On this episode of the Karol Markowicz Show, Karol is joined by Buck Sexton to offer practical, no-nonsense advice for adults—especially parents—seeking genuine friendships in their 30s, emphasizing real-life connections over social media illusions. In the second segment, investigative journalist Peter Schweizer discusses his commitment to exposing political corruption, the challenges of fact-based reporting, and the importance of hard work and purpose. The Karol Markowicz Show is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Wednesday & Friday.
Follow Clay & Buck on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, Welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio.
My guest today for the advice segment that I sometimes
do before the interviews is my good friend co host
of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, Buck Sexton.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hi, Buck, So nice to have you on.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
So good to be on.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Well, the first time we did this, we answered a
really hard question. A man had written in that his
wife of four months it had come out the month
before his wedding that she had cheated on him.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
And he was wondering what to do. Think you and
I handled it quite well. We disagreed.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Him, Carol, I think you're stacking the deck little. I
think excuse me, before they were exclusive got a little.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, they were not exclusives. You know, I'm anti these technicalities.
I was always team Rachel and from Rachel Rachel loss.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
They were not on a break. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
So our question today is going to be maybe a
little easier, maybe a little harder, but definitely a little
less intense. Our question today comes from Carara. Kara writes, Hi, Carol,
big fan of your show. I've been listening since the
first episode. Thank you so much for that, Kara. My
favorite episode was when you and Dave Marcus discussed becoming
friends again after a falling out. I'm writing to ask
(01:16):
you about how to make friends. I'm thirty six, have
two kids, aged four and two, and my husband and
I just don't have the kinds of groups of friends
I see all over social media. You've talked about making
friends after moving, but I've lived in my city my
whole life and never developed the social life I want.
Please don't recommend joining a running club or something. What
(01:38):
do you think, buck, how do you make friends in
your thirties.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Talk to people?
Speaker 4 (01:43):
I think it's that it's the same way you actually
if you're trying to meet you know, trying to meet women,
if you're a guy who's single, you just talk to people.
Just get in the habit of talking to people. I
think that it's a lost art these days. And you know,
ironers like should you go because somebody at night at
the gas station pump when you know there's nobody.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Else be like where do you live?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
I know you should not, but there's so many opportunities
and and I just think that one it's really talking
to people.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I will tell you that one thing that makes me.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
There's a lot of things that make me a little
sad about the digital age of like socializing, dating and
where everybody is their own brand.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I was of my friend group. I was the guy.
I mean, there are people I know who are.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Married because they were like Buck is a heat seeking missile.
He will go talk to this person for me right
now and bring them over and like make it happen.
And I get that, by the way, straight from Speed
Sexton Senior, not my son, but my dad. His name
is Speed Sexton.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
So that tells you a lot.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I could talk to your dad for hours.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Actually, yeah, that's great. Shouldn't bite him on for one
of these segments.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
He would love to share. He's almost eighty years of
life wisdom with you. But you know, my mom and
dad fight over who's a bigger Carol Markwitz fan. It's
pretty funny about it. But I would say making friends
is you're putting out energy all the time. Here's a
little bit of an example, a little bit of a
diversion or digression. But guys are always like, why is
(03:18):
it that when I have a girlfriend, all of a sudden,
these beautiful women like want to talk to me, and
they're like, because of my Instagram posts, and their girlfriend's like, no,
it's because you're just being like if you're being a
decent boyfriend, you're just being like a cool, normal guy,
and you have an energy that's just like hey, like
if you start talking to the gym, you're not like, oh,
you know, I like the way you look in those
tight clothes. You're just kind of like, oh, man, like
(03:40):
what a day to day like quite a workout?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
How you doing?
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Like you're just you put out an energy casual that
is casual that is completely lacking in desperation, and that
is is there's like a warmth and a you know.
And also the the affirmation of being in a relationship
is like your a guy, if you know, assuming you're
again you think, yeah, girlfriend's cute or you're happy with
her or whatever. You know, you're you're in a place
(04:04):
where you're just like life is good. And that just
comes across all the time. And I know people this
sounds like some you know, seminar thing for like how
to be like a you know, alpha male, but it's true.
Confidence comes across all the time, men and women.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
And that's your opening question.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
What's like the first thing you ask a stranger or
somebody you just met.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
I always think it's good to just ask something, to
just like put something out there that is either super
easy for them to join you in the response, like man,
it's it's a isn't it?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
You know?
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Crazy how expensive these avocados are here? You know, something
really like that, or if you want to be a little.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
More making friends in the supermarket.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Okay, it's a great place, by the way, but you know,
I would say the other thing is to ask people,
and you never never ask like what do you do?
Or you know, you just ask what are you excited
about these days? I think I think asking people what
they're excited about these days is one of the because
if their answer is like it's like, well, you're cleterarally
(05:06):
a lot of fun right right, Like because it can
be you give them room to rum, but you you
position it in a positive way. So like if I
ask you, like, what are you excited about these days?
You could be like, oh my gosh, like my son's
history competition was so crazy.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
We're overseas. That's not You could be like, okay, excuse me, excuse.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Me, or you could be like, you know, oh my gosh,
like did you see that Trump executive word today.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
That was so awesome. He's so funny, like you go
anywhere you want.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
But the point is you've established that commonality of positive
vibe right off the bat.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
So but honestly, my opening question is where are you from?
Because I think people love talking about their hometowns in general,
or they love talking about how much they hate their hometowns.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
But where are you from? Often sparks of conversation.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
But I also want to say to this person and
she identifies her you know, she says, to her name,
she's a woman.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I think that women get caught up.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Identifies as female.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
No, no, but identifies herself as a woman. Not identifies as
a woman.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Buck in your salmon shirt. She says that, you know,
she doesn't have the kinds of groups of friends I
see all over social media. And you know, the main
thing I want to say to you is what two
main things?
Speaker 2 (06:16):
One social media is not real life.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
And look like we have a really good group of friends, Buck,
Buck and I right, how often do we actually see
each other? Though not that often, so yeah, when we
see each other, it's like ten persons selfie on the gram.
That's not our everyday life. That's not how we are
all the time. I mean, we all like each other
a lot, and that's great, but you know, yes, yeah.
(06:39):
The second thing I'll say to this person is she
says that she has two kids age four and two.
You are in the golden age of making friends. This
is literally like going back to first grade and making
friends all over again.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
You get to start again.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
My one tiny regret about moving to Florida is that
my kids were a little bit older, so I missed
those young years where you're meeting moms at playdates and
you're really getting to know people. Because now my kids
just go when they hang out, you know, on the
streets and you know, play with their friends and go
to each other's houses, and there's not really interaction with
the parents. You have such an opportunity right now to
(07:15):
start again, to make friends with parents who have.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Kids the same age as yours.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Take this opportunity and don't look at social media.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I would say.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Also, the thing I understand, and I get it. She's like,
don't tell me to join a run club, but shared experience.
It doesn't have to be shared activity, but shared experience
is a very powerful.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
So you know, we you know, you mentioned our friend group.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
It's like we are basically a collection of Florida like
refugees to Florida from the north, mostly COVID drawn and
so there was this shared bond that was built for.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
All all conservatives and we're all generally in media.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, so there's already like a lot that's there.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
And when you're talking about somebody who's got kid who
are two and four, like, there's a.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Lot of common there that.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Yeah, that's why it's easy to make friends, right because
you're having even if you're not this what I mean,
either you're not having the experience together, you have shared experiences.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Insofar as you're doing a thing, they're doing a thing.
You're both in that place in your life. And I
think that can really work.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
But I just my biggest thing anyone that I've ever
told this to, one of my big things Carol, is
like I tell people to do things and then they
don't do them, and then they come back and they
want to.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Know what should I do?
Speaker 4 (08:26):
N Yeah, you know, like and I just I'm like,
how about the thing that I told you to do
that you agreed was good but you chose not to do.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
When I've told it's generally guys.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
But when I've told guys, you know, if they feel
like they're in a rut with dating or meeting women
or something or else else, I'm just like, don't think
of it like you're getting phone numbers. Forget forget about that,
because again that goes to the like eagerness desperationally, Hey,
maybe we can get.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
A coffee on. Just talk to people.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Yeah, just talk to people when it's an opening and
it's cool to talk to people. I will say, you know,
in some places, like I was just in North Carolina
on vacation.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
It's actually where this all that comes from.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
What is all edwards in the Highlands North Carolina, a great,
great place, Releay and Chateau, highly recognized.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Not not sponsored, you guys.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Not sponsor, Yeah, I wish, But I would just say
people there, like everyone wants to talk to you there, right,
I mean, everyone's talking to carry there, talking to me there.
Some of them knew who I was, but I mean
just even strangers who had no idea it was. And
people are very Miami's a little bit different, but the
point is you get you get that rhythm, and I
would just say I would just say, talk to people yea,
and like it and and give them an opportunity and
(09:31):
the and the always the fallback, especially if you're shy.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
People love to talk about themselves.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Oh they do, just ask them about This is why
I get so excited when Carol has me on and
doesn't ask me about like the latest polling for what
you should be indicted or something.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
I never get to talk about this, Clay.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
This is why you're You're welcome to come do these
segments anytime.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
You know, Fox News never calls me and it's like, hey, Buck,
can you come on and talk about like what's going
on with the culture. It's always like, hey, someone left
classified documents bathroom somewhere, like is this a violation of stat.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Is This is why you know, This is why you
have to come on here and do these segments with me.
I've really enjoyed this. Thank you so much for coming on, Buck.
Stay tuned for my interview with Peter Schweitzer and welcome
back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio. My guest
today is Peter Schweitzer. Peter is a New York Times
(10:23):
best selling author eight times over, including the number one
New York Times best selling books, Blood Money, Red Handed,
Secret Empires, Profiles and Corruption, and Clinton Cash. He is
the president of the Government Accountability Institute and host of
the Drill Down with Peter Schweitzer podcast.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
So nice to have you on, Peter, Carol.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Great to be with you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
I have to start with a compliment. One time I
was talking to somebody in the conservative publishing world and
she was telling me how hard it is to get
political books published. And she said, unless you're Peter Schweitzer.
And you know, she said that you're You're the main
game in town as far as political books are concerned.
I've read several of you books.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I love your work.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
What makes your books different than the other books that
are out there on the market.
Speaker 6 (11:14):
Well, Carol, I mean the secret is, honestly, I'm not
as much a writer as I am a researcher. I've
loved research. That's always been the key. It goes back
to when I was in high school and in college,
I was on the debate team and I love the
research part. So I have to do the writing because
that's what pays the bills. But what drives me forward,
(11:35):
what excites me, what energizes me, is digging through the
bowels of information and finding those nuggets that nobody else has.
It's like when I was a little kid, I loved
Show and Tell, you know, in first grade. So it's
that's kind of what drives it. So I would say
it's the research I spend. I take two years between books.
I would say of those two years, probably seventy five
(11:56):
percent of it is just doing research, and then the
other twenty five percent is actually the writing process. So
I don't think I'm a great writer. I think I'm
a very good researcher, not a great writer. And I
think that's what makes my books a little bit different,
is the amount of research that goes into.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Them so interesting because for me, it's like everything else
pays the bills, but I love writing and I can't stop.
Like it's the least profit of everything else I do,
but I can't give it up because I just enjoy
it so much. So did you always want to be
a writer? Did you always want to be a researcher?
Speaker 5 (12:32):
A great question.
Speaker 6 (12:33):
When I was in middle school, I worked on a novel.
I actually wanted to be a novelist when I was younger,
and then when I joined the debate team, I really
got into research.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
But my original goal.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
Honestly, when I was in my twenties was I wanted
to work in the White House at the National Security Council.
I was a kind of Henry Kissinger want to be
in terms of, you know, a great thinker on strategy
and foreign policy. And I did that for a while,
but I found that it was kind of constraining. A
lot of it had to do with, you know, the
(13:07):
connections of who you knew, and I didn't like depending
and relying on that.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
So the writing kind of just is something that happened.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
An agent, literary agent saw and op ed I had
in The New York Times in nineteen eighty nine said
have you ever thought about writing a book? I said, sure,
And that's kind of how it happened. So I really
kind of stumbled onto it. If you told me when
I was twenty that you're going to be living in
Florida and writing these books, I would have said, no way,
that's I'm going to be in Washington, d C. I'm
(13:36):
going to be doing things with a think tank. So
it was not expected in that way. I'm very grateful
to that. I'm thankful to God for that, because if
i'd planned my life, it probably would not as been
as good and as rich and rewarding. So yeah, it's
been kind of a revelation. I've been very grateful for it,
very grateful for, you know, the experiences if I had in
(13:57):
the book publishing industry and the response to my work,
which has taken a long time. I mean, my first
birth bestseller. I didn't have my first bestseller till I
was forty years old. I had written I think nine
non fiction books before that, so it was it was
a real it was a real grind there. But I
enjoyed it, and I'm thankful for it. And what can
(14:18):
I say, I'm just I'm just fortunate.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Did you have like a plan B in case writing
didn't work out? Did you have something else that you
kind of had as a backup?
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Good question.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
I for a while, I thought about being a college professor.
I had gone to graduate school at Oxford, I had
gotten my m Film and International Relations.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
I thought about staying there and getting a PhD. I
decided not to.
Speaker 6 (14:43):
Then I thought at one point about going back, But
you know, I have friends that are in academia, and
you know that world is completely different. Given the decline
of American universities and and whatnot. So again, I'm fortunate
that that hasn't happened. So that was kind of my
fallback plan. But I never had to exercise, and it
(15:03):
was never very well developed. And I think, and I
think one of the things Carol I realized is I've
gotten older, is you know, I'm sixty now. There's so
many things that I planned. I'm kind of a planner,
and very few of those plans actually worked. I mean, honestly,
very few of them actually worked.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
As the philosopher John Lennon said, life is what happens
to you while you're busy making other plans.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
Right, so very true.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
What would you consider your beat for people who haven't
read your books, what would you say is your kind
of the line that goes through your books.
Speaker 6 (15:41):
I think that I try to explain what I think
is really happening. So if you look at my early
writing career, I wrote books like Victory Reagan's War, which
we're kind of looking at the Cold War and making
the case of how Reagan won the Cold War. I
used kgb arkas, I use declassified government documents. I interviewed people,
(16:03):
So that's the first part of my writing career, and
then I kind of switched to investigative journalism on you know,
on corruption, so seemingly different. But what I would argue
all of them are trying to say is there tends
to be a story that that the mainstream media is
pushing that we all kind of latch onto. I mean,
(16:24):
a lot of what we do is responding to what
the story supposedly is. What I try to do is
anticipate and look ahead what the story really should be.
And so when I write a book like Red Handed
about you know, people that are getting enriched with the Chinese,
what I'm really trying to say is, yeah, the US
China relationship, there's a lot of issues there, but there's
(16:46):
something else going on. People are being paid off, so
we should be paying attention to this. So that's probably
the common thread. But again, I mean, the research is
the part that has always driven all of this, and
my goal is to really get people to thinking about
what's going on below the surface. Because as you know,
you're in the news business, you see it all the
(17:07):
time that things that drive the media are oftentimes not
really what's going on below the surface. It's more kind
of the predictive easy stuff.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Is it surprising to you that the easy stuff is
very popular?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
But your stuff goes deep.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
It's not just a catchy headline, it's not a thirty
second TikTok video.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Is it surprising to.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
You that people enjoy that deep dive and that they're
still able to kind of get into it. You know,
we hear all the time that our attention spans have
shrunk and we can't pay attention to anything, and yet
here these people are are following you down the path
that you're taking them and really looking into something in
a deep way.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Does that surprise you?
Speaker 6 (17:50):
It does a little bit. I mean, it is funny.
I will tell you. You know, I've had the same
editor on the last five books, Eric Nelson, great guy.
I've had editors before, and I've had friends that have
been in the industry for a long time, and everybody
keeps telling me you need to write shorter chapters precisely
for the reason that you mentioned, and so I have
(18:11):
tried to make adjustments. You have to look at the
reality of where your audience is in terms of their
time constraints. There's so many alternative choices they can make.
What I always try to think of is there's so
much free information out there. I'm asking people to drop
down twenty five thirty bucks to buy a book, so
(18:32):
I got to really, really really make it worth it
for them and find stuff they can't get anywhere else.
So that makes it harder. But yeah, I am very
grateful for the audience. And you know, even though the
book industry is kind of struggling right now, I am
grateful for people that buy the books, that take an interest.
And I love to hear from the people that read
my books because they oftentimes have, you know, really fascinating insights,
(18:54):
takes that really shows their thinking. They're not just receiving it,
They're interacting with them, which is what I love.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
But no TikTok videos yet.
Speaker 6 (19:05):
Maybe something you would not You would not want to
see a Peter Schweitzer TikTok video.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Person of all totally would want to see talk video.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
I think it would be poorly done if I were
doing it at number two, would be really boring.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
But I appreciate the encouragement. Carrol, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
What are you working on now? Any any previews of
your next book?
Speaker 6 (19:28):
I'm writing a book right now that will come out
in January, and authors always say this, but it is
true in this case. This is probably my most challenging book.
I won't go into detail, but it is about subversion
in a way that I think other people have not
thought about it. And we've got some i think, very
stunning material on the the the the forces that are
(19:49):
working to influence and are influencing our political campaigns, you know,
corrupting our our leadership, class et cetera.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
So I'll have to leave it at that.
Speaker 6 (19:58):
But I'm this week actually care I'm not doing many interviews,
but I wanted to do this because we are in
fact check legal review mode and I've got a grumpy
guy upstairs who's my fact checker. Great guy, good friend. Yeah,
he's a pain in the butt. So I'm going through
that this week, and lord Willia will get through that
safely and we'll send it off to the publisher and
(20:19):
it'll come out in January.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Grumpy fact checkers. I feel like that's the only kind
of fact checker you can If they're too happy, you
don't need them, you know, So is checking the most
nerve wracking kind of part of it?
Speaker 6 (20:35):
I would say the most nerve wracking part of it.
Is when you're doing the research and you find something
that's really good, but you're trying to figure out what
it means. I mean, i'll give you an example from
the past. We first uncovered Hunter Biden's China deals in
(20:56):
December of twenty sixteen because we were researching around and
we found this picture on Chinese social media and it
was Hunter Biden with basically in China the equivalent of
the head of Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Secretary.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
I mean, everybody, you forget what yeah, yeah, and you're like.
Speaker 6 (21:18):
What is Hunter Biden doing here? How is it connected?
And so the most frustrating part is when you find
something you.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
Know it's really really, really good, but you're.
Speaker 6 (21:27):
Trying to make sense of it. And the key thing
there is in all good things is just patients. I
just need to look at all the different possibilities. So
that's the most frustrating. The fact checking is actually very
very good and necessary, but also relatively easy because everything
in my books there's always a paper trail, there's a
corporate record, there's a legal document, there's something that supports
(21:50):
what you're saying. Because I don't use anonymous sources or
anything like that. But it's just a laborious process as
you can imagine.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Right, So the grumpy guy can't get too grumpy because
you could prove.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
It all well.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
He is, and I say, this is a great affection.
I've known Steve for a long time. He's a former
a ten pilot for the Air Force, so he's very
detail oriented, you know, with all the ardor knobs, but
he embraces the grumpiness, Carol. So it's it's it's it's
part of him. It's inherent to him. It's not going away.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
He sounds awesome, actually is awesome. I hope he takes
this conversation as a compliment. We're going to take a
quick break and be right back on the Carol Marcowitch Show.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
What do you worry about.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
On a personal level?
Speaker 6 (22:36):
You know, you worry about your kids, You worry about
the people you care about, You worry about your country.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
You you know.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
You worry about security. You don't obsess over it. I mean,
the the the nature of the work that we do
is something that upsets a lot of people. We had
a moment probably four or five months ago where the
Taiwan News, which is the main newspaper in Taiwan announced
(23:03):
it mentioned my name in an article, and it came
up on Google alerts, and I thought, what is this
all about?
Speaker 5 (23:08):
And it was how a guy named White.
Speaker 6 (23:10):
Wolf, who's the leader of a criminal gang in China,
was being charged with fentanyl trafficking, and the prosecutors cited
my book Blood Money as one of the reasons they
decided to launch the investigation. So on one level, you're excited,
but on the other level, you're like, you know, now
we've we've pissed off White Wolf.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
Well yeah, so you you you worry about those things.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
But as I've gotten older, as I said, I'm sixty,
as I've gotten older, I just realized there's just a
lot you don't have a control over. And the more
you learn that, you know, for me, it's it's about
trusting God, not doing things foolish, but trusting God, but
realizing you can't control those things.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
All you can do is not be foolish.
Speaker 6 (23:52):
And it's the same thing with you know, when you
worry about your kids, or you're worried about people in
your life, you know, try to be there for them
and love them. But I've stepped back from hopefully from really,
you know, always worrying about and obsessing about it. And
that's been really nice. People tell me when you get older,
you get into your sixties, that gets better. It certainly
(24:14):
has been for me so far. So I'm grateful for that.
But I worry about those kinds of things pretty regularly.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
The security question is really interesting. I think people don't
think about it about how writing books or writing anything
writing on current event topics and how dangerous it could
be and how you could piss off the wrong white wolf,
you know, during the Obama administration. I mean, I was
born in the Soviet Union. My mom, you know, definitely
was like, do you have to criticize the president? I
(24:41):
feel like you're going to get into trouble. So there's
and that's not even a Chinese mobster, you know.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
Yeah, no, it's it's it's real.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
And you know, look, I live in a place where
it's a little bit less market, but you know, you
think of people that live in Washington, d C. O
York or California, places where there's more hostile let's say,
people living around you, or if you're writing on particular issues.
I know there have been there's a lot of threats
made of people who raise challenges, and I think rightfully
(25:13):
so on the on the trans issue and women's in sports,
it gets very vicious and nasty and and so it
is a real concern. It should be a real concern.
And you know, my philosophy is you just use unconventional ways,
uh you know, to uh to to float below the radar,
so to speak.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
I won't go to those.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
And you know, we all have concealed carry permits at
my office, and you just.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Brought that Florida.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
We don't even have to have permits exactly right, we don't.
Speaker 6 (25:46):
And although the reason I like mine is if I
buy a gun, I can get it immediately right from
the from the from the gun store. If you don't
have the the license, you have to wait I think
two days for a handgun in Florida.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
But yeah, no, you're exactly right.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
So that's that's the best thing you can do, I
think is you know, be prepared and but not obsess over.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
You can't live your life around it.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Absolutely. I was going to make the Simpsons joke about
the two day weight like, but.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I'm angry now. I got threats in Brooklyn. I had
people come to my house. But living in Florida has
definitely made me a lot more secure. And it is
the gun laws and all of that obviously helps, but
just living in a saner place also helps quite a bit.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Yes, I'm glad for you. That's great news.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
What advice would.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
You give your sixteen year old self having to do
this all over again?
Speaker 2 (26:41):
What a sixteen year old Peter need to know?
Speaker 5 (26:44):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Was he a good kid?
Speaker 6 (26:47):
Was?
Speaker 5 (26:48):
He was? He was? He was a very good kid.
Speaker 6 (26:52):
My mom is still living, she's ninety one, and she said, yeah,
I never really worried about you. I figured you always
would kind of, you know, I a very good kid.
I would say, you know, I made a lot of
plans Carol, that I focused on, on, I obsessed on,
and I became really frustrated when those plans didn't pan out.
(27:12):
And looking back now, I'm like, come on, man, what
are you talking about? You making a plan at twenty
one years old and the world doesn't conform to it,
you know, So the first thing I would say is,
don't don't try to plan out your life. I think
there is a plan for your life. I think God
has a plan for everybody's life, but it's not up
(27:35):
for you. To determine, and part of it is going
through and realizing a what you're good at and B
what you really are knit together to do Temperamentally, Again,
when I was sixteen seventeen, I was the guy who
was hanging out with everybody doing things do in Evans.
If you told me at that time you're going to
be spending hundreds of hours hunched over a word processor
(27:59):
writing books by yourself, like you're out of your freaking mind,
that's terrible. And that's what I ended up doing. But
I didn't know that at that age. So the first
thing I would say is don't plan things. You don't
know what the future holds. But the second thing I
would say, and I would imagine this is probably your
experience too, Carol, because you have really climbed in this field,
(28:21):
is hard work is worth it. It's hard work. I mean,
if you want to be good at something, if you
want to rise, it's hard work. And I liked hard
work and when I was young, but I think I
thought it was a little bit more. Things would just
kind of happen, and there's no substitute for hard work,
and it's immensely rewarding. I don't think I'm ever going
(28:43):
to retire. I just enjoy what I do. I feel
the value of at the merit of it. So that's
what I would say, don't plan so much and learn
that the hard work is really worth it.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Do you give the same advice to your kids or
are they different kind of teenagers where they did?
Speaker 5 (29:00):
They're they're different.
Speaker 6 (29:01):
My kids are all in their twenties now, and I
think that, yeah, we we do. They're they're they're not
interested in the same things that I am in terms
of politics and journalism and and whatnot, which is perfectly fine.
I mean, it's right, honestly, Carol.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
As you know, it's kind of a night thing that
you and I do.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Crazy, It is absolutely crazy.
Speaker 6 (29:25):
So so yeah, I think I would like to think
that that they are finding their way and moving their way,
you know, to independence and and heeding that kind of advice.
The the hard work thing is something I tell, uh,
you know, my kids. I tell the interns that are here,
I said, look, what's going to determine your success here?
(29:46):
And whatever you do, Sure, you've got to be smart. Okay,
if you're if you're not really bright and you're not
paying attention, right, you're gonna have problems. But the thing
that's going to make up for an abundance of problems
elsewhere is going to be hard work.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
And that is something that I think.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
You know, maybe I don't want to sound like the
old grumpy man, but maybe I am. You know, I
don't know if the younger generation quite gets it. My
dad said the same thing about my generation, so I
say it about that one.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Every generation that comes after us is a little lazier than.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Us, So right exactly, or maybe we just think that way. Well, Yes,
I've loved this conversation.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
I always, you know, whenever I run into you at
a party or something, I always leave kind of laughing
and smiling. I think you're just a fantastic person and
so interesting.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Leave us here with your best tip.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
For my listeners on how they can improve their lives.
Speaker 6 (30:37):
Best way you can improve your life is, I think realize, ultimately,
what's going on in your life is not about you.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
I believe you were created for a purpose. It's larger
than you.
Speaker 6 (30:49):
And the more that you obsess and focus on yourself
and your needs, there aren't I'm not saying they aren't
legitimate things there. You don't want people abusing you. You
don't want to be ignored. But if you may your
life so much about yourself and about your needs, you
are always going to be disappointed. So think of something larger,
more significant, more important, that you can be part of
(31:10):
and how you can make a difference. And I think
that's going to give you joint happiness. That has certainly
been my experience, and I've been there where I made
it about myself, so I know exactly how that works,
how it's like, and how it ultimately does not lead
to satisfaction.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Thank you so much for coming on. He is Peter Schweitzer.
Check out his amazing books. We can't wait to read
your new one in January.
Speaker 5 (31:34):
Thank you, Peter, always fun. Thanks Carol,
Hi, Welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio.
My guest today for the advice segment that I sometimes
do before the interviews is my good friend co host
of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, Buck Sexton.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hi, Buck, So nice to have you on.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
So good to be on.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Well, the first time we did this, we answered a
really hard question. A man had written in that his
wife of four months it had come out the month
before his wedding that she had cheated on him.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
And he was wondering what to do. Think you and
I handled it quite well. We disagreed.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Him, Carol, I think you're stacking the deck little. I
think excuse me, before they were exclusive got a little.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, they were not exclusives. You know, I'm anti these technicalities.
I was always team Rachel and from Rachel Rachel loss.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
They were not on a break. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
So our question today is going to be maybe a
little easier, maybe a little harder, but definitely a little
less intense. Our question today comes from Carara. Kara writes, Hi, Carol,
big fan of your show. I've been listening since the
first episode. Thank you so much for that, Kara. My
favorite episode was when you and Dave Marcus discussed becoming
friends again after a falling out. I'm writing to ask
(01:16):
you about how to make friends. I'm thirty six, have
two kids, aged four and two, and my husband and
I just don't have the kinds of groups of friends
I see all over social media. You've talked about making
friends after moving, but I've lived in my city my
whole life and never developed the social life I want.
Please don't recommend joining a running club or something. What
(01:38):
do you think, buck, how do you make friends in
your thirties.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Talk to people?
Speaker 4 (01:43):
I think it's that it's the same way you actually
if you're trying to meet you know, trying to meet women,
if you're a guy who's single, you just talk to people.
Just get in the habit of talking to people. I
think that it's a lost art these days. And you know,
ironers like should you go because somebody at night at
the gas station pump when you know there's nobody.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Else be like where do you live?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
I know you should not, but there's so many opportunities
and and I just think that one it's really talking
to people.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I will tell you that one thing that makes me.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
There's a lot of things that make me a little
sad about the digital age of like socializing, dating and
where everybody is their own brand.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I was of my friend group. I was the guy.
I mean, there are people I know who are.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Married because they were like Buck is a heat seeking missile.
He will go talk to this person for me right
now and bring them over and like make it happen.
And I get that, by the way, straight from Speed
Sexton Senior, not my son, but my dad. His name
is Speed Sexton.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
So that tells you a lot.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I could talk to your dad for hours.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Actually, yeah, that's great. Shouldn't bite him on for one
of these segments.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
He would love to share. He's almost eighty years of
life wisdom with you. But you know, my mom and
dad fight over who's a bigger Carol Markwitz fan. It's
pretty funny about it. But I would say making friends
is you're putting out energy all the time. Here's a
little bit of an example, a little bit of a
diversion or digression. But guys are always like, why is
(03:18):
it that when I have a girlfriend, all of a sudden,
these beautiful women like want to talk to me, and
they're like, because of my Instagram posts, and their girlfriend's like, no,
it's because you're just being like if you're being a
decent boyfriend, you're just being like a cool, normal guy,
and you have an energy that's just like hey, like
if you start talking to the gym, you're not like, oh,
you know, I like the way you look in those
tight clothes. You're just kind of like, oh, man, like
(03:40):
what a day to day like quite a workout?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
How you doing?
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Like you're just you put out an energy casual that
is casual that is completely lacking in desperation, and that
is is there's like a warmth and a you know.
And also the the affirmation of being in a relationship
is like your a guy, if you know, assuming you're
again you think, yeah, girlfriend's cute or you're happy with
her or whatever. You know, you're you're in a place
(04:04):
where you're just like life is good. And that just
comes across all the time. And I know people this
sounds like some you know, seminar thing for like how
to be like a you know, alpha male, but it's true.
Confidence comes across all the time, men and women.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
And that's your opening question.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
What's like the first thing you ask a stranger or
somebody you just met.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
I always think it's good to just ask something, to
just like put something out there that is either super
easy for them to join you in the response, like man,
it's it's a isn't it?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
You know?
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Crazy how expensive these avocados are here? You know, something
really like that, or if you want to be a little.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
More making friends in the supermarket.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Okay, it's a great place, by the way, but you know,
I would say the other thing is to ask people,
and you never never ask like what do you do?
Or you know, you just ask what are you excited
about these days? I think I think asking people what
they're excited about these days is one of the because
if their answer is like it's like, well, you're cleterarally
(05:06):
a lot of fun right right, Like because it can
be you give them room to rum, but you you
position it in a positive way. So like if I
ask you, like, what are you excited about these days?
You could be like, oh my gosh, like my son's
history competition was so crazy.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
We're overseas. That's not You could be like, okay, excuse me, excuse.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Me, or you could be like, you know, oh my gosh,
like did you see that Trump executive word today.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
That was so awesome. He's so funny, like you go
anywhere you want.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
But the point is you've established that commonality of positive
vibe right off the bat.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
So but honestly, my opening question is where are you from?
Because I think people love talking about their hometowns in general,
or they love talking about how much they hate their hometowns.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
But where are you from? Often sparks of conversation.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
But I also want to say to this person and
she identifies her you know, she says, to her name,
she's a woman.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I think that women get caught up.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Identifies as female.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
No, no, but identifies herself as a woman. Not identifies as
a woman.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Buck in your salmon shirt. She says that, you know,
she doesn't have the kinds of groups of friends I
see all over social media. And you know, the main
thing I want to say to you is what two
main things?
Speaker 2 (06:16):
One social media is not real life.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
And look like we have a really good group of friends, Buck,
Buck and I right, how often do we actually see
each other? Though not that often, so yeah, when we
see each other, it's like ten persons selfie on the gram.
That's not our everyday life. That's not how we are
all the time. I mean, we all like each other
a lot, and that's great, but you know, yes, yeah.
(06:39):
The second thing I'll say to this person is she
says that she has two kids age four and two.
You are in the golden age of making friends. This
is literally like going back to first grade and making
friends all over again.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
You get to start again.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
My one tiny regret about moving to Florida is that
my kids were a little bit older, so I missed
those young years where you're meeting moms at playdates and
you're really getting to know people. Because now my kids
just go when they hang out, you know, on the
streets and you know, play with their friends and go
to each other's houses, and there's not really interaction with
the parents. You have such an opportunity right now to
(07:15):
start again, to make friends with parents who have.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Kids the same age as yours.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Take this opportunity and don't look at social media.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I would say.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Also, the thing I understand, and I get it. She's like,
don't tell me to join a run club, but shared experience.
It doesn't have to be shared activity, but shared experience
is a very powerful.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
So you know, we you know, you mentioned our friend group.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
It's like we are basically a collection of Florida like
refugees to Florida from the north, mostly COVID drawn and
so there was this shared bond that was built for.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
All all conservatives and we're all generally in media.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, so there's already like a lot that's there.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
And when you're talking about somebody who's got kid who
are two and four, like, there's a.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Lot of common there that.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Yeah, that's why it's easy to make friends, right because
you're having even if you're not this what I mean,
either you're not having the experience together, you have shared experiences.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Insofar as you're doing a thing, they're doing a thing.
You're both in that place in your life. And I
think that can really work.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
But I just my biggest thing anyone that I've ever
told this to, one of my big things Carol, is
like I tell people to do things and then they
don't do them, and then they come back and they
want to.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Know what should I do?
Speaker 4 (08:26):
N Yeah, you know, like and I just I'm like,
how about the thing that I told you to do
that you agreed was good but you chose not to do.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
When I've told it's generally guys.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
But when I've told guys, you know, if they feel
like they're in a rut with dating or meeting women
or something or else else, I'm just like, don't think
of it like you're getting phone numbers. Forget forget about that,
because again that goes to the like eagerness desperationally, Hey,
maybe we can get.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
A coffee on. Just talk to people.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Yeah, just talk to people when it's an opening and
it's cool to talk to people. I will say, you know,
in some places, like I was just in North Carolina
on vacation.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
It's actually where this all that comes from.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
What is all edwards in the Highlands North Carolina, a great,
great place, Releay and Chateau, highly recognized.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Not not sponsored, you guys.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Not sponsor, Yeah, I wish, But I would just say
people there, like everyone wants to talk to you there, right,
I mean, everyone's talking to carry there, talking to me there.
Some of them knew who I was, but I mean
just even strangers who had no idea it was. And
people are very Miami's a little bit different, but the
point is you get you get that rhythm, and I
would just say I would just say, talk to people yea,
and like it and and give them an opportunity and
(09:31):
the and the always the fallback, especially if you're shy.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
People love to talk about themselves.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Oh they do, just ask them about This is why
I get so excited when Carol has me on and
doesn't ask me about like the latest polling for what
you should be indicted or something.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
I never get to talk about this, Clay.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
This is why you're You're welcome to come do these
segments anytime.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
You know, Fox News never calls me and it's like, hey, Buck,
can you come on and talk about like what's going
on with the culture. It's always like, hey, someone left
classified documents bathroom somewhere, like is this a violation of stat.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Is This is why you know, This is why you
have to come on here and do these segments with me.
I've really enjoyed this. Thank you so much for coming on, Buck.
Stay tuned for my interview with Peter Schweitzer and welcome
back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio. My guest
today is Peter Schweitzer. Peter is a New York Times
(10:23):
best selling author eight times over, including the number one
New York Times best selling books, Blood Money, Red Handed,
Secret Empires, Profiles and Corruption, and Clinton Cash. He is
the president of the Government Accountability Institute and host of
the Drill Down with Peter Schweitzer podcast.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
So nice to have you on, Peter, Carol.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Great to be with you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
I have to start with a compliment. One time I
was talking to somebody in the conservative publishing world and
she was telling me how hard it is to get
political books published. And she said, unless you're Peter Schweitzer.
And you know, she said that you're You're the main
game in town as far as political books are concerned.
I've read several of you books.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I love your work.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
What makes your books different than the other books that
are out there on the market.
Speaker 6 (11:14):
Well, Carol, I mean the secret is, honestly, I'm not
as much a writer as I am a researcher. I've
loved research. That's always been the key. It goes back
to when I was in high school and in college,
I was on the debate team and I love the
research part. So I have to do the writing because
that's what pays the bills. But what drives me forward,
(11:35):
what excites me, what energizes me, is digging through the
bowels of information and finding those nuggets that nobody else has.
It's like when I was a little kid, I loved
Show and Tell, you know, in first grade. So it's
that's kind of what drives it. So I would say
it's the research I spend. I take two years between books.
I would say of those two years, probably seventy five
(11:56):
percent of it is just doing research, and then the
other twenty five percent is actually the writing process. So
I don't think I'm a great writer. I think I'm
a very good researcher, not a great writer. And I
think that's what makes my books a little bit different,
is the amount of research that goes into.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Them so interesting because for me, it's like everything else
pays the bills, but I love writing and I can't stop.
Like it's the least profit of everything else I do,
but I can't give it up because I just enjoy
it so much. So did you always want to be
a writer? Did you always want to be a researcher?
Speaker 5 (12:32):
A great question.
Speaker 6 (12:33):
When I was in middle school, I worked on a novel.
I actually wanted to be a novelist when I was younger,
and then when I joined the debate team, I really
got into research.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
But my original goal.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
Honestly, when I was in my twenties was I wanted
to work in the White House at the National Security Council.
I was a kind of Henry Kissinger want to be
in terms of, you know, a great thinker on strategy
and foreign policy. And I did that for a while,
but I found that it was kind of constraining. A
lot of it had to do with, you know, the
(13:07):
connections of who you knew, and I didn't like depending
and relying on that.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
So the writing kind of just is something that happened.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
An agent, literary agent saw and op ed I had
in The New York Times in nineteen eighty nine said
have you ever thought about writing a book? I said, sure,
And that's kind of how it happened. So I really
kind of stumbled onto it. If you told me when
I was twenty that you're going to be living in
Florida and writing these books, I would have said, no way,
that's I'm going to be in Washington, d C. I'm
(13:36):
going to be doing things with a think tank. So
it was not expected in that way. I'm very grateful
to that. I'm thankful to God for that, because if
i'd planned my life, it probably would not as been
as good and as rich and rewarding. So yeah, it's
been kind of a revelation. I've been very grateful for it,
very grateful for, you know, the experiences if I had in
(13:57):
the book publishing industry and the response to my work,
which has taken a long time. I mean, my first
birth bestseller. I didn't have my first bestseller till I
was forty years old. I had written I think nine
non fiction books before that, so it was it was
a real it was a real grind there. But I
enjoyed it, and I'm thankful for it. And what can
(14:18):
I say, I'm just I'm just fortunate.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Did you have like a plan B in case writing
didn't work out? Did you have something else that you
kind of had as a backup?
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Good question.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
I for a while, I thought about being a college professor.
I had gone to graduate school at Oxford, I had
gotten my m Film and International Relations.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
I thought about staying there and getting a PhD. I
decided not to.
Speaker 6 (14:43):
Then I thought at one point about going back, But
you know, I have friends that are in academia, and
you know that world is completely different. Given the decline
of American universities and and whatnot. So again, I'm fortunate
that that hasn't happened. So that was kind of my
fallback plan. But I never had to exercise, and it
(15:03):
was never very well developed. And I think, and I
think one of the things Carol I realized is I've
gotten older, is you know, I'm sixty now. There's so
many things that I planned. I'm kind of a planner,
and very few of those plans actually worked. I mean, honestly,
very few of them actually worked.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
As the philosopher John Lennon said, life is what happens
to you while you're busy making other plans.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
Right, so very true.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
What would you consider your beat for people who haven't
read your books, what would you say is your kind
of the line that goes through your books.
Speaker 6 (15:41):
I think that I try to explain what I think
is really happening. So if you look at my early
writing career, I wrote books like Victory Reagan's War, which
we're kind of looking at the Cold War and making
the case of how Reagan won the Cold War. I
used kgb arkas, I use declassified government documents. I interviewed people,
(16:03):
So that's the first part of my writing career, and
then I kind of switched to investigative journalism on you know,
on corruption, so seemingly different. But what I would argue
all of them are trying to say is there tends
to be a story that that the mainstream media is
pushing that we all kind of latch onto. I mean,
(16:24):
a lot of what we do is responding to what
the story supposedly is. What I try to do is
anticipate and look ahead what the story really should be.
And so when I write a book like Red Handed
about you know, people that are getting enriched with the Chinese,
what I'm really trying to say is, yeah, the US
China relationship, there's a lot of issues there, but there's
(16:46):
something else going on. People are being paid off, so
we should be paying attention to this. So that's probably
the common thread. But again, I mean, the research is
the part that has always driven all of this, and
my goal is to really get people to thinking about
what's going on below the surface. Because as you know,
you're in the news business, you see it all the
(17:07):
time that things that drive the media are oftentimes not
really what's going on below the surface. It's more kind
of the predictive easy stuff.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Is it surprising to you that the easy stuff is
very popular?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
But your stuff goes deep.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
It's not just a catchy headline, it's not a thirty
second TikTok video.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Is it surprising to.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
You that people enjoy that deep dive and that they're
still able to kind of get into it. You know,
we hear all the time that our attention spans have
shrunk and we can't pay attention to anything, and yet
here these people are are following you down the path
that you're taking them and really looking into something in
a deep way.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Does that surprise you?
Speaker 6 (17:50):
It does a little bit. I mean, it is funny.
I will tell you. You know, I've had the same
editor on the last five books, Eric Nelson, great guy.
I've had editors before, and I've had friends that have
been in the industry for a long time, and everybody
keeps telling me you need to write shorter chapters precisely
for the reason that you mentioned, and so I have
(18:11):
tried to make adjustments. You have to look at the
reality of where your audience is in terms of their
time constraints. There's so many alternative choices they can make.
What I always try to think of is there's so
much free information out there. I'm asking people to drop
down twenty five thirty bucks to buy a book, so
(18:32):
I got to really, really really make it worth it
for them and find stuff they can't get anywhere else.
So that makes it harder. But yeah, I am very
grateful for the audience. And you know, even though the
book industry is kind of struggling right now, I am
grateful for people that buy the books, that take an interest.
And I love to hear from the people that read
my books because they oftentimes have, you know, really fascinating insights,
(18:54):
takes that really shows their thinking. They're not just receiving it,
They're interacting with them, which is what I love.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
But no TikTok videos yet.
Speaker 6 (19:05):
Maybe something you would not You would not want to
see a Peter Schweitzer TikTok video.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Person of all totally would want to see talk video.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
I think it would be poorly done if I were
doing it at number two, would be really boring.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
But I appreciate the encouragement. Carrol, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
What are you working on now? Any any previews of
your next book?
Speaker 6 (19:28):
I'm writing a book right now that will come out
in January, and authors always say this, but it is
true in this case. This is probably my most challenging book.
I won't go into detail, but it is about subversion
in a way that I think other people have not
thought about it. And we've got some i think, very
stunning material on the the the the forces that are
(19:49):
working to influence and are influencing our political campaigns, you know,
corrupting our our leadership, class et cetera.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
So I'll have to leave it at that.
Speaker 6 (19:58):
But I'm this week actually care I'm not doing many interviews,
but I wanted to do this because we are in
fact check legal review mode and I've got a grumpy
guy upstairs who's my fact checker. Great guy, good friend. Yeah,
he's a pain in the butt. So I'm going through
that this week, and lord Willia will get through that
safely and we'll send it off to the publisher and
(20:19):
it'll come out in January.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Grumpy fact checkers. I feel like that's the only kind
of fact checker you can If they're too happy, you
don't need them, you know, So is checking the most
nerve wracking kind of part of it?
Speaker 6 (20:35):
I would say the most nerve wracking part of it.
Is when you're doing the research and you find something
that's really good, but you're trying to figure out what
it means. I mean, i'll give you an example from
the past. We first uncovered Hunter Biden's China deals in
(20:56):
December of twenty sixteen because we were researching around and
we found this picture on Chinese social media and it
was Hunter Biden with basically in China the equivalent of
the head of Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Secretary.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
I mean, everybody, you forget what yeah, yeah, and you're like.
Speaker 6 (21:18):
What is Hunter Biden doing here? How is it connected?
And so the most frustrating part is when you find
something you.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
Know it's really really, really good, but you're.
Speaker 6 (21:27):
Trying to make sense of it. And the key thing
there is in all good things is just patients. I
just need to look at all the different possibilities. So
that's the most frustrating. The fact checking is actually very
very good and necessary, but also relatively easy because everything
in my books there's always a paper trail, there's a
corporate record, there's a legal document, there's something that supports
(21:50):
what you're saying. Because I don't use anonymous sources or
anything like that. But it's just a laborious process as
you can imagine.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Right, So the grumpy guy can't get too grumpy because
you could prove.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
It all well.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
He is, and I say, this is a great affection.
I've known Steve for a long time. He's a former
a ten pilot for the Air Force, so he's very
detail oriented, you know, with all the ardor knobs, but
he embraces the grumpiness, Carol. So it's it's it's it's
part of him. It's inherent to him. It's not going away.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
He sounds awesome, actually is awesome. I hope he takes
this conversation as a compliment. We're going to take a
quick break and be right back on the Carol Marcowitch Show.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
What do you worry about.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
On a personal level?
Speaker 6 (22:36):
You know, you worry about your kids, You worry about
the people you care about, You worry about your country.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
You you know.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
You worry about security. You don't obsess over it. I mean,
the the the nature of the work that we do
is something that upsets a lot of people. We had
a moment probably four or five months ago where the
Taiwan News, which is the main newspaper in Taiwan announced
(23:03):
it mentioned my name in an article, and it came
up on Google alerts, and I thought, what is this
all about?
Speaker 5 (23:08):
And it was how a guy named White.
Speaker 6 (23:10):
Wolf, who's the leader of a criminal gang in China,
was being charged with fentanyl trafficking, and the prosecutors cited
my book Blood Money as one of the reasons they
decided to launch the investigation. So on one level, you're excited,
but on the other level, you're like, you know, now
we've we've pissed off White Wolf.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
Well yeah, so you you you worry about those things.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
But as I've gotten older, as I said, I'm sixty,
as I've gotten older, I just realized there's just a
lot you don't have a control over. And the more
you learn that, you know, for me, it's it's about
trusting God, not doing things foolish, but trusting God, but
realizing you can't control those things.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
All you can do is not be foolish.
Speaker 6 (23:52):
And it's the same thing with you know, when you
worry about your kids, or you're worried about people in
your life, you know, try to be there for them
and love them. But I've stepped back from hopefully from really,
you know, always worrying about and obsessing about it. And
that's been really nice. People tell me when you get older,
you get into your sixties, that gets better. It certainly
(24:14):
has been for me so far. So I'm grateful for that.
But I worry about those kinds of things pretty regularly.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
The security question is really interesting. I think people don't
think about it about how writing books or writing anything
writing on current event topics and how dangerous it could
be and how you could piss off the wrong white wolf,
you know, during the Obama administration. I mean, I was
born in the Soviet Union. My mom, you know, definitely
was like, do you have to criticize the president? I
(24:41):
feel like you're going to get into trouble. So there's
and that's not even a Chinese mobster, you know.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
Yeah, no, it's it's it's real.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
And you know, look, I live in a place where
it's a little bit less market, but you know, you
think of people that live in Washington, d C. O
York or California, places where there's more hostile let's say,
people living around you, or if you're writing on particular issues.
I know there have been there's a lot of threats
made of people who raise challenges, and I think rightfully
(25:13):
so on the on the trans issue and women's in sports,
it gets very vicious and nasty and and so it
is a real concern. It should be a real concern.
And you know, my philosophy is you just use unconventional ways,
uh you know, to uh to to float below the radar,
so to speak.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
I won't go to those.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
And you know, we all have concealed carry permits at
my office, and you just.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Brought that Florida.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
We don't even have to have permits exactly right, we don't.
Speaker 6 (25:46):
And although the reason I like mine is if I
buy a gun, I can get it immediately right from
the from the from the gun store. If you don't
have the the license, you have to wait I think
two days for a handgun in Florida.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
But yeah, no, you're exactly right.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
So that's that's the best thing you can do, I
think is you know, be prepared and but not obsess over.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
You can't live your life around it.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Absolutely. I was going to make the Simpsons joke about
the two day weight like, but.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I'm angry now. I got threats in Brooklyn. I had
people come to my house. But living in Florida has
definitely made me a lot more secure. And it is
the gun laws and all of that obviously helps, but
just living in a saner place also helps quite a bit.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Yes, I'm glad for you. That's great news.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
What advice would.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
You give your sixteen year old self having to do
this all over again?
Speaker 2 (26:41):
What a sixteen year old Peter need to know?
Speaker 5 (26:44):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Was he a good kid?
Speaker 6 (26:47):
Was?
Speaker 5 (26:48):
He was? He was? He was a very good kid.
Speaker 6 (26:52):
My mom is still living, she's ninety one, and she said, yeah,
I never really worried about you. I figured you always
would kind of, you know, I a very good kid.
I would say, you know, I made a lot of
plans Carol, that I focused on, on, I obsessed on,
and I became really frustrated when those plans didn't pan out.
(27:12):
And looking back now, I'm like, come on, man, what
are you talking about? You making a plan at twenty
one years old and the world doesn't conform to it,
you know, So the first thing I would say is,
don't don't try to plan out your life. I think
there is a plan for your life. I think God
has a plan for everybody's life, but it's not up
(27:35):
for you. To determine, and part of it is going
through and realizing a what you're good at and B
what you really are knit together to do Temperamentally, Again,
when I was sixteen seventeen, I was the guy who
was hanging out with everybody doing things do in Evans.
If you told me at that time you're going to
be spending hundreds of hours hunched over a word processor
(27:59):
writing books by yourself, like you're out of your freaking mind,
that's terrible. And that's what I ended up doing. But
I didn't know that at that age. So the first
thing I would say is don't plan things. You don't
know what the future holds. But the second thing I
would say, and I would imagine this is probably your
experience too, Carol, because you have really climbed in this field,
(28:21):
is hard work is worth it. It's hard work. I mean,
if you want to be good at something, if you
want to rise, it's hard work. And I liked hard
work and when I was young, but I think I
thought it was a little bit more. Things would just
kind of happen, and there's no substitute for hard work,
and it's immensely rewarding. I don't think I'm ever going
(28:43):
to retire. I just enjoy what I do. I feel
the value of at the merit of it. So that's
what I would say, don't plan so much and learn
that the hard work is really worth it.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Do you give the same advice to your kids or
are they different kind of teenagers where they did?
Speaker 5 (29:00):
They're they're different.
Speaker 6 (29:01):
My kids are all in their twenties now, and I
think that, yeah, we we do. They're they're they're not
interested in the same things that I am in terms
of politics and journalism and and whatnot, which is perfectly fine.
I mean, it's right, honestly, Carol.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
As you know, it's kind of a night thing that
you and I do.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Crazy, It is absolutely crazy.
Speaker 6 (29:25):
So so yeah, I think I would like to think
that that they are finding their way and moving their way,
you know, to independence and and heeding that kind of advice.
The the hard work thing is something I tell, uh,
you know, my kids. I tell the interns that are here,
I said, look, what's going to determine your success here?
(29:46):
And whatever you do, Sure, you've got to be smart. Okay,
if you're if you're not really bright and you're not
paying attention, right, you're gonna have problems. But the thing
that's going to make up for an abundance of problems
elsewhere is going to be hard work.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
And that is something that I think.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
You know, maybe I don't want to sound like the
old grumpy man, but maybe I am. You know, I
don't know if the younger generation quite gets it. My
dad said the same thing about my generation, so I
say it about that one.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Every generation that comes after us is a little lazier than.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Us, So right exactly, or maybe we just think that way. Well, Yes,
I've loved this conversation.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
I always, you know, whenever I run into you at
a party or something, I always leave kind of laughing
and smiling. I think you're just a fantastic person and
so interesting.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Leave us here with your best tip.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
For my listeners on how they can improve their lives.
Speaker 6 (30:37):
Best way you can improve your life is, I think realize, ultimately,
what's going on in your life is not about you.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
I believe you were created for a purpose. It's larger
than you.
Speaker 6 (30:49):
And the more that you obsess and focus on yourself
and your needs, there aren't I'm not saying they aren't
legitimate things there. You don't want people abusing you. You
don't want to be ignored. But if you may your
life so much about yourself and about your needs, you
are always going to be disappointed. So think of something larger,
more significant, more important, that you can be part of
(31:10):
and how you can make a difference. And I think
that's going to give you joint happiness. That has certainly
been my experience, and I've been there where I made
it about myself, so I know exactly how that works,
how it's like, and how it ultimately does not lead
to satisfaction.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Thank you so much for coming on. He is Peter Schweitzer.
Check out his amazing books. We can't wait to read
your new one in January.
Speaker 5 (31:34):
Thank you, Peter, always fun. Thanks Carol,
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