From Candidate to Chair: Matt Vilardebo's Journey in York County Politics

Episode Transcript
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(00:52):
The All About Nothing podcastmay have language and content that
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Listener discretion is advised.
Welcome, nothingers, toanother episode of the All About
Nothing podcast.
This is episode number 237.
I am Barrett Gruber.
Be joined by Mr.
Matt Velardebo, who is holding Bowie.
Bowie's name after DavidBowie, right?

(01:14):
Yes.
And Barrett loves Bowie, andBowie especially loves Barrett when
he comes to visit.
So I wanted those two to havea chance to interact with each other.
Real quick, say hi to your budd.
Okay.
There are a lot of dogs outthere that like me just as much as
Bowie.
She's just a weird dog.
We got her during COVID soshe, like, spent a lot of time with

(01:36):
us and no one else.
And so then Covid's over andpeople start visiting regularly and
she's like, ah.
There'S more outside this doorthan I thought.
Correct.
All right.
Please subscribe and share the show.
That's how we get new listeners.
Also, if you could pleaseconsider supporting the show financially
by visiting our website andclicking on the Leave a comment.

(01:58):
All that helps drive our showhigher up in the ratings on all of
these podcast platforms.
Again, gonna introduce Mr.
Matt Velardo here in just a second.
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(02:22):
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If you live here in theColumbia area, so do that because
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and everybody being able toget out of their houses.

(02:42):
Also, Coastal Comic Con iscoming up.
Wilmington, North Carolina,the Wilmington Convention Center,
March 1st and 2nd, 2025.
They're already starting toannounce guests and it's, it's.
It's going be a great time.
I'm going to be there.
So, so check that out.
Coastal Comic Con.com is thewebsite address.
Tickets are available now.
You also get information aboutthe guests that have been announced

(03:05):
so far.
So check that out again.
Coastal Comic Con.com we'regonna have Mr.
David Brock on.
On the next episode that werecord that is coming up in two weeks.
This episode, or I guess nextMonday from.
From the date you're listeningto this.
Next Monday, I'll have DavidBrock, Donald Brock, and we will

(03:26):
be talking all about CoastalComic Con and hopefully getting some
inside information on thingsthat are going to go on.
Not just the guests that aregoing to be there, but we'll also
potentially be getting someinside information on some events
that will be taking placearound the Comic Con.
So check that out again.
Coastal Comic Con.com so,introducing my guest, Mr.

(03:49):
Matt Velardebeau.
He, of course, was the mostrecent Democratic nominee for the
South Carolina House.
26 seat in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
And you've got some thingsthat are going on.
Do you want to jump right intowhat it is that, that you're here
to discuss?
Yeah.
So before I get to anything, Ihad already told Barrett about this.

(04:12):
So this isn't some bigsurprise, really.
The lead in the first thing Ineed to get out of the way is a long
time ago I appeared on BillKimler's Black, White and Blue in
the south podcast and I saidsome things about my opponent in
the last election that werepatently wrong.
I did not say them because Iknew they were wrong.

(04:34):
I said them because I was just wrong.
I apologize, David Martin, forsaying that you are some generational
rich kid who, who inherited alaw firm.
That was an untrue statementthat I should not have made.
I should have kept my mouthshut and I didn't.
So I, I wanna.
I know he probably won't hear this.

(04:55):
He might.
But I know some other folksare gonna hear it that need to hear
it.
That was not a lie.
I did not perpetuate thatfurther than that one utterance.
And I regret that I did that.
And I, and I know it reflectspoorly on me and I own that it would
reflect poorly on me.
But again, I know who DavidMartin is and was.
He is a very successful attorney.

(05:16):
He's got law offices acrossthe state and first person in his
family to graduate collegeleft, much like myself.
So that's over and done.
I just wanted to make sure Isaid that this is my first opportunity
to have a platform to kind ofspeak that out into the world.
So absolutely over and done.

(05:36):
Absolutely.
And.
And you say done, but I'lljust comment.
Look, in situations where I'mwrong, I have no problem admitting
when I have made a mistake orif I have said something that was
incorrect.
I will own that every single time.
Because ultimately, one, Idon't want.
Same as you.
I don't, I don't want.
There's something I don't wantsomething to be out there that, that

(05:59):
I suffer from a credibility question.
You know, it's.
It's one of those things thatI don't think that there are a lot
of people can do.
I don't think that there are alot of people out there that will
own up to their mistakes orown up to things that they've said
that they find out areinaccurate, especially in the.
This specific timeline and ourpolitical situation with everything

(06:24):
going on.
So, you know, it's.
It's just.
It's one of those thingssometimes we have to do, and I do
it without fear or retributionbecause if I made a mistake, I will
own it.
And, you know, you are from,from the, the years that we've known
each other now, you areabsolutely somebody who will own

(06:46):
their mistakes.
You have always beenforthcoming when, when, when something
is incorrect.
And, you know, I think as acandidate, that was one of the.
One of the things that Iadmired the most is your brutal honesty,
is, Is your ability.
I'm not just blowing smoke,but the fact that brutally, you would

(07:09):
be honest and you would say,even if it, Even if it took out from
you or your message orwhatever, you.
You did not shy away from the.
I guess you didn't shy awayfrom the fact that, you know, you're
imperfect just like everysingle other person on this planet.

(07:30):
So, yeah, kudos.
Thank you.
So now on to the next thingthat we've covered that, like, one
immediate thing.
So I did want to take thisopportunity and share with the world
that I will no longer berunning for office, at least for
the next coming several yearshere, because I will be running for

(07:52):
York County Democratic PartyChair at our upcoming convention
in March.
I'm very.
There we go.
I am super stoked about that.
This is something people havebeen asking for, for years of me,
and I thought I was betterserved running for office.
That time has come and gone, Ithink, at this point, and now it's

(08:15):
time to, like, be the change Iwant to see at a leadership level
and kind of hopefully get ateam around me who can help, you
know, raise the Democrat Partyin York county to a level of prominence
and strength.
So I'm excited about that, andI look forward to moving ahead with

(08:35):
that and seeing what happensin March.
Yeah, no, I think that's exciting.
And while, you know, I wasdisappointed in the outcome of the
election, and that's not.
That's not to say that I don'tthink the reflection.
I don't think the.
The outcome of the electionwas a reflection of the work that

(08:56):
was put into it, the amount ofhours that were spent.
Yeah.
You know, I guess chairing aparty now that, that's, that's kind
of the, the power that comeswith like coffee mugs and emails
in all caps.
Right.
Yeah.
And, you know, I just wanna.

(09:18):
I'm not running because I'mbeefing with the current leadership.
This isn't about competitionbetween me and them.
This is just about.
I have a vision and I feellike when surrounded with folks who
would like to participate withme, we could go do some really great
things and really kind ofelevate the Democrat party to where

(09:40):
it should be.
For a county like York, weshould be on the same level as Greenville
and Spartanburg and Richlandand you know, other counties.
We shouldn't be where we're at.
And that's not to disparageother counties, but I mean, we all.
There's a pecking order and weknow this.
Right.
And it's based on, you know,population, voter turnout, economic

(10:03):
impact in York, you know,we're top three economic county in
the state.
So the vicinity, the vicinityto Charlotte is ultimately, I think
one of the most under.
It is, it's, it's beenunderwhelming as far as support for
Democrats in York county,despite its, its, you know, significantly

(10:29):
close vicinity to a Charlotte,North Carolina, where Charlotte,
North Carolina is very blue.
Yeah.
And it's tough.
So like, I never encouragepeople to go to Charlotte and I've.
This isn't the first time I'vesaid this in a public forum.
I say go to Columbia, I say goto Spartanburg and Greenville and

(10:51):
even hell, go to Charleston ifyou have to.
But we live in South Carolinain York County.
We don't live in Charlotte, wedon't live in North Carolina.
We need to let our SouthCarolina voices be heard and mobilize
the South Carolinian Democrats.
So going up there doesn'talways help the cause necessarily.

(11:12):
Right.
You're surrounded by people.
I went up and was a marshal inthe Labor Day parade this last year
and it was great, you know,being with the Mecklenburg County
Democrats and meeting allthese Democrats.
I watch from afar with like myheart aflutter, you know.
Oh my gosh, you're so amazingand it's great.

(11:34):
But it's also cool having likethat little sprinkle, sprinkle of
folks in that area who knowwho Matt Velardebo is.
And it's mainly because of mysocial media, but they know who I
am up there.
So again, I haven't really hadA chance to be out in the public
like this since the election.
So it's nice to have anopportunity to be here and be able

(11:56):
to talk and be able to confirm that.
I, too, like Barrett Gruber,did not expect the election results
to be like, they were not at afederal level, not at a state level.
I was quite surprised, and I'musually not surprised.
I, like, I saw Trump's firstvictory coming.

(12:16):
I remember telling my wife aweek or so in advance, I don't think
Hillary's gonna do this.
And I didn't.
You know, I really just.
Yeah, so it kind of like,wipes clean the playing board.
Right?
I mean, the whole.
Somebody came and upended thechessboard on us, essentially.
Yeah.
And, man, I, it's hard not towant to punch a pollster in the face.

(12:43):
You know, I, I, and, and thisisn't to sound like, it's not to
sound conspiratorial, but I am.
There are still a lot ofthings about this, this particular
election that it still justdoesn't add up for me.
And I'm not, I'm not sayingthat because I think that, you know,

(13:04):
the election was stolen orthat there was some technological,
you know, spy software thatwas inserted into anything that would
potentially give, you know,I'm not saying Trump a victory.
I'm not, I'm not saying thatthat happened.
I am saying that the amount ofsupport that it looked like the Harris

(13:26):
campaign was getting, theamount of, just the amount of money
that was coming in.
But then after the election, you.
I look back and reflect on theamount that, all of that.
I look back on it and say, youknow, the way the election turned
out, it, it definitely feelslike maybe this was a situation where

(13:55):
the media may haveoutperformed the race, that the news
media's following KamalaHarris and, and all of these rallies
and things like that, that,that she, she didn't, she didn't
have the support that Ithought she did or that that support
that she did have was being magnified.

(14:16):
And, you know, Trump is a populist.
I mean, as much as I want todeny the authenticity of his populism.
You're not populist.
You're not wrong.
He, he, he.
Even, even now, when he, whenhe says things like he wants to rename
the Gulf of America, the Gulfof Mexico to the Gulf of America,

(14:41):
you know, I, I recognize thatfor one, that's just something that
he got in front of a camerasand said.
I don't, I don't believe thatthere's any intent to do it.
But.
But why, why do it at all?
Why, why rile up, you know,people that are hemispherically our

(15:03):
partners in, in on this sideof the planet?
And it just, you know, I don'tunderstand that.
I don't understand this ideaof, of wanting to potentially use
military force to go intoGreenland and to go into the Panama
Canal.
Like it doesn't, it doesn'tmake sense to me.

(15:25):
Why, why would you want torile up and disturb what is pretty
much a tranquil existencebetween us and Canada and us and
the shit?
Who owns, who owns Greenland?
The Dutch?
No, no, it's.
It's not the Dutch.
Is it, Is it Denmark?

(15:46):
It is Denmark.
Yeah, it's Denmark.
It is Denmark.
Greenland is a territory of Denmark.
So.
So I.
Yeah, go ahead.
So I'll get back to it for you.
So like the election this yearwas crazy, right?
So my little campaign forState House saw like a very coordinated

(16:08):
misinformation campaign about me.
You know, we talked earlierabout this apology I offered to David
Martin for a misspeak I made.
Let's talk about a legit lieand the furtherance of that lie to
defame my character and tohurt me, telling people that because
I work for a company like jll,which is where I'm employed, I got

(16:31):
hired to that job in July.
People are drawing theparallel that all the way back to
2021 where I was working foranother organization.
I facilitated that real estatedeal in 2021 between JLL, JLL and
Sil Fab, the solar plant thatnobody wants here, including myself.
And they know it's wrong.

(16:53):
And you know, nobody comes tomy rescue during that.
Right?
My neighbor, who's an electedofficial, he's not going to show
up and say that's patently wrong.
I can't believe you're saying that.
These friends of mine who I'veknown for years that are endorsing
my opponent out of the blue,they're not going to jump in and
say this is wrong.
I know Matt Velardevo.

(17:14):
That's wrong.
Nobody came to my rescueexcept for, you know, my supporters,
my camp, you know, were like,this is wrong.
And the little Facebook groupthat is against the Sil Fab plant
pulled it.
And all the folks within thatgroup who love me didn't believe
it for a second.
But still they made a fuckingvideo highlighting my connection

(17:37):
to that.
Right?
And I'm just like, it's.
To me, it's almost likethey're making me into Something
I'm not.
They're turning me in almostlike this liberal legend here in
York county and making me likea Democrat.
Kaiju, all this attentionisn't going to hurt me with my people,
my fellow Democrats, they'renot going to watch your silly little

(17:59):
videos and think, oh, Matt'sthe worst.
They're going to watch it andgo, this is a Republican talking
point.
And clearly Matt's on tosomething because they're coordinating
their efforts to attack himwith a lie.
You know, again.
And I almost get physicallyattacked at a fall festival.
I have a death threat calledin on me and my family that resulted

(18:22):
in law enforcement having todo, like, routine patrols of my house.
Right.
All these things happen.
And, like, nobody, like, cameto my rescue.
You know, nobody was like, thearena, which is a, you know, kind
of provides our side ofpolitics and news reporting in the
state, was really gracious andpicked up that story and did a piece

(18:45):
on it.
But even local media didn'trun the piece they interviewed me
for about the death threat.
So it's tough.
Right?
But all this, like, to me,it's all this, like, posturing and
like, they're.
This is their idea of gamesmanship.
And it all goes back to, like, Trump.
I mean, I don't think for aminute that we're gonna go forcibly

(19:08):
re.
Go take Panama and Greenland.
I, for one, like the movie Greenland.
And I'm a big fan of GerardButler and his cinematic works.
I don't know why Trump hateshim, but, you know, this guy is bizarre.
I mean, we could talk all day and.
But that's what people want.

(19:29):
I feel like in the election,one of the things that hurt us is
this, like, pearl clutchinginstinct that Democrats have.
Like.
Right, we get it.
The things Trump saying arebothering you.
But, man, I feel like there's,like, more substantive things we
could be pursuing other thanlike, getting sand on a crevice about

(19:50):
something Trump said.
Yeah, well, it's like.
And that's like.
And he knows that.
He's like, he's sorry.
He's trolling us.
Right?
He.
He is absolutely trolling us.
And people take that baitevery time they get a chance.
And I.

(20:10):
I'm not that guy.
And I think that's why peoplelike me.
They kind of see me as like,the ready, steady.
Matt isn't prone to these outbursts.
Oh, excuse me, Bourbonsvisiting me.
But Matt's not prone to thesort of outburst that others are.
And yeah, it's not like the rock.
I'm talking about myself inThird person.

(20:31):
But that's, that's how things go.
You know, that's where we'reat with politics nowadays in the
world of Trump and a world of maga.
A lot of this is like thetheater, theater of the mind, if
you were, whatever you want tocall it.
It's, you know, who can bemore hyperbolic?
And it's not substantive at all.

(20:54):
Yeah, no, you're, you'reabsolutely right.
And I think that that is, thatis one of the things and how I think
in this next Trumpadministration has to be, is, don't.
I can, I can say things, evenif it's in satire about the, the

(21:15):
dumb stuff that, that woundsup being said in a White House press
conference.
I can, I can have a reactionto it, but can't focus on it.
Because ultimately for me,focusing on it means, you know, me
coming onto one of theseplatforms and saying, you know, did
you hear what he said?
How do you not look at thisand go, this is really dumb.

(21:37):
This is something that, that apresident shouldn't say and, and
that doesn't do anything forthose individuals, half the country
that will continue to supporthim regardless of the things he says.
They won't, they won't turntheir back to him just because of
that.
But we have to focus on thethings that were promised.

(22:00):
We have to focus on the thingslike grocery prices, we have to focus
on the things like gas pricesand improving the healthcare system
here in the country, you know,ending the war in Afghanistan.
And I know, and I, and Irecognize, and some won't, but I
recognize what it means thathe made these promises.

(22:26):
And the likelihood is, isthese are not promises he'll be able
to fulfill, but if he does, Iwill, I will be the first person
to come on and be like, congratulations.
I am.
This is something that is good.
This is, this, you know, he,you know, he has accomplished something
that he promised which hedidn't do during his first term.

(22:49):
So the second term being fromday one, 100%, a lame duck presidency,
the ability to have thoseaccomplishments, and if that means
that the Republicans inCongress, whether the Senate and
the House come together andcome up with a solution for a better
healthcare system that doesn'tnecessarily take and give all of

(23:14):
the power and all of the powerin decision making process to the
insurance, if that somehowbecomes a public option that can
make the healthcare systembetter for everybody, then 100%,
Trump will gain my support onthat and he can etch away at the

(23:35):
opinion I have of him as ahuman being.
Because he's makingimprovements to things that I think
need to be improved.
I'm also drastically fearfulof some of what he has also promised
because some of what he haspromised is just downright batshit
crazy.

(23:56):
The abolishment of theDepartment of Education.
I don't think anyone's reallydiscussing the ramifications of what
that means.
Yeah.
Go ahead.
So I agree with you in I dothink those are the sort of things
that concern me too, because Ido think they will make earnest effort

(24:19):
towards fulfilling that promise.
And I would certainly tellpeople expect, you know, people sometimes
assign a lot of like,coordination and sophistication to
the government and these likesort of shadow maneuvers that are
made.
And as somebody who has spentyears working with the federal government,

(24:43):
I can tell you they possessneither the sophistication or coordination
to do these like, clandestinethings that people think are happening.
But, you know, there are somevery real things that, you know,
a Trump administration coulddo, like putting an end to the federal
Education Department and thatwould be disastrous for funding and

(25:07):
federal dollars beingallocated to schools in need and
departments of educationaround this country who depend on
that money.
I've always said, like, I'lllisten to, really, to anybody, I
may, I may go in into it.
No, I'm not going to agreewith anything they got to say, but
I'll give it a whirl.
Right.
But there's just some thingsthat I'm just not down with.

(25:30):
And I think this like,movement towards anti intellectualism
and like being negativetowards the educated, I'm not down
with that.
I mean, I get it.
We all get pulled in different ways.
Not everybody needs to go to college.
And it's not a matter of elite education.
It's about like, we need folkswith knowledge who are fact based

(25:53):
and driven by science and dataout there, like fixing our roads
and making the electricitywork when you hit the light switch
and all that, like stuff thatyou need.
I'm not.
It's just weird the sort ofway we're going down a dangerous
road with the way we look atlike education and like development

(26:16):
of intellectualism in thisworld and in this country in particular.
Yeah, no, I don't disagree.
And like I was saying that theramifications of dissolving a department
that handles literally themoney as far as the budgeting requests
at a national level for themoney that then is provided to the

(26:37):
states, that the states thenget to distribute on their own without
federal, you know, as long asthey're accredited and they have
all the necessary systems inplace and whatnot.
But you know, the statesdecide how that money is distributed
to the schools.
And if there's no departmentof Education, then who handles how

(26:58):
that money gets distributed tothe states?
You know, there's Congress.
I mean, do you really trust that?
No, there's no way.
It just, it's not, there's noway that Congress has the ability
to operate that at such afinite level.

(27:18):
That's why you have adepartment to handle that Specifics.
But this idea of abolishingthe Department of Education because
they want the states to handlethe curriculum and things like that.
The states handle thecurriculum already.
The federal government has nosay in what the states teach.
That's why in the state ofOklahoma, they're buying 57,000 Donald

(27:40):
Trump Bibles so that the kidsin public schools will be taught
from the Donald Trump Bible, a$70 Donald Trump Bible.
That the likelihood is youprobably could have gone to any one
of the Bible publishers andbeen like, hey, do you want to sponsor
the school system of Oklahoma?

(28:01):
And the publishers would havefought each other to try and, to
try and be that for free.
And, and you use state fundsto buy 50 how?
$57,070 Bibles that like.
Yeah, that's crazy.
That would be like an attorneybuying a flashing safety sign in

(28:25):
front of a school so that hecould establish that maybe he's a
sponsor for childhood safety.
I don't know.
I mean, it sounds weird to me.
Dude, it's self aggrandizingat a minimum.
Yeah, yeah, sorry.
That's true.
I got jokes.
Right.
I.
Look, look, I want to, I wantto bring up a topic that you have,

(28:51):
you have in, in recent weekshave asked me not to go nuclear on.
We have a state representativewho is adjacent to your district.
Yes.
Name.
Name.
Brandon Guffey.
Who is.
And, and I'll just say it.
My, this is my opinion.

(29:12):
He is the victim of his owndoing in every way, shape and form.
But this is a gentleman whohas come after you vehemently outside
of, outside of necessity.
He, you weren't runningagainst him.
You, you aren't in a districtthat's represented by him.

(29:33):
You don't actually have almostanything to do with him except that
maybe you go and eat and shopin his district sometimes.
Yeah.
But you as an individual whois concerned about the growth of
South Carolina, the, the, thepopulation of South Carolina as a
whole, you know, you havecalled him out as well as other representatives

(29:57):
through social media aboutsome of the things that maybe they
haven' done that they couldhave done or the things that they
have focused on versus notfocused on.
And this is, this is anindividual who has come after you
after, you know, years of you,you showing your support for him
on a personal level, financiallevel, you know, so I guess give

(30:23):
us some insight into whatexactly is going on, because my perspective
is I wanted you to let me usethe nuclear option, so I get it.
So, I mean, so here's thething for me, this guy was running,
was a local county councilmember here in York county, and he
decided to run for state rep.

(30:44):
And during that election in2022, when he ran for state rep,
his son took, took his own life.
It was very tragic situation.
It was a sextortion issue.
And I really, I mean, ittugged at me.
I'm a dad, and I feel like I'ma very empathic person.
And I remember, like, beingprobably the only Democrat in the

(31:05):
area to reach out to him,certainly the first.
And he's always been, like,straight up with me, handshake, eye
contact, we'll talk.
But he usually, you know,nothing really deep or substantive.
Whenever we do interact.
I'm not trying to, like, havethis guy invite me over to dinner.

(31:26):
I get it.
And he had a fundraiser I wentto and bought, you know, hundreds
of dollars of raffle ticketsand spent my money at the fundraiser.
And always just him and I.
So fast forward to now and Imake a social media post just about
some legislation I see himsponsoring that I don't support.

(31:47):
And I understand thatlegislation is tied to this tragedy
with his son, but I don'tbelieve that sacrificing our right
to privacy and our FirstAmendment right to freedom is all
the freedom of speech, freedomof everything, freedom of expression,
a lot of constitutional rightswould be sort of muddied with some

(32:08):
of this legislation.
And I just didn't support it.
I never said a cross wordabout this man.
And man, he came at me bothbarrels over that social media post
called Be an Idiot.
He.
There's since been a Maya,somewhat of a Maya culpa on his part,
but not really where he putout another post, which one could

(32:31):
assume that maybe he waslumping me in with the Freedom Caucus
and an accusation of being apedo or a pedo protector.
Again, I, I, I want to say,like, and I feel like he's gonna
hear this and see this.
I'm worried about this guy.

(32:51):
And I, and I know he's dealingwith the most unimaginable tragedy
and trauma that a person couldgo through.
And I feel like sometimesfolks, not specifically him, but
anybody, we.
Social media gives us a wayto, like, publicly process that and
maybe not always in a healthy way.

(33:11):
So I certainly, you know, hopethat guy can, like, get some help.
But I'm not his enemy.
I'm.
I'm a Democrat, and I'mlooking to be Democratic Party chair
in Newark County.
I'm not looking to, like, bethe king of selfies with Republicans.
That's not where I'm at withall this.
I'm looking to inform people.

(33:32):
I'm looking to add balance to Columbia.
And part of that is makingsure Democrats get elected.
And part of that is going tobe pointing out some of this ridiculous
legislation and why I thinkit's ridiculous.
If people like my opinion andbelieve in the things I say and the
sort of parallels I'm drawing,that is great.
But at no point is this me,like, besmirching Brandon Guffey

(33:58):
or the Guffin Guffey family name.
And it was tough.
Like, he was super fired upand people were coming at me.
I actually had people who hadthe nerve to say, well, why aren't.
Why are you being like this?
And I'm like, why am I being like.
I wanted to reply with, why amI being like what?
This guy is literally calling.
Calling me names and trying tobully me.

(34:18):
And I'm, like, taking the highroad in every single thing I say
on this post and subsequent posts.
And it's frustrating.
You know, the Republicans runthings in this state, and, you know,
they run things when you startto poke at them and they don't like
you and they don't like thepoke, and, you know, then that's

(34:39):
the thing.
Like, his Republicansupporters are going to come after
me.
That's their guy.
There's an.
There's a split in York countybetween the Republican Party.
You have the York county gop,and you have something called the
York County Conservative Club.
The York County ConservativeClub wants that charter from the
York County GOP because theydon't think they're doing a good
job.

(34:59):
And ethically, I would say theYork County GOP is devoid of ethics
with the way they conduct themselves.
But again, the York CountyConservative Club doesn't make me
feel any better.
There's still another club ofRepublicans that want to become the
actual vice.
So they're, like, split.
And, you know, they don't.
They see me as, like, theinformed, loud.

(35:22):
You know, people look to me,in my opinion and my.
And hear my voice.
And I think that is theclearer message I received from all
these recent interactions,because I, I know they kind of look
at Representative Guffey aslike the next one and the guy who
they're going to tap on theshoulder to at one point, hopefully
replace Ralph Norman or dosomething else.

(35:45):
But I know that he's like oneof their people because he's.
He, you know, in a way, hewould have been a worthy opponent.
For me, I've always wanted aworthy opponent in an election.
Somebody who will, like,debate and engage and go back and
forth and talk about the issues.
And I've never really had thatin any of my campaigns.

(36:07):
It's always been the standard,you know, I'm not going to do anything.
I'll send out some mailers tomake me look like a tame Republican
and I'll win.
And yeah, I think Guffey wouldhave actually, like, shown up for
a debate and actually wouldhave, you know, wanted to do a candidate
forum.
Yeah, that's, that's.
That's one of the things Ialso want to discuss was I took issue

(36:29):
at one of the comments thatGuffey made on your Facebook post
about.
I don't remember what yourFacebook post was about, but he spent
a lot of time on yourFacebook, but he made a comment about
how we were unwilling to.
You were unwilling.
And as your campaign manager,that was, that was the.

(36:52):
This was a situation that Iwas trying to make happen, which
was we were trying to workwith the David Martin campaign in
order to have a public forumdebate where questions could be posed
to both of you and then thosequestions could be answered in that
forum.
And Guffey made a response,and I'm paraphrasing, but basically

(37:14):
saying that we were toochicken shit to debate him.
And I want to make it very clear.
I reached out to the DavidMartin campaign, both in emails that
were ignored for months, aswell as text and phone calls with
the campaign manager for DavidMartin's campaign.
And when I posed an offer tohave a public forum debate, it was

(37:39):
put on the Matt Vlardimocampaign to come up with the location.
We had to be responsible forthe location.
And when I mentioned three ofthe potential locations that we had
already gotten a semi approvalor at least an acknowledgement that

(38:01):
they would be interested inpotentially hosting it.
Those three locations that Iposed to the campaign were, were.
Were denied.
They did not want to hold thedebate at any one of those three.
And the only one that wasoffered up was a potential at the.
I guess it was the townchamber of Commerce, to which, when

(38:23):
I reach out to the chamber ofCommerce, There was no response.
And I then asked the DavidMartin campaign if they had connection
to the Commerce, which they dothey make the arrangement?
Yeah, of course they do.
He's a member of the Chamberof Commerce.
He has a business in York.
In Rock or in Fort Mill?
Yes.
To all Barrett.

(38:43):
Yes, he has a business inYork, Rock Hill and Fort Mill.
So, yeah.
So, you know, I put it outthere that if they could make the
arrangements, then we would,you know, you as the candidate would
be at any, any potentialdebate that was scheduled.

(39:03):
And nothing was ever returned,nothing was ever said back to me
in the emails that I sent.
There was no follow up even tothe emails that became public to
everyone.
There was no, there was nocommunication back from the campaign
to say, hey, yeah, we want todo this too.
And I think that that is sortof, that, that is part of, that is

(39:26):
part of the, the issue when itcomes to being able to provide the
population, the votingpopulation, with as much honest potential
information as possible.
Wayne Borders is watching uson tick tock and he, he can tell
you that there was, there was,there was no debate between him and

(39:49):
his camp, the candidate he wasrunning against.
They have, this is.
They have everything to losein a debate because they're going
to have to stand up there andtry to like explain 20 years of failures.
They can try to nuance allthis majority, super majority, but
that's what it is.
It's.
They've been in charge for 20years and had really a blank check

(40:10):
to do whatever the hell they want.
And they've chosen all thesereally weird things to pursue.
So why would they like, standtoe to toe with like a well informed,
well prepared, passionateDemocrat who's really approaching
this not from a idealisticpoint of view, but more from the
math.
Don't math out point of view.

(40:32):
And, you know, it drove me crazy.
Drove me.
But I kind of knew that wouldbe my battle to fight.
I wasn't surprised by what happened.
I wasn't, you know, oh, crap,you know, this isn't gonna happen.
It looks like it's frustrating.
We had, we did have venuesthat want to support us and we did

(40:53):
have, you know, some surfaceinterest from an opponent, which
is more than I got two years ago.
So I'll take, I'll take that.
Yeah.
And I can tell your previousopponent, I don't know that her ability
to get out of the house wasreally there.
So, you know, I ran into herat the grocery store the other day
and gave her a hug.

(41:15):
She's in person.
She's so sweet.
But I digress.
I do want to say, though, ascounty party chair for the York County
Democratic Party, I canpromise that I will strive to reach
out to a lot of theseorganizations in our community, like
the League of Women Voters,like, you know, the Pan Hellenic

(41:36):
Council, which is all thesehistoric black Greek fraternities
and sororities, and build a.
A coalition with them where wecan make sure candidate forums happen
and candidate debates can happen.
Because you need some of thesenonpartisan groups to oversee it.

(41:57):
Because, you know, some, somefolks, they're okay with the York
County Conservative Clubhosting a forum or debate.
And, and they see that as anonpartisan event, even though it's
hosted by the York CountyConservative Club.
It would be seen different ifthe Democrats tried to do that.
I remember we have a clubcalled Drinking Liberally, and they

(42:19):
invited all the school boardcandidates to come.
School boards, a nonpartisan seat.
One school board candidatecame to Drinking Liberally to speak
at Drinking Liberally.
So, you know, it doesn't goboth ways.
Right?
And we got to change that.
We gotta, like, change perception.
You know, we're not poison,we're not toxic.

(42:42):
And we, we're indeedinterested in the facts and getting
answers to questions thatimpact everybody.
I'm just not going to be like,how many times a day do you bow to
a picture of Joe Biden?
I'm going to ask yousubstantive questions at a forum
or debate.
I'm not gonna, you know.
Yeah, it's, it's all thisstuff kind of confounds me, the way

(43:03):
people are, the barriers.
And again, it's.
You're talking about a hegemonwith the Republicans in this state.
And the Democrats are tryingto, like, get something done with
them.
And certainly Democrats likeme are trying to move something forward
for the left.
And it's hard.

(43:24):
It's a lot of work, and I'vebeen doing it for years now.
As the, as the county chair.
How are you.
Wayne Border says it's deeplyimportant because we don't register
by party in this state.
And that's, that's absolutelya fact.
As the, as the party chair.
And, you know, in caseanyone's watching or listening to

(43:49):
this that would potentiallyuse this as theirs.
What, what do you, how do youlook at instructing or mentoring
candidates for.
For chair or for positions in the.
In your county?
How do you, how do.
How are you going to approach them?
How are you going to mentorthem on how to.

(44:12):
To, to run a successful campaign?
So, so I can tell before yousay that.
Before you say anything, Ijust want to point out a successful
campaign doesn't mean that youwin campaign.
This, this, this year, yourcampaign picked up thousands more
votes than you had before.
South car least the number ofpeople that voted.
Party only.

(44:33):
And I still think that if itwere, if it were based on educated
voters, voters that didn'tjust go in and pull the county line
and just by default, selectingyour opponent, I think that the race
would have been much closer.
And the likelihood is, ifsomeone was forced to actually vote
for the candidate that theywanted to vote for, that I think

(44:56):
you would have had a win.
I think a lot of Democrats inthe state would have had a win.
I can tell you that.
I am very proud of chippingaway at that 1 percentage point we
took in this election.
We took that back.
That was Ray Felder'spercentage point, and I took it.
So I'm very proud of that.
I lost the election.

(45:16):
I know that.
I'm not like, trying to blowsmoke up my own ass, but I can tell
you it was nice seeing thatgap close a little.
I, I didn't.
I wasn't happy.
I was really upset, but thatgap closed a little.
And that was just a little,little one little sprinkle on the
Sunday, Barrett, maybe alittle pink sprinkle, a solitary

(45:38):
sprinkle.
So, yeah, I'm hoping that Ican run the numbers at some point
and actually get what thiselection, what your, Your, Your election
was representative to thepeople that actually voted for you
versus your candidate.
And my suspicion is, is thatbased on how the election turned

(46:02):
out for the Harris campaignand the number of votes that you
received, my suspicion is, isthat there were more Democrats that
didn't just pull the ticket.
There were more Republicansthat voted for you and voted for
Trump.
Yeah.
So I think that.
I think the.
I would agree is, is that that would.
That would make for a muchcloser outcome than what was represented

(46:28):
by the actual counts.
And I, again, I think that.
I think that could be said formost of the Democrats that ran in
South Carolina against Republicans.
So, you know, so back to whatyou did originally.
So as far as the mentoringgoes, I've already been out there
mentoring people.
So, like, he'll come on hereand tell you this.

(46:48):
John Zabel, that was my guy.
I led that guy to the best I could.
And he, like, broke the.
He, like, broke the trend.
That guy got 42% of the votein a race.
You know, he wasn't able to dothe sort of things he was wanting
to.
He was Hogtied by, you know,difficulty fund raising like the

(47:11):
rest of us.
But, you know, he did animpressive job.
But, you know, I definitelywas there to support and mentor him.
I, I taught a class thatresulted in a woman going running
for Rock Hill City Council andshe lost that race by, I want to
say, 17 votes.

(47:32):
So the fruits.
My tree is bearing fruits andyou just, you got to talk to people.
I got a friend here in FortMill who I think will be.
Who I'm hoping I can convinceto run for Fort Mill Town Council
this year.
But there's people I've metand know in this, in the York County

(47:55):
Democratic Party who I wouldlike to be able to go to and actively
try to recruit them andwithout the sort of authority, and
I don't know what to call it,officialness of being a part of the
county party proper.
You know, it's really not myplace to be out there trying to recruit

(48:17):
candidates.
I don't know if that's like agood use of my effort as a human,
but I would be, I would be arecruiter and I would like be going
to people and, and peoplewould see those efforts.
You know, we don't.
The time for all this.
Like, I.
There's a lot that happensthat y'all don't know about.
Sort of rhetoric is over.

(48:38):
I mean, people need to knowabout the efforts.
We gotta show the efforts,tell folks about the effort, get
them excited about being partof the effort.
All this, like we're doingstuff subtly behind the scenes that's
like, that's not cutting it.
Nobody's getting excited.
Yeah.
About behind the scenes stuffthey don't see.
They get excited about likepassion and conviction and people

(48:59):
who put together like coherentthoughts that make sense.
And I feel like I'm good about that.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
I just, I am, I want here inLexington county, those of us, those
out there that don't knowwhere Lexington is adjacent, it's

(49:20):
just to the west of the cityof Columbia in the middle of the
state midlands of South Carolina.
And while I'm not disappointedin the individuals in the county
party here in Lexington, I am,I am disappointed is in, in the,
in the, the county party as a whole.

(49:42):
You know, Richland county herein South Carolina, which is the,
the, the, the seat for the,the city of Columbia.
You know, they did a lot inthe way of social media presence.
They did a lot in the way ofpulling together canvassers for all
of the candidates.

(50:04):
There was a lot of effort putinto it that I didn't see on the
Lexington side and I attended,I attended one meeting because I
got one email about themeeting and I went to that meeting
to, to, to, to hear what wasgoing on.
I have a friend, we, we have amutual friend that is the head of
the South Carolina DemocraticYouth, the Young Democrats of South

(50:26):
Carolina for the Midlands,Jeremy Jones.
And he, I think that he is agood cheerleader for the Democratic
Party when it comes to his,his ability to be active and his
ability to participate andrecruit other young people to the
Democratic Party to try andbring in more and get people more

(50:50):
active.
But one of the things I'd liketo the county party here in Lexington
do is actually stand up and goout there and encourage more people
to attend the meetings so thatthey don't.
So that they need a spacelarger than just one of the study
rooms at the public library in Lexington.
Like I want to see, I want tosee large attended events once a

(51:12):
month like, like whatKimmeler's pulling off in Greenwood.
The fact that every Saturdaythey do a breakfast for the Democratic
Party where they, they gettogether and they discuss the issues
and they just, they havecandidates come up and stand in front
of the Democrats and talk.
It's an opportunity to shakehands and meet with the people that
you're trying to represent andthen use that forum to potentially

(51:37):
pull in more people andpotentially get people that aren't
necessarily active to be, be active.
Yeah, man, I can tell you likeKimmeler is a good example.
Katie Crosby, as a formerchair down in Lancaster, Rajan Lewis
over in Dorchester.
Oh yeah, these folks are knowhow to run a county party and you

(51:59):
don't do it.
It's a cons.
And again, Barrett has heardme say this ad nauseam.
It is not just in election years.
It is not just the evennumbered years.
You have got to be constantlyout there.
And as county party chair herein York County, I would want to see
us use fundraising dollars tolike, get digital marketing out there,

(52:20):
maybe get a billboard or twoup and start educating folks in York
county about, you know, wherewe're at and what these Republicans
are doing.
Just waiting till, you know, acouple months before the election
year fires up and other things.
You know, there were thingsthat happened this election year
that really drove me crazy.

(52:41):
I was not a big fan of farmingout our volunteer efforts to swing
states.
We lost every single swingstate in that presidential election
and South Carolina sent a lotof effort out to those swing states.
And I just, we got to be likeSouth Carolina centric, I think.

(53:02):
And that's just how I feel.
I mean, as a candidate and theguy who's, like, out there on the
streets actually talking to people.
My.
What I'm hearing and what theinteractions I'm having are not,
hey, you know, I'd love to domore for Democrats in other states.
It's, why are we always runRepublicans running on a post?

(53:23):
Why do we have garbage candidates?
You know, all these other things.
And another one is, why do wehave elected Democrats running unopposed
that do not leave their districts?
We need these electedDemocrats to leave their districts
and come help get Democratselected around the state.
I need to know that the, theDemocratic Legislative Caucus, the

(53:50):
House Democratic Legislative Caucus.
I need to know that guys likeTodd Rutherford are working the phones
for me and other Democratsrunning for state House.
I don't know if that happenedand if it did, nobody shared that
with anybody.
I know that.
I know that the SenateDemocratic Caucus did have their
leaders out working the phonesfor people like Mike Fanning and

(54:12):
others, but we need that sortof unification.
If you're running on a pose,don't sit home and, like, do nothing
or show up.
When Jermaine Johnson orwhat's his name, the part the DNC
chair.
Oh, my gosh.
Oh.
Jermaine, Jamie, don't.

(54:33):
You know when Jamie Harrisonshows up in a bus, let's not, you
know, we need, we don't needyou to go stand in front of it with
a sign with Jamie Harrison.
We need you to come to Yorkcounty, knock doors for me, make
phone calls for me.
Call people who donate moneyto you and ask them to donate money
to me.
Ask them to donate to John Zabel.
Ask them to donate to Adrian Lett.

(54:56):
Ask them to donate to HamiltonGrant and all these other people
that were running around this state.
Hamilton, fortunately, won hisrace, but there were so many of us
that really could have usedthat effort and that rub.
And it's always money, right?
I got to a point with themoney where I knew I wasn't going
to be able to deliver what Ineeded to deliver to do those extra

(55:20):
things.
And once I saw that it wasn't,I wasn't going to be bringing in
30, 50 grand.
You know, I knew what I had to do.
I had to be like, a lot moregrassroots and a lot more person
to person with how I do things.
And it's tough, man.
I mean, David Martin, myopponent, he put out so many mailers,

(55:42):
you know, so many mailersleading up to the general election.
And some of them came to me.
And I know that Brandon Guffeyput out one on his behalf.
I don't know if Guffey paidfor it, if it's just something David
paid for that Guffey likerubber stamped.
But you know, right.
The.
And the Republicans rallyaround each other, you know, I mean,

(56:04):
yeah, that is one thing.
We got multiple elected RepubDemocrats in York County.
We had a fundraiser sponsoredby our county party, and none of
the elected Democrats came tothat fundraiser.
One of them was benefitingfrom the fundraiser and he didn't
show up.
To me, that's unconscionable.
Yeah.

(56:24):
If somebody's gonna do afundraiser for me, you damn skippy,
I'm gonna show up and suck upfor those dollars.
And you know, I don't mind.
I'll be talking.
And in the middle of what I'msaying, no matter how important it
is, I'll be like, hey, youknow what I need y'all to do?
Donate now.
Don't wait till I'm done talking.
Do it now.
You know, I'm not.
I need the money matters.

(56:46):
And you know, people don'tlike it when I say it, but this is
might be the 12th time I'vesaid it publicly.
I wish Soros would back themoney truck up to South Carolina.
We need that kind of funding.
We need, you know, Bloombergand Soros and people like that, you
know, just, you know, flippingoff the dollars for us, for people

(57:08):
who are running in races thatthey can win with that financial
push to get them to work up tothe top of the mountain and.
Yeah, absolutely.
I don't mind saying that Ilike for me, I don't get bothered
by people putting togethervideos like trying to bash me for
things or digging throughGoogle search engines for things

(57:32):
that happened 20 years ago.
I'm all right with that.
All you're doing is for me isshowing me how important I am to
you.
Right.
There's a lot of rhetoricabout living rent free in somebody's
head.
I don't think that putting apost out saying, hey, check out this
legislation, this reps pushingthrough, I don't know about this

(57:56):
is living rent free insomebody's head.
I do think that I'm leaving atleast multiple dozens comments.
You know, bizarre shit happensin the world of the Internet.
Parrot it.
Definitely the amount ofattention that you receive from that

(58:16):
individual in particular is.
I will just say I will givecredit where credit is due, and that
credit has to go to theRepublican Party in your area because
there was money spent against you.
There was effort put intotrying to demoralize you and to try

(58:38):
and defame you in arguablywhat is probably one of the most
and will for the future, aslong as the candidates that continue
to be elected there will beunderrepresented in the state House,
the state of South Carolinawill not benefit your county.

(58:59):
It will not benefit othercounties adjacent to you.
Because the individuals thatwere elected there are all junior
representatives.
These are not individuals thatare going to have any sway on the
Republican Party.
These are not individuals thatare going to be able to come in there
and fulfill the promises theymade, such as the support of public
schools over a voucher program.

(59:19):
You had Republicans that wererunning on this idea and you had
support from people, teachersthat were voting for a Republican
who said that they wereagainst the school voucher program,
but not acknowledging howlittle influence a junior representative
will ever have on the party asa whole that has completely sold

(59:41):
themselves to the profit, forprofit school system in South Carolina.
And I'm, I'm dumbfounded bythe obvious.
Just doesn't stand out.
I have yet to see actual videoof a Republican saying these things
or like, seeing them put itinto writing.

(01:00:01):
I have only heard rumor ofthese things uttered by proxies of
these people who help propthem up and make them something they're
not.
So, you know, I.
This is all just rhetoric.
I mean, and really a lot ofconjecture at this point.
So let me acknowledge the hyperbole.

(01:00:25):
Yeah, it's.
I'm just, you know, it's oneof those things.
I want to give everyone thebenefit of the doubt, but I am too
observant of behavior.
I'm too observant of thethings that someone has done in their
past to not be able to form an opinion.
I had a.
I had a back and forth withsomebody today over social media

(01:00:48):
where it was this, you know,why don't you give Donald Trump a
chance?
And I said, I am giving him a chance.
I will sit right here and tellyou that if he accomplishes goals,
if he accomplishes fixingthings for people here in the United
States, I absolutely will beon board to applaud his achievements.
The problem is based onhistory and based on my observations

(01:01:13):
of his behavior, not justbecause I heard some liberal news
organization talk about it.
I recognize his behavior and Irecognize that he is not an honest
person.
He never has been.
Even when he was a Democrat,less than eight months before he
ran as a Republican, Irecognized that, that he was a liar.

(01:01:34):
He's always been a liar.
And that was when he was partof my party, you know, so it didn't
change.
He's not, he's not reinvented himself.
He has simply taken advantageof the fact that there is a group
of people that support him andthey have, that they have no ability

(01:01:56):
to discern fact from, from notfact and lie from truth and things
like, you know, so I don't know.
That's my, that's my soapbox.
And I am going to hold, I amgoing to hold through the podcast
and social media Donald Trumpresponsible and hold him, hold his
feet to the fire when it comesto the things that he's promised,
same as the Republicans in thedistricts here.

(01:02:18):
Kennedy Carlisle is a guy thatrepresents me in the Senate now and
some of the things that hepromised, if he doesn't fulfill them
during the session or at leastwork to, with other Republicans and
potentially Democrats tofulfill some of the things that he
said he was going to do, youknow, I'm going to, I'm going to
attack, maybe not nuclearoption, but I'm going to.

(01:02:39):
So, yeah, you know, and I'vealready seen some of the things that
my opponent in the lastelection pre filed and I'm watching
him, I'm watching all theelected officials in York County.
It isn't just one person I'mquote unquote picking on.
Right.
I'll watch them all.
I'm gonna be in Colombia forthe Mom's Demand day of action at

(01:03:02):
the end of the month and thesepeople are gonna have to like stand
across from me and answer myquestions or at least hear my voice.
And they can't hide from mewhen I show up in Colombia and I'll
do that.
And that's, I think that'skind of where some people don't make
the connection with me iswhat, what I say on social.

(01:03:22):
I'll stroll right on up andsay to somebody I'm not at all intimidated
or worried or, and I don't, Ido it in an appropriate way.
I'm not some half cotton jerkwho's looking to alienate everybody.
But I also feel like, youknow, I'm trying to provide some
representation for a voicethat's been silenced in a group of

(01:03:44):
folks who are made to feellike they don't matter in this state.
So I mean, that weighs heavyon me and it's important to me that
folks understand that.
They might see me laugh andjoke around or not, but I'm very
serious about this.
Yeah, absolutely.
Because it affects real peopleand it affects, it affects their
lives.
It Affects their childreneducation in York county, same as

(01:04:08):
in Lexington County.
We're having money ripped outof the public education system because
of this voucher program thatjust seems to have an unending source
of funds, as long as they cantake the money out of the funding
for regular school.
So before we get wrapped up, Ido want to ask you.
You mentioned to me previouslythat there is, I guess, some sort

(01:04:32):
of charity amateur fightsgoing on the Rotary.
No, no, tell me about this.
So when I was at my weeklyRotary meeting, one of our members
shared with us that his son inlaw has a jiu jitsu academy, and
they raised like $1.5 millionfor pediatric cancer research by

(01:04:54):
putting on, like, fights.
That's amazing.
And, yeah, that.
I mean, hell yeah.
But the discussion then wentto, wow, we should do fights and
all this.
And a couple of people aroundme were like, nudging me, and I just
kind of smiled and laughed.
But I mean, nothing would makeme happier than to set some celebrity,

(01:05:18):
you know, celebrity, somecharity fights with some of these
folks that are beefing with me.
You know, I would even bewilling to cut weight down to the
190s, Barrett, to make itslightly fair because most of these
folks are significantlysmaller than me.
But, you know, come wail on a.
Come wail on your leastfavorite Democrat for a charity,

(01:05:40):
and if I lose, the money goesto the winner's charity.
So.
But yeah, I'm surprisednobody's ever, like, proposed something
like that, you know, or like,let's see, Todd Rutherford and Dick
Harpootlean.
Because Rutherford said somerather unsavory things about Dick

(01:06:01):
Harpootle.
And during the primaries.
Yeah, I.
I have proposed.
I propose something similar tothat, but it's mostly been.
It's always come across moreas a threat than.
Than an actual invitation tosparring, you know, so, yeah, and
I'm.
I'm down for whatever.
I can do mma.
I can do pure grappling.
I can do judo.

(01:06:22):
I was a brown belt in judo asa youth.
So, yeah, I mean, we can do itall, brother.
I did.
I did.
I was.
I took up boxing for yearsafter I moved here to Columbia just
because it was a good way ofworking off aggression.
I've done plenty of boxing.
Years of boxing and threeyears of Brazilian jiu jitsu.

(01:06:43):
I mean, I'm not without myskill set.
That's fantastic.
Well.
But anything else you want to say.
Before we get out of here?
Yep, I do.
So real quick, I didn't get tomention county party chair in York
County.
I've put a lot of work into this.
We're gonna.
This is me wink, winking andnudge, nudging.
I'm hoping my website guy iswilling to do some last little bit

(01:07:07):
of work for my website.
We'll get the website updated and.
But I have endorsements from,like, all a lot of former candidates
in York County.
Monica Danneman, who ran formy seat four years ago or six years
ago.
Four years ago.

(01:07:28):
And Kevin Eckert, who ran forRalph Norman's congressional seat.
Evangeline Hunley and severalother folks are backing me.
They see the need for this.
Right.
And I have a feeling you'regoing to see folks rally around me.
This is, you know, theofficial announcement, and I'm sure

(01:07:50):
we'll have a little video puttogether we can send out into the
ether here shortly.
But I'll be updating all mysocial media and putting it out and
sending official pressreleases to the local press about
this and everything, becauseit should be treated.
I don't think they'll coverit, but it should be treated this
way.
And it should, like, receivethe valley who and excitement of

(01:08:13):
that we have earned and that we.
We again.
It's about.
We gotta, like, stop thisnonsense where we're something we're
not.
We are.
We're Democrats.
We're here.
There's a lot of us, andthere's plenty of us to win elections
in York County.
And I want to excite that andturn that up to about 11.

(01:08:36):
All right.
All right.
Yeah.
And, yeah, I'll.
I'll take care of your website.
That's not a worry.
And I'll.
I'll take care of it.
You're the best.
Barrett Groover.
Y'all get you a Bear Grooveras a friend, everybody every.
You know what?
Yeah, but not this Barrett Groover.
Maybe.
Maybe find another one.

(01:08:56):
Yeah, this is my Bear Gruber.
Yeah, I'll.
I'll take care of that.
So Matt Velardovo, thecandidate now for the York County
Democratic Party county chair.
And we'll update the websiteso you'll be able to go to matt v4sc.com
to.
To be able to look that.
Which is an appropriatewebsite anyway.

(01:09:17):
I think you could potentiallyuse that.
For anything for a reason.
That website can be maintainedin perpetuity as long as I live in
South Carolina or unless Imove to, like, southern Connecticut
or something, I guess.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Fantastic.
All right, well, check out MadV4SC will be updating the website
with information about hiscandidacy in York county for the

(01:09:38):
party chair for the DemocraticParty, and just, you know, follow
him on social media because he.
He posts information and asksquestions to.
For the people that are in thepositions that can answer them.
And these are importantquestions, and they're questions
that I think every responsiblevoter in your county should also

(01:10:00):
be asking, or, you know, thatit's just.
It's absurd to me how littleeffort some people put into what
is such a responsibility ofall of us as.
As voters, as people that livein the places that we live.
And, you know, so kudos to you for.

(01:10:21):
For at least, despite fallingdown, getting back up.
Yeah, man.
And that's most important.
Absolutely.
Thank you.
And real again, before Ileave, I would be remiss if I didn't
say I've got a workman ratelike my man Baker Mayfield, who has
led the Tampa Bay Buccaneersto back to.

(01:10:43):
Back to back NFC south championships.
I don't care if we got sweptby the Shitbirds, we're the champs.
Yeah.
Well, the good news is, and I.
Honor my bets, Barry Gruber.
I kept that damn profilepicture up clear through the regular
season like I was supposed to.
Yes, you did.

(01:11:04):
Yes, you did.
And.
And.
And.
And you have.
You have fulfilled your end.
You are relinquished fromhaving to have that on there anymore.
I will.
I will say this.
We can do the same bet next year.
Oh, let's do it.
For sure.
I will honor my side of it.
And I will say kudos to theTampa Bay Buccaneer, because if it
weren't for the other teamslosing, they wouldn't be in the position

(01:11:25):
they're at, so.
Correct.
You may claim it was.
You may claim it was BakerMayfield's efforts on the field.
I fully believe it was becauseof lack of effort by other teams.
So there's that.
To each their own, my friend.
That's right.
We can.
We can call it what we want,you know, so.
That's great.
Oh, you're an idiot, man.

(01:11:45):
You're a pedo.
You clearly hate people with Parkinson's.
Do the players on Tampa Bayhave Parkinson's?
I don't.
I feel like I should do that.
Anytime somebody, like, takesa swipe at me, I'll be like.
Like, you clearly hate peoplewith Parkinson's.
Well, you know what?

(01:12:06):
That is how some of the peoplethat I have communication with, that
is how they defend themselves.
Oh, you just don't like white people.
You just don't like Republicans.
You just don't.
And it's like, listen, dude,I've got plenty of friends.
I caught tons of shit for eventalking about the Parkinson's to
where I've like mainly phasedit out of my vernacular and everybody

(01:12:29):
has seen it happen, has evenmentioned it to me.
So.
Yeah, no, I mean, I guess Ishould be like more of a victim because
that's right.
Here we go.
We're trying to end.
That's what separates thevictims from the not victims.
Right.
If I was the victim, I'd belike, ah, Parkinson's this, Parkinson's
that.
But I'm not.
I'm like, ah, you know, I saythings and live by the sword, die

(01:12:50):
by the sword, I'm here for it.
So, yeah, anyway, yeah, it's.
It's like I, it's like I keepsaying, I say this over and over.
The only thing between lifeand death is entertainment or birth
and death is entertainment.
Everything between birth anddeath is just, it's just entertainment.
So.
Yep.
Thank you very much, Matt forbeing on this is going to do it.
For episode number 237, youcan find links to past episodes,

(01:13:15):
podcast platforms, merchandiseand social media all available on
our website page,theallaboutnothing.com and if you
think our financial model ofgiving away free content and entertainment
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Members get access to thisepisode early as well as exclusive
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If you'd like to be a part ofthe show, you can call and leave
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(01:13:36):
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Thank you again Matt for beingon the show.
Thank you everybody for listening.
You all stay safe, be kind andkeep your hands to yourself.
We miss you.
Zach King.
The All About Nothing podcastis produced and engineered by me,

(01:13:58):
Barrett Gruber.
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Sick of you.
You can follow Everything Cakethe band@cakemusic.com thanks to
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You can follow Muff onInstagram at Muff the Producer.
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