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April 21, 2025 - Triggered - Donald Trump Jr
58:15
America First, Always. Interviews with Ned Ryun & Kenny Cody | TRIGGERED Ep.235
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Hey guys, welcome to another huge episode of Triggered.
And today's going to be a fun one because we have a couple of America First all-stars who don't shy away from the tough questions and the media's relentless attacks.
We have the author of American Leviathan, Ned Ryan.
He'll be back with us along with first-time guest, human events opinion columnist, Kenny Cody.
So you're going to learn a lot and hear from some fresh voices.
So remember to like, to share, subscribe so we can get the word out and that you never miss one of these major episodes, especially with the subscription.
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Okay, you guys.
Joining me now, author of American Leviathan, CEO of American Majority, Ned Ryan.
Ned, great to have you back, man.
How are you?
Hey, I'm doing well.
Good to be back with you, Don.
Well, I'm glad you're back.
Big picture.
We're seeing my father actually take on global challenges head on.
He's doing exactly what he said he was going to do.
You've been talking about this for years.
What's your big picture assessment of the Trump agenda as we near the first 100 days?
Well, first of all, Don, he's doing exactly what he said he was going to do.
I mean, let's be honest.
He was painting in big, bold, bright colors through the campaign.
I mean, there were no questions about what he was going to do when he won.
I mean, tariffs, deportation, doge, drill baby drill, and the American people chose him in a rather definitive way.
And the other thing, too, that I think, Don, that has really become very apparent to me watching your dad in his first term and now, obviously, as he's beginning his second, it's what I call public arena morality.
And by that I mean he's not lying to the American people.
He's not making false campaign promises and telling them stories.
And then he gets into office and does something completely different or doesn't even bother to try and fulfill those campaign promises.
In fact, he goes out, he sets out this very bold agenda during the campaign, and immediately, day one, within hours of being sworn in, immediately begins to put that agenda into motion.
And the other thing that I've noticed about your dad, it didn't dawn on me in May of 2015.
It dawned on me in February of 2016 that this was the guy who was going to pursue Americanism.
And by that, I mean an agenda that put the American people first and last in all things.
And to me...
Your dad has taken the moral imperative of nationalism.
And I mean that as Lincoln, Gandhi, Churchill, that form in which...
You don't need the haters coming on saying, oh my God, how dare you?
I want to define that very clearly.
But the whole idea of the moral imperative of a national leader is to actually prioritize the interests of the nation's people.
And that's what your dad is doing.
And I think we've had a lot of immoral leadership on both sides of the aisle for decades.
And your dad has said enough of this.
We're going to actually have leadership in D.C. that actually prioritizes the interests of the American people, the nation, on all things, whether it's immigration, whether it's foreign policy, whether it's trade deals, whether it's energy policy.
And so, you know, he has begun a bold agenda, and I cannot wait to see the success that will happen.
What does it say to you, though?
I mean, you said it.
He's actually doing the things he said he was going to do.
I mean, this is the stuff that people voted for.
Maybe there's some short-term pain with some of that for long-term benefits, because we've sort of sold out our country for the last century, making bad decisions to get re-elected in three weeks at the expense of our children's future in 50 years.
But what does it say about our country, our system, our elected officials?
That you have this level of outrage because a politician's actually willing to do some of the hard things.
But the things he said he was going to do, it's almost like they're used to being like, yeah, tell him what you need to get elected.
And then as long as you sort of take the establishment line on both sides, frankly, you know, we'll leave you alone.
Again, I think the American people have put up with a lot of lies over the years.
And your dad is being honest.
And I think the interesting thing right now at this very moment is watching what he's doing.
On the trade deals.
I just want to remind people, we haven't had a trade surplus in 50 years.
1975. The staggering thing to me, Don, is that we are such a vibrant country with such a strong economy that we have done as well as we have for the last 50 years.
And, you know, your dad is now standing up and saying, hey, I didn't start this trade war, if that's what you want to define it as, or this tariff war, however you want to define what's taking place.
I didn't start this.
But I am going to end it.
This was not a preemptive tariff.
This is a reactive one.
And I think what's been staggering to me, really looking at this over the last few weeks, in real close detail, is that American leadership, if you even want to call it leadership, let this linger as long as it did, as they let it happen over 50 years, and put us,
I think, in a precarious situation in many ways for our future.
As you were saying, We want to win in a few weeks or a few months, and to hell with the future.
This is something where I think your dad, in many ways, won in the nick of time.
This is an existential crisis when you look at these trade deals and where we were headed, not only on national security issues, but what does the future prosperity of this country look like?
And your dad standing up and saying, we're not going to put up with this anymore for the sake of the country now, but for the sake of the future of the country.
And I think what's going to be interesting, I mean, you look at...
Specifically, China.
I mean, we're hundreds of billions of dollars in a trade deficit with a country that has made it very clear that they want to displace us, that they want to displace us on the international stage.
And their vision for the world is much different than ours.
So, for the sake of the country, but I would argue, Don, for the sake of the free world, people had better be cheering on your dad that this tariff war is successful.
And I think it'll be relatively short-term, but it should be successful because our manufacturing base.
Our industrial base has been the arsenal of freedom and democracy for the rest of the world.
So for the sake of the free world, I sincerely hope that this is successful.
Yeah, it's sort of wild in the last week or two weeks since even they started talking about these things.
You go back, you see clips of Nancy Pelosi 30 years ago, 25 years ago, talking about doing exactly this because how critically important it is for America.
I'd argue it's much more important now because those deficits have grown so much more.
Barack Obama, same thing.
You know, Warren Buffett talking about essentially like, hey, this is what you need to do.
I think that was from the early 90s to be able to save America.
But no one actually had the balls to actually do it.
But those same people are now in total hysteria.
What changed with the Democrat Party that they could actually understand how important this stuff is, but they no longer care?
Well, first of all, the Trump derangement syndrome is a real mental illness for which there is no cure.
So anytime your dad mentions anything, whether it is, I think this is just common sense, what he's doing.
I think his agenda is a return to common sense on a whole host of fronts, whether it's on some of the social issues, you know, men are men, women are women.
We cannot survive with a massive trade deficit.
I'm still shocked we have done as well as we have over the last 50 years.
But your dad's approach to all this, I think, is just basic common sense.
Like, we're going to level this up.
This hasn't been pre-trade.
I mean, that to me is one of the biggest lies.
But I think we've experienced for decades.
Like, what do you mean by free trade?
This is deeply unfair.
And we've been screwed by our allies.
I mean, we went out of our way, Don, and especially in the post-World War II era, to allow some of these bad trade deals and tariffs and all that to rebuild economies in Europe because we, first of all, bailed out the world after World War II, during World War II, and then we allowed them to rebuild their economies with these unfair trade deals.
And now your dad's saying, hey, we don't live in that post-World War II era.
We actually have a real existential threat from China, and the American people are not going to put up with subsidizing you, first of all, not only on your defense, but allow you to go down crazy roads on your social welfare programs and idiotic Green New Deals like Germany has done.
And I think the real response from the Democrats is, you know, if Trump says it, it must be wrong.
I mean, that's literally their knee-jerk reaction of, well, Trump said it, then I'm going to fight it tooth and nail.
And I think they've come completely detached from reality and common sense.
And I think the American people are seeing through it.
I mean, they saw through it in November.
I mean, that's why your dad won so definitively in what people thought was going to be a much closer election.
And I think they're seeing through it again.
Yeah, I mean, it's amazing, though, that if I turn on the TV, you know, there are, you know, well-paid, you know, I want to say professional pundits, but, you know, it's sort of hard to be a professional or, you know, an expert when you haven't been right about anything in, you know, 20 years on the air.
But, you know, they talk about, like, we're abolishing free trade.
Like, we've never had free trade.
Like, these countries, you know, had tariffs on us that we didn't have on them.
They continue to do it.
It's very open.
It's what they know.
But they say, well, it's only a minor tariff because, you know, Canada with the dairy products, they're like, well, it's a 3% tariff on the first case of milk or whatever it is.
And then for every case after that, it's, you know, 237%.
You're like, so they can be like, no, it's only here.
It's like, well, that's, you know, six cartons of milk.
And then for the truckloads of stuff, it's 237%.
And that's not fair.
You know, with free trade or friends like that, who needs enemies?
That doesn't seem at all egalitarian.
But it's almost, are they just lying to the people again?
Or do they not even understand that these things have been a reality and grossly unbalanced for far too long?
Well, I mean, they're flat out lying.
Either it's based on ignorance or it's obviously intentional, neither of which are good scenarios.
Yeah, you look at, I mean, like your dad has said, our friends and allies have been screwing us for decades.
And first of all, they expect us to come to their national defense and basically protect them.
And then, thanks for that, we're going to screw you on trade deals.
And your dad's like, we're not doing this anymore.
Like, this isn't fair.
This isn't fair to the country.
It's not fair to the American people.
It's not fair to the American taxpayer, what we've experienced.
And again, I go back to Don.
When you start to really dig into these numbers, it's staggering to me how we have done as well as we have over the last 50 years.
You're not supposed to be able to do this.
So how did we do that?
Was it just innovation?
Was it just a paper economy?
I think it's because we're so robust.
Part of it is we are robust.
We have an incredible country.
We have an incredible economy.
But when you think about what we could be, what we could become...
With these fair trade deals?
Could have been.
Could have been, but what we could become, I think it's pretty incredible.
When your dad talks about a new golden age, I think people need to understand that this present moment, which by the way, 50 countries plus have decided almost immediately to come to the negotiating table and say, hey, we're going to try and work this out as quickly as possible.
I think you're going to see this.
Painful period, if you will.
And I don't even think it's that painful.
I think we had more pain back in 22 and 23 in the stock market.
I think this relative pain is going to pass pretty quickly.
And then I think people six months or a year from now are going to go, this is absolutely incredible.
Which, by the way, Don, I think is hugely important.
Because I think if your dad's plan, and I think it will work, by the summer of 26 coming into the midterms, I think that's going to be huge for us keeping the house.
And this is the other thing that I don't think people can understand.
Like, well, these tariffs that he has imposed are punitive well above and beyond what these countries are doing.
Well, yeah, what do you think he's going to do?
Like, he wants to end these tariff and trade wars immediately.
He's going to pull out the big stick, and he wants to make it as painful as possible to bring them to the negotiating table as quickly as possible, to settle these issues as quickly as possible.
Because it's gone on long enough, and I think your dad also realizes he's thinking politically, but he's also thinking...
I don't have all the time in the world.
Well, and that's the reality.
You brought up, well, you don't even have three years, right?
You got midterms, right?
You talked about that.
You saw, you know, in Wisconsin, I guess they got voter ID done.
But, you know, a state that we won by a pretty sizable margin, you know, not enough people showed up.
And so you have a Supreme Court that's controlled by, you know, not just a Democrat, but like literally a radical leftist.
It's like if Soros picked her out of a lineup, it's the perfect radical communist.
You know, talk about midterms and I guess the need for people to stay engaged, not just when Trump's at the top of the ticket, but for the future of our country.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
I mean, this is, I think Wisconsin in some ways was a wake-up call.
I don't want to read too much into it.
I definitely think there was a little bit of burnout on our side.
Democrats, the left, were desperate to change the narrative.
I mean, when you realize how much money poured, we actually thought, Don, that the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin was going to be a $50 million race.
Right. That's what a couple of months before we thought it'd be 50 million.
I think it topped out at 100 million plus, like just an absolute deluge tsunami of money.
About 60 percent of that went to Susan Crawford and about 77 percent of it was outside the state.
So 46, 47 million was from outside the state because they realized we need to change the narrative.
We have a moment here.
The left realized this and we're going to seize the moment.
And so people want to read a lot into this.
I do think that there was a little bit of burnout.
On our side, our people showed up in greater ways than they had showed up in the last Supreme Court race in Wisconsin.
It just wasn't enough.
But I think it should wake us up a little bit.
I mean, I just want to remind people from perspective that there were four things that night that I thought were obviously on the ballot.
Florida, the two Florida races, we won those.
Voter ID in Wisconsin, we won that.
And we lost the Supreme Court race.
But we won three out of four.
So let's have a little perspective at the same time.
I think we need to get back to the fundamentals.
We saw some of this last year in which people realized we've got to do more voter registration.
We have to do some more absentee ballot generation among mid to low propensity voters.
And we need to actually do an absentee ballot early vote push.
We know where the battle is going to be next year in the top 20 House districts that are going to decide the majority.
I would argue it would behoove us to actually put some real money.
Above and beyond what we think is necessary, it needs to be industrial levels of voter registration, absentee ballot generation, and then ABEV push in the top 20 House districts to make sure that we keep the House.
And historical trends have been that the President loses House seats in his first term, in the first midterm.
I think that we have the ability to hold the line.
I've looked at some of the numbers, but it's not going to just happen.
And the other thing, too, Don, that I think we need to start thinking about.
Your dad has the ability to bring to the table, to the voting booth, people that are Trump-only voters.
And just even looking at some of the numbers in, say, Arizona, it's between 70 and 100,000 that we've identified as kind of Trump-only voters.
We've got to go back and say, how do we make these people more consistent voters and communicate to them, Donald Trump's agenda can only be successful if he keeps the House in 2026, because if he doesn't, they'll get impeached, there'll be all kinds of investigations, the agenda goes sideways.
And so I think we've got to start talking to a lot of these people now.
If you want Donald Trump's agenda to be successful, for him to have all four years to be successful, he has to keep the House in the midterms.
And I hope that we can defy the odds, maybe add a couple seats.
But if nothing else, even if we keep the House by a few seats, that's a win.
Ned, do you see, you know, sort of the turmoil at the Democratic fundraising apparatus, Ag Blue?
You know, I don't think it's a coincidence that the second USAID and all the NGOs that were probably kicking back to all the Democrat Party, you know, I don't think it's a coincidence that the same week that we figure out all that stuff, the top seven people, you know, at this billion-dollar fundraising apparatus that allows them to outspend us,
you know, five, sometimes ten to one on all of these congressional races, and frankly, everything else down the line.
Do you think that...
I hope so.
I mean, obviously, House Republicans are on it.
I don't hold my breath when House Republicans do much of anything.
You know, I hope the state AGs step up to the plate.
I have long suspected that ActBlue is a fraudulent money laundering operation, not only from the smurfing.
I think there have been a lot of big donors that have pumped in small donations and people have taken and stolen identities.
I think if we can get to the bottom of it, I would not be surprised if there's been a lot of foreign money that has been laundered through ActBlue.
So when people say, oh, the Democrats have figured out how to beat you on the small dollar donor front, I have questions.
I have questions if in reality they actually have or if this has been a fraudulent money laundering operation.
So I think that's a real problem for Democrats coming into the midterms.
I would also argue, again, with Elon Musk and Doge.
You know, it's kind of funny to me, Don, how it started waste, fraud, and abuse.
Wait a minute, we have rule of the bureaucrat.
Wait a minute, we might have a slush fund money laundering operation with our government that the left has been using to fund their NGOs, friends, and families.
So when you see some of these funding mechanisms for the left starting to break apart, at least fractures in the foundation, I have hopes that in the midterms, they're not going to have nearly the amount of funding Yeah,
I mean, I've talked about that a lot on the show before, but for so many years, it sort of felt like we had this, like, a fake economy propped up by USAID, endless spending, and, you know, and money printing.
Do you see this moment in history as our best opportunity to sort of get back to reality with some of this stuff?
I think your dad's second term in the White House is a singular moment in American history.
And I mean that because we now have somebody who truly has figured it out.
You know, I think the first term was a learning process.
I think he came in as the great outsider.
I think he had some ideas of how D.C. worked.
And he even told me, he's like, Ned, it's far worse than I even thought.
This was the swamp, but this is way above and beyond what I thought.
I think the learning process has gotten to the point of, and you can see it in day one of this second term, where he came in and you know that Stephen Miller and Russ Vogt and some of these other guys had been putting a plan in place for these executive orders, had a very clear, concise blueprint on what they wanted to do.
You know, my hope is, Don, that Elon Musk and Doge have begun a narrative in which people have kind of had that awakening of realizing, yeah, we don't really have representative government in this country, which is kind of one of the themes of my book, American Leviathan.
But I need people to fully understand.
And I think Elon's kind of having this epiphany of, wait, rule of the bureaucrat.
What does that have to do with representative democracy?
Wait a minute.
What is going on in this country?
I hope the narrative breaks through to the American people that your dad is on the route and pursuing.
Restoring representative government to this country.
And it's not going to be an easy fight.
I mean, we can see from the left that it's kind of shocking to me, though not unexpected, this feral, animalistic response to what is going on, especially with Elon.
I mean, Trump derangement syndrome is a real thing.
Now Elon Musk derangement syndrome is obviously a real thing.
That they realize this is an existential threat to the leftist movement in America.
And I hope that not only do we go after their funding sources, We break apart the system.
So I think this is one of those moments of clarity for the American people that your dad has to be successful.
Elon Musk has to be successful.
I hope Republicans in Congress are actually going to step up to the plate and support him.
I'll admit some frustration with House Republicans getting wound up about this proxy voting when they could have been reining in judges that are overstepping the Article 3 bounds to try and dictate to your dad.
As the head of the Article II branch, what he can and can't do constitutionally.
So I think this is back to reality on a whole host of fronts.
I hope the American people continue to bolster your dad.
I hope that they strongly encourage Congress to actually step up to the plate and actually take back their legislative responsibilities.
But, you know, I think the American people are coming awake.
I really do believe what we're seeing is they are coming awake and realizing the reality they've been lied to on a whole host of fronts.
That the news media is more propaganda.
And I think we're still seeing that evolution of them waking up.
But I do hope this, Don.
I hope that they realize we haven't won yet.
Yeah, that's a big thing.
I mean, we've started.
We're turning the tables on countries that have exploited trade loopholes for years.
With that, we've got to create some sort of legacy.
Beyond the day-to-day hysteria, as we look back months and years from now, decades from now, what's the real opportunity?
The real opportunity is to restore representative democracy, representative government to this country.
I don't think we've, in many ways, I don't think the American people have had true representation in D.C. for a very long time.
And I mean that in all sincerity, until your dad showed up.
I mean, your dad's...
I think greatest threat to permanent D.C. to that administrative state, especially in the first term, but even now, was him showing up and going, I'm the duly elected president of the United States.
I represent the American people.
On behalf of the American people, I decide a lot of domestic and foreign policy.
And D.C., bolstered by the Democrats, the corporate propagandists, quite frankly, a lot of establishment Republicans said, we don't think so.
So I think it's restoring a constitutional republic, restoring constitutional balance, restoring prosperity, restoring freedom.
I mean, there are a lot of different things where the America First agenda, again, is a common sense agenda.
And, you know, the American people, I think, the biggest thing to me that your dad offers, especially in the second term, is hope.
Like, decline was a choice.
We choose not to decline.
And his message is we choose to climb to even greater heights of freedom and prosperity.
So my hope is that the lasting legacy is a complete restructuring.
And remaking of the government to restore representative government so that the American people can actually be served by their government every day on all things both foreign and domestic.
So I'm looking at it over your shoulder, Ned.
How does all of this relate to the themes in your book, American Leviathan?
It really is a conflict between two very different governing philosophies.
I mean, the rule of the bureaucrat was always intended by progressives.
I don't think a lot of the American people, they were kind of under the illusion we had a constitutional republic, representative government.
And I think, I tell people all the time when I'm out speaking that, you know, if you really want to know what the conflict is between Donald Trump and the political, the lawfare, Russian collusion, Ukrainian quid pro quo, it's about who decides.
And I make the point in the book that, you know, our republic was founded on the idea of all power flows from the people to their duly elected representatives, who they make the stewards of the power money given to them.
to create a government of, by, and for the people that every day is protecting and promoting the interests of the American people.
And progressives wanted nothing to do with that.
They wanted to have the rule of the bureaucrat from day one.
But when you have rule of the bureaucrat, you begin to become very authoritarian and dictatorial to the American people.
I don't think any of this is constitutional.
Quite frankly, I don't think much of it's a, you know, it's pretty un-American, if we're being honest.
And so some of those themes I explore and then how some of the stuff that your dad's doing right now, some of the stuff that's kind of some of the stuff I wrote about, and continuing down that path that we have to break apart the system.
So when Elon Musk says we have all this waste, fraud, and abuse, that's the poisonous fruit of the poisonous tree.
And the poisonous tree is the administrative state and the rule of the bureaucrat.
My sincere hope is that that form of government is shattered and that we restore the republic.
Because what you're seeing is this massive conflict between two very different governing philosophies, administrative state, constitutional republic.
And so when people want to step back and take a look at what's going on in D.C., a lot of that revolves around two very different governing philosophies and then essentially who decides.
And is it the duly elected representatives of the American people or is it these unelected bureaucrats who, quite frankly, I don't think in any way most states represent the interests of the American people at all on any level?
Not even a little bit.
So we're getting closer to the first 100 days.
What should be the benchmarks for the next 100, in your opinion, Ned?
Well, first of all, Congress has got to step up.
And actually, it looks like what they've done in the House and the Senate, extend your dad's tax cuts, pass the agenda where there's actually going to be real border funding so we can secure the border.
Actually, it looks like there's going to be serious funding for more oil and gas exploration because all of these things tie together.
When you look at the trade deals and what he's trying to do to bring back the manufacturing and industrial base and have fair trade, the other thing that he's trying to do is obviously deal with some of the issues that this Biden administration brought about, obviously with their insane ideas on energy,
printing up money like it was monopoly money and then throwing that money out of helicopters like it was just free for everybody.
So I think he's got a lot of different things that...
That Congress needs to continue going down that path of passing the agenda so that over the next 100 days, we do see more border security, which is incredible, by the way, when you see, what, 95% drop in immigration?
Illegal immigration?
Wow, what a shock.
It just turns out we needed somebody new in the White House.
But we've got to go down that path to make sure that we actually never let that happen again.
The oil and gas exploration to lower the energy costs so that price of goods actually goes down as well.
So I think there's a lot of things over the next 100 days that if Congress can actually pass this bill, which again, there's a little bit of an impact between the House and the Senate, especially over Medicaid, which by the way, Don, everybody seems to be arguing about, well, you know, Medicaid funding, we don't want to see a cut.
How about we fix these systems first before we talk about more funding?
There's $146 billion in annual fraud with Medicare and Medicaid.
Let's have a talk about how we fix that system before we start pumping more money into it.
I think the House and Senate are going to have to figure out how they have one bill versus two bills and the whole Medicaid funding.
I hope they can get past that.
I sincerely do, and I think they will.
So that next 100 days is going to be obviously passing Congress, passing the basics for the Trump agenda to be successful on a whole host of fronts.
I'm pretty optimistic they're going to figure it out, but there's a few hurdles to overcome.
Well, Ned, I really appreciate it, man.
Thank you very much.
Great having you back.
I look forward to talking to you again really soon.
All right, man.
Sounds good.
I appreciate it.
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And joining me now, opinion columnist for Human Events, Kenny Cody.
Kenny, welcome to the show.
Don, it's great to be here.
Thanks for having me, brother.
So you write for Human Events, friends with a lot of the guys there.
They're oftentimes regulars on the show.
It's emerged as a real key player pushing back against the false narratives in the media.
What do you think are some of the biggest media myths that we're debunking right now or that we need to debunk in the weeks and months ahead?
Well, I think that President Trump and the conservative movement has really given a big voice to alternative media settings, things like podcasts, alternative media networks like Newsmax, OAN, and of course, Real America's Voice TV.
I think that the voice of the voiceless comes from those alternative media outlets.
I recently became the opinion editor for Human Events, and with all of the different voices that have came to the outlet and things like the post-millennial and other conservative media outlets, it's really given a voice to the MAGA movement.
Because there is this new movement in the Republican Party.
It's a populist nationalist movement.
It's not the establishment media outlets like Wall Street Journal or even some like Fox News.
It's giving a voice to the MAGA movement, the America First movement, and advocating for things like populism, nationalism, trying to advocate for the America First mindset.
It's in foreign policy, especially now on economic policy.
It's really giving a voice to the ones that deserve it, not the ones that have been propped up by the media, not the ones that have been propped up by establishment politicians in Washington, but moreover, the people who have worked for the grassroots movement to give a voice to those who have earned it and those who have been advocating for Trump and the MAGA movement since date one.
Yeah, I guess in a recent piece, you made the point that, you know, the leftist attempt to paint MAGA supporters negatively, they often backfire, making them basically look...
Like, rebellious antiheroes.
I think you can see that.
I mean, I think that you can see it with the gains that we've made with, you know, the young demographic just grossly outperforming in the 18 to 29 for the first time ever.
How can the movement continue to leverage, you know, that dynamic, you know, that, you know, culture that the left dominated so much for for the last, you know, few decades?
Well, I mean, a couple of years ago, I remember this term, the barstool conservative, becoming a pretty prominent term used to describe young conservatives.
And while I don't necessarily agree with that specific term, I do think it's important to capitalize on young men, capitalize on college Republicans, those who are being exposed to indoctrination on college campuses.
I think that young people have the opportunity now to become the counterculture and to become the voice of the MAGA movement.
You know, Caroline Leavitt, the press secretary, has made it a big, you know, priority within the White House to give podcasts and to give alternative media that voice.
And I think just being participative in the youth infiltration within that mindset, you know, people like Theo Vaughn, those like Aiden Ross, all those who had a voice during the 2024 presidential election and, you know, especially in the 26th with the midterm elections coming up,
I think that those outlets and those voices need to be infiltrated into giving MAGA and the Republican Party and the GOP
I think that the young people are now seeing that college is not the only option for them going into the workforce.
The trade, you know, CTE programs, I think those things are becoming more of a more prevalent, you know, small businesses starting once they graduate college, once they get to a college-level age.
I think that young people are starting to see...
You don't have to go into being a lawyer, into going into health, into going into education or anything to be successful, just prioritizing the future, prioritizing being able to afford houses, to being able to afford to start a family.
The family dynamic is a very important thing, too.
I think that this generation of young people is prioritizing starting a family, is prioritizing conservative Christian values more than the last...
More than Generation Z or Millennials did.
And I think having to hone in on that and concentrating on those priorities that this new generation of college men, even college women, is going to be a very important thing for us to prioritize moving forward.
Yeah, I mean, in that same piece, you hit the moniker Brutal American that the Atlantic, not exactly a bastion of conservative thought, but used in a recent piece.
What does that even mean?
What's their point?
What are they trying to do?
Well, I think they're trying Rude, I think.
And they've done that since 2015.
MAGA movement was going to Donald Trump.
Donald Trump was rude.
He was going after all these establishment politicians.
And they're trying to placate it again in this second term.
But, you know, Mr. Trump, I think this is a good thing for us.
We need to be brutally American.
We don't need to kowtow to corporations.
We don't need to kowtow to foreign governments.
We don't need to kowtow to the mainstream media, the people who have tried to go after President Trump.
We need to be brutally honest about what we're prioritizing.
We need to be brutally honest about being America first and prioritizing the everyday American.
For far too long, I think we have kowtowed to the mainstream media, to donors and things like that, when we really need to be placating on trying to prioritize the everyday American.
You know, the Atlantic tries to make it out.
You know, she was traveling to all these countries overseas, and Europe is just...
I'm shocked to find all these Americans that now are anti-Ukrainian aid.
They're anti-foreign aid in general.
They're anti-getting involved in any foreign entanglements.
But this is exactly what we need to be.
Being a brutal American is what I've always wanted out of the Republican Party.
It's what I've always wanted out of the conservative movement.
It's not placating to these corporations.
It's not placating to these foreign governments overseas and a globalist kind of mindset in trying to make sure that all of our foreign allies and our foreign enemies are trying
We need to make sure that America remains as the number one superpower and number one consumer in the world.
And, you know, things like these tariffs are going to be, you know, criticized to the point where they're going to try to make us out to be they don't care about anybody else besides America.
I'm not saying that we can't have any allies, not saying we can't have any trade relationships, but before we try and have this global government or this globalist mindset that the left and even neoconservatives so far have been trying to make us out to be,
we need to ensure that we are dominating the conversation and dominating the world in terms of economics and in terms of trade because we need to be prioritizing those who are working in this country and, you know, Yeah,
because I mean, throughout all the noise, I guess the one thing we don't hear really that much about is that my father's approval rating has actually been on the upward trajectory to well over 50%.
So, you know, there's clearly a disconnect here between, you know, common sense Americans and obviously the D.C. Swamp and perhaps even some of those globalists, the same ones that want us to fund the Ukraine war indefinitely, but aren't quite willing to step up and do it themselves.
Well, exactly.
I mean, the same people who want us to go to war most of times never served in the military.
They didn't have family that served in the military.
They just have investments in the military, industrial corporates, and corporations that are going to put money in their pockets and send our men and children off to die in war.
And unfortunately enough, I think that we have been used to this Bush-era idea that we have to be the world police, that we have to be the most involved in all the foreign entanglements, whether that's the rest of the Ukrainian war, whether that's...
Whether that's in simple negotiations in the EU, we need to make sure...
That America has a role in providing for the best world for Americans.
And that's not sending men and children off to die in war, especially in entanglements in countries like Syria, in Jordan, in Afghanistan, in Ukraine.
We need to ensure that we're making jobs for Americans, we're bringing jobs back to America, and that we're defending domestic soil.
We have enough problems back home with mental health crises, with the manufacturing market on the decline, ensuring that corporations are bringing jobs back to America through things like the trade negotiations.
We need to be able to establish the conservative Christian culture that many Americans are...
begging for.
Americans are begging for us to go back to the priority of ensuring that there are two-parent households, ensuring that there are manufacturing jobs,
Yeah, I mean, I saw an interesting piece.
Human Events had another piece out talking about the golden age versus the great reset.
What are the key benchmarks, in your opinion, for a golden age, Kenny?
Well, I think these fair trade deals need to be prioritized as number one.
You know, I see all these conservatives over the last few days and over the last week saying that this isn't what we voted for.
This is exactly what we voted for.
We want the Great Reset to be reset.
We want the golden age to come.
And when we see countries like Madagascar and all these other small countries charging us a 93% tariff on our imports, exports, We need to make sure that everybody is coming to the table and America is getting a fair shake.
Now, we understand that we're the biggest consumer in the world, and we understand that we have to have relationships with all these countries, but this baseline 10% tariff is going to reset what the world understands for America as a trade partner.
You know, during 2020, you didn't hear all these conservatives all of a sudden saying,"Well, we don't need to shut the government down.
We don't need to shut the world down in favor of this." We're already seeing countries like Taiwan,
the European Union is willing to come to the table and talk.
We are on the verge of entering in the golden age because we're putting America back on equal playing grounds and an equal playing field with the rest of the world.
The rest of the world has taken advantage of America for five years.
You know, Biden kept a lot of those tariff policies that Trump passed in his first term, and you didn't hear a peep from the Democrats, the neoconcertants, or the libertarians complaining when he did that.
But all of a sudden now that we're trying to put America on an equal playing field with other 50 countries that have abused us the last few decades.
Now you're starting to see, oh, this is a new tax.
We don't need tariffs.
We need to push all that aside.
Everybody needs to unify behind this trade idea.
This is going to be a short term pain for a long term gain.
And that long term gain is going to bring us into the golden age.
Can you talk about how you think new media ecosystems and podcasts really have an opportunity to supplant legacy media?
How do you approach that?
And what would you want to write about?
I think that when alternative media really began this overturning, giving to conservative voices, going away from mainstream media was with the Turk Carlson ousting at Fox.
I think you started to see a lot of conservative
I think all of these people are.
We're giving a new voice to the MAGA America First mindset.
And I think we need to be willing to combat not only anti-progressive and anti-leftist thoughts, we need to be willing to buck the neoconservative and old-time establishment republicanism, too, because that's the entire reason that the MAGA movement really came into the fray.
Now, I know that we, Mr. Trump, we and you can all the time talk about how anti-progressive we are or anti-leftist we are.
But where we can really make the most impact is shifting out the old Republicans of old.
We don't need the neoconservative Bush-era Republicans that would have controlled our party for the last 25 years.
The reason we're seeing all these new young age Republicans come into the movement, they would have been Democrats of an old age.
They would have attributed themselves as being Kennedy Democrats or Bill Clinton Democrats of old.
But because we're adopting this new age of we're going to put everybody on the same playing ground.
And now what we need to do...
We need to capitalize on that, and it's not talking about just low taxes.
It's not just talking about, you know, small government.
We have to concentrate on the populist nationalist policies for the reasons that these young people are coming into the fray and giving voices to people like that and having them go on podcasts.
Having them go on alternative media is going to usher their GOP into a new era of being able to win elections from here on out.
Speaking of winning elections, I talk a lot about not being complacent and realizing that, frankly, we still haven't won yet.
We have a midterm cycle that will be here before we know it.
What does that grassroots strategy look like, in your opinion?
Well, I think it goes out into, you know, I always talk about populism as a tool, right?
It's not necessarily an ideology because you can have a Democratic populist, you can have a Republican populist, Libertarian populist, whatever.
People in states like Kentucky and Texas really need, Republicans need to be going out and talking to people at the local dive bar, talking to people at church, talking to people at schools.
We need to be able to see what people truly care about and find conservative solutions to them.
And to anybody who is willing to primary any of these establishment Republicans or go against any of these Democratic leftists that currently hold office in swing districts, go out and actually try to see what people think.
Don't listen to the consultant class.
Don't listen to the establishment Washington class.
Actually go out and listen to your constituents because regardless of how much you're funded, it's not going to matter how much millions of dollars are poured into your campaign account.
It matters for those people who go to the polls.
Those people are able to...
I think that's one of the main concerns of the current Republican Party and the current GOP.
The reason there's a thin majority in the House and a thin majority in the Senate is not necessarily because Republicans are weak.
It's not because the Republican voter is weak, but it's because these establishment Republicans have...
We have such a base of them that there are millions of dollars in their campaigns accounts.
There's corporations that are funding their campaigns.
But if we find the right populist nationalist Republicans that are going to call out that corruption or going to call out how these politicians are bought and sold, that's when the Republican Party is going to become more popular than ever because they know that these Republicans are getting sent to Washington to serve their constituents,
to serve their base, to serve their regions instead of the consultant corporation class that a lot of Republicans have.
I think we're good to go.
Well, I think a lot of these cultural conservative issues are coming to the fray thanks to your father and thanks to the MAGA movement.
I think there's one issue that I saw that was very popular, and that was no taxes on tips.
There was this no capital gains tax.
And now I think tariffs are a very important issue that a lot of people didn't think would be so important in this new era.
But one thing that I think, being from Appalachia, being from East Tennessee, Seeing, you know, how Hurricane Helene affected our area.
I think that giving that, you know, power back to local governments to decide how FEMA funds are spent, how disaster relief is spent, you know, when natural disasters, you know, allowing local governments to be funded by that.
I think that that consultation and making it a more priority to give, not only state, because we always hear that states' governments need more power.
We always hear that we need to give it the power back to the states.
How about giving the power back to the localities?
Giving the power back to the county governments to ensure that they know what's right for their citizens.
They're the ones going out to these houses that are being destroyed, these natural disaster-ridden areas.
Giving the power back to those mayors to be able to decide, hey, this is where we need the funds at.
This is where we need to ensure that these funds are being allocated towards.
And just those consultations among state and local governments, I think that people just want to be left alone mostly, especially when disasters and these horrible events are happening in Apple.
I think that's right.
I feel like sometimes going to the states may be just as bad as letting it stay at the federal government because some of these states are not exactly run well.
We can list them off, but I think we all know what we're talking about here.
Absolutely. I think Tennessee's lucky to have a pretty good legislature and a pretty good governor, but I think that a lot of the time, especially in North Carolina, when you have Roy Cooper, who is, to me, a far-leftist Democrat governor in North Carolina,
but you have a Republican constituency.
Your father's won North Carolina all three times that he's ran, and there is a Republican base there, especially a populist, nationalist base there of conservatives, but they have a Democratic governor.
And I think that especially in states like that, those swing states that are predominantly conservative when they vote for the federal elections, but oftentimes they elect Democratic-ran state governments, there's a reason behind that.
I'm not really sure the reason behind that in North Carolina, but we need to be able to give that power back to the localities and back to the local people to decide their governance because it's obvious that they don't even show the Republicans in that state.
So we need to go house to house, door to door and see what issues matter the most for North Carolinians in North Carolina.
There is forcing them to vote for some reason for Democrats.
And same same reason in Kentucky.
Look at Andy Beshear, who is who has shut down the entire state of Kentucky or helped shut that down during COVID-19.
And he's been reelected to another town.
I think that we need to go to those states and say, And other states that split on federal and state government,
how they vote, you know, they kind of split ticket voters for Democrat and Republican depending on what state they are.
I think that those politicians in those states and those Republicans in those states really need to go, hey, what's going on here?
Why do you vote Democrat for state government and for some reason you vote Republican for federal?
I think that if you gave the power back to localities, that question would be answered pretty specifically.
Well, Kenny, thank you very much.
Really appreciate it.
We'll keep covering all your stuff over at Human Events.
Look forward to having you back on soon.
Don Jr., thank you so much, brother.
God bless.
Appreciate it.
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