7/18/2025 - Brandon Straka

Brandon Straka joins The Anchormen.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Now it's time for the Anchorman Podcast with Matt Yates
and Dan Ball. Welcome in Everybody, Happy Friday, another edition
of the Anchorman Podcast. Dan Ball here alongside one of
the other anchormen here at the network, Riley Lewis what
up ry?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Nothing much, Just enjoying the summer. Yes, time of year. Yeah,
miss the fair already that was in town. But it's
almost horse racing.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Oh, the big San Diego County Fair at the del
Mar Racetrack.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Where the turf meets the Surf's right.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Oh that's their catchphrase, well for the for the horse
races actually, where the turf meets the surf. You would
know that you grew up right up the street, right
and Sanitas is that we grew up Yes, sir, local
CALLI boy. All right, before we get to our guest tonights,
we're gonna get to him quickly. He's been on the
line waiting. Let's catch up real quick with you write
new music a girl? What's shaking with the single anchor man,

(01:02):
Riley lewis uh, just uh.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Just working, having fun, going to the beach a lot,
playing a lot of music. Just trying to enjoy every moment,
you know.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Going to the beach to any ladies. You avoided that question, Riley,
you're the only single guy here.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
All right, Well, you know there's there might be something
on that front, something, there might be early stages.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
I think Matt and I and the other anchorman here
can't really talk about this. We're not single anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, I just don't want to put too much pressure
on it. But yeah, there's been there's been some hangouts.
And cause she watched the show, I don't know, I think, so,
I should.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
You watch your talk show or this podcast talk show?
Oh okay, what's she think of your talk show? Does
she like it?

Speaker 2 (01:39):
I think so? Yeah, I've heard good things. But I
don't know if she's just telling me that because you
know there's something here, or if it's a yeah. I
don't know. I'm just gonna take her out her word,
because she says good things whenever I ask.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
She's just rubbing you the right way right now. Yeah,
she's stroking your ego. Ah, you like my puns today?
I do. I'm feeling a little sassy. I traded up
whiskey today. I got an energy drink. So I think
that's why I'm gonna be a.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Little I don't think you need energy drinks?

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Do you only think I do? Whiskey tango fox trot.
Y' all know what that means, right? AnyWho? What's going
on in the world of One America News in our
coverage this week? With a lot of crazy, wild headlines,
a lot of folks on the right and conservatives and
Republicans battling each other, a lot of keyboard warriors, a.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Lot of information online that is anonymously sourced from influencers,
which I.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Feel like there's a lot of woke crap going on,
and this time it's not just coming from the left.
I feel like I'm seeing woke righty's and I'm not
liking it. It's kind of pissing me off.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Any any are these influencers or or who? We just
all of it?

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Well? See, here's the thing. I've said this since I
started this show five years ago next month. I don't
like getting in the weeds and ship talking folks in
the MAGA or America First Movement because I think it
detracts from the real enemy out there, which is the
radical liberal left and their agenda which ruins my beautiful
country I served, and so I have stayed out of

(03:12):
that fray for years, and I know you do as well.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Completely.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
I don't do it online, I don't do it on
the talk show. I haven't done on this podcast. But
there's a few people who. Yeah, I'm getting a little.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Sick and tired of Well, one thing I think we've
seen this week Democrats, Nick, I'll give them.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Did I say a name? I'm sorry, I keep going
a piece of shit? What go ahead?

Speaker 2 (03:37):
No, But Democrats they keep their in fighting behind closed doors.
You know, they united front as far as the public
is concerned. They do all their fighting behind the scenes.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Which sucks because then you really don't know who they are,
what they believe in, because they're all fake and phony.
Look at Gavin Newso and this guy flip flops more
than a fish dying on the beach. I mean he
is a piece of trash. Right, and Republicans I think
air the dirty laundry because they feel like, well, it's
better for the people, right, it's more transparent. We're out front,
we're telling you what's up. I don't agree with that
guy like Nick Fenta's. I think he's a piece of trash.

(04:06):
Whatever I'm giving you straight up, this guy's a psycho yes, whatever,
And so I never jump in when I've disagreed with
a lot of the influencers, other talk show host, big
famous podcasters with millions of followers, I just stay out
of it, right. I let them give them the rope
and people will hang themselves. That's what I was always

(04:27):
taught back in the day, Right, So just let them
expose who they are and talk their trash and people
eventually will come around and figure it out. But then
you get some of these grifters where I'm just getting
so damn fed up. And look, my guy's in the
White House. We won last November. I'm excited about it.
There's a lot of great things happening, and we may
not be getting everything we want, but can we all

(04:48):
just pump the brakes for a second. I'm gonna say
one thing and then I'll give it to you, and
then we'll get to our guest tonight. Can you imagine
the alternative president Kamala Harris? I'm done, Riley.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Well, that's the thing. I think we've forgotten how low
we were. I mean, we hit bottom with Joe Biden.
That was the worst I've ever seen. Thank you, mass censorship,
masslu immigration wars, all over the place, law fair schemes
and corruption out the wazoo at the DOJ and all
these three letter alphabet agencies, and it's like we forgot
how bad things were. So the compare and contrast, it's
what been six months and we have only six months,

(05:22):
only six months, and think of all the progress and
headway that we've made. And this is with people undermining
the president. So just trust, that's my default, is just
I trust in this administration. I've seen this president deliver
like nobody else in my whole lifetime. I know, and
I know he's doing it again.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
And that's why I wish more on our side this week.
And I know, And I'm gonna mention that dirty word
everybody was talking about, that sick pervert that maybe killed himself,
maybe didn't whatever. I'm just gonna leave it, like like
my acronym here, right, WTF, whiskey tango foxtrot. I can't
really say my new acronym because it's t T, but

(06:00):
trust in Trump that's my acronym. Yeah, you can conveniently.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
Abbreviated, sureveanly abbreviated.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
Should we get to our guest, yes, please? Speaking of
psycho Democrats, and no, that's not our next guest. I'm
leading up to him speaking of the radical liberal left
who had been destroying this nation, trying to censor us,
take away our freedoms, make us a socialist Marxist country.
This gentleman a few years back noticed how radical and

(06:31):
insane the party he once belonged to was at that
time and decided to walk away, But then decided it's
not just good enough if I do it personally. He
was like, I need to get millions of my fellow
Democrats to walk away with me. He started a movement.
He paid a big price on j six, even though

(06:53):
he wasn't doing anything. He was on the other side
of the freaking building from where all the people were,
with the scaffold and everything. Yet they tried to throw
him in prison. He almost lost it all. He's had
to rebuild his entire movement, and I think he's coming
back bigger, better and stronger than ever because he has
a great message. He has a great way of getting
his message out there, and you can't once you talk
to the guy, you can't not love him. He's a

(07:15):
good person, a good human being, and he's doing a
great service for the America First Movement by talking to
independence and liberals democrats, especially in the tone and manner
he does coming from a position of I used to
be there, I was you. I can't do that. I've
always been this conservative fricking guy. So I can't come
at a Democrat and go, hey, let me know. They'd

(07:36):
be like, screw you, f you. But this guy can.
And so without further ado, can we bring my friend on?
Do we get a drum roll? Brandon Strock, founder of
the walk Away Movement campaign. We love him. He's bigger,
batter and back. What's up brand?

Speaker 3 (07:54):
Hey, it's good to be with you guys.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (07:56):
That was a beautiful intro. Thank you very much better
than I deserve.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Can I can I start it off just by saying
thank you? Actually? Oh, and it's nice to meet you.
Of course, you know, Matt Struck not not like this,
not like this, only seen you around, been a big
fan for a long time. But to Dan's point, I've
been I think maga my whole life. I just didn't
realize I was maga, and I assumed everybody was too, Democrats, Republicans.
I thought we were all on the same page about that.

(08:21):
Just regardless. So thank you for meeting people where they
are and helping to awaken people because that's what we're
seeing in this country.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
Well, well, you're not wrong. Away Democrats thirty forty years ago,
it used to be on the same page of putting
our country first. They've deteriorated over the last decade or so,
probably two decades. But anyway, we'll let Brandon tell us
how his old party has deteriorated. So let's begin with
the questions in the hot seat for you, you ready, brand
This is way different than the talk shows where you
come on for five six minutes and we've got a

(08:48):
specific thing we're talking about. We just want to spend
an hour with you and learn about Brandon Struck. So
first of all, you got to tell us where you're born,
growing up, mom, dad, brothers, sisters, college, and then we'll
get into your politics and then how you broke free
from the radical left.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
Cool, let's do it all, right. So I'm Brandon's Trock.

Speaker 4 (09:08):
I grew up in a little town called O'Neill, Nebraska.
It's in northeast Nebraska, really tiny town, about thirty two
hundred people. My graduating class from high school was eighteen people.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
I was one of the two. That's the truth. My
dad is a cattle rancher.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
He's actually retired now, but he was a cattle rancher
up until about a year or two ago, and my
mom kind of helped him throughout the years with his
cattle business. So I grew up in a very conservative family,
very kind of humble beginnings. I was the black sheep
of the family, as the liberal of my family, the

(09:48):
only liberal in my family. I'm the youngest of I
have a biological brother who's three and a half years
older than me, and then my parents also took in
two of my cousins and raised them, so they were
kind of raised as my siblings, so they were all
older than me.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
I was the youngest of the four.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah, and that's what Midwest folks do, brand because you know,
I have a Soper background. That's what they do. Family
needs help, you take them in, go ahead, love it.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Well, no, no, no, it's okay.

Speaker 4 (10:15):
You know the family I come from, it's really it's
honestly very crazy. My mother is one of ten kids,
and her dad died when she was five, so my
grandmother had to raise ten children by herself.

Speaker 3 (10:29):
She was a farm wife and a school.

Speaker 4 (10:31):
Teacher, like back in the days where you like taught
school in like a little schoolhouse in the.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Middle of nowhere.

Speaker 4 (10:36):
And so my grandmother had to figure out how to
take care of ten kids on her own. So one
of them, my aunt, one of the oldest aunts I have,
she left early and when she was like seventeen years old.
She she wanted to get it out of the house.
So she got married and ended up marrying this guy
who was very abusive and terrible, and they had like

(10:58):
six kids together. So he ended up leaving her and
she took it very, very badly. So the kids got
split up and my parents took two of them.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
But yeah, it's you know, so it's yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
You're right.

Speaker 4 (11:12):
I mean, it's very kind of Midwestern family thing. But
it's also you know, crazy family stuff.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Well everybody's got that, right, everybody's got that, all right.
So yeah, again I didn't know that, right. I did
not know. Even though Brandon I've been buddies now about
four years. We've been at speaking engagements together, he's been
on my show, we've hung out the wife and I
with him. I didn't know you were a Nebraska boy
because I just know New York, which we'll get to
in a second right on how you're trying to help
save New York from a psychopath, not becoming the mayor.

(11:39):
We'll get there in a half hour or so. A
Mark sounds good. YEA, So Nebraska, you're the black sheep
of the family because you were liberal in a small
Nebraska town. I can relate. My town had four thousand
people in northwest Ohio. So get us up to that
point of you breaking out, branching out, leaving liberal brand,

(12:00):
and leaving little Nebraska. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:02):
Well, so I always knew early on, very young, I
kind of caught like the acting bug and like the
performer bug, and so I knew I wanted to I
don't know how I knew, but I just knew I
wanted to move to New York City after I graduated
from high school, and I wanted to live an artist's
life that was really important to me. I didn't know
if I was gonna be a singer or an actor

(12:24):
or but I'd.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Done a lot of that.

Speaker 4 (12:27):
I just knew I wanted to kind of go to
New York and you know, be wild and free and
find my path and live my life. So graduated from
high school, moved to New York City, started doing some
acting and singing and stuff like that, like off Broadway shows,
a little bit of television. I did a few episodes
of a few soap operas, like As the World Turns

(12:49):
and some other stuff that that film, Yeah that filmed
in New York and yeah, yeah, but it's the thing
As the World Turned I could see you on that
soap keep going started.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
I'm just imagine I'm looking at you going okay, Because
my grandma kind of raised me, and I grew up
watching when I got home from school, right, or if
I was sick. There, Young and the Restless, right General Hospital,
as were all these old soaps my grandma watched. So
I'm totally relating here. Now go ahead, ran, Oh my goodness.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
Yeah, well the ones I my family used to watch,
The Bold and the Beautiful and.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
Yeah, and I always like Days of Our Lives. But
I never did either of those shows.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
You know. I ran for Congress against the nasty Sheila
from Bold and Beautiful.

Speaker 3 (13:30):
What, Yeah, I think her name is Kimberlin.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, Kimberln Brown. She's an actress called Sheila. For all
the ladies watching the podcast, I know Sheila, Yeah, Kimberlyn Brown.
Her and I ran in the primary for Mary Bono's
old seat in twenty eighteen up in the Palm Springs
Coachellaella area.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
Yeah, so actress. She beat me. Yeah, anyway, keep going.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
No, it's okay. She played a real psychopath, right show.

Speaker 4 (13:52):
I don't know how you yeah, I don't know how
you feel about her in real life, but she was
a real psycho on the show. That we'll talk ably, Okay,
no problem, the problem. So then I'd say, the next
thing is that, you know, I'm living in New York
City and kind of like slowly, you know, making some
progress doing acting, singing stuff. But I got really really

(14:14):
into drinking and drugs, and so for many years in
my early twenties, I was a pretty big drinker, but
I got very very into cocaine and that went on
for a long time, so like I was so ultimately
I got sober when I was God, I don't know
in my thirties. I've been sober now for over ten years.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
So good for you.

Speaker 4 (14:38):
That very much kind of sidetracked me. I'm assuming this
is the kind of show where we just talk about everything.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
It's a podcast. You can say whatever the hell you
want on this is what's great. It's not the top show.
We're not limited too much time because we get a
whole hour. And yeah, it's supposed to be more of
an in depth with the guest and totally you just
go anywhere you want to go.

Speaker 4 (14:55):
Brand Well, I just I feel like it's important to
talk about because a lot most people know that I'm sober,
because I've been very open about that since I came
into the public eye in politics. But it's a good
topic to talk about because you know, there's a lot
of people out there who are struggling with addiction issues.
And I know that I know that before I got sober,

(15:15):
Like I knew that I needed to get sober for
years before I got sober, and I truly believed I
could not do it. Like I thought that I would
just die of a cocaine overdose, you know, as a
young guy, and that would be the end of it.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
And you know what, because we had Tom McDonald on
a couple of weeks back, and you know, Tom the
rapper right came up to our side, conservative guy. He
had the same issue. He was, like I did a
run away from home but he left home to go
become a recording artist. He was doing some wrestling somewhere
up in Canada where he grew up. I do it
was prettey tell Us, not Quebec, but somewhere anyway. Yeah,

(15:49):
I wasn't And he got into might have been Vancouver,
pills and booze and whatever, and literally he said he
almost died. One day. He wrote a note and laid
it on his chest. He had nine on the phone
and thought, if I feel like I'm gonna die, I'm
gonna hit nine one. Hopfully they'll get here in time.
And when he came through that night and didn't die
the next day, he went, that's it, called his folks.
I got to come back home. He was twenty something.

(16:11):
I got a sober up. He didn't go to a clinic.
He just it hit him overnight. He went home. He
took him ten months. He stayed in the house, locked
himself away, sobered up, went through the shakes, the chills
and all the stuff, and then in that time also
refound God, and then came down to California to make
his dreams come true. With about seven they bucks in
his pocket. And look at him now, he said, nine

(16:32):
years later, he's made millions independent recording artists. But he
beat the addiction. And so I think this is a
great part of where we get more time on this
style of show. Tell the viewers how you beat it,
because there's most likely somebody watching that's dealing with an addiction.
They're going, I'm never going to be able to beat this.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
Yeah, no, it's true. Yeah, and that's really the thanks sir. Shit,
I didn't know that about Tom McDonald. I'm gonna have
to look into that more. But yeah, like I said,
I mean, I knew for years that this was really
really really bad, and I mean really bad. And there
were many, many, many nights for years where, like I was,

(17:09):
I was doing so much that like my nose would
be bleeding and sometimes I would be vomiting, but I
would keep doing it, and yeah, and I would go
on these like binges that would last twelve fifteen hours,
you know, and of like consistently using throughout that time.
And and then I know, towards towards the very end,

(17:32):
before I got sober, Oh my god, it like I was,
I was like on this constant cycle of trying to
kind of take myself up and down and up and
down and up and down. So there was a while
where I had a bottle of whiskey in my bathroom
under my sink, and a bottle of sleeping pills, and
I'd be sitting there snorting lines, chugging whiskey, taking sleeping

(17:55):
pills and then yeah, and also like vomiting and so
and it was so bad.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
It was so bad.

Speaker 4 (18:03):
But I just was like, I can't stop doing that,
because I would always be like, Okay, I'm not gonna
do this anymore.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
I'm not going to do this same moore.

Speaker 4 (18:09):
And then literally like two days might pass or three
days might pass, and then I would just call my
dealer again and start it all over.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
So I remember it was.

Speaker 4 (18:18):
It was Christmas of probably twenty fifteen, i'm going to say.
And I went back to Nebraska to see my family,
and when I was there, I ran into this guy.
His name is Ryan, and I knew him from back
when I was like nineteen twenty years old and back
when I lived like cause I lived in Nebraska for

(18:38):
a couple of years before I moved to New York.
And when I knew him, he was a junkie, like
a crystal meth addict and a cocaine addict and all
this other stuff. But when I saw him and around
Christmas of twenty and fifteen, like, he looked amazing.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
He looked really healthy, he looked really fit.

Speaker 4 (18:57):
He was like muscular and just I was like, dude,
I was like, you look amazing, Like what's going on?
And he said, well, I've been sober for eight years.
And I was like, wow, that's incredible. And so we
just started talking and I said, look, I was like,
I really really really think I need to get sober too.

(19:19):
But I was like I don't know how to do it,
and I don't think I can do it. And he
was like, well I did you can, like anyone can,
you know, And he started just kind of like coaching
me through. He's like, he's like, I really think that
you should start going to AA. He was like, just
find meetings, you know, get in the program, start meeting
other people.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
And I was like, I don't. I don't want to.
I don't want to do that. You know.

Speaker 4 (19:43):
I was like, wow, that sounds awful, And you know,
I was going through all the same stuff that anybody
who's about to get sober, newly getting sober goes through
like you. You you think that everything that's great about
you is tied to using. You know, You're like, if
I stop using, I'm not gonna be fun anymore.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
I'm not cool, I'm not getting my money, I'm not
gonna be cool.

Speaker 4 (20:03):
You know, everything that's great about my personality is because
I get higher or whatever. So then I'm just say,
you know, you have that identity crisis and stuff. But
I did what he told me to do, which was,
after I got back from Christmas, I went to a meeting.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
I did it. I for about two weeks.

Speaker 4 (20:19):
I went to meetings almost every night, and I would
stay for like five minutes and I would leave.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
So I'd go to the meeting, i'd show up.

Speaker 4 (20:26):
I was like, oh, this is so stupid, and then
I'd leave and I would go straight to the bar.
So for like two weeks, i'd go, i'd stay for
five minutes, i'd leave, and then i'd go to the
bar down the block, and I'd be like, well, I
went to the meeting.

Speaker 3 (20:36):
It's progress, you know.

Speaker 4 (20:38):
But then after after two weeks, I don't know, maybe
just the consistency of showing up and going and kind
of it, maybe a little bit of a habit was sparked,
but you know, I started staying through the whole meeting,
listening to what people had to say. And then after

(21:00):
a couple of weeks, so it's January eighteenth, it would
have been I guess twenty sixteen. I'm not doing my
math right right now. Well, I've been sober for over
ten years, so whatever that is, okay, So January fifteenth,
January twenty fifteen.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yeah, so even sober ten and a half years. Congrats brother,
that's awesome.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
Yeah, ten and a half years. I took my last drink.

Speaker 4 (21:22):
I had a couple of glasses of red wine and
put it down and I was like, that's it.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
I'm done.

Speaker 1 (21:28):
That's it. I'm done, ok, and we're booze. No more pills,
can you. I always wonder this and let me I
always wanted this insensitive, but I've got people in the
family and others that have been alcoholics. She never had
any big, big, huge drug addicts in the family, but
a lot of alcoholics. My dad's side of the family
is from the South. We grew up in Ohio and
in the north they're there because half the family's Hillbillies.

(21:52):
So I mean, it was it was nothing to have
the ball jars of moonshine under the kitchen sink all
the time. Wow, and you're twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Somebody picks
it up, chugs it. Nobody says a word anyway. My
point to that is I always feel weird about asking
this question. But can you today now have a drink
and be okay with it? Or do you you cannot
touch it at all?

Speaker 3 (22:11):
Well, I mean I haven't had a drink, and I.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Just want to tell people that quit and they can
steal some again. Some they weren't pill addics or other things.
I know sometimes hardcore drugs and pills. That's hard and
if you take anything that's addictive, you can't touch anything
ever again. But for alcoholics sometimes that have been sober
ten twenty thirty years. I know a couple of them
from my own family. Now that they can go out,
have a meal and have a beer or a glass
of wine, maybe even two. That's it. Stop and they're

(22:36):
fine because I've had so many years of sobriety. But
it was alcohol only. They weren't doing the hardcore drugs
and the pills. From what I understand, that's the stuff.
And you can speak to this. I can't. That's the
stuff that's so hard to kick that once you kick it,
you don't want to go back down that road. So
you don't touch anything that's got an addictive whatever to it.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
Correct I would put I would put myself in, yeah,
the latter category.

Speaker 4 (22:59):
So it's funny. I was actually just having this conversation
with my mom, who also quit drinking five years ago.
Uh so she's sober now too. Uh but uh, I
was saying, I said, do you think you're an alcoholic?
And she's like, I don't know. You know, we were
kind of talking about that, and I said, you know,
I don't. I don't know if I am either, And
I was like, I don't. I'm not sure. But I

(23:21):
said to me, it's just sort of easier to refer
to myself that way, Like, I don't I don't think
there's any shame in calling myself an addict or an alcoholic.
So also, when I made the decision to get sober,
everything was sort of intertwined in or connected. So like
if I went out and I had literally like two
or three SIPs of alcohol, my brain was like, you

(23:42):
need to call the coke dealer.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
You need to call the coke dealer, you know, so.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
That little buzz you were, now I gotta go. Yeah, next,
I need one hundred percent buzz, not this little one percent. Okay,
so yeah, let me jump forward. You're talking January of
twenty fifteen. Didn't a guy come down an escalator in
later twenty fifteen? So now I'm going to get into
your new world here. As you see, I'm trying to segue.
Brandon gets sober, Brandon realizes liberals are nuts. Now I'm

(24:08):
just kidding. Uh no, I don't put words in your mouth.
Take us the twenty fifteen you get sober, and let's
start going from fifteen into sixteen seventeen when you start
figuring out you need to walk away because you weren't
political at all. So how did you get political on
the left even to decide I need to walk away
from that side? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (24:28):
Well okay, So first all, I know you're making a joke,
but actually, there there, really, I think is a direct
connection between my sobriety and walking away from the political left.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
It was a joke, but serious, Yes, I'm.

Speaker 4 (24:40):
You know really though, because a lot of brand nuts. Well,
so I started, I did get into AA and I
for years. I went on like a daily basis. I
had a sponsor, I worked the steps, and what that
taught me was personal responsibility, accountability, cause and effect and things. Yeah,
and I I started to realize that all of the

(25:02):
things in my life that were broken and wrong and
unsatisfying and all these things were my fault, you know.
And I up until that point, I had been kind
of blaming everybody else for everything that was wrong or
broken in my life.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
What's that in politics today? Which side of which party
likes to blame other people and never take self responsibility
and then want government to fix it? What side is that? Again?

Speaker 3 (25:26):
Yeah, that's exactly right.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
Well.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
And also I mean what which party is about?

Speaker 4 (25:31):
You know, hard work and that if you want something,
you earn it and you work for it, and you meritocracy.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
And you know all of those things.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
Amen.

Speaker 4 (25:40):
So I started to I started to learn those things,
and I started again like kind of embracing the cause
and effect of my own life and my own actions.
And Oh, another thing before we move on is making amends.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
You know.

Speaker 4 (25:55):
That's a huge part of this too, is you know,
taking accountability.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
Right, you got to go do that. You did that
lot of I don't go back and do that. That's
a great elaborate on making the folks watching that might
have an addiction if they get sober, you got to
go back and clean some mess.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
Up, That's right.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
Yeah, it's about you know, going back and trying to
make amends for the harm that you caused in other
people's lives and you know, the disruption and all of
those things, and so you know, there's a lot of
humility I think that you learn in that. But also
one of the greatest things I learned in sobriety, which is,

(26:33):
you know, they don't even really talk about this that much,
but is it made me so much more comfortable dealing
with other people, Like I learned how to kind of
sit in my own skin.

Speaker 3 (26:48):
And remember I was saying before all, will I be boring?
Will I be whatever?

Speaker 4 (26:52):
Well, it turns out that all the things I liked
about myself were still there even when I got sober.
But I no longer felt uncomfortable in my own shoes.
Who's like being around other people. I felt, you know,
like a person who had a right to be sitting
where I was sitting and to be where I was,
and that I didn't need to like run out of
the room or feel uncomfortable, things like that, and so yeah,

(27:14):
then if we take it through to when, you know,
around the time Donald Trump's running for office, I voted
for Hillary Clinton in twenty sixteen, and I.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
Was still at liberal.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
I'm just kidding, what's that I didn't get?

Speaker 3 (27:27):
You say, lash me, no, keep going, yeah, right, no,
it's absolutely.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
We forgive you brand you didn't know yet we forgive you.

Speaker 4 (27:34):
Yeah, but uh, I I was feeling pushed away by
liberals in the political left.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
A lot of it was like kind of cultural stuff,
you know.

Speaker 4 (27:46):
We when the Supreme Court decided that marriage equality was
the law of the land and the gay people could
get married, I felt like that was a finish line.
I felt like, Okay, you know this, this struggle has
kind of come to an end. And I've always believed
you can't let legislate tolerance, you know. I think that
people have the right to demand that they have the
same rights as other people, but you can't demand that

(28:09):
other people will love it or love.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
It and go with it or yeah exactly. Yeah. I
left that part out about you, Brandon. We didn't get
to the part of coming out or anything in your life.
But again, I always love bragging Brandon up because it
can't be that easy being an openly gay man in
the conservative movement because not everybody in the MAGA world
approves of gay marriage and gay couples and everything else.

(28:33):
And I've always believed, and this is me. You can
shit talk to me all you want. Folks live and
let live. It's America, okay. So if you're a Christian,
you're saying, oh, you can't promote homosexuality and this, that
and the other thing, and it's great you can say that.
It's America. Brandon also has a right to say whatever
the hell he wants about you, and he has a
right to live and get married. Now it's law of
the land. And if you don't like it, well, then

(28:55):
elect different leaders and see if they'll make a constitutional change,
because now it's the law of the land. The Supreme
Court already rule. So guess what, he's my friend. Oh,
I've got friends in the gay community, so what sue
me for it? And we have a lot of folks
in the America First Mega movement that are in the
gay community, and they're not the radical left wing LGBTQ

(29:17):
one two three plus ABC I don't even know what
these letters stand anymore because they've been hijacked. And Brand
speaks to this a lot on my show, is that
the movement of gay men lesbian women that just wanted
fair rights to be able to get married. And again,
I know Christians are like, it goes against the Bible,
man and a woman. Great, that's your opinion. It might

(29:37):
still be my opinion, but I'm not going to tell
them they cannot because now it's the law of the land.
It was voted on by the people, meaning we put
folks in charge that made it law the land. So
if you don't like it, well, tough. That's kind of
how I look at stuff, right. But there's a lot
of amazing people who are out there who have fought
hard for Donald Trump, who have fought to keep this

(29:58):
country first. And just because you don't like who they're
sleeping with, you think they're a horrible abomination. And that
drives me nuts because you don't know this guy from
Adam I do. I think he's a great guy. Do
I care that he likes men. He didn't flirt with
me or hit on me, so I don't care.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
Doesn't I mean? The truth is it's it's irrelevant. It
doesn't matter if you're a good person.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
Watch it. Now, Christians are going to attack you. Okay, well,
and you and I are both Christians, but you watch
what happened.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
That's fair and I stand by it, respectfully. The only
thing that I think really matters at the end of
the day is just being a good person and treating
people the way you want to be treated, the Golden rule, and.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
If you're an American, be pro American. And Brandon Strock is,
and we're going to get to how he is very
pro American by creating a massive movement that got millions
of Democrats to walk the hell away from a Psycho
party completely. Now, if he was a straight guy, people
would be like, yeah, amazing, but some in our movement
are like, because he's a gay man, yeah really, Yeah,

(30:56):
that's asinine.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
It's just I can't speak for anyone else but myself,
but it feel shallow, respectfully, it is very shallow and
very judgmental, and so I just I don't agree with that.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
I don't support that. I know I'll take heat for it,
but Brandon, you know me, I don't give a shit anyway.

Speaker 2 (31:08):
Anytime you take a stand in this life. You'll take
heat for it, but yeah, always stand on Prince. Look
at Trump stand alone. You're never going to be able
to appease one hundred percent of the people. You'll be
lucky if you can get fifty point one. Okay, So
I'm sure I just pissed off forty nine point nine whatever,
but so be it.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
Change the channel. Okay, So you screwed up and voted
for Hillary, but you're sober, so you're starting to see
the air of your ways. How is that? Is it
because you realize that the Russia hoax was bs way
back then? Or what get us to that that crux,
that turning point where you're like, I got to get
out of this damn party.

Speaker 4 (31:40):
No, it was so after so two things happened to
me after Trump got elected. One, I became really confused
about how the media that I trusted had gotten it
so wrong. You know, we're talking about CNN, MSNBC, New
York Times, you know all the major left wing outlets.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
You know you started seeing the fake news.

Speaker 4 (32:01):
Well they were they guarantee me, you know that she
was going to win in a landslide, and this was
gonna be like one of the greatest political upsets in
American history, that he had a three percent chance of winning.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
Polls, the polls ran in the polls.

Speaker 4 (32:12):
The other thing was that I, you know, grew up
in small town Nebraska, and I knew that there were
gonna be a lot of people in the middle of
the country that would vote for Trump. But I thought
it was going to be such a small number of
people that she would win in a landside and so
I didn't think of you know, I was like, who cares,
Let the stupid idiots vote for him or were going
to vote for him, This is gonna be such a massive.

Speaker 3 (32:30):
Upset, you know whatever.

Speaker 4 (32:32):
But then when he won, I was like, wait, whoa
why did all these people vote for him? Because you know,
he's hitler and a racist and a bigot and all
this stuff. So I was kind of, you know, acting out,
freaking out. And the biggest pivotal moment for me was
in January of twenty seventeen, right around the time he

(32:54):
was about to take office.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
Yep, I posted on Facebook that I.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
Would never be able to understand how anyone could vote
for a man who was capable of mocking a reporter's
disability in front of a cheering crowd. And that is
when a woman who named Diane, who baby sat me
when I was a baby, staunch Christian Conservative had many
fights with her over the years on Facebook, but she
reached out to me privately and she said, look, I'm

(33:18):
not trying to start another fight with you. I'm just
asking have you seen this? And she sent me a
link to a video entitled debunking the Trump mocked the disabled.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
Corner just let the very fine people. A year later
and I.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
Watched this video. That's right, but that happened later.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yeah, there was so many debunked with Trump. Yeah, keep going.

Speaker 4 (33:36):
That was the first one I saw in real time
with Charlottesville, because that happened right after I had walked away.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
But yeah, because you walk thirty seven seconds later when
he clarified the fine people were the people that weren't
the idiots in the khakis with the torches anyway.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
Well yeah, but in addition to that, I mean, look
that this is another topic for another day, but I
would argue that Charlottesville was also probably not at all
what the media wanted us to be believe that it was.
I don't think it was just a bunch of Nazis
marching around, and a bunch of really good anti fascist
people on the left who are.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
Trying to well.

Speaker 4 (34:09):
I also think that it was more than likely the
people on the left who incited violence.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
And I think that there's.

Speaker 4 (34:15):
A lot more to that young girl who got hit
by the car than just some angry Nazi ran or
over with her car. I don't believe that that's what
happened at all. But anyway, another topic for another day.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
Oh now he's been awake seventeen he does his homework.

Speaker 4 (34:32):
When when I watched the debunking the disabled reporter video,
I saw very clearly for the first time that the
media that I trusted was capable of being dishonest, duplicitous, manipulative, lying,
making me believe something happened that didn't happen. And so
when I realized that, then I was like, WHOA, how

(34:53):
often is this happening and why and what's going on?
So I went on this really deep dive of res
search for the next couple of months. Just I became
obsessed with reading, researching, watching videos, trying to get to
the bottom of what's going on with the media. Never
in a million years, and I mean this did I
think that I would come out the other side of

(35:14):
that research being okay with Trump or his supporters, or
I imagined I would always hate Donald Trump, always think
he was terrible. I just thought, like, is the media
manipulating things?

Speaker 1 (35:26):
You know?

Speaker 4 (35:27):
Well, when I went did my deep dive, what I
came to realize at the end of it was that
Donald Trump was not my enemy, but the media that
I'd been trusting my entire life was my enemy. That
was the problem, and then held.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
Since fifteen fake news, fake news. Everybody made fun of him.
I've been in three years. It's the freaking fake news.
Why do you think I'm at a way in and
not an affiliate?

Speaker 3 (35:49):
Fake That's right.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
I can't say that word news.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
No, that's right.

Speaker 4 (35:55):
But so by March of twenty seventeen, only two months
after I I started my journey of research, I left
the Democratic Party. So I left the Democratic Party in
March of twenty seventeen, only two months after I started
my journey, And then over the course of the next year,
I started speaking out on social media about what I

(36:18):
was thinking and feeling and what I had learned, and
I started to lose all my friends. I started to
lose family members. I stopped getting invited to things, I
stopped getting invited to parties, all this stuff, and so
it really turned my world upside down. I mean, it
was a very, very disruptive experience in my life. By
the end of twenty seventeen, I had lost more than
ninety percent of my friends and conservative family.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
Go back home in Nebraska, think of the Brandon now
changing clean sober, leaving the Democrat Party, but supporting a
guy that even a lot of Republicans back then didn't
like and support because a lot of good old fashioned Republicans.
Notice I'm not saying conservatives, because I always called myself
a conservative, not a Republican, because I've had I've had
issues with both parties for decades. So my whole thing is,

(37:04):
what did they think about you going all in on Trump?
Because back then there was a lot of Christian, right
wing Republicans who went not this two or three time
divorced former Democrat New York playboy scumbag that says bad words.
I'm a good Christian from Nebraska on the farm. I'm
not voting for him. It was a lot of folks

(37:25):
like that. I know, I had him in my family
and friend circle in Ohio, in California and the places
I've lived that were like, because I was on board
since fifteen, They're like, how can you be for Trump? Dan,
He's disgusting. I'm like, have you seen the a holes
we've elected the last thirty forty years. Seriously, I'm giving
this guy a try. And I've been team Trump since fifteen,
since the Escalator ride, Baby, and I ain't moving well.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
They loved it.

Speaker 4 (37:48):
I mean, my family members who support Trump, my parents,
my parents are Trump supporters.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
They absolutely loved it.

Speaker 4 (37:55):
I think they were really proud of me for especially
for figuring it out on my own, which has kind
of been the story of my life.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
I got sober on my own.

Speaker 4 (38:03):
I I I kind of, you know, I'm just kind
of like a guy walking in my path, figuring out
my own stuff in my own time. And but I
think they were really happy about it, and certainly it
made it a lot easier for us to get along
because I was really angry at them, especially after Trump
got elected. I was, I mean, there was a period
of time where I was like, I'm never going back
to Nebraska again. I'm never like, I'm gonna punish every

(38:25):
person who voted for Trump.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
But today now you're leading the sheep away and to
the promised land of Maga Brandon.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
Can I ask you a question about that?

Speaker 1 (38:37):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Yeah, you said it was disruptive, this this whole period
of your life. Was it also liberating though, because it's
it's a betrayal when you realize that the media institutions
you grew up watching that you've entrusted in have been
deceiving you and manipulately manipulating you. But at the same time,
it's like now you know who they are for what
they are, and you know where to go, and it's
like they don't have this, we're over you anymore. Right,

(39:01):
you can figure out you realize, wait a minute, act
to do my own homework, my own research, and you
start thinking in a much different way. It just it
changes everything. So I think I'm just guessing. I'd like
to ask it was disruptive, but was it also for
you just kind of liberating, like a breath of fresh air, Like, Wow,
I realize I've been fooled and I'm never going to
go back to that.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
I would say, not only was it liberating, and yes,
the answer is yes, extremely liberating. I would use the
word exhilarating like I was. I was exhilarated throughout twenty
seventeen as much as like I was losing my friends
and it was really sad and disruptive and all that stuff.
Like there's something when you reach this point in your

(39:41):
life and like the veil is lifted and you start
to go like, oh my god, so much of what
I thought I knew, and so much what I thought
I believed was not true.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
It was never true, right, Like you just wanted, like
you want to go back to the sty. You want
to go back to kindergarten.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
Not knowing like you know what my wife says and
Rando's my wife will She's like, I wish I didn't
know all this that I know now because I dragged
Peyton Brand loves my wife. They probably get along better
than we do some days. I love Hayden, thank you brother.
She yells at me, by the way, because she's like,
you drag me into this freaking media world five years ago,

(40:17):
and I was happy not knowing all this crap. Now
I know it, and I can't stand that I know it.
I'm like, but bebe would you rather be a sheeple?
And think that CNN, MSNBC tells you the truth, and
think that those idiots in suits and pantsuits in DC
on both sides of the ais'll tell us the truth all
the time. Do you want to keep living that life?
She's like, well know, I'm like, well then sorry, I
expose the truth to you. You should be glad and
thanking your husband. I know, because it can be depressing.

(40:42):
As she reminds me, she's at m FAF. She is
so sympathetic and empathetic to people and and and causes
and everything, way more than me. I'm a bit very
factual and cold hearted on certain issues. I'm black and white,
and so for her when she realizes that are like
you were just saying from the press, to certain government institutions,
people whatever, that we used to either look up to,

(41:04):
believe in and trust and now all that comes crumbling down.
That can be pretty, as you just said, Ben, depressing.

Speaker 3 (41:10):
Right, Oh for sure. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (41:13):
And look, I'm actually gonna disagree with you here and
say I'm very jealous of people who like just go
through life not paying attention.

Speaker 3 (41:22):
I am so jealous of those people.

Speaker 4 (41:24):
There are so many people in this world who don't
know any They don't know who the president is, they
don't know who got elected.

Speaker 3 (41:29):
They're not paying attention to and they're so happy. I
know they're so happy.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
I know, I hear you.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
It's all of us schlubs who are tapped into this.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
Can we swear on the show? Ye say bullshit?

Speaker 4 (41:42):
This bullshit that were like suicidal and miserable all the time.
I mean, I'm just like, I hate that I care
about this stuff.

Speaker 3 (41:50):
I hate it, but it's portuate.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
To care, because look, if you didn't have because Donald
Trump's one guy, he came on the escalator, he fired
up millions, but not half the country yet till we
all realized what you realized when you saw that the
media lies, when you saw that both parties were a
freaking uniparty screwing us, we the people, that they're not
working for us anymore but for them their interest and

(42:14):
special interests. You woke up to all that, and if
we didn't have millions of freaking patriots, we wouldn't be
where we are right now. We would have cackling Kamala,
we would have socialism reigning around this efan country, and
it would be a hole. So we need you and
others to wake the hell up, and we all have
to have that burden of trying to wake up more
of the sheeple out there. So get us to the

(42:36):
walk Away where you started waking up millions of liberals. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (42:41):
So the reason why I started walk away is again,
lost more than like ninety percent of my friends. And
so then I went into twenty eighteen, I had about
like ten percent of my friends left, and it just
seemed like every time I opened my mouth on Facebook
or something, another person was just like, I don't know
what happened to you, man, but like I can't be
friends with you anymore. I felt like literally every time
I spoke up, it was just like it was giving

(43:01):
me almost like an anxiety complex. And so I thought
to myself, but I also knew that I wasn't going
to just shut up and you know, stick my head
in the sand and try to make everybody happy, because
I take you on.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
The back and say you didn't go back to your addictions,
and a lot of people when that kind of pressure
and you're losing friends and family over decisions you've made,
a lot people go back to the bottle, to the pills,
to the drugs. So God bless you, and I commend you, brother,
thank you. Well.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
I also didn't. I also didn't after January sixth.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
Okay, we'll get to that. We'll get to that, get
us to the walk away, and then we'll get up
to Jay six. Wow.

Speaker 3 (43:32):
Yeah, but uh yeah.

Speaker 4 (43:34):
So I I was thinking to myself, you know what,
I'm so sick of these people making me like give it,
making me feel like I you know, I can't say
what I want to say or you know, because I'm
not I know, I'm not doing anything wrong what I'm
expressing or the questions I'm asking right. And So I
was out jogging one day and honestly, I always say,

(43:54):
it hit me like a thunderbolt, and I'm not kidding.
I heard this voice in my head that said, once
upon a time I was a liberal, and I swear
to God, that script like downloaded itself into my brain
and I got again very excited. I ran home and
I wrote, I wrote it all out, and I was like,
this is exactly what I want to say, like because

(44:15):
my thought was that I am going to go through
from soup to nuts. I am going to go through
the entire list of everything that's wrong with liberalism and
the Democratic Party, and then whoever's left in my life
who has a problem with it, it'll alienate those people. Like,
let's just let's do a purge of whoever's left, because
I want to know, like anyone who's still on my

(44:36):
social media is not going to keep pecking at me
just for like saying what I'm saying or talking about
this experience that I'm having. So when I when I
created that script to make that video, it was initially
literally just to put out like on my own, you know,
to my five hundred Facebook friends. That's what I was
originally going to do. But after I wrote it and
I read it to a couple of my friends, like

(44:58):
who my new conservative I was making, they were like.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
Dude, this is amazing, this is so awesome.

Speaker 4 (45:04):
And I was like, Okay, maybe there's something bigger here,
you know, and like maybe there are other people in
this country who are feeling going through the same thing
I'm going through. And I thought, you know, what a
shame it is that there's not a community or network
for people like me who have lost almost everything because
I walked away from the Democratic Party, that we can't
come together and find each other. And I'd already written

(45:24):
that script and at the end of the script it said,
so I'm walking away, and I encourage all of you
to do the same walk away.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
And I was like, that's it's.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
A video that I saw. And we started having him
on back in twenty twenty when I launched my show
here in September fourteenth, and then of course we'll get
the Jay six and what happened him. So I was
already having him on the show before Jay six because
I think it was Peyton. Somebody on my team brought
me that video that you can roll it again, Jared.
We just showed the video of you walking up, saying
what you say and then telling everybody to walk away.

(45:53):
And I saw that and I told my team at
Real Mirror, I'm like, get that guy on the show.
That's awesome. Are you kidding me? This is an openly
gay New Yorker man who's coming out for not only Trump,
but come out for the country and our movement. But
telling people, here's how back crazy the Liberal Democrat Party
is and you should walk away. And I'm the example. See,

(46:15):
I can't do that. I can't help it a walk
away because I was never in it. He was in it.

Speaker 2 (46:19):
You know what I really want to know. Have any
of the people who just isolated you, people who former friends,
Have any of them come back to you and say, like,
the last two to three years, some of them had
to wake up right, some of them have I had
to you know what, I think you were right and
I'm sorry, Oh I bet so.

Speaker 4 (46:34):
So I get that question a lot. And the truth is,
maybe I can think of one a while, and she
hasn't fully walked away from the less. She went through
her own nightmare experience with the government and stuff over
the last few years. She was a staunch you know,
like Obama campaign fundraiser, all that stuff.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
But those are your close inner circle that that have
come around. But talk about because I want the positivity
here of what the walk away movement has done for
this country. Before Jay six and they screwed you with
your followers and locked your accounts and everything else, you
had amassed a massive following and I would think you
probably got, if not hundreds of thousands of millions to

(47:15):
walk away. Again. These weren't your close inner circle friends
who were like, screw you, rand I're talking to you again.
But you got a lot of Democrats to walk away
I've been to events where he's given a speech and
there's thousands in the crowd, and almost all of them,
they're not conservatives, come and listen to him. They're come
up to me, recognizing me, talking to me. I used
to be a Democrat. I used to be independent. I
used to not even be involved in politics. Then I

(47:36):
saw Brandon Struck speak and I came over and I
was like, wow.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
Awesome, amazing, love it amazing.

Speaker 4 (47:43):
Yeah, So I started walk Away when I put that
video out May twenty eighteen, and by the end, by
the end of twenty eighteen, walk Away had grown to
about two hundred and fifty thousand people had joined, and
we had at that point thousands of videos and written testimonials,
people sharing their stories with us about how they were

(48:04):
walking away. Then by the end of twenty twenty, so
we were about two and a half years old. By
the end of twenty twenty, we met we had grown
to five hundred and eleven thousand people who had.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
Drive hundred people to thousands in a couple of years.
How about that?

Speaker 4 (48:21):
Tens of thousands of videos and written testimonials. And then
on January eighth of twenty twenty one, Facebook banned the
Walkaway campaign two days after January sixth.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
You're kidding, after he got arrested for doing nothing well
to They didn't arrest him right there on the spot.
It was later and he'll tell us the story how
they came and got him. But yeah, he wasn't even
on the side where the staged and pushed violence occurred
by the CD people that were there that day. Because
I firmly believe you had rats in the mix. BLM

(48:55):
Antifa government plants. We all know it. AnyWho. We don't
have time to go into all that, but you can
tell them where you were what the government tried to
do to you under the Biden regime, simply because you
were there that day making a video on the other
side of the hill. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (49:11):
And I want to make clear to people too that
you know, when I just said that Facebook band walk Away,
it actually had nothing to because I didn't get arrested
until like two and a half weeks after Facebook banned
the group at that point.

Speaker 1 (49:24):
Oh yeah, they banned him two days after because of
what happened on the sixth, and somebody was saying, so
Facebook took him down. They didn't. The government didn't come
for him for like two three weeks later in the
late January stand that at all. Of course, you do,
come on, we want to be sensate. The government told
him to.

Speaker 4 (49:38):
That's exactly right, that's exactly So what they did was
they used January sixth as the excuse to start taking
down accounts that were, uh that were you know, in
opposition to their belief system.

Speaker 3 (49:48):
Basically. That was also the same day they banned President Trump.

Speaker 4 (49:51):
January eighth, so they okay, they banned President Trump on
the eighth, they banned the entire Walkaway campaign on the eighth,
and the and all you know, like a hundred it's
the thousands of others.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
And this was like you got silence and you could
come back years later. They took everything away from you.
You had to start from scratch, didn't you.

Speaker 3 (50:08):
Yeah, yeah, that's right.

Speaker 4 (50:09):
Well yeah, and uh, you know, I we never violated
any of their terms of service. Walk Away was one
of the most well moderated groups. We you know, we
never you know, engage in any violent talk or activity,
nothing like that.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
I didn't.

Speaker 4 (50:25):
But uh yeah, So two and a half weeks after
January sixth, on the morning of Monday, January twenty fifth,
I woke up at dawn to a team of FBI
agents and tactical gear storming my apartment, getting me out
of bed, putting me in handcuffs, and telling me that yeah, yeah,
like you said, telling me that.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
The video evidence of where he was that day it's
bs and I keep going sorry, yeah, please. I get
so pissed when I hear the story.

Speaker 4 (50:52):
And telling me that I'm facing multiple felony charges for
what I did on January sixth, and I very reflexively
said felonies. I didn't even commit any crimes, and the
lead agent said, oh, I saw your video.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
I saw what you did, so just you understand.

Speaker 4 (51:12):
On January sixth, I was asked to be a speaker
at a permitted event on capital grounds, and the plan,
as it was told to me, was that President Trump
was going to speak at the Ellipse and that there
was going to be a march from the Ellipse to
the Capitol, and then there were going to be dozens
and dozens of people speaking at the I was one
of them, doctor Simoe Goold was, and other members of Congress.

(51:33):
There were a lot of people scheduled to speak at
this event. So after Trump spoke, I walked.

Speaker 3 (51:38):
I didn't walk.

Speaker 4 (51:39):
I took the Metro from the Ellipse over to the Capitol.
But when I got off of the Metro and I
was walking onto Capital grounds, people started telling me something's
going on and people are going inside the building.

Speaker 3 (51:53):
And I was like, hmm, that sounds interesting.

Speaker 4 (51:55):
So I turned on my camera and I started shooting
a video and I walked up to the Capitol.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
Now it's really really important to know. I was on
the east side of the building and.

Speaker 4 (52:05):
There were I don't mean few, I mean zero police officers.
There was not one single police officer on the east
side of the building. There were no closed barricades. There
was so I literally just walked up the sidewalk to
the Capitol. The sidewalk was open. So when I got
to the Capitol, there was a crowd of several hundred
people gathered around on the stairs, and I walked up

(52:29):
to the top of the stairs, and when I got
to the top of the stairs, the doors of the
Capitol were open. I stood outside the Capitol for eight
minutes shooting a video, and after eight minutes, a man
came out of the building, got on a bull horn
said they've cleared Congress. Everyone's left the building, move out,
move out, And I immediately turned around walked back down

(52:49):
the stairs, and then I stayed on the outer grounds
for about thirty more minutes, and I shot thirteen more
videos doing interviews with people on the Capitol grounds. And
then I took that first video that I shot where
I walked up to the Capitol and up the stairs,
and I uploaded it to Twitter and I basically said, like,
this is what I saw today at the Capitol. So

(53:10):
I never entered the Capitol on January sixth. I didn't
engage in any violence, vandalism, theft, or destruction. And I
didn't even witness any No one around me was a
raking wind side.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
January sixth was a setup, and they went after political
people they hated and made them prisoners. And that's what
they did to my friend Brandon. So anybody watching this podcast,
whoever wants to question j six just listen to one
story if you will. And I'm not trying to excuse
anybody that did commit violence that day, because yes, there
were a couple, and I mean a couple maga folks

(53:44):
who got caught up in the violence and did do
violence that day. So I will never excuse them. I
will condemn them. However, when you know that it was
a setup. They lured you all in and then they
had agitators in the front with the masks on the
helmets acting like MAGA when they were freaking either plants
from the FBI or antifer BLM. I will excuse some
of the folks who then walked in or did stuff,

(54:05):
as long as they didn't new violence. Brandon was on
the opposite fricking side and uploaded a peaceful video about
what he was seeing, and then the FBI storms his
fricking house two weeks later. This is what democrat socialist
rule would have come to in this country if we'd
had Kamala Harris, where they can kick an innocent man's
door in and say you're coming with us. We're gonna
put you in the goolog because you posted a video.

(54:27):
He posted a video, Folks, anyway, go.

Speaker 3 (54:30):
On brand Yeah, well yeah, and sorry.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
No, I understand. Well, so you're in this moment, so
they're showing up at your doorstep and they.

Speaker 3 (54:40):
Know they're in my house and you're there in my apartment.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
So what happened after that? Like, what's the play by
play what happens.

Speaker 4 (54:47):
So a team of agents came into my apartment and
began stripping it of my computers, my phones, my hard drives,
my thumb drives, my camera equipment, clothing while two more
agents so I I had my hands cuffed behind my back.

Speaker 3 (55:02):
By the way, I'm sure that they did. I'm sure
that they.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
Had a crupt judge. You'll warrant keep going, Yeah, clarified
crupt judges. But they so.

Speaker 4 (55:14):
I I do remember they sat me down at my
on my couch at one point and they said, well,
we want to ask you some questions. I don't know
he said about we want to ask you some questions.
I remember. I said, well, I can't answer any questions
without an attorney. And he said to me, he said
to me, so you're refusing to cooperate, and I said,

(55:37):
I said no. I said, I'm more than happy to
cooperate with you, but I need to have an attorney
present while I do it. So so he he said, well, okay,
in that case, there's nothing left to do but off
to jail we go. And so they paraded me through
my apartment building, took me downstairs, put me in a
black car, and drove me to jail.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
Trump and Ice right now are the Gestapo Nazis right
getting rid of the legal aliens. But an American citizen
posting a freakin peaceful video has guys show up in
black SUVs cuff him and take him away, and you
think that Trump's the bad guy. For you folks out
there right now bitching about the Ice stuff, get a brain,
do some research. Listen to Brandon's story.

Speaker 3 (56:22):
That's the whole thing.

Speaker 4 (56:23):
I mean, I always say everything that I when Trump
got elected and I was crying and freaking out. Everything
that I was afraid that was going to happen to
me under Trump ended up happening to me under bikes.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
A Democrat just re solidified your energy right to do
walk away even stronger because it just proved your point
that that party is bat you know what, crazy, because
they're the ones that acted like Nazis and showed up
and took an innocent man to jail.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
Well, we're past crazy at this point. This is dystopian.
This is like being inside of nineteen eighty four. I mean,
this is this is like Soviet Union level kind of
police state tax.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
Let me let me pivot real quick. I'm crazy. See
we're getting close to an and I still got to
ask him about what he's doing now in New York
City because I want to get that into front of time,
because I am worried about a man who is running
in New York City for mayor, who would destroy that
city even worse than it already has been under the
last few leaders. And anybody knows what I'm talking about. So Ron, Mom, dummy,

(57:19):
I can't stand this guy. I think he has bad
news all the way around. Brandon has a much sweeter,
nicer approach to convince New Yorkers, especially the Democrats there,
not to vote for this clown. So I want to
pivot to that before we lose your brand and run
out of time and talk about an event you got
coming up and why you're so passionate about trying to
save the city you now once again live in New
York City from this socialist, Marxist radical, that's what he is, right.

Speaker 4 (57:46):
Well, so, yeah, I ended up actually getting trapped in
Sorry I don't mean to use that word, but I
didn't mean to stay in Nebraska for four years. That's
where the FBI arrested me, and so I got put
on federal supervision in Nebraska for four years, and so
now once I got pardoned by President Trump, then that
finally lifted the punishment that I had from January sixth,

(58:06):
that federal supervision. So what I've decided is to move
back to New York City, which I've just done this
last week, because I really feel like it is a
calling on my life to come back and fight for
the city that I love so much.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
And it's not just fighting for New York.

Speaker 4 (58:22):
I think we're fighting for the country as the whole,
because I really believe that if we normalize Democrats socialism
anywhere in this country, I do believe it will spread
like a cancer throughout our society into states like California
and Hawaii and Washington State in the northeast. But then
we'll find it in blue cities and states all across
the country. And this is a door that I just
do not want open. And we're this close to embracing

(58:44):
a socialist state in the city of New York. So
I have come back to fight against zor on Mom Dammy,
And I'm calling upon all people. Whether you're a moderate
Democrat and independent, a libertarian, a Republican, I don't care
if you love Trump or don't love Trump. I want
to bring people together to unify to say we must
fight against democratic socialism and that we cannot embrace this

(59:07):
philosophy in New York City because it will be the
destruction of our great city and I think the country
as a whole. And one of the first things we're
doing is about a week from now. A week from
this Sunday, Sunday, July twenty seventh, at one pm is
the first of what will be many events that I'm
going to do around the city. This is the Rally
against Democratic Socialism. We start at one o'clock in Union

(59:30):
Square that Sunday, July twenty seventh. I want to call
all people all across this political spectrum to come and
join me at this rally to help fight against democratic socialism.
You can go to Walkaway campaign dot com slash events
to get more information.

Speaker 3 (59:45):
We'd love it if people would register.

Speaker 4 (59:46):
You don't have to, but the reason I want people
to register is because we're going to be doing more
and more and more of these events throughout the year,
and I want to keep in touch and build an
army of people that are going to fight against us.
And I also want to be canvassing boroughs because we've
got to get out there and start knocking on doors
and having conversations with Black New Yorkers, Hispanic new Yorkers,
gen Z new Yorkers, all these people who are being

(01:00:09):
seduced and manipulated into believing that the answers to their
problems are that the government should be in control of
their housing, their groceries, their electricity, their power.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
I mean, this guy, what we want to say. What's
those famous nine words? Oh, I'm here with the government,
I'm here to help. Something like that. That's what he said, right.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
I think he said something even better. The government doesn't
solve problems, it subsidizes problem.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
That's a good one too. Yeah, see brand And that's
one full hour And look at that culmination. I learned
a bunch more about my friend and his background and
history and how he came to be. I didn't know
a lot of those things about Nebraska and your addictions
and stuff, So thank you for sharing those personal things.
But also I think this was a beautiful build up
to show just using Brandon's real life story right of

(01:00:56):
coming out and I don't mean gay straight, I mean
coming out as a Democrat turned mega guy and then
creating a movement, getting arrested, thrown in jail, recreating that movement,
and now continuing to fight this ridiculous radical party. And
so thank you Brandon, and I wish I could be
there on the twenty seventh. I got to be out

(01:01:17):
here in Kelly for something else in the twenty sixth,
but God bless you one more time before we say
goodbye to you. Hit the website because I want people
to go and not only sign up for this event
on Sunday, July twenty seventh, but just sign up and
follow what Brandon and the Walkaway Movement does. These are
former Democrats or people never involved in politics that are
now following and involved in saving our nation like Brandon,

(01:01:40):
and again he comes with experience, folks, Go ahead, brand
final word.

Speaker 3 (01:01:46):
No, thank you so much. Yeah no, I'll just reiterate again.

Speaker 4 (01:01:49):
Sunday, July twenty seventh, at one o'clock and Union Square.
People can go to Walkaway campaign dot com slash events
to register to donate.

Speaker 3 (01:01:58):
For the love of God, please help us as we
do these.

Speaker 4 (01:02:00):
Events financially if you can, or if you'd like to volunteer,
as we're going to be beginning this mass canvassing effort
between now and November all over the city. Walk Away
campaign dot com, slash events. Please sign up and please
come out and support because this is very very important.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
Thank you. Brother. Do me a favor. Will you go
on Riley show? He's never done your talk show? Right?

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
Never?

Speaker 1 (01:02:24):
Okay, I'll get you, guys, love to Yeah, Riley shows
well his own before mind. I'd love to, will ya
all right? Appreciate you. Brandon's struck everybody, founder of the
walk Away movement. See, you can walk away and you'll
have a better life.

Speaker 4 (01:02:37):
That's right, that's right, A sobering life, an exhilarating life.

Speaker 3 (01:02:42):
Yes, that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
Thank you, Brandon, appreciate it. Thanks guys, great to be here.
Thank you. Yep, cool cat, Yeah told you what a story, right?
About fifty percent of that's if I didn't know, Yeah,
like him and I have chatted before backstage at events
we've been speaking and whatnot, his events or other events.
I didn't know about the addictions. I didn't know about
the whole Nebraska thing and the family. I just knew,
you know, openly gay conservative who used to be a

(01:03:07):
liberal and then created this movement. And I saw the videos,
and I saw the numbers and I went, Wow, this
guy's making a real difference. And so put aside, folks
that are going to give me crap. Put aside whether
you don't like his lifestyle choice, and look at what
the man is doing for this nation and now his

(01:03:27):
beloved New York City, which he finally got to move
back to after the Biden regime had him arrested, incarcerated,
and on probation, having to live in Nebraska for the
last four years when he should have been able to
do whatever the hell he wants as an American. Yeah,
wrongful incarceration.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
It's a half joke. But once he's done saving New York,
I hope he comes to California because this is a
beautiful place and it's worth fighting for and we need
a lot more of.

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
That kind of He's right, it'll come out here. Look
when Newsom leaves, who's gonna run out here? We're going
to get a radical socialist, democratic piece of trash Marxist
that wants to ruin California Already, I mean, it's already
messed up. But look at New York City. Don't think
it'll stop there. Like he said, that's right, and I'd
like to add one more point. I forgot the throne
with him. Not only is this guy a Marxist, I'm
gonna call him a communist. He wants free grocery stores,

(01:04:11):
free housing, all this crap in New York, just free, free, free, free.

Speaker 2 (01:04:13):
From to abolish private property. There's videos of him talking about.

Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
This guy and his supporters are also radical Islamic. I
won't call him Jihattis, but I'm sure he's got some
buddies in his camp that would like to pull some ghods,
because I've seen some folks in pictures with him and
that are bragging him up and supporting him, like some
of these Amams or whatever they're called, that preach in
their mass this country, that are calling down with America,

(01:04:36):
down with Israel from our soil. Folks, these are people
in our country. They're saying it in Minneapolis, they're saying
it in dearborn, Michigan. They're saying it in New York City.
They're saying it down in Florida in their mosques that
they hate this country. Now again, you're allowed to say
whatever the hell you want in this country, but if
you're calling for death to America and you want to
do jihads and now you're supporting a clown that backs

(01:04:58):
this crap up. That guy I should never ever be
allowed to serve in any office. I wouldn't want him
on freaking school board. I wouldn't want him on trash
detail respecfully, I'd like to see him deported. Uh. But
the trump you've made that joke there date when somebody
asked about him, I think, didn't you say that, like
or somebody said maybe we should deport his ass? Not
a bad idea anyway, No.

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
It's not.

Speaker 1 (01:05:20):
Yeah, let's wrap up.

Speaker 2 (01:05:21):
That was amazing though.

Speaker 1 (01:05:21):
Yeah it was a good one. Yes, good guy. Get
him on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
Well do And speaking of should we talk about the.

Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
Lineup, let's wrap it up. Let's wrap it up, all right?

Speaker 2 (01:05:28):
So, of course this episode will drop this weekend and
it will go to air, and it'll be available on
X Trude Social Facebook, I believe, so like retweet, Shure.

Speaker 1 (01:05:37):
YouTube, Rumble, we throw it out there, I think too,
right with YouTube and rumble all the soul versions, and
then there's clips on X and the other ones driving
you to YouTube and Rumble to watch the full episode. Yes,
I always got to talk about the homepage. O A
N N. Don't forget that second end. People are always
messaging me yelling, I can't find you. It's two ends.
Oh A N N one American News Network dot com. Uh.

(01:05:58):
You can check out the lineup that you can sign
up for the app. We keep getting more carriers. We
just launched the last week or two. I think we
got on Charter Spectrum right. We're channel two twenty three
three two twenty three. Yes, and there's more coming. There's
a lot more coming, so Oway in his back. We're
gonna be bigger and better than when the Democrats tried
to censor us and shut us down three years ago.

(01:06:18):
If you'd like to advertise, get a hold of us. Here.
You can log onto OA and N dot com. Find
the Herring family called Charles our CEO. Advertise with us.
This is a mom and pop operation that does not
lie to you. And I can tell you this is
someone who's been in journalism for thirty three years. And
you heard what Brandon said tonight about the fake news.
That's what turned him. That's what woke him up to

(01:06:40):
become awake, not woke, was realizing that the media lies
to you. And I sat there dormant and quiet, biting
my tongue for two damn long and I'm so glad
that five years ago I came down here where I
can tell the frickin' truth.

Speaker 2 (01:06:53):
Talk about liberation. Really yeah, seriously, but he said, yeah, incredibly,
let's tie it all in. And then of course our
primetime lineup every night, we got four amazing talk show
you first, leading off with Real Story with Riley Lewis.
Then we got an hour of news of course, yep, Mike,
you KNOWLS Live News with the amazing Mic.

Speaker 1 (01:07:07):
To know, I've know Mike for a long time. Him
and I did news in Palm Springs, like twenty two
years ago. That's right, I've known him a long time.

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
And we got Real America with Dan Ball. Then we
got the Matt Gates Show at Gates Show, and of course,
fine point with you gotta have Shanelle on the show.

Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
What a great let's get you know what, Let's ask
her maybe next week please, Yeah, let's she can fill
an hour. She got a lot to say. Oh yeah,
and don't forget she's the one that broke the laptop
story for us. We sent her over there, and I
mean she's been a great journalist for US now turn
talk show host. She's one of our anchor women here
at OA and we love Shanel as well. And before
we say good night, I gotta think Grunt Style Foundation.

(01:07:41):
Follow them, buy some merch. They have awesome merch. All
of this stuff helps to go. So you have the
Grunt Style company that does their merch, but then there's
the Grunt Style Foundation, the charity Angle and ARM and
so everything you buy or donate goes into the foundation
that helps veterans. And you know that's my biggest, biggest thing, folks.
We treat our veterans not like we should. Let's put

(01:08:04):
it that way. I'll keep it simple since we got
to wrap it up, So if you want to help out,
log on learn more about what Grunstyle Foundation does. And
thanks to the guys over at Gunstyle for always supporting
the Anchorman podcast. We love it. Are we done? I
think we're done. I think it's right way past an
hour again. I'm telling you we got We got to
bust the boss's chops about getting two hours for this
show because Brandon had way more to say.

Speaker 2 (01:08:24):
I know, we scrab surface. Yeah, there's so much we
didn't get to cover. But maybe a chance to bring
him back. Then we'll have him all the shows. Of course,
he's on the network all the time. And if you
have guest ideas, by the way, drop comments suggestions. We're
always looking for feedback for guest ideas. You know, who
do you want to hear from?

Speaker 1 (01:08:40):
Just let us know. Yeah, I saw a couple last week.
They're like getting Megan Kelly. I've been trying to get
hold of Meggs.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
She's great.

Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
Yeah, throw out those suggestions because most likely we can
get some of those people you want, and we want
to bring the guests that you'd like, but we're also
hoping to introduce you to some new folks that we know. Absolutely,
thank you so much for tuning into The Anchorman Podcast.
We'll see you next Friday night.