially some of the most vulnerable ones.
(50:53):
Well, it took us about 220 years to get to one trillion dollars in debt.
So, you you can go a long time without running up that kind of debt.
You know, now look at what happened.
Ross Perot ran for office in 1992 and then he ran back in 1996.
And our debt was $4 trillion when he first put his hat in the ring.
(51:14):
Now we'll be 36 next month.
36, that's nine times what Ross Perot said was unsustainable.
And I can tell you, if we continue to stack debt on a great country, even though it'sAmerica, they'll break our back.
it is happening.
I was just looking at our debt to GDP, which is a ratio that in economics we're alwayslooking at, great nations.
(51:39):
tend to fall if you start going above 100 % of your GDP.
In 1960, to your point, we were at 52%.
Our debt to our GDP was 52%.
In 1980, we got it all the way down to 34%.
Yeah, you can is amazing.
(51:59):
And today, today is 122%.
So our debt outstrips our gross domestic product by over 100%.
This is what we mean when we use the words unsustainable.
And this morning I was looking at the International Monetary Fund.
(52:20):
They just lowered or reduced China's GDP from, they thought they were gonna get 5%, nowthey're gonna get 4.0.
They're expected to come in at 4.8%.
But China has a tremendous pocket of extreme wealth.
But then outside of those little pockets of extreme wealth, they have hundreds of millionsof people who are at extreme poverty, below any kind of number on the poverty list.
(52:57):
And I was thinking about America is not that.
because we have our constitution, because we have industries, because we have, becausewe're not a communist nation.
And when I think about what this current administration of Harris and Biden is doing, weare closer to communism than I think we have ever been in the history of this nation.
(53:24):
And I believe with the Kamala Harris presidency, we will fast, the First Amendment will begone.
as quickly as they possibly can followed immediately by the Second Amendment.
And that unnerves me because what is happening in China is a result of communism and thecrushing of their people and the consolidation of wealth versus in America may not be
(53:50):
perfect, but it's the greatest chance that someone who grows up dirt poor in Killeen,Texas can now be very well off today.
Yeah, it's where we finish.
It's not where we start.
You know, that's what counts.
It's where you finish up.
And I'll let mom and dad know, November the 6th, that I did the very best I could.
(54:12):
But I surrounded myself with a great team.
I've met some wonderful people, including you.
I've met some really, really smart people and people that love this country just as muchas I do.
And that's gave me a lot more hope than when I started down this path a couple of yearsago.
We're going to get there, but we've got to change the pilot.
The one flying the plane right now is not going to do good for us.
(54:34):
agree.
Joe, Mr.
Joe Penland, joefromtexas.com.
Thank you so much for taking a lot of time, being so gracious with your time and comingand speaking with us.
I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
And I appreciate the friendship.
Yay.
OK, everyone, you know the drill.
(54:55):
Click on that button.
Hit the Subscribe button, the notification button.
share, like, leave a comment.
All of that is magical in the world of algorithm.
Blessings.
Peace.
Well, hello, Mr.
Joe Penland.
How are you?
I'm doing fine, Kathy, and yourself?
I am doing well.
Thank you so much for being a part, coming on to the Kathy Barnett podcast.
To everyone who's listening, make sure you are liking, subscribing, hitting thatnotification button, and of course, share, as well as leave a comment.
(00:24):
This is all about us creating our own community and being a force to reckon with.
So, Mr.
Joe.
Thank you again for coming on.
You know, I met you maybe, I don't even know.
It feels like I've known you a little bit longer than what I think we have actuallystarted talking with one another maybe a couple of months ago.
(00:45):
But immediately when I went out to your website at joefortexas.com and I started talkingto some mutual friends of ours, you...
put me in mind of there's this documentary called Men Who Built America.
It's the Vanderbilt, the Carnegie, the Rockefellers, the JP Morgan, the Henry Ford.
(01:11):
It was, and I watched this documentary as well as read the book.
And when it came out,
But fast forward to today, I'm looking around, I'm looking at the Tucker Carlson's, theElon Musk of a vague Ramaswamis.
It is the Joe Penlands.
It's these non-state actors.
(01:31):
You're not elected officials.
You're members of the society.
They call you non-state actors, if you didn't know that already.
But you are making a difference.
And when I heard about you, read about you, met you, I immediately thought about the JPMorgan's, the men who were not elected officials, but rose up at such a time that they
(01:56):
were needed in the nation to direct the country in the way that they should go.
And obviously, if you look from what, you know, the Vanderbilt's and everyone else, we'vebenefited greatly.
And here you are.
today, did you sense that you were this man of growing importance on a national andinternational stage or is it just something you fell into?
(02:20):
Well, I've always felt important to my children and my family and my employees.
And then over the time that we grew as a business, I've become that I was known more inthe community and we started helping, being able to help more people in the community.
And as you helped,
Kathy, you see that there's a lot more need because you start looking further and furtheraway from your circle and you look further out there.
(02:46):
And that's what got me to pay in closer attention to people in other counties and in otherstates.
And that's why I started looking at this, this situation that we have right now, whatwe're under this, this horrible situation financially as a nation.
know, being a child on social security back in the fifties,
And then hearing a few years ago that Social Security was in trouble again and was goingto run out within another 10 years got me to wondering what could I do?
(03:14):
You know, because we help people here, our local foundation, we help people in our area.
But how can you help the millions of people across America?
We have to get out of Beaumont, Texas.
And that's why we started this journey that says JoefromTexas.com.
And what a journey it's been, actually.
You were one of the primary sponsors for the Tucker Carlson tour that went across theentire nation.
(03:40):
I think you guys did 16 or 18 stops across the country.
Well, we were scheduled to do 16.
One of them got canceled because of the hurricane, but we're actually going to we're goingto reschedule that.
think it's for next week.
We are going to pick that one back up.
It's not in the same city, obviously, because that city had a lot of problems with thehurricane.
(04:00):
But I think we're going to go back to one of the swing states and that'll finish the tour.
that was, that was something life changing for me because I got to actually speak in frontof tens of thousands of people and meet just a hundreds and hundreds of people each night,
just firsthand.
And that was a great experience.
I mean, that was so awesome.
I got to meet you and some of your team members.
(04:24):
behind the stage at the Tucker Carlson tour that came to Reading, Pennsylvania.
It was amazing.
It was tens of thousands of people under one roof.
And we're actually gonna show a little bit of that clip and specifically the story youtold about your infamous cousin, Andy.
(04:46):
I still remember that.
And I love the point of freedom.
Can you share that?
Well, yeah, that was, I think we all have a cousin that we didn't really, when excitedwhen mom said that Billy or Susie was coming over and ours was Andy.
So it seemed like we always got in trouble when Andy got there and Andy had considerablymore than us and he let us know it.
(05:13):
And so I just didn't like spending time with Andy and that's why that story came out.
Yeah, you know, and one of the things, you know, and I want people to get to know youbecause again, I think you are going to be one of those names that generations from now
will be talking about in the same sense of the Vanderbilt and the Carnegie.
(05:34):
It's a different level of influence.
You're not, I mean, you are a man in your own right, have, you know, tremendousaccomplishments and your own inventions and you're an entrepreneur in your own right as
well as Vivek Ramaswamy and others.
But today, the impact you're making is one of, you know, a national discourse about who weare, what our priorities are, why Americans need to get engaged like never before.
(06:03):
And I think when that story gets told, names like yours is going to be mentioned in there.
And so you're up there.
But you haven't always been in this position.
You talked in that story about Andy, about your own struggles as a family.
Talk to me, tell us a little bit about that, who you are.
(06:25):
Well, you know, that starts back in 1950 in Frisco, Texas, when I was born and we stayedthere from 1950 to 1960.
My father had a bad stroke in 1957 and...
Unfortunately, he was an alcoholic and we didn't have any reserve.
He was not a bad dad.
I don't want to paint that picture because he was not.
He just drank up everything that we didn't consume at that time.
(06:49):
So two weeks after he was in the VA hospital, we didn't have enough to eat and we fell onsome severe hard times.
My mom had four little boys to take care of.
So she took in laundry from the neighbors just to feed us.
Took a while and finally we started getting a little social security check.
Several months later, dad got out of the hospital, but he couldn't do anything.
So that was just another mouth to feed.
(07:11):
And that went on for a few years and then he passed away.
And I know people struggle and we struggled and there was nothing wrong with working andgetting up every morning, going to work, coming after school and working.
All those things are good.
It's just when you see people that are struggling beyond what they can do.
And we were struggling beyond what we could do.
(07:31):
There's no way, we just could not keep up.
And when people brought us things from the church and food to eat and clothes and things,I never forgot that mama taught us that lesson on why people were doing it and why they
were happy to do it and why they felt so they glowed when they walked away from the doorthat they were so appreciative that we were letting, we were blessing them.
(07:52):
I never understood the blessing until mama explained it to me.
But isn't that interesting?
mean like double click on that for a minute, Joe.
Isn't that interesting?
Is that?
I mean, it is a blessing when someone has extra resources and they have the ability togive it to someone else.
How, in fact, not only is the person who's receiving the gift is blessed, but the one whois giving is blessed and feel good about themselves.
(08:22):
Double click on that a little bit.
OK, well, you know, when we had a gentleman came to our door late in the year that year,
and had a double-armed load of groceries to give my mom.
And he was so happy and smiling the whole time and thanked her when he walked away fromthe door.
said, thank you, Miss Pilling, for the blessing.
(08:44):
And we shut the door and we had the groceries and I asked her, how did she bless him?
And she said, Joe, that's what God wants us to do.
He wants us to help each other.
And I said, well, I don't understand.
She said, well, you will someday.
A month later went by and that same gentleman knocked on the door and I answered the doorand he said,
Can I speak to your mom?
So I went and got her.
This time he had a lady with him.
(09:06):
And when mom came to the door, said, Miss Pellin, do you remember me?
And she said, yes, I do.
He said, I'm from First Baptist Frisco.
I have some more groceries for your Christmas dinner.
My wife has some presents for your boys and clothes.
I know you can use the help.
And so mama was so happy and they looked at one another and they were happy, but they weresmiling, but they were crying.
(09:28):
Tears were running down.
I'm coming on eight years old.
I'm trying to figure out what's going on.
And he said, Ms.
Penland, this is the best Christmas me and my wife have ever had.
Thank you for blessing our family and I'll see you later.
So when they left and we brought that inside, I asked mama, said, you're going to have toexplain this.
I don't understand.
These people are not kin to us.
(09:48):
I don't know these people and how are we continuing to bless these people?
And she said, Joe, me my Bible.
And so I handed her a Bible that she thumped through it like she did every night.
And she came to her passage and she said, the king says, when you've done for the least ofmine, you've done unto me.
And she closed the Bible and she said, do you understand?
I said, no, ma'am.
(10:09):
said, but sit down and let me explain it.
So she explained it.
And when she got through us, well, mama, not if I can, but when I can, I'll help somebodyevery day.
Cause I want to be happy like that man and lady are.
my goodness.
And I'm tearing up just hearing it because it is.
It's not, it is the story of the Bible, but not just the story of the Bible, but it is thestory of our country as well.
(10:35):
I remember growing up on a little pig farm in Southern Alabama.
I mean, we were so poor.
We lived in a house with no installation, no running water, outhouse in the back, well onthe side.
But I was so rich in love.
I had no idea as a kid how poor we were because in a farm, you know, you had everythingyou need, but we were...
(10:56):
extremely impoverished, but I remember my grandfather slaughtering a hog and me sitting inthe front cab with him as he drove from house to house in our little community, sharing a
portion of our wealth.
I remember as a little girl waking up and someone had left a bunch of collard greens onthe front porch and just kind of drove off.
(11:19):
And that really is the story of the Bible, but also the story of this country.
of where we come alongside people and we help the least of us.
And it's a blessing to help.
And yet we've gotten into a point in this nation where we have a lot of victim mentalityindividuals where they feel like it's our obligation to help them.
(11:46):
And now not just Americans, but illegals who are coming on receiving social securitybenefits as if it's their right.
Well, I mean, that's a great point because, know, we're not we're we're born here.
The good Lord gave us all life and we're created equal and we're supposed to start outthat way and we're supposed to do the very best we can.
(12:07):
And, you know, I don't mind helping people that strongly need help.
That's really and I don't want to help somebody just because they expect it.
That's not that you don't get the joy that way.
My joy is helping thousands of people that I'll never meet that I know need the help.
And we know me, Lyndon the good Lord know we've done some good.
(12:27):
And that's what we're trying to do now on the journey I'm on right now.
I can help a few thousand people around here, but I can't help millions of people unless Iget out of Beaumont.
And that's why we got on the tour.
And that's why there's Joe from Texas.
And that's the reason we're doing what we're doing.
And that's why we came up with the contract from the American people with 10 things that Iknow are vitally important to 340 million Americans.
(12:50):
And that's what we're up to right now.
and we're gonna get it done.
Well, I love that.
And before I move from this particular topic, I think it is, again, not just a biblicalprinciple of reciprocity.
Whatever you sow, you will reap, and that when you do it to the least, you are actuallydoing it to Jesus.
(13:13):
You know, that was one of the parables of Jesus.
I read this not too long ago to my daughter, maybe a couple of days ago, of where Jesussaid,
the parable where he said that I'm going to say, did you give me water?
Did you give someone drink?
Then you gave it to me.
Then the person says, well, when did I ever give you water?
(13:35):
Again, he says, when you did it to the least, you did it to me.
Yes, that is an absolute principle within the Bible, but also a part of the American storyof just this natural.
What I grew up watching and what I see even among my neighbors today is this heart ofgenerosity and to do it happily.
(13:59):
But I think there's a lot of resentment that is beginning to ferment in the hearts of manyAmericans that will cause us to look at me, myself, and I versus my neighbor and the
greater good only because it's this cloud of
you know, reparations, you need to give me something.
(14:22):
You need to take and give it to me, make us all equitable, which of course will neverhappen.
Well, you're right.
You know, the good is when you're giving people and it's out of your heart.
When you have to do something, kind of takes the shine away.
And that's what I see is happening to America today.
(14:43):
know, I've crisscrossed America like we've been doing, I see that people are actually alot like me and you.
They love America.
They want to make it on their own.
They want to help people that they know are down and out.
They appreciate the fact that we live in a great country and they know our country is indecline because of the leadership and they want to step up and do something to help it.
(15:06):
You want to step up and do something to help your community and this country.
There's no two ways about it.
And that's what America's about is pulling together when times are down.
That's when you have to all pull together.
When times are good, people waste too much.
They don't understand it.
When you were a child and I was a child, we didn't know we were poor.
We knew we had a lot of love around us and look where you are today.
(15:29):
I mean, you've done this yourself.
Nobody handed you behind that mic.
You did it.
And that's what America is supposed to be about.
It's not because you're a female or I'm a guy.
That has nothing to do with it.
It's what's in your heart and what's in your gut is how you make what you make.
(15:50):
Now, if somebody just walks up and gives it to you, you don't appreciate it anyway.
You have to earn it.
And that's what America is about working and earning and taking care of one another.
Yeah, you know, I mean, I've certainly earned where I am.
I'm grateful to God.
know, Revelations chapter three, Jesus said that I set before you an open door ofopportunity that no man can close.
(16:13):
Or if I close it, no one can open.
And I've often said it is God who has set doors of opportunities in front of me to walkthrough.
But
He uses our hands to hold that door open.
And as I look through out my life and I look at the hands that were on that door, theyweren't always people who looked like me.
(16:35):
Black people.
In fact, I can only think of one black person who held the door open for me to walkthrough.
was always a white hand on that door.
And I say that I would tell that story to my children and to the public when
You know, especially, you know, starting in 20, you know, starting when Obama got inoffice, all of a sudden, the color of my skin was supposed to define me.
(17:01):
And and because of the color of my skin, I'm supposed to feel like a victim and that I'msupposed to feel like people who are not black or my oppressors.
And that's a lie.
I reject that.
because of how my own experience of living through life and being honest to that story.
(17:21):
So you're absolutely correct.
And I believe that a lot of people are, you I can sense it.
People are feeling oppressed because of the horrible leadership we've had to live underthese past three and a half years.
But let me go back to what you were talking about, your own upbringing, because you arecertainly not that little poor kid
(17:45):
in Colleen, Texas any longer.
You have done quite well for yourself.
And I think this too is a testament to America and to that and a testament to an attitudeof not sitting around waiting for someone to make right by you.
Can you share a little bit of that part of your story?
(18:08):
Well, I think coming up, poor,
and not having the money to go off to college and so forth and working, you know, helpingyourself go through school, helping your younger children in the family, your younger
brother and helping mom feed, actually feed us.
It taught me a lot of a lesson of how to become a man early in life.
(18:33):
And I think, you know, if you're going to make a knife, you have to temper it slow.
can't do it real quick.
And so you learn these things as you grow.
And I knew that I wanted to get off of the street I lived on because I had some, I relatedthat to being poor.
I wanted to get off the street.
I didn't want to go to college.
I wanted to get out and get a full-time job so I could help my mom and help myself.
(18:57):
And it teaches you, those hard roads teach you a lot of lessons.
Don't go back down that road.
It's a bumpy road.
Don't do that one no more.
Find something smoother.
And there's always a...
a brighter day and a new horizon.
So I knew I needed to get off that.
So I guess actually I look at it as a blessing because I know I came up a way that I didnot want to go back to as a grownup.
(19:23):
And I wanted to help people that was in that same situation.
And if you experience it, then you know how to relate back to it.
You know, and getting if I can touch a little bit on your color and my color and let'sjust go there for a minute.
Okay.
People use that in a lot of wrong ways.
I had cancer a few years ago, many years ago.
(19:45):
I had kidney cancer.
And when they told me I had that, I wanted to get to MD Anderson as quick as I could.
I wanted to get the problem solved and get back on with life.
I did not care if the surgeon was black, white, male or female.
I wanted the best.
When you ride an airplane,
You want the best pilot that American Airlines has.
(20:08):
If you get in an accident, you want the best ambulance driver to get there.
You want the best teacher for your children.
When you want the best for your family and your country, you don't see color.
You don't see, is it a man or a woman?
You want the best.
And we need to always strive to have the best for our family and our country.
(20:29):
And if it happens to be a black man, I'm for that.
If it happens to be a black woman, I'm for that.
Matter of fact, the surgeon that operated on me was a black man.
The lady that came back after I had complications to follow up was a white woman.
That was fine with me.
Matter of fact, I slept the seven and half hours.
(20:49):
I wasn't having to eat with them or be off with them.
What you want is you want the best for yourself and more importantly for your family andmore importantly than that for this country.
We need to get the chip off our shoulder.
and go with who will do the best for this country.
And we know that we don't have that in Washington today.
And that's why we have to change.
(21:10):
Absolutely.
And what was really interesting is when I was running for US Senate here in the state ofPennsylvania against Dr.
Oz and several others back in 2022, every time I had an open air and outside rally, BlackLives Matter would show up.
every single time to protest against me.
(21:33):
And there was not a black person in the bunch of them.
It was all a bunch of white, young kids wearing Prada or Louis Vuitton or Veronica Beardblazer.
And I would get off the stage when I was done and I would do a beeline to these littlekids, because they're children and they have no idea what it is that they're talking
(21:56):
about.
They don't...
understand that you're literally protesting a Black woman who have the blood of slavescoursing through her veins, but you have been brainwashed that there is no diversity of
thought.
You're looking at diversity of color.
And as a Black person, you know, I do acknowledge that color exists and that being Black,being a woman, being shorter than I would like,
(22:25):
All of these things have influenced me and how I show up in the world, but it's not themost important thing that identifies who I am.
Diversity of thought is far more important than diversity of color.
And what I have tried to explain over the years is that, you know, Black people especiallyis not benefiting.
(22:48):
Well, I'll tell you, I'll tell you what, Kathy, we don't use that when we look at sports.
Because think about that, you know, I mean, they'll tell you that we need to have 20 % oncontract contractors.
We have to award so many contracts to minorities.
Okay.
20%.
But we don't, we don't look at that when we look at professional baseball, football orbasketball.
(23:10):
But that owner of that team wants the very best player he can put out there on the court.
Cause that's what fills the bleachers up.
And when you look out there, then then all of a sudden the percentage of people doesn'tadd up.
When you look at basketball, if I turned on the basketball, the turned on basketball day,and there was no black people playing basketball, wouldn't it be many people watch that
(23:34):
sport because they dominate it because they play so well.
They can shoot 50 from mid court.
They can run fast.
They get higher and they get paid millions of dollars on their ability, not their color.
On their ability.
That's what fills the stands up.
Not a bunch of people that are white or black or whatever, they want to win.
(23:56):
They want the banner.
They want the trophy.
So that's why the owners hire the best.
And if that happens to be a guy that can throw the ball 100 miles an hour and he's a blackpitcher, he gets the job.
Or if it happens to be a white pitcher that can do it, he gets the job.
don't have a color barrier when we look at sports.
(24:17):
Look at Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest boxers ever was.
that will ever be.
He just happened to be a black man.
But he showed everybody he would he would even tell you what round he was gonna knock hisopponent out.
That's how good he was.
Now did he get that job?
Did he get that title because he was black?
No, he got it because he was the greatest boxer to ever get into the ring.
(24:42):
I'm sure I'm sure but I'm sure Joe you would you would acknowledge that there has beenbarriers and then the history of this country.
that there has been barriers to entry into different industries and different professions,hurdles, obstacles that have been placed in front of the best because of the color of
(25:05):
their skin.
Like that is a part of the history of this country.
You would acknowledge that, right?
I personally have never had any problem with that.
Because, you know, grass for a living, didn't matter what color you were.
Picking cotton.
In Frisco, Texas, the whole families went to the cotton field.
Wow.
(25:25):
daddy's children, all of us went.
They let school And I can appreciate that.
can appreciate that.
for me, I've never had that problem.
And working where I worked, hanging iron, hanging steel around the country, if you havenerve enough to get up there five or six or 700 feet, speaks to your 70 stories, you got
the job.
It wasn't a color barrier for me as whether you could, whether you can handle the job.
(25:46):
Now, do I see that today?
Do I hear a lot of that today?
Obviously you do.
You know, we have a lot of distractions in America today to keep us from being focused onthe real issue.
Like today, there's all kinds of hot buttons and distractions that the media puts outthere to keep America not paying attention to the border, not paying attention to the
(26:09):
debt, not paying attention to a lot of things that you talk about that I've heard you talkabout before.
But is there barriers out there?
Sure, there is.
There was barriers that women couldn't even vote just a few years ago.
If you look at just a snapshot of time, that wasn't right.
You know, they couldn't own land.
There's all kinds of things.
If we can go back far enough to find a problem.
(26:30):
And I think when they built the pyramids, they used slaves then and most of them werewhite.
Yeah.
I agree.
I agree with you.
I do because.
You know, I say to my children, I only get 24 hours in a day, and I have to figure out howI'm going to best use my time.
(26:52):
I am here, we're all here for a short amount of time, and then it's a wrap, and you'regone, right?
And there is no second act here in this life, in this time-space continuum.
It's over.
And so I try to be as diligent with my time and as best of a steward with my time that Ipossibly can be.
(27:15):
And yes, I can walk into a space growing up the way that I grew up in the very deep ruralsouth of Alabama.
I know what racism feels like.
I know what it feels like when someone feels some kind of way because of the color of yourskin.
But now I'm a grown woman.
I'm many decades past that.
(27:36):
that time when I lived in that space.
But, you know, those things are still kind of rooted inside of you.
So I can walk into a space today up here outside of Philadelphia, and maybe people arebehaving a certain way.
And like I say to my kids, how much of my time?
Should I set aside to trying to figure out if this person likes me or doesn't like me andif they don't like me because of the color of my skin or because I'm a woman or because of
(28:06):
this, that, and the third?
Or should I use my time to try to be the best person I can be?
Which one is a better equation for me?
I acknowledge and I believe racism exists.
I believe that our country had, had,
Prior to probably Obama getting into office, I think our country had done as good of a jobas it was pro- I think we had come to the point where racism being a hindrance to someone
(28:38):
like myself was as low as it had ever been.
And since Obama took office, I feel as though it is probably as high as it has ever beenin my lifetime.
And I don't think we're better off because we have Black Lives Matter.
(28:58):
I don't think we're better off because we have Antifa.
I don't think, you know, and these people who constantly put a spotlight on everymicroaggression they see, I don't think our hyperfocus on the color of my skin today has
made me more free or have presented me with more opportunities.
(29:21):
In fact, I feel the opposite.
I feel less opportunities now because people are having such a rejection to what is beingshoved down their throats.
What do you think?
Well, I didn't like castor oil when I was little and they shoved it down the throat.
I hate castor oil.
(29:42):
Yeah, I'd have to say anything that shoved down your throat generally doesn't taste well.
No doesn't.
can agree with that.
know, I came my goodness.
I came up through the 50s and the 60s.
I came up through whenever we got a lot of bad put behind this country.
And like you say, it was going in a pretty good direction and things were getting betterevery day for people.
(30:08):
us as kids going to school, we never knew that there was a difference.
Society started pointing it out later.
You know, you knew it, you was a child and you were poor and I was a child and I was poor.
But you know, if we look at your childhood and mine, it wasn't a lot different.
We were both poor.
You know, it didn't matter.
(30:28):
And we had love and our parents or grandparents read the Bible to us and all that.
And maybe that's why me and you made it.
We didn't make it on our color.
We made it because of who we are and our family and what's in our heart.
And I mean, and that's it.
Like I said, there's too many distractions out there.
I'm not a politician.
I don't hit the hot buttons.
don't look, I don't get out there and discuss all of the things that are, that I think arecontroversial because that wasn't my mission.
(30:55):
My mission was to go out here and see if I could make people understand that we weresuffering financially.
And the only way to help this country is to get our country back on its feet financially,because we have to have a strong military to keep our superpower status.
And the only way you can is to have a strong economy.
And those two things work hand in hand.
(31:16):
And if you don't have a strong economy, you don't have a strong military, the rest ofthese things that are distractions, don't take us all down anyway.
I agree.
I'm going to get back to this.
But let me just say, I have not heard anyone talk about having to take castor oil.
Castor oil.
Yes.
Yes.
(31:36):
Well, I call it castor oil, but yes.
And I bought some when I had my own kids.
Like, this is a rite of passage for children.
But I read the back of the bottle and it said, not for internal use.
I don't think they were supposed to give that stuff to us.
(31:56):
If you guys, if you who are listening don't know what I'm talking about, you haveliterally missed out on, I mean, it was horrible, but it was a rite of passage, I think,
to every child.
I don't know, maybe only poor people took that.
I have no idea.
We took it.
We took it and it you out.
(32:18):
That's what my grandmama says.
So we took it.
Anyway, I just had to pause there.
I know I kind of went on a squirrel moment, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone I canidentify with actually taking that stuff.
It is so gross.
But we took it every year.
Anyway, that's they hailed your nose because it was gross.
(32:39):
a piece of peppermint candy.
remember my grandmother, my brother and I, we would wake up in the morning.
And if we saw the castor oil bottle sitting on top of the stove, we would stay outside foras long as we could stay outside, thinking somehow she will forget.
But when we came in, grandmama had it, pinched our nose, somebody held us, and we had totake this nasty stuff.
(33:05):
But we're healthy.
I I don't recall ever having to go to the doctor.
Yeah, there you go.
I know.
OK, let's get back on topic.
Because, I think this is so important that not only are you and I different in the factthat I'm a woman and you're a man, not only are we different in the fact that you're white
and I'm Black, not only are we different and that what are the different, differentgenerations that we have grown up in.
(33:38):
One of the things I would say to people all the time when I speak to them is that we arenot as different as some would have us to believe.
And, you know, like when I would, you know, when I was on the debate stage and they wouldsay, Kathy, you're Black.
Yeah, I am.
I've Black all my life.
And they would say, well, speak to us about what do Black people want?
(33:59):
And I would start with Black people are not special little unicorns.
We want what everyone else wants.
Do you want good schools?
Do you want safe streets?
Do you want liquor stores on every street corner?
Or do you want thriving businesses that will increase your tax base and your schools andelevate so much around you?
(34:21):
But I understand from a political perspective, from an industry perspective, their job isto segment us because if they can segment us into smaller and smaller categories, they can
control us, control the information better.
And usually it doesn't benefit the ones who are being segmented.
It benefits those much higher up in the food chain.
(34:44):
But I think this is what is needed.
I'm so grateful for what you and several others sponsored in order for Tucker Carlson togo around the nation and bring different voices up on stage and just have a conversation.
I am hopeful that as we...
move into 2025, we do what exactly what you and I are doing right now.
(35:08):
Getting in front of people, we have a lot of differences on the outside and on paper, butat the end of the day, what matters, we're not that far off from one another.
And I believe that's true for the entire nation.
I think you're right.
I mean, there's no two ways about it.
We're all God's people.
And if we just focus on that, then you really don't have a lot of problems.
(35:32):
That's what I say.
I want people to progress in this country.
I want them to all do better.
You want your kids to have more than you had.
You want your grandkids to have it easier than that.
And to the point that I think we've gotten to where we want things to be too easy for ourchildren and our grandchildren.
And we got away from how we had it when we were there.
(35:52):
It's okay to work.
There's nothing wrong with work.
Hard work is okay.
I don't think hard work kills anybody.
It'll get you tired.
You don't have to have all the things.
lot of people have to go to sleep at night.
I sleep pretty easy, you know, cause I still put in a full day and I'm sure you do too.
But we, we, we want to do better.
That's just in your DNA to want to do better.
(36:15):
There's nothing wrong with that, but nobody owes me better.
They don't owe me anything.
love that.
I love that.
And I love in that story that you, that you shared when you were on stage with TuckerCarlson.
November 6th is, it'll be 60 years, I think you said, that your father would have passedaway.
(36:38):
And you're going to vote on November 5th if you haven't already.
But the day after November 5th, November 6th, you're going to go to the grave where yourfather is and you're going to tell him, you said, I did what I could do while it was on my
watch to do it.
(36:58):
I think that is so profound because, and again, mean, literally you and I are so similarin the things that we speak about.
I have often said, especially within Republican circles, we love to quote our foundingfathers.
Our founding fathers said this, that, and the third, and I would say to them, our foundingfathers are no longer here.
(37:24):
But while they were here, they did their part.
to secure a better way for all of us.
While it was on their watch to do it, they did it.
And it reminded me of that, what I would say when I heard you say the same thing, you'regonna go and stand before your father and say, I did what I knew to do.
(37:45):
I think that is so profound that we are not helpless.
We do not have to keep pivoting to the federal government or somebody higher from a humanperspective to bail us out of everything.
but that each and every one of us have a role to play in pulling this country off theprecipice.
(38:05):
Well, you you said a lot right there and I appreciate that you remembered my speech thatmuch.
I'm impressed with that.
But you're a quick study when you listen to people and you convey yourself very well.
But you know, you touched on something about our forefathers and...
If you look back in time, you know, we're coming on 250 years here in a couple of years,but you think about all the things that went well in our nation and then all the things
(38:34):
that went bad in our nation.
And our politicians today, they always brag about how great this country is.
We're still, no matter what you tell them that's wrong, say, well, know, Joe, we stilllive in the best country in the world.
And I tell them all this too.
You didn't have anything to do with making it the best country in the world.
(38:54):
You inherited the best country in the world.
don't, you what you've got is you got your hand in making it not so good.
And we need to go back to what it was.
And I, and I think too, Kathy, that what happened years ago, that was, that was a bad timein America.
Nobody living today had anything to do with that.
(39:17):
We didn't have anything to do with that.
No matter what your great, great grandfather did or mine did or whatever.
That's not us.
People should not judge me or you on what happened 200 years ago.
They need to look at me and you and look at our accomplishments and see what kind ofpeople we are and judge us from that.
And that's what I'd like to see for America.
(39:38):
I would agree.
And yet, you know, we still have a ways to go in our country.
You know, I often say to people, you know, growing up in the manner in which I did, havingthe blood of slaves coursing through my veins.
and understanding science that those gametes are still a part of my DNA, that we inheritthem and it's kind of a blueprint in all of us, that I believe our country has done a
(40:06):
significant amount to right many of those wrongs that were inflicted upon people, Blackpeople, myself included, or my lineage included.
And we are not a perfect nation.
But I do believe there is no one running a close second.
(40:27):
However, as I stand here today, you're absolutely correct.
These politicians have done nothing to really contribute to America being as great as itis, but they are working overtime to sully every good thing about us.
And as I look at the geopolitics of the world, I mean, right off the top of my head,
(40:49):
I was talking to a friend, I can name 17 different wars that are going on all around theworld and America is somehow intertwined in almost all of them.
And I'm looking at our dominance.
Although we are a dominant nation, that has quickly shifted with Iran, with primarilyChina, India, Russia, specifically Russia and China and their relationship.
(41:16):
and how that is growing.
And we have now not a unipolar dominant power, the US, but it is a multipolar dominancewith these other nations that are rising.
And it gives me great concern of what is happening to our country and where the inevitableprogression of this is going to go if we do not stop it today.
(41:45):
And that is why, I mean, I was just in tears when I was at the Tech Across St.
Conference because I'm thinking of all of these different inputs and how truly as simpleas it might be, because most of us think about the presidents and federal and all, it
starts with individuals like yourself standing up and saying, what can I do to beeffective right here?
(42:12):
with the resources that I have, or small, and you did that.
And that, I believe, is what is going to change this nation, is by awakening our people.
And when you told that story about Andy taking away your freedom, it was, and how you beathim up, how you engage to make sure he did not take your freedom.
(42:40):
We're not advocating people go out here and literally enter into a fist fight, but we are.
We have to encourage people and inspire people to get involved in making sure no one takesyour freedom away from you.
Well, absolutely.
I talk a lot of times about the freedom and look at World War I and World War II and Koreaand the depression and all the bad things that have happened to America.
(43:10):
in a short period of time, but we always take it head on and we come out on top.
know, that's, we stand up for ourselves and we stand up for our neighbors.
And that's what we should always do.
And I, you know, I'm not the guy that's going to walk down the sidewalk and see a womanbeing beaten or molested and just walk by and take, and gonna take my phone and record it.
(43:32):
I'm going to get involved and I shouldn't probably, but I will.
That's just in my DNA.
I'm going to stand up for you.
Kathy, if somebody's picking on you, I'm gonna stand up for you.
That's just what I, that's how I was raised.
And if it's Andy, well then Andy will get what he's got coming.
Yes, I love it.
Right before I let you go, I just want to touch on your contract for America.
(43:53):
I was up this morning looking at the U.S.
debt clock.
A lot of people don't talk about our debt.
You talk about it a lot.
So much so you created a contract.
But just so people know, our debt, I'm looking at it right now, our U.S.
national debt is $35.8 trillion.
And these numbers are, if you look at the U.S.
(44:15):
debt clock, just go there, you will see these numbers are constantly running.
But I went, maybe about a week ago, I was looking at the Social Security report and, youknow, they list a number of reasons why we are insolvent.
and will become really insolvent with our social security in a very short amount of time,but you created a contract and you spend a lot of time talking about the national debt,
(44:49):
controlling the debt, the social security.
You guys can go to JoefromTexas.com and you can go to the homepage and he has thiscontract from the American people.
And you've been taking this contract around, sitting with our elected officials andgetting them to sign on to this contract.
(45:10):
And you also ask people to sign, I signed, I signed my name to this contract as well.
These are very common sense things that if you want to protect your own, you would wantthis.
What kind of reception have you gotten from politicians and from people?
(45:33):
Well, we calculate we've touched on about 39 million people now that we've contacted inlast two and a half years.
In the last month, we contacted over 8,000 people in the swing states because we knowthat's what this battleground is.
Okay.
And we've got a lot of response and we've been in contact with President Trump.
(45:56):
We've visited with him.
We've been in contact with his team and I know we're on the right path here.
We need a real businessman back right now.
You may not like his demeanor, but let me tell you something.
He'll balance the budget if you give him enough time.
He needs eight years to do it, just like Bill Clinton took eight years to do it.
(46:16):
Bill Clinton's first four years, he didn't balance it not once, but he worked withRepublican Congress, with Newt Gingrich in the last four years.
They balanced the budget four times and paid it down twice.
Donald Trump was fixing to do that.
He was getting the con.
You have to get the economy going first and get 150, 160 million people working and thenCOVID come up.
(46:38):
So he got an unfair, that slapped him upside the head that he shouldn't have got.
That was no president could have done anything any different than that.
But you need somebody that can, that can get in there that's, that's had to work, had topay the bills, had to watch what you do.
Now, did he, did he accomplish everything he ever sent out to do?
Nobody does.
Is he perfect?
Nobody is.
(46:59):
The only time we ever had anything perfect in this country, on this earth, we nailed himon the cross.
I don't want to be perfect.
I want to get as close as I can to it.
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, I mean, it's a no brainer.
But I think when Donald Trump left office, he handed an inflation over to Joe Biden of1.2, 1.8 percent, I can't recall, but it's one of those two.
(47:24):
And now we're far removed from that.
I wasn't counting up 17 different wars, which means something to me, by the way, for anumber of reasons.
One of the reasons being my son just turned 18 and had to sign up for a selective service.
So I'm very mindful of the engagement, the entanglements we get ourselves involved inbecause we have a 25 % military deficit in our recruitment.
(47:52):
And so where are you going to find these able-bodied young men?
Right.
And I don't want what is happening to Ukraine to happen to our nation.
It's certainly not my son.
And so I love that you're doing this.
Over 39 million people you've touched with this contract and you're just Joe from Texas.
(48:12):
Looked around and said, what can I do?
And the response has been because it is just Joe from Texas.
I'm not a politician.
I'm not a celebrity.
I'm a hardworking guy.
I'm a God-fearing man that loves his family, loves his country.
And you're right.
You know, we've got a lot of things festering up around the world right now that's notgood.
(48:34):
You know, this world's always going to be a lot safer world if it's led by a strongAmerica, not by China or Russia.
And that's why we have to have a strong leader.
You know, things have happened around the world that would not have happened if we'd havekept a strong leader in Washington.
We have to do that.
We are the superpower.
We have some responsibilities that other countries don't have.
(48:55):
It just is what it is.
Our currency has always been the favorite currency.
We don't want to lose that.
There's so many things in jeopardy today that's going to affect us down the line.
And you touched on Social Security.
Almost 68 million people are drawing Social Security.
Five million of those people, Kathy, are raising their grandkids.
If you give them a 20 % or 25 % cut, that's an un-American thing to do.
(49:18):
and I'm fighting to make sure that Social Security gets reformed.
And that's what it has to do.
We have to reform it.
We can't turn our blind eye to it and let it go away.
You think about it when it started out in 1935.
The average age for me and you was 59.
The average age for me and you now is 78 or 80.
We've outgrown the program.
(49:39):
It needs to be reformed, but we can fix it.
It's the easiest program that we have right now that's in jeopardy to fix.
And it's arguably the best program and the most favorite program the American people haveever had.
We can't let these American people down.
They're elderly, a lot of them.
If you cut social security, you're going double the poverty rate overnight in elderlypeople.
(50:02):
That's an un-American event.
I know.
It's just so sad what is happening to our country.
And it doesn't have to be this way.
There is no reason why I think we have more than 20 million illegals in this country rightnow.
And the fact that they're drawing on Social Security makes no sense.
(50:25):
When you understand what it is you just shared with us, that we have our own and the needto take care of our own, as well as being strong enough that we have great influence in
the world, I believe both of those things can be accomplished.
but it doesn't have to be accomplished on the backs of or at the expense of Americancitizens, especially some of the most vulnerable ones.
(50:53):
Well, it took us about 220 years to get to one trillion dollars in debt.
So, you you can go a long time without running up that kind of debt.
You know, now look at what happened.
Ross Perot ran for office in 1992 and then he ran back in 1996.
And our debt was $4 trillion when he first put his hat in the ring.
(51:14):
Now we'll be 36 next month.
36, that's nine times what Ross Perot said was unsustainable.
And I can tell you, if we continue to stack debt on a great country, even though it'sAmerica, they'll break our back.
it is happening.
I was just looking at our debt to GDP, which is a ratio that in economics we're alwayslooking at, great nations.
(51:39):
tend to fall if you start going above 100 % of your GDP.
In 1960, to your point, we were at 52%.
Our debt to our GDP was 52%.
In 1980, we got it all the way down to 34%.
Yeah, you can is amazing.
(51:59):
And today, today is 122%.
So our debt outstrips our gross domestic product by over 100%.
This is what we mean when we use the words unsustainable.
And this morning I was looking at the International Monetary Fund.
(52:20):
They just lowered or reduced China's GDP from, they thought they were gonna get 5%, nowthey're gonna get 4.0.
They're expected to come in at 4.8%.
But China has a tremendous pocket of extreme wealth.
But then outside of those little pockets of extreme wealth, they have hundreds of millionsof people who are at extreme poverty, below any kind of number on the poverty list.
(52:57):
And I was thinking about America is not that.
because we have our constitution, because we have industries, because we have, becausewe're not a communist nation.
And when I think about what this current administration of Harris and Biden is doing, weare closer to communism than I think we have ever been in the history of this nation.
(53:24):
And I believe with the Kamala Harris presidency, we will fast, the First Amendment will begone.
as quickly as they possibly can followed immediately by the Second Amendment.
And that unnerves me because what is happening in China is a result of communism and thecrushing of their people and the consolidation of wealth versus in America may not be
(53:50):
perfect, but it's the greatest chance that someone who grows up dirt poor in Killeen,Texas can now be very well off today.
Yeah, it's where we finish.
It's not where we start.
You know, that's what counts.
It's where you finish up.
And I'll let mom and dad know, November the 6th, that I did the very best I could.
(54:12):
But I surrounded myself with a great team.
I've met some wonderful people, including you.
I've met some really, really smart people and people that love this country just as muchas I do.
And that's gave me a lot more hope than when I started down this path a couple of yearsago.
We're going to get there, but we've got to change the pilot.
The one flying the plane right now is not going to do good for us.
(54:34):
agree.
Joe, Mr.
Joe Penland, joefromtexas.com.
Thank you so much for taking a lot of time, being so gracious with your time and comingand speaking with us.
I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
And I appreciate the friendship.
Yay.
OK, everyone, you know the drill.
(54:55):
Click on that button.
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Blessings.
Peace.
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