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Oct. 15, 2020 - The Joe Rogan Experience
02:28:50
Joe Rogan Experience #1550 - Wesley Hunt
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Main voices
j
joe rogan
01:14:49
w
wesley hunt
01:08:18
Appearances
j
jamie vernon
02:06
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Speaker Time Text
unidentified
Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out!
The Joe Rogan Experience.
Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day.
joe rogan
Mr. Hunt, welcome aboard.
wesley hunt
Happy to be here.
joe rogan
Thanks for being here.
I really appreciate it.
Friend of Dan Crenshaw's is a friend of mine.
All of them.
So, Congress.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Running for Congress.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
This is what I want my congressman to look like.
Jacked veterans.
I mean, that's...
Wouldn't the world be a better place?
wesley hunt
I agree.
I think so.
joe rogan
I mean, it really would be.
So tell me what this has been like, running for Congress.
Is this the first office you've run for?
wesley hunt
This is the first time, thank God.
joe rogan
What started this?
I know you're friends with Dan, who's also a congressman, but what started this journey?
wesley hunt
Yes.
Great question, and thank you so much for having me on.
joe rogan
My pleasure.
wesley hunt
This is awesome.
Really appreciate you.
And what started this was really just my family and how can we continue service just in a different capacity.
I come from a military family.
So my dad did 23 years in the Army, retired as a lieutenant colonel.
My sister went to West Point in my family first.
So she's 10 years older than me, did 23 years active duty.
She was a military intelligence officer, deployed to Iraq twice, did a few tours abroad as well.
I went to West Point in my family second.
We're 10 years apart, my sister and I, and then graduated West Point in class of 2004, flew Apaches in Iraq for eight, was actually active duty eight years, deployed to Iraq, did 55 combat air missions in Baghdad, and then did two tours of duty in Saudi Arabia as a diplomatic liaison officer.
My brother, who was 10 months and 8 days my juniors who were Irish twins, he also went to West Point.
And he did five years in the Navy.
Went to Harvard Business School for his graduate degree and now lives in Houston with his family.
There's about 60 years worth of military service just in my immediate family.
joe rogan
Wow.
Respect.
wesley hunt
Thank you, sir.
joe rogan
That's a lot.
wesley hunt
Thank you.
joe rogan
That's a serious, serious military family.
wesley hunt
It is.
My mom's the best of us.
So she stood at home for two months in 2006 while I was flying combat air missions in Baghdad.
My sister was doing intel in the green zone and my brother was in the Arabian Gulf on a destroy for two months at the same time.
So even though she didn't serve in the military per se, she served those who served by lending her family.
So when people ask me why am I running for Congress, I always lead with that because that's the kind of service and sacrifice it takes for us to live in this free country.
joe rogan
So this is just a mindset that you were raised with.
wesley hunt
Absolutely.
joe rogan
And what made you make the leap?
wesley hunt
So, there's a lot of things going on in the country that we're seeing right now.
joe rogan
Really?
I thought everything was fine.
wesley hunt
A few things we got going on in the country right now.
And my dad always taught us.
Leadership is not about when it's convenient for you.
It's about when your country needs you.
And our country needs us, I think, in this, which seems to be a dark time.
We've had some dark times in the past.
I'm sure we'll get into that.
But it's always my opinion that patriots always step up when our country needs us the most.
And that's kind of what we're taught to do, to give back to the country that gave us all that we have.
joe rogan
Now, to all the things that are going on in the country right now, what stands out to you as something that you feel like you can contribute and possibly help correct or at least get on the right track?
wesley hunt
Yeah, so there's a lot of talk of a lot of racial injustices of the past, and this is something that I think I'm uniquely positioned to talk about.
My great-great-grandfather was a slave.
His name was Silas Crawford, born on Rose Down Plantation, just north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Three of his great-great-grandchildren all attended West Point.
I earned three master's degrees from Cornell University.
Brother went to Harvard.
Sister has her advanced degree in applied mathematics.
We've had the honor of serving our country.
We've had the honor to live in a free country.
We are standing on the backs and on the shoulders of absolute giants.
And while we have a ways to go, by God, that's some serious progress.
And I like the idea of focusing on the future and not the past.
And I think as a black man in this country, I get some of the hardships.
Trust me on that.
But how can we begin to heal by focusing on the good that we have done and building on that instead of standing by idling and watching the country burn?
joe rogan
It seems like both things have to be addressed.
It seems like you have to concentrate on the good things and have to concentrate on the people like yourself that have made incredible progress in your life.
But I think we also have to concentrate on injustice.
wesley hunt
Absolutely.
joe rogan
And racial bias and racial injustice and all the problems that we're seeing.
You know, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine.
We were talking about police and how important the police are, but also how important it is to, if you see something like the George Floyd situation, you see that video and then...
That one guy's horrible actions changes everyone's perception of the police.
But meanwhile, there's millions of interactions that police have with citizens that never go that way, that are positive.
There's millions of great cops.
I don't know how many.
I don't know if there's millions of cops.
I don't even know how many cops there are.
How many cops are there in the country?
wesley hunt
Oh, that's a good question.
joe rogan
That is a good question.
How many police officers are there in the country?
Let's find out.
But either way.
Most of them, I feel...
First of all, it's an insanely difficult job.
wesley hunt
Yes, it is.
joe rogan
And when you don't...
The good altercations, they don't go viral.
Of course they do.
So we have this distorted perception of what happens when cops meet people.
Here it goes.
In 2019, there's 697, 195,000 full-time law enforcement officers.
697,000.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
Wow.
Okay, so it's not millions.
wesley hunt
But I would say that you're right.
There are actually millions of interactions with our citizens every year.
joe rogan
Yes, millions.
And most of them don't go viral because they're fairly normal.
License and registration, here you go.
You were speeding.
I'm sorry.
Here's a citation or here's a warning or whatever the fuck the situation is.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
Those problems, like the George Floyd thing, they have to be addressed.
We can't have those anymore, especially when they can go viral because it's not just this one moment.
The problem is this one moment can change everyone's perceptions of cops.
And then you have all this crazy talk like we need to defund the police.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Yeah.
You lifted your hands like, please.
wesley hunt
Stop that.
Because that's ridiculous.
And the people who end up suffering the most when you defund the police are actually minority communities with people that look like me in them.
And if you actually talk to a lot of minority communities, they don't want to defund the police.
They just want the police to do better.
joe rogan
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And that's where the problem lies because, you know, I was talking to Jocko, Jocko Willink on the podcast about that.
And Jocko was like, this defund the police talk is the wrong answer.
The right answer is more funding and more training.
He said, I think they should be doing 20% of their time training.
wesley hunt
Will he do the training?
joe rogan
He would.
Yeah.
Jocko would do it.
wesley hunt
It would be awesome.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I mean, that's a leader.
I mean, he's a guy who- Bonafide leader.
100%.
Yeah.
Undeniable.
So his perception is that what we're dealing with is people that are untrained, Undermotivated, underappreciated, and some of them just bad people.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
Like the guy in the George Floyd case, whatever the fuck is, Derek?
wesley hunt
It's a bad actor.
joe rogan
Yeah, exactly.
Bad human being that probably had been bad for a long time, had several instances on his record that were similar.
A guy who's been probably, you know, whether he's fucked up because of the job or before the job or a combination of both things.
Right.
We gotta figure out a way to weed those people out.
wesley hunt
He's got to go.
joe rogan
That should be, like, this is the poster boy for what's wrong with the system.
It's not the system.
You don't throw the whole fucking system out.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
I mean, anybody who's ever been in a situation where you need the cops and they show up, there's a great sign of relief when you feel protected.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
And law enforcement.
And if that's ever happened to you, and I hope it never does, but if it has ever happened to anybody listening, then you'll appreciate the police.
unidentified
Yeah.
wesley hunt
This is personal for me too, Joe, because when I got out of West Point in 2004, it was during the Abu Ghraib scandal.
I don't know if you recall that, but we had a few idiots that treated some prisoners very poorly and posted the pictures up in the world, saw that.
And I entered the military at a time where that was the perception of military officers and soldiers, and that's not true.
Right, exactly.
Most of us would never behave that way, and we condemn those actions.
We condemn that behavior.
After the George Floyd event, I actually went down to the Houston Police Union to go talk to some of the police officers.
100% of them, all of them were disgusted.
unidentified
Yeah.
wesley hunt
With how George Floyd was treated.
So I don't think that's it.
That's not even an issue.
It's just that how do we then work with law enforcement to empower them to get rid of the people that we know are idiots?
joe rogan
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah, that should be the conversation.
But the problem is that conversation doesn't work on social media.
You know, it's too nuanced.
There's too many layers to it.
There's too much talking has to be done.
When you write defund the police, it's nice and clean.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
You know, it's three words.
wesley hunt
It's easy.
joe rogan
And everybody goes, yes.
wesley hunt
Headline.
joe rogan
And if you go along with it, you're on the right side.
Like, yeah, you're a good person.
wesley hunt
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, and you're like, no, we need cops.
Oh, you fucking piece of shit.
wesley hunt
It's ridiculous.
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
You see what Charles Barkley said a few weeks back.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
He followed that.
Yeah.
unidentified
Yeah.
wesley hunt
And his logic is actually quite sound, especially even in Houston, Texas, where a lot of the affluent areas, see, they have their own police that are paid for by their own taxes that they pay in their own community.
about defending the police, again, you're not taking away the safety of those communities, you're taking away the safety of black and brown people.
And he said that, and he got crucified for it.
And that's the problem we have right now, Joe.
Like, we can have both conversations.
joe rogan
Well, I think the problem is, like, he said something, and then there's a lot of people that want to respond to that, right?
And they don't get a chance to.
So they just attack him on social media.
And it's like, the louder their voices are, the most...
And especially if you're someone of prominence, if you have a platform, you can attack him, and you get a lot of credit for it.
You know, and then people like you.
And this is one of the problems with social media is that people say things not just because it's their opinion.
They say things because they want to get a reaction.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
They say things for likes.
They say things for retweets.
unidentified
Right.
wesley hunt
And they hide behind it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, it's easy to do.
It's an easy time to snipe at people.
wesley hunt
It is.
joe rogan
First of all, that Breonna Taylor situation.
Tragic.
Horrific.
wesley hunt
Complicated.
joe rogan
Complicated.
Here's the big problem.
The war on drugs.
That's the big problem.
The big problem is you're having these no-knock raids for...
I mean, what was he supposed to be selling?
Marijuana?
wesley hunt
Right.
joe rogan
I think he was selling marijuana.
That was the idea that he was selling.
I don't even know if he was, but this was...
So you're breaking down a door or someone?
Is that what it was about?
wesley hunt
I believe so.
joe rogan
Which is fucking insane.
wesley hunt
Yeah.
joe rogan
Right?
Insane.
wesley hunt
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's insane, period.
wesley hunt
To break down doors for that.
I agree.
joe rogan
Insane.
This is how it all...
I mean, when you have no-knock raids...
wesley hunt
Yeah.
joe rogan
And, you know, if you're a person who's a homeowner and you believe in the Second Amendment and you have a firearm and you hear someone kicking down your door, you have a right to defend yourself.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
So this guy shooting at the cops is a rational response to something.
He has no idea what's going on.
Yeah.
And if someone says, open up, it's the cops, and kicks down the door, it turns out to not be a cop.
It turns out to be a rival drug dealer or just a thief.
wesley hunt
Is that what the investigation revealed?
Was it really, they really didn't knock at all?
I don't believe they did.
I've seen both.
I've heard that there was a knock that certain neighbors did hear, and then I've heard that it was a no-knock.
joe rogan
I don't know what they did or didn't, but here's the problem.
If you're a person that is alone in your home at night and someone says they're police, how the fuck do you know it's really the police?
wesley hunt
That's true, too.
joe rogan
How do you know?
wesley hunt
That's true, too.
joe rogan
Like, if I was gonna kill somebody and I wanted them to open up the door...
wesley hunt
I just walk up the door and say I'm the police.
joe rogan
Yeah, open up, it's the police.
I mean, it's 100% been done before.
wesley hunt
It's logical, yeah.
joe rogan
And if you're at home and you don't know, and also if you're a black guy and you're paying attention to the news and you hear it's the police, that doesn't put you at ease.
wesley hunt
Right?
Right.
Right.
joe rogan
It's a horrible story.
wesley hunt
It is.
It is.
And I think these are the kind of anecdotal stories that we need to build and grow on.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
Right?
Let's not burn the country down because of them.
Let's figure out how to write this and then change our doctrine and then train our forces better so that they can better serve our communities and we can better serve them.
unidentified
Yeah.
Yeah.
wesley hunt
What's really important to me is I heard a story when I went to go visit the police union, and there was a spouse that was there, and she told me, you know, Wesley, the best thing that I could hear every day is the sound of Velcro.
I said, what do you mean?
He said, at the end of the day, when I hear Velcro at night, it means that my spouse made it home alive.
joe rogan
So he's taking off his vest.
wesley hunt
She's taking off his vest.
And then they have to, thousands, 600 and how many thousand people, families, have to deal with this every single solitary day.
And most of them do a really good job.
So the George Floyd instance, the Breonna Taylor instances, I want to use those to build and grow, but I want to really hug our law enforcement officers and tell them, hey, you're doing a good job, let's build and grow together.
When I made mistakes as a kid, my dad didn't just kick me out the house.
He taught me right from wrong so that I wouldn't make the same mistakes next time so we could all get better together.
joe rogan
Well, if you talk to anyone who has this defund the police narrative, I mean, and there have been conversations with these people, there's no real answer.
There's no real answer.
Well, what do you do about violent crime?
And if you look at what happened in New York City, murders have gone up some insane number.
I don't know what the...
I watched...
A breakdown of the numbers of robberies have gone up, murders have gone up.
It's fucking insane.
And communities are calling for the police to be reinstated in these areas.
And this is what happens when you have this Online activist perspective and you apply it to the real world.
You have this defund the police and everybody's like, yeah, yes, do it.
And then you go and do it.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
And then what happens?
Violence.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
You have to have the fucking police.
unidentified
That's right.
joe rogan
When Trump tweets law and order in all caps, it's one of the rare times I go, yeah!
He went on a great tweet raid the other night after they juiced him up with steroids and let him out of the hospital.
unidentified
Who's the fuck?
wesley hunt
I get all of them.
joe rogan
Made me laugh.
wesley hunt
It was funny.
joe rogan
I love the video.
He's like, maybe I'm immune.
I don't know.
Maybe I'm immune.
Maybe.
Shit.
unidentified
I laughed.
wesley hunt
I laughed at him.
He was like, this is the best I've felt in 20 years.
unidentified
I was like, this is good.
joe rogan
He's a savage.
74, fat, and eats nothing but McDonald's fries.
wesley hunt
He beat it.
joe rogan
Kicks COVID in a couple of days.
And people are like, yeah, but he's getting the right treatment.
Like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
But the treatment's available.
Can everybody get this treatment?
Is this treatment in a fucking gold mine in India somewhere and you have to send a guy and a llama down into a cave to get it?
No.
It seems like it's pretty common.
wesley hunt
It's not.
And as somebody, and we were talking about it earlier, I had COVID. You had it.
unidentified
Yeah.
wesley hunt
My whole family had it.
joe rogan
But you had it like that.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
In and out.
wesley hunt
That's right.
Never asymptomatic.
Never had an issue.
My wife and daughter, my wife had some symptoms as we talked about.
My daughter, who's 20 months old, no symptoms.
joe rogan
Yeah, little kids generally seem to have zero problem with it.
There's obviously exceptions.
But young folks like yourself seem to be able to just get through the breeze.
And healthy people.
wesley hunt
Healthy people.
joe rogan
Yeah, this is the big thing.
Obviously, your fitness.
Fitness.
Yeah, where you have a strong body, strong immune system, healthy.
I'm sure you eat well.
wesley hunt
Yes, I do.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I mean, that is what's wrong with this country.
We have a lot of people that are metabolically unhealthy.
And then when something happens, any...
wesley hunt
The body can't respond to it.
joe rogan
Exactly.
Exactly.
Especially something new and weird like this COVID-19.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
Meanwhile, Trump has all those things wrong with him, and the medication still fixed him.
wesley hunt
It still worked.
joe rogan
That's what's crazy.
It doesn't work out.
He thinks his body's a battery, and working out would drain some of the battery.
I heard him explain that.
I saw that.
What in the fuck are you talking about?
That's not how that works.
wesley hunt
That's literally not how it works.
joe rogan
It's the opposite of how it works.
But meanwhile, he's okay.
And obviously, you've got to give credit to Walter Reed.
You've got to give credit to the hospital and all the doctors and all the amazing researchers that have put in the work to create those treatments.
But here's a thought.
He has been one of the people that has been pushing for those experimental treatments.
And there's been a lot of resistance to that.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
And I think he's probably now one of the best arguments for those experimental treatments.
wesley hunt
At this point.
joe rogan
74!
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
I got an email from a guy today, he's like, still 5%, a good person that I respect, still 5% likely to die.
I'm like, what are you talking about?
wesley hunt
Yeah.
joe rogan
Fucking guy's doing speeches, he looks great.
By the way, when you're 74, you got a 30% likelihood of dying anyway.
wesley hunt
Period.
joe rogan
Like, what is the average age people die?
wesley hunt
I think it's like 76. The median, I saw this the other night, the median age is 78. Yeah, okay, so he's already 50% likely to die.
joe rogan
Is that what that means?
wesley hunt
So what's the median age of our life expectancy in the U.S.? It's not high.
joe rogan
It's about 78. Yeah, so which would be his second term right when it ends?
wesley hunt
Right when it ends.
It would be Joe Biden's first term when he would start.
joe rogan
Whoa, Jamie, what are you doing?
What were you about to play?
jamie vernon
I was looking at something.
I've seen this being passed around online.
Some people are comparing his timeline of diagnosis or COVID to Herman Cain's because he passed away after going to a rally.
I have it on screen.
There was a time period when he said he was feeling good and the doctors all said he was great and then he died like a week later.
wesley hunt
A week later.
jamie vernon
Yeah.
I've just seen this getting passed around a lot, just for conversational purposes.
joe rogan
Test positive, 7-2.
Says he's improving, 7-8.
So that's 8 days later.
And then...
wesley hunt
And then that's 28 days?
joe rogan
Yeah.
unidentified
So...
joe rogan
13 days later, doctor says he seems happy.
And then...
12 days after that.
wesley hunt
3 days before he died, he says he's really getting better?
joe rogan
Yeah.
12 days after that.
How old was Herman Cain?
jamie vernon
Good question.
joe rogan
The thing about anyone, it's what else do you have going on?
unidentified
That's right.
joe rogan
Do you have diabetes?
Do you have...
COPD. Yeah, there's a lot of different factors.
wesley hunt
And even obesity.
joe rogan
Yeah.
jamie vernon
75, I guess.
joe rogan
75. So he's in the neighborhood right there with Trump because he easily...
I mean, who knows what kind of treatment he got, though?
Maybe Herman Cain didn't get the same treatment that Trump got.
I wonder what remedies they gave him.
Either way, not good for 70-year-old people to get it.
wesley hunt
It is not.
joe rogan
Also not good for 70-year-old people to get the flu.
wesley hunt
It's not.
joe rogan
Not good for them to get anything.
wesley hunt
It's not.
And I think the way that we responded to this is a bit overkill because I think there is a way for us to make sure that we keep the people who are at risk to get this virus and could potentially die from it, like my parents who are alive and well, 71, 72 years old, they should probably stay home.
joe rogan
Yes.
Stay home, wear a mask, keep away from people.
And the beautiful thing about today is we do have, well, at least here we have this rapid response test at the studio.
I hope they have this rapid response, or not rapid response, but rapid result test everywhere.
I mean, if we can get to a point where we can, I believe they're working on, I'd read some saliva test where you lick a swab and you can find out within minutes.
wesley hunt
Within minutes, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I mean, if we can get to that point where you have a 100% accurate test, we can keep people away from sick people.
wesley hunt
And that's the remedy to this whole thing, is the more testing we can do, the better.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
The more knowledge we have, the better.
The more we can track it, the better.
There's nothing wrong with that.
joe rogan
I think we thought it was going to be way worse than it is.
I think that's what I thought.
I mean, look, obviously, I'm a moron and I'm not a doctor.
But when March was rolling around and everything was shutting down, I was very nervous.
I was very nervous.
I was nervous for my family.
I was nervous for my mother and my father.
And I was nervous for older friends that I have.
And I was nervous for my obese friends.
I was like, fuck, this is not good.
I was worried we're going to lose people.
jamie vernon
Looking this up, I forgot.
He was a cancer survivor in 2006. Is this Herman Cain, right?
Yeah.
30% chance of surviving stage 4 colon cancer that's spread to his liver.
joe rogan
Oh, Jesus.
jamie vernon
He did maybe have a pre-existing condition.
joe rogan
Oh, for sure.
wesley hunt
The CDC came out and they said 6% of those who did pass from COVID were COVID-only deaths.
joe rogan
Right.
wesley hunt
Which is kind of something to point out, too.
We're talking about You know, our health and being healthy people and the obesity issue that we even have in America.
And there's a piece of also staying physically fit, staying mentally fit as well.
They coincide with each other.
Beating this virus, I think, a lot of it as well is your overall mentality.
How do you feel about yourself?
Mind over matter in certain ways is something that I'm a fan of.
Because when you go into a situation, I've read some studies, you've even heard about cancer, people that have an optimistic outlook actually have a higher chance of beating cancer.
joe rogan
That's interesting.
Yeah.
I would agree with that tentatively, right?
Because I think some diseases just fuck you up no matter what you do.
wesley hunt
You got it.
Sometimes there's nothing you can do about it.
joe rogan
But there's a reason why the placebo effect works, and it's because states of mind do have a profound effect on the human body in a way that we don't totally understand.
That's why I think meditation and breath work is very important and people should do that all the time because it just helps alleviate anxiety.
And I think alleviating anxiety and alleviating a certain amount of stress is probably good for you.
And then also having as little burden in your life in terms of like...
Negative relationships, bad friends that you can't trust, people that are weighing you down, all that kind of shit.
All that stuff compounds and has an effect on your immune system, has an effect on your psyche, has an effect on your self-esteem, how you feel about yourself, how you feel about the world.
We have to work on all those things.
But we don't hear any of that.
All we hear about is wear a mask, stay home.
We've got to shut down restaurants.
Shut down gyms.
Gyms are the craziest ones.
That's the place where everybody should go.
wesley hunt
Yes, to improve your body, to be able to fight and ward off these kinds of viruses and diseases.
That's the best part about it.
joe rogan
Yeah, what they should do is put these big...
We got that air filter down there on the ground.
It's supposed to filter out all the bad whatever.
We got it.
It's too loud.
The problem is too loud while we're...
It's on very low.
It's on very low.
But when we crank it up to full blast, it sounds like there's a fucking airplane in the room.
Yeah.
But you can have those at the gym.
You can have those all over the place at the gym.
They're not that expensive.
And to keep people outside of the gym, you are now compounding all those other things.
That's right.
You're giving people...
You're taking away this avenue that they have to alleviate stress, which for me is gigantic.
I'm a different human.
I'm two different people.
I'm the guy who doesn't work out.
I'm the guy who works out.
And you want to hang out with the guy who works out all the time.
I'm super friendly.
I hug everybody.
The guy who doesn't work out is cranky.
He's quick to judge things.
Quick to say, fuck that guy.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
All those negative aspects.
Yeah.
I don't like that.
I don't want to be that way.
I don't think anybody does.
And I think the best way to alleviate that is to clear the body of stress.
And when you tell people they can't go to the gym, like, come on, man.
Like in New Jersey, they were shutting down people working out in the parking lot, which is just bananas.
unidentified
That's right.
wesley hunt
You know, and the best thing for me, and even running for office, has been very busy with an 11-day-old daughter, 20-month-old daughter, and just running for Congress in general, and that is you have to carve out time to work out.
And I think it's important to me that I do something extremely difficult that might suck a little bit every single day.
It just keeps the mental edge.
It keeps the mental acuity up.
I had an instructor in flight school.
He would always say, and he was my Apache instructor, he would always say, you gotta kill something every day, even if it's an ant, no matter how small.
Just to keep the edge, right?
joe rogan
That guy's a fucking psycho.
Jesus Christ.
But that's the guy you want.
wesley hunt
That's the guy you want.
joe rogan
That's the break glass in case of war, dude.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
You got to kill someone every day, even if it's...
wesley hunt
No matter how small.
joe rogan
Holy shit.
wesley hunt
Just to keep the edge, right?
unidentified
Jesus.
wesley hunt
And I feel the same way about working out.
You got to keep the edge.
You got to challenge your mind.
You got to challenge your body every day.
When you force yourself to do it...
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
100% of the time, don't you feel better after you've worked out?
joe rogan
100%.
wesley hunt
100%.
Now, going into it, you're like, this is not the day that I really want to do this right now.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, the beautiful thing about, like, this is Sober October for me.
And one of the things that I pledge is that during Sober October, I'm going to work out.
I'm doing something every single day.
So when I know I have to, but when I know I have to, and then I do it, I get it done.
But I always work out.
But I take days off.
But now I'm wondering, like, do I take too many days off?
Like, maybe I'm being a bitch.
Like, maybe...
Maybe when I take two days off a week, I really only need one, and that other one is just a bitch day.
I'm not sure.
I'm not sure, because it's kind of amazing when you have a set schedule, when you have to do something, that you get it done, and you realize you can get it done.
You require more of your body.
wesley hunt
That's right.
And then your body responds to stress and stimulus much better in other aspects that you don't even think about.
joe rogan
Even if it's just you got to do 100 push-ups and 100 bodyweight squats, that'll take 10 minutes.
That's it.
That's not that much time.
wesley hunt
But you accomplish something.
joe rogan
But you can do it.
You can do that in 10 minutes.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
I mean, it can be done.
You do push-ups in sets of 20. That's it.
And in between, you do sets of 20 bodyweight squats and just bang them out left and right, left and right.
That's it.
You'll be tired as fuck.
wesley hunt
Yep.
joe rogan
10 minutes, 15 minutes later.
wesley hunt
You have a sweat going.
joe rogan
Yeah.
And so, like, I only have 10 minutes.
Good.
Go to work.
Do that.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
And you can do that.
wesley hunt
And then you also feel like...
Then you've also accomplished something.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
And also, like, the idea of...
I just did something.
Or if you do this, I did something that actually...
How many people have actually just chosen to do this for 10 minutes?
joe rogan
Right.
wesley hunt
That makes me different, actually.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It gives you an edge.
wesley hunt
It gives you the edge.
joe rogan
It gives you an edge.
And it makes you feel better about yourself.
Like, you did what you needed to do.
Of course.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I think that that's a great message that we can get out there to the world, and I've been promoting that message for a long time, is that when you challenge your mind and you force your body to do things, You increase your ability to do difficult things.
It increases your overall ability to do difficult things.
wesley hunt
That's right.
The days that are the roughest for me on the campaign trail are the days that I didn't work out.
joe rogan
I'm sure.
wesley hunt
And my campaign manager knows it too.
He could tell.
joe rogan
Now, what has the campaign trail been like?
In general, what do you have to do with this?
wesley hunt
Yeah, so with COVID, things have obviously changed the way that we do things dramatically.
joe rogan
By the way, if everyone is noticing that both me and Wesley are sweating, the fucking AC in this room is shit out on us, and it's now, it doesn't even say.
Yeah, the thermostat's broken.
It was 78 degrees when we walked in here with all this equipment and then all this intense talking.
wesley hunt
See, here's the thing.
But we work out, so we can handle it.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
It's a slow sweat.
We can do it.
joe rogan
Yes.
But I mean, people are like, what's going on?
These guys have a fever.
wesley hunt
They're just sitting there.
Why are they sweating?
It's all about working out and they're not doing anything.
joe rogan
You're sweating.
jamie vernon
I can open the door and get some airflow.
joe rogan
Don't worry about it.
We're good.
So tell me about the campaign trail.
What does it entail and how long have you been doing it?
When I met you in Houston was what, July?
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
I met you with Dan Crenshaw at the Houston Improv.
Great spot with Willie D from the Ghetto Boys.
wesley hunt
Great job, by the way.
joe rogan
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
When did it start and what does it entail?
What do you have to do?
wesley hunt
So I announced, I announced about a year and a half ago.
And what you have to do is basically work every day, tirelessly to try to reach as many voters in the district as possible and as efficiently as you can.
And there's avenues in which you can do that.
So there's broadcast television, there's mail, there's digital, there's knocking on doors, there's person to person stuff.
What's really lacking because of COVID is the latter, the person to person stuff.
So you're not really allowed to have big gatherings like you used to be able to do for, you know, fundraisers and meet and greets and things like that.
So you have to get creative.
This has now evolved into a lot of more zoom calls.
It's evolved to what we're doing in Houston, some front yard meet and greets that are socially distanced.
And we make sure that we keep everybody safe and everyone's wearing a mask, but we are still out in the community actually talking to people because there's absolutely nothing like meeting someone in person.
Even meeting you in person at the improv is just way different.
I've been following you for years, but it's just a different touch when you actually see the person.
And so that's what the challenge has been.
So what we are doing is just lining up as many front yard, backyard, meet and greets throughout the district as possible and I think we've done a pretty good job at getting out in the community.
joe rogan
So when you say backyard or front yard meet and greets, how do those come about?
What do you do?
wesley hunt
Well, we have people that reach out to us and they'll say, hey, look, we have a community here.
People want to meet you.
We can get 10, 15, 20 people out here that usually set up some chairs or just stand around.
I'll come over, meet everybody to best of my ability, give them kind of my talk, answer questions that they would have with me on how they want to see government run for the future.
How can I continue to be their humble servant?
What can we do to save our country?
What can we do to kind of quell a lot of the division that we're seeing right now?
And then I go off to the next one.
It's very efficient.
It's very good.
And I think a lot of people have been very receptive to it, too.
joe rogan
Now, what other issues do you think are concerns that people have that maybe you have a unique perspective on that you can help?
What other big issues do you see in the country that you think that need to be addressed in a way that you are not seeing being addressed currently?
wesley hunt
So I'm a Houston boy, born and raised.
First football game I went to was for the Houston Oilers, back in the Love U Blue days.
joe rogan
I don't know what the Love U Blue days are.
wesley hunt
Oh, get out of here.
It's the Houston Oilers when they have their light blue.
Oh my goodness.
joe rogan
I'm a sports commentator professional that knows nothing about sports.
It's embarrassing.
It's embarrassing.
Jamie makes fun of me all the time.
I don't know shit.
Jamie knows.
Tell me, what is it?
jamie vernon
I saw Warren Moon play on his birthday back when I was a kid.
wesley hunt
Did you really?
That's awesome.
jamie vernon
I don't remember who won the game.
I was only like eight.
wesley hunt
Oh yeah, that's awesome.
jamie vernon
I've been to an Oilers game too.
wesley hunt
That's awesome.
joe rogan
There you go.
wesley hunt
Yeah, so they play in the Astrodome.
joe rogan
I've never seen a football game live.
wesley hunt
You're making that up.
joe rogan
Nope.
wesley hunt
You're dead serious.
joe rogan
No.
I've only watched the Super Bowl like twice ever.
That's it.
It's the only football games I've ever seen.
wesley hunt
You've watched it.
You didn't go to the Super Bowl.
joe rogan
No, no.
I've never been to a football game live ever.
wesley hunt
Do you plan on doing it?
joe rogan
No.
wesley hunt
Is there a reason for this?
joe rogan
I mean, it's a great sport and everything, but I got shit to do.
I'm the wrong guy, man.
wesley hunt
That's a good answer.
joe rogan
I'm just the wrong guy.
I know.
I get it.
People, they're like, what the fuck is wrong?
I bet Artie Lang yelled at me.
wesley hunt
He yelled at me.
He's like, what do you mean?
joe rogan
He yelled at me.
I don't know anything about sports.
He's like, what the fuck is wrong with you?
I'm like, hey, man.
I mean, you want to ask me some shit about fighting.
I know a lot of shit about Muay Thai, a lot of shit about Jiu Jitsu.
I know a lot of shit about the UFC. But that's it.
That's it.
Sorry.
I'm a one trick pony.
wesley hunt
That's too funny.
Well, Oilers, I basically call it Houston Oilers.
unidentified
Okay.
wesley hunt
And, you know, this is an oil and gas town.
And I am not a climate denier.
Like a lot of millennials, quite frankly, I do believe that human beings can influence the climate.
But, Houston is known as the energy capital of the world.
And encompassed in the energy capital of the world is the energy district of the world, which is Congressional District 7 where I am running in in Houston.
And the narrative that I am seeing about fossil fuels doesn't necessarily jive well with me at all.
joe rogan
Let's talk about that.
I'd love to talk to you about that.
unidentified
California recently, the state that I escaped, I want to ask you about that, too, after this, actually.
joe rogan
Escaped!
I feel so happy.
wesley hunt
Welcome to Texas, too, by the way.
unidentified
Thank you, sir.
joe rogan
Appreciate it.
Yeah, when I saw you was right around the time that I made the decision.
Yeah.
Tom Papa, my buddy who was just here yesterday, sent me a picture of Los Angeles.
And obviously, this is because of the fires, but also, what the fuck is that?
wesley hunt
Come on.
joe rogan
Look at that.
Look at that.
It's massive traffic and the sky is a weird shade of grey and brown.
And he said, you've poisoned my LA mind with that picture.
And I said, you're in the wrong place, my brother.
Now you know.
He's in the wrong place!
wesley hunt
He knows where to go.
joe rogan
Listen, Texas, I've always loved Texas.
I filmed one of my specials here.
I did one of my CDs here back in 99. The first CD I ever did, I filmed at the Houston Lab Stop in 1999. The one on River Oaks.
wesley hunt
I know the one.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's not there anymore.
It was one of the best spots in the country.
I love Texas.
I've always loved Texas.
And it was one of the places where when I thought about getting out of LA, I was like, there's only a couple of places I'm interested in.
I'm interested in Montana because of the beauty and just the wildness.
And I want to live in a place with grizzly bears.
And Colorado, I love that.
Weed, legal mushrooms now too.
unidentified
Woo!
joe rogan
And then Texas.
I just love...
I love people from Texas.
I love the attitude.
People are super friendly.
They have a distorted perception of what Texas is.
I think Texas, in a lot of ways, is what other people think of when they think of America.
Think of wild motherfuckers with guns and tigers in their backyard.
wesley hunt
And big trucks.
joe rogan
And barbecue.
I mean, that is Texas in a lot of ways.
But...
So, let's get back to what we were saying though.
wesley hunt
Yeah.
joe rogan
You were talking about oil when I was saying that I escaped Los Angeles.
One of the things that's going on is Gavin Newsom has passed this new law saying that they will sell no cars that run on gasoline that are new after 2035. And a lot of people are freaking out.
And one of the things they're freaking out about is, do you know how much lithium you're going to have to pull out of the fucking ground to make the batteries for all these electric cars?
And that this is not good for the environment.
unidentified
That's right.
joe rogan
Yeah, the lithium mines, like mining.
There's a great meat-eater podcast.
I want to encourage everybody to listen to my friend Steve Rinella's podcast, and it's going on right now.
It's episode 241, Half-Life of Never, and it's all about the, I think it's called the Pebble Mine or the Pebble Beach Mine.
What is the mine that's going on that there's a project in Alaska that they're going to do?
I think it's called the Pebble Mine.
It's either the Pebble Mine, but Pebble Beach is like a golf course, right?
wesley hunt
Yes, it is.
joe rogan
I think it's called the Pebble Mine.
Is that what it is?
But it's a crazy copper and gold mine that they're proposing.
One of the biggest mines in the world in Alaska.
And it's near Bristol Bay, which is like...
Which one is it?
unidentified
You're right, you're right.
joe rogan
Pebble Mine?
wesley hunt
Pebble Mines.
joe rogan
It's near Bristol Bay, which is the number one salmon fishing resource and salmon resource on the planet Earth.
And they're saying it will destroy everything.
And these people want to do that to pull minerals and to pull gold and copper out of the ground.
It's going to devastate the environment.
And sulfur as well.
You're going to have to get through a shitload of sulfur and then move and destroy it.
But the podcast is eye-opening.
It's really fascinating.
But...
You've got to mine to get lithium.
This is not good for the environment.
And I'm a person with an electric car.
I have a Tesla.
I love it.
wesley hunt
Got it.
joe rogan
But this is not like one is awesome and perfect and the other one is terrible for everybody.
wesley hunt
It's a combination of everything.
And that needs to be the solution for the future.
I'm also not a big fan of the government saying when an industry is supposed to end.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
I'm a big fan of the government empowering the private sector to innovate to get to the next...
You know, affordable, renewable source that's going to happen.
It's my opinion, if Jeff Bezos doesn't get there first, the first trillionaire, in my opinion, who's already born, is going to be the person that comes up with an abundant, renewable source for the future that everyone can't afford.
Now, I get the Green New Deal and the tenets of it, what they're trying to do, but what's not addressed in that is global warming and the operative word being global.
If we don't get India and China and Russia and Africa and South America to reduce their carbon footprint with us, you can literally destroy the oil and gas industry here in the US at no gain to the globe.
That doesn't make sense to me.
joe rogan
That is such an important point.
wesley hunt
That's so important.
Nobody's talking about the other countries.
So China and India are building four coal plants per month.
And it's not a case of if we build it, they will come.
That's not how this works.
In fact, our energy independence is also an issue of national security as well.
We're energy independent.
Why?
Because of fracking that, quite frankly, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris actually want to do away with by 2035 as well.
It's actually a national agenda.
And so we are reducing our carbon footprint because of fracking, because natural gas burns cleaner.
But most importantly, Joe, 20 years ago, We would kill a bad guy in the Middle East.
And then we have to turn around and ask these same countries for resources and oil.
That's a conflict of interest, if you could imagine.
joe rogan
Of course.
wesley hunt
So we don't have to do that anymore.
So when we kill Qasem Soleimani outside of Baghdad airport, who was a bad guy responsible for actually killing some West Point graduates actually in Iraq, we don't have to ask them for oil.
So this is an issue where we have to marry economics, innovation, and of course make sure that we are good stewards of this earth.
joe rogan
Right.
wesley hunt
But right now there's roughly 1 billion, with a B, roughly 1 billion light trucks and vehicles in the world today that are gas powered.
And over the course of the next 20 years, the world is going to add another billion vehicles.
And of that billion, 750 million of them are going to be gas powered.
Again, it's not a California problem.
It's a global issue that we have to take a look at.
From a defense standpoint, I flew Apache helicopters, and we have a joke in the Army.
How do you know if somebody flew Apaches?
We will tell you.
We always do.
And what's funny about the Apache and about destroyers and about F-22s, and that's you can't fuel them on solar and wind.
We literally aren't going anywhere for the next few generations.
What I want to hear the conversation shift to is more of the idea of us working with these oil and gas companies to innovate for the future, and they want it too.
It's a matter of time until we get there, but let's bring them along with the conversation and not demonize them.
And as somebody that's Houston born and bred, this is the conversation that's near and dear to my heart because, again, it's the energy capital of the world.
And I am all for solar.
I am all for wind.
I am all for renewables.
I get it.
But it's a combination of all of the above, not an or conversation.
joe rogan
Now, what is the Green New Deal?
Can you lay that out for us?
What are they looking to do?
wesley hunt
The Green New Deal, one big thing that Joe Biden talks about and what Bernie Sanders was talking about as well is being carbon neutral by 2035, which effectively is an end to the oil and gas industry in the United States.
That's one tenet of it.
Another one is fracking bans.
And again, as I just articulated, this is the very technology that's actually reducing our carbon footprint.
Also, just more restrictions on oil and gas companies to be able to drill and find resources as well.
And it is a job killer in Houston, Texas, particularly as we recover from COVID-19.
And we've been hit pretty hard because, as you notice, the oil and gas industry has been hit pretty hard, too.
Started off with just obviously a shortage of demand because people just stopped driving.
And that really drove costs down tremendously.
And so we have to recover from this thing.
And the way to do it is not to employ more restrictions on an already hurting industry that, quite frankly, has got to be around, whether you like it or not.
Also, the byproducts of petrochemicals as well.
This microphone, this mug, your phone.
It's hydrocarbons.
The shoes on your feet is all byproducts of the oil and gas industry.
And so what people don't realize is that the chairs that they sit in, the silverware that they eat off of, where they eat, sleep, breathe, and live, the mattress that they're sleeping on is fossil fuels.
We literally aren't going anywhere.
I understand the benevolence of the Green New Deal.
It's always good in theory.
I got it.
I think if we could magically snap our fingers and the world could be just carbon neutral, that sounds great.
That sounds great.
But that's not how this works.
We are always about progression.
This country is always about innovation and progression.
We've been doing this for generations.
Let's continue that progression by enabling, again, the private sector to innovate to the next level.
If you're paying attention to what the Green New Deal says, it basically just demonizes an entire industry, and I think for lack of understanding what the industry does for the world.
joe rogan
Is there, in the Green New Deal, is there a solution for what they deem the problems of the oil and gas industry?
Do they have a replacement for those resources?
wesley hunt
So therein lies the point.
Hydrocarbons are a storable energy that have a lot of power in them.
And that's actually the reason why the world uses them.
Bottom line is this.
You can't turn your lights on.
The world can't turn their lights on.
The US can't turn their lights on for the time being without oil and gas, without the oil and gas industry.
If we were able to miraculously even attempt to turn this entire country into a renewable source, it's just not possible.
I don't know exactly what the numbers are, but we would actually only be able to fuel less than, last I read, 8% of the United States' energy demands if we were able to completely transform to renewable resources.
joe rogan
So that's just wind and solar?
wesley hunt
Yeah, wind, solar, and battery, lithium ion, these kinds of things.
joe rogan
But they also require something to charge them.
What about nuclear?
Because one of the things that is really uncomfortable for people is that nuclear power is one of the cleanest sources of power that we know of.
It's just we know about disasters.
We know about Fukushima.
We know about Three Mile Island.
We know about all...
Chernobyl.
wesley hunt
Chernobyl, yeah.
joe rogan
We know about these disasters, which in many cases are indicative of old technology.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
Like Fukushima.
They really didn't know how to shut it down.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
Which is fucking bananas that they decided to build it anyway.
wesley hunt
Mind boggling.
unidentified
They're like, we'll figure it out eventually.
wesley hunt
We'll worry about it later.
joe rogan
But there's ways of doing nuclear right where you have very little environmental damage.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
But you just bring up nuclear power and everybody's like, we're going to die.
wesley hunt
That's right.
Everybody freaks out.
Yeah.
And they think Chernobyl.
joe rogan
What do you think about nuclear?
wesley hunt
So this is, again, the importance of innovation.
You brought up an excellent point.
You see, in past technologies, we didn't have the ability to be able to really create something without understanding what the worst outcomes could possibly be.
Do you think over the course of the last 50 years, we've actually advanced to know more and to be able to do better and to be more effective with how we do this?
Of course we have, right?
But it kind of goes back to the oil and gas industry as well.
When you have the over demonization of an energy source, people just, as we were talking about, they just shut it off.
unidentified
Right.
wesley hunt
It becomes a headline.
That's it.
I don't want anything else to do with it.
Oh, no, we saw a bad incident.
That's it.
It becomes headline news instead of us saying, wait a minute.
If you're going to try to tell me that 2020 was the same as the 70s and the 60s and the 50s from a technological standpoint, it's ridiculous.
I mean, look at your Tesla that you drive.
I mean, that is a technological marvel and advancement in itself.
And now we're producing it on a mass scale?
Thank you, Elon Musk.
And again, even the production of the Tesla.
That doesn't mean we do away with the oil and gas industry.
Hell, we could have both.
Let's continue to do both.
So from a nuclear standpoint, I also think that that's gotten demonized as well because of some incidences.
And we need to realize that from a technological standpoint, we are certainly further along than we were before.
Let's pursue this.
Let's empower these companies to come up with a safe way of building these plants and also making sure that everybody can stay safe in the future.
joe rogan
What I've actually heard discussed that's kind of fascinating is technologies that could be on the horizon that can actually pull carbon and pull particles from the atmosphere.
That they can develop essentially enormous air filters.
That can be used in high pollution areas and cities and urban centers, and they actually can pull pollution out of the air and potentially use that carbon, and it can actually be a resource.
wesley hunt
That's exactly right.
joe rogan
It's remarkable.
wesley hunt
Think about that.
joe rogan
Pretty crazy.
But it kind of makes sense, right?
Like, if you can put it out there, then it's there.
Well, if you can push it out, can you extract it?
It seems like you should be able to.
I mean, we extract nitrogen from the atmosphere, right?
I mean, that's how they make a lot of fertilizer.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
There's got to be a way to take that carbon out.
wesley hunt
Of course there is.
And again, people want to look at where we are right now.
Maybe we aren't there now.
joe rogan
Right.
wesley hunt
But we can easily be there in the not-so-distant future.
joe rogan
Sure.
About 150 years ago, we were riding horses.
wesley hunt
Thank you.
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
And think about what you just said.
That wasn't that long ago, by the way.
joe rogan
That's pretty recent.
That's crazy recent.
wesley hunt
I mean, in World War I, they were still using livestock.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah.
Bananas.
wesley hunt
I mean, think about that.
joe rogan
I know.
Yeah.
wesley hunt
And now we're flying Apaches.
joe rogan
It's hard for people to, once they have it in their mind, that they are doing a good thing.
Like the proponents of the Green New Deal, they are doing a good thing.
And anyone who opposes that, or anyone who even has debate about it, is on the wrong side.
You are on the side of the fossil fuel industry.
You've been paid off.
You're a shill.
You don't care about the environment.
You don't care about our children.
And then they'll propose it this way, that this person does not care about the future of this country.
We're gonna burn.
Look what's happening in California.
This is Trump's fault.
We were discussing this on the podcast yesterday.
It didn't matter who became president in 2016. The exact same conditions would be in place here.
This battleship is an enormous thing.
It's hard to turn around.
You think that somehow or another, if Hillary Clinton was president, that California wouldn't be on fire right now?
wesley hunt
Of course it would be.
joe rogan
The exact same thing would be happening.
Of course it would be.
100%.
There's no other way around it.
wesley hunt
And what I always say to people that I have to have this conversation with, and again, I have two kids at the house, and it is my opinion at this point with two baby girls that it is incumbent upon us to make sure that we hand them a better world than we inherited.
Yes.
Again, the birth of a child is a spiritual thing.
joe rogan
We were saying this before the podcast.
wesley hunt
It's a spiritual moment.
joe rogan
You're talking about your youngest and how crazy it is.
It's crazy.
wesley hunt
It's life-changing.
joe rogan
My youngest is 10, but still, I think back and there's times when I'm alone where I just go, I can't even believe I have children.
I can't even believe that it's a thing.
That a person who comes out of your own DNA is now walking and talking and hanging out with you.
wesley hunt
Yes.
Yes.
And destroying our living room.
As we live and breathe.
joe rogan
Yeah, for sure.
wesley hunt
So of course I care about them.
And of course I care about the environment.
I just want to take a pragmatic approach to making sure that Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, we're so polarized today.
If you don't agree with me, you must be evil.
Or you must be naive, or you must be foolish.
These are the perspectives that are the narrative that you see on social media today, which is where so many people are forming their opinions and then arguing them, and it's insanity.
Yeah.
It's such a crazy time where people want people...
I was having a conversation with a friend of mine today.
They were talking about this new social media platform where this person was arguing, don't hear people's opinions.
What we need to do is de-platform them.
Right.
That's insane.
So everybody has to agree with you, and I don't even know if you're right.
You don't even know if you're right.
The way you find out if you're right.
wesley hunt
You don't even know if you're right.
joe rogan
You got to talk to other people.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
There's a lot of times I've talked to people and I went, huh.
Okay, yeah, I'm wrong.
That's important.
wesley hunt
That's the whole point.
joe rogan
Yeah, you have to be able to have these conversations.
What the proponents of the Green New Deal, what are they proposing in terms of replacing fossil fuels and these things that we're relying on currently to power everything and have the country running exactly how it's running now?
wesley hunt
And therein lies the problem.
joe rogan
They're not.
wesley hunt
They're not.
joe rogan
So what are they saying, though, when they're questioning this?
What are we going to do in 2035 in terms of how are we going to keep the lights on?
wesley hunt
I have no idea.
joe rogan
Really?
wesley hunt
And this is literally part of my problem, and that is if you aren't going to tell me a substantive viable solution, so if you want to say, that's it, snap my fingers like Thanos, that's it, we're going to be carbon neutral here.
And okay, so what's the path to do so?
What resources are we going to use to get there?
How are we going to replace these resources?
And again, I'm not a climate denier.
I keep saying this over and over again, but nothing's being proposed that's rational and reasonable that's actually addressing global warming.
It completely leaves out the other countries.
It completely leaves out the globe.
And that's problematic to me.
joe rogan
Yeah, so they're not even discussing it at all.
wesley hunt
No.
joe rogan
They're just conveniently annoying it.
wesley hunt
It sounds good, and it does sound good.
joe rogan
It sounds amazing.
wesley hunt
Well, get me wrong, it sounds great, but it's not how it works.
joe rogan
Green New Deal?
Who doesn't like green things?
It's beautiful.
But Biden says he doesn't believe in the Green New Deal, though, right?
wesley hunt
So first he said he did, and then he walked that back ever so slightly and said, well, no, no, no, not the Green New Deal in its entirety.
Tenets of the Green New Deal.
joe rogan
Did he describe which tenets?
wesley hunt
Translation to me.
It's the Green New Deal.
joe rogan
Are you troubled by the fact that the Democrats have this gentleman running for president that seems, at the very least, like his better days are behind him?
wesley hunt
It got to the point where at first, when I watched the Corn Pot video, have you seen that one?
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
The Corn Pot one.
joe rogan
What the fuck is that video?
wesley hunt
It was the most bizarre thing.
One of the most bizarre things I've ever seen.
joe rogan
How about all the kids behind him talking?
They don't even pay attention to this guy.
wesley hunt
It was the weirdest thing.
It was literally the weirdest thing I've ever seen.
And I sent it to my brother, Rendon, because he's my best friend.
We talk like four times a day.
I sent it to Rendon, and he's just like, is this even real?
joe rogan
I got hairy legs!
There's so many of those.
wesley hunt
The blonde, and it was really weird.
That was back in December, and I thought it was funny.
And then now, I don't think it's very funny anymore, actually.
And this is very dangerous, I think, for the country.
And we need to be very careful with who we put forward.
There is a clear decline in Mr. Biden.
I think we can all agree with that.
I think we can all say that the reason why Kamala Harris was chosen was probably to make sure that someone of a sounder mind can actually run the country.
joe rogan
Young and healthy, and she's probably going to be the president.
If he wins, she will be really pulling the strings.
wesley hunt
Now, you just came from California.
And again, politics, Democrat, Republican.
This is Texas.
Democrats, Republicans in Texas.
That's fine.
Do You understand this.
Do you know how left and how liberal you have to be to be a senator from California?
joe rogan
How left?
wesley hunt
Extremely.
As left as you could probably be, if you think about it.
That's not where the values of Texas are, though.
And so what we have to be very careful is in the idea of making sure that if she's going to be running the country, you do understand that those values are going to be the issues that are going to be running Texas as well.
And that's just not where I believe Texas or really the nation is.
I think we are far more centered than that.
joe rogan
Yeah, I agree.
And I think the center is probably where the rational discussions are taking place.
But everyone's scared to be in the center.
wesley hunt
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
Because if you're in the center, you're not supported by the left, you're not supported by the right.
And that's the problem with this country right now is that we're so divided and people seek comfort in being connected to a certain ideology, whether you're full-on liberal or full-on conservative.
That's right.
wesley hunt
So another reason why I'm running is because I always like to add perspective and add color to the history of this country.
That's why I bring in my great-great-grandfather.
And I always talk about the Civil War.
So one of my favorite stories about West Point is there is a monument.
It's called Trophy Point.
It's actually one of the most prominent pieces at West Point.
At one point, it was the largest single piece of granite in the history of the world and in the world at the time that was in a monument.
It's beautiful.
It overlooks the Hudson River.
Surrounding trophy point are Civil War era cannons that are buried into the ground muzzle first.
Why?
During the Civil War, you had West Point classmates that were friends, that would train together, that were in class together, that would graduate, and depending on where you were from geographically, some would go and fight for the North, and others would go and fight for the South.
And you had West Point classmates killing each other.
The reason why trophy point or battle monument was created and the reason why those cannons are surrounding it buried into the ground muzzle first is to commemorate the notion of never aiming our cannons at our fellow countrymen again.
That's division.
When I think about the Vietnam era, when you had soldiers that were drafted, by the way, not volunteer, they were drafted, they'll go off to war to do our country's biddings and they would lose limbs and most importantly, pieces of their mind because of PTSD that they would never get back for the rest of their natural lives.
And they'd come back home, they'd get off a plane, and they would be spat on by fellow Americans.
Joe, I came home to a hero's welcome.
And the first thing people tell me all day, every day is thank you for your service.
unidentified
Yes.
wesley hunt
That's the vision.
My parents are alive and well today.
They're in their 70s, as I was telling you earlier.
My dad was born in 1949. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, so he spent a lot of his teenage years in a segregated South.
He's seen the back of buses, and he has seen colored-only water fountains.
He's alive and well today.
That's division.
So I want to add perspective to how far this country has really come.
And we've got to understand how do we build on these things and also understand that this pendulum shifts back and forth.
I think people like Dan Crenshaw are people that want to make sure that we bring this pendulum back this way by just being reasonable human beings.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
That's it.
We could disagree politically.
How can we be reasonable people?
joe rogan
That's one of his best qualities.
wesley hunt
It is.
joe rogan
He's so measured and so rational and reasonable.
And when he talks, he says things that make sense.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
He's logical.
And, I mean, as well, I'm trying to tell him to run for president.
How old is he now?
He's 36. I think he's 36. So that's how old you have to be, right?
wesley hunt
36. Yeah.
unidentified
Yeah.
wesley hunt
He'd be a great one.
I tell people this all the time.
People are like...
joe rogan
How about you two together?
wesley hunt
How about that?
Oh, my goodness.
No, Dan.
You know how SEALs are.
joe rogan
No, tell me!
wesley hunt
I got asked this.
I got asked this the other day.
I got asked, you know, what's the issue?
You know, I have an issue with the country, and Wesley, I'm concerned about where we're going to be in 10 years.
And I retorted, why?
Dan Kershaw could be the president.
And I think that would be an excellent thing, to be honest with you.
To have a leader like that as president.
joe rogan
I would vote for him.
wesley hunt
I would vote for him myself.
And so I always look at Americans like him that get into the breach when it seems like it's dark, it seems like it's bad, we are the ones that step in and pull that pendulum back by just being reasonable people.
That's why he's here.
joe rogan
What's wrong with SEALs?
wesley hunt
SEALs are intense.
joe rogan
Oh yeah.
wesley hunt
SEALs are intense.
SEALs are uber competitive and they are very intense.
And they are my most favorite people on the entire planet.
Because what they do in their dedication to service, sacrifice, and if you ask a Navy SEAL to give their life for this country tomorrow, they don't even think about it.
They don't think twice about it.
They'll do it.
I kind of say that tongue-in-cheek because, quite frankly, I love them.
But that level of intensity is why America is always so different.
It's that passion.
It's that love.
It's that camaraderie that SEALs have.
We've been around quite a few of them.
I mean, I have too.
And it is hilarious to watch them compete against each other.
It's awesome.
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
But I love it too, because I think that's kind of the American warrior ethos that's somewhere in all of us.
They are just at the tip of the spear when it comes to exemplifying it.
And that's why when Dan Crenshaw calls me up and says, hey man, I got an idea for a video.
You in?
And I was like, okay, tell me more.
He goes, well first I'm going to jump out of an airplane.
unidentified
And I'm like, sign me up.
wesley hunt
Sign me up.
joe rogan
That video is crazy.
wesley hunt
It's awesome.
joe rogan
It's great.
Can we play it?
wesley hunt
Sure.
joe rogan
You know the video, Jamie?
jamie vernon
Yeah.
wesley hunt
Sure.
The text was reloaded.
joe rogan
Jamie will find it.
I don't think we'll get in trouble.
jamie vernon
It's not about trouble.
They have to be known, notified, I guess.
joe rogan
Oh.
Well, we'll let them know.
I mean, yeah, it's not going to hurt.
It's only going to help.
wesley hunt
Oh, yeah.
I made it, so can I okay it?
joe rogan
Yeah, I think.
jamie vernon
Whoever owns it, I think.
joe rogan
Somebody own it?
Dan will let it go, for sure.
So anyway, keep going.
So he tells you he's going to jump out of an airplane.
wesley hunt
He's going to jump out of an airplane, and then he's like, do you want to be in it?
And my next question was, can I wear my flight suit?
jamie vernon
It's four minutes long, too.
We can't play the whole thing.
joe rogan
We can't?
jamie vernon
Do you want to watch the whole thing for four minutes?
joe rogan
Is that bad?
jamie vernon
I'm asking.
joe rogan
Probably the problem is there's not a lot of talking.
jamie vernon
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Crenshaw Command Center.
wesley hunt
This is fun, too.
joe rogan
It's also kind of ridiculous.
Like, you can see things with its bionic eye.
Which, by the way, they're probably about three years away from giving him one of those.
Oh, yeah.
wesley hunt
After this?
joe rogan
Yeah.
unidentified
Save Texas.
joe rogan
Dun-dun-dun.
Well, people are genuinely worried about Texas going blue, right?
wesley hunt
This is why we're running.
joe rogan
And there's a lot of people that are using this hashtag, turn Texas blue, as if that's going to fix things.
There you go.
Wesley Hunt.
And he's on the plane right now.
wesley hunt
And that's him live, too.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
Of course it is.
There he goes.
That crazy fuck.
He's probably so excited to risk his life.
He's like, yay, something exciting.
wesley hunt
This is great.
unidentified
Oh, look at the landing.
wesley hunt
The superhero landing.
joe rogan
The superhero landing and then all of a sudden he's got a suit on.
It's so silly.
wesley hunt
It's great.
joe rogan
It's so silly and awesome at the same time.
Look at you!
unidentified
You still know how to fly one of these things?
wesley hunt
Dan Crenshaw.
unidentified
I'm putting a team together, Wesley.
joe rogan
You guys are terrible actors.
unidentified
You know I would miss this for the world, right?
joe rogan
Shows all your credentials.
wesley hunt
I think August is going to want to come, too.
That's me, August Pflueger.
He's running out here, too.
unidentified
Awesome guy.
joe rogan
August Pflueger is running for...
wesley hunt
What is he running for?
He's running for a seat up in District 11. He's an Air Force Academy guy, F-22 pilot.
Amazing guy.
unidentified
What were you doing working under a helicopter?
I have no idea what I was doing, but typical Air Force fixing the Army's problems.
wesley hunt
This guy, this guy, damn, bro.
You could have just texted me, man.
Why you gotta jump out of an airplane?
It's gonna have been way easier.
joe rogan
Because it's cooler to jump.
unidentified
Never mind.
We'll come in.
We get the point.
joe rogan
You get the point.
People can watch it.
It's available on...
Is it on Dan's YouTube page?
wesley hunt
Yeah, it's at TexasReloaded.com.
joe rogan
Okay, there you go.
TexasReloaded.com.
It's on YouTube.
It's on his Instagram.
It's all over the place.
There you go.
Save Texas.
Yeah, people are really worried about all folks like me moving from California.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Worried.
They're worried about...
wesley hunt
You know what's funny is that we want...
Come one, come all.
Give me your tired, your poor.
Come on to Texas.
But you got to understand something.
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
You're coming here because of low taxes and low regulation and you want to live your life in liberty and make sure that you can protect yourself and protect your family.
And that means you have to vote a certain way.
And that's why we kind of are Texas.
joe rogan
Don't turn this place into what you fled.
wesley hunt
That's exactly right.
joe rogan
Yeah.
That's what Matthew McConaughey was telling me.
wesley hunt
That's exactly right.
joe rogan
We have to kind of put that out there to people.
wesley hunt
Exactly right.
And I understand.
People have their different views and whatnot, but you're here for a reason.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, the thing is, you can be socially liberal.
wesley hunt
Yes, you can.
joe rogan
But also understand that there's certain things that are just not wise.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
And a lot of those things are ruining California.
That's right.
There's over-regulation in California that's off the fucking chart.
The taxes are so crazy there, and they're trying to raise them up to 16.8%.
And then what are you going to do with that money?
Fuck it up worse?
You're going to have more money to fuck things up?
I just don't understand their logic of opening and not opening things, especially now when you look at the deaths.
They want to talk about COVID cases.
The cases are low.
They're not that high.
And the deaths are very low.
We've kind of got a handle on what this is.
You can let people open up their businesses.
You can let people wear masks and be careful and take care of themselves and take vitamin D and zinc and vitamin C. And we can at least get back to some semblance of normality.
But they don't want to do that for some weird reason.
And this is the one that drives me crazy.
They keep saying after the election.
Yeah.
They're not even trying to hide the fact that they're politicizing this.
They won't let kids go back to school in California until after the election.
What the fuck does the election have to do with anything?
Nothing.
How is that scientific?
Nothing.
How is November 3rd?
How is that your science point?
wesley hunt
Again, this is what makes Texas, Texas.
We just believe in liberty.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
We believe in allowing and empowering the citizens to make your own personal informed decisions for your own life.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
If you want to take the risk, then we allow you to do so.
joe rogan
Go buy a tiger.
wesley hunt
How'd you know I was going to say that?
joe rogan
Do you know the statistic about tigers here?
wesley hunt
What?
joe rogan
There's more tigers in captivity in Texas than all of the wild of the world.
wesley hunt
I did not know that.
joe rogan
There's more tigers in private collections in Texas.
wesley hunt
Captivity in Texas.
joe rogan
In Texas than all of the wild of the planet Earth.
Sometimes a little bit too much freedom.
That's legit.
I had a whole bit about it in my 2016 Netflix special.
Yeah, that's a legit statistic.
wesley hunt
I guess I'm not getting a dog.
I'm buying a tiger.
joe rogan
I had Mike Tyson on.
He was explaining to me his tiger.
Here it is.
How many tigers?
2,000 to 5,000 tigers living in the southern state of the United States.
wesley hunt
That's unbelievable.
So what's even more incredible is 2,000 to 5,000.
That's a pretty big gap.
joe rogan
Could be more tigers.
Meanwhile, they don't know.
That means there could be like 3,000 unaccounted for tigers.
wesley hunt
That we don't even know about.
joe rogan
Yeah, so there's roughly 3,800 tigers living in the world globally.
There's as many as 5,000 tigers living just in Texas.
Just in Texas, yeah.
wesley hunt
And I'm sure that picked up after the Tiger King got...
joe rogan
Oh, I'm sure.
I'm sure.
People were like, hey, I didn't know I'd get a tiger.
wesley hunt
I was appalled at how easy it was to get a tiger.
And not only that, how cheap it was to get a tiger.
joe rogan
How much does a tiger cost?
wesley hunt
I think it was like, was it like 600 bucks?
jamie vernon
It wasn't, yeah.
It was a...
Puppies, there are puppies that are more expensive, if I remember right.
joe rogan
Oh, for sure.
I believe I paid more than that for my dog.
wesley hunt
Yeah, I thought for sure this would be, I mean, thousands of, minimum thousands of dollars.
joe rogan
Yeah, someone thought like $100,000 for a fucking tiger cubs.
wesley hunt
He's walking around with these little tiger cubs, and it's just like, yeah, like 500 bucks a piece.
I'm like, are you kidding me?
joe rogan
Jamie's got something here.
Oh my goodness.
wesley hunt
$500?
joe rogan
$500 you could buy an orange Bengal tiger and tie it up in your yard, no questions asked.
A white tiger will cost you $5,000.
It's all perfectly legal in Texas.
The exotic animal trade is a billion dollar industry.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
That's nuts.
They're endangered, but you can buy them for $500.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
That's bonkers.
Is this crazy?
I mean, what kind of regulation do they have on the size of your yard?
wesley hunt
I don't know.
joe rogan
Wasn't there a situation where a bunch of kids were getting high and they went into an abandoned house and they found a tiger inside of it?
wesley hunt
I thought it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I'm like, that's the most Texas shit I've ever heard.
wesley hunt
You're like, I'm moving to Texas after you saw that?
unidentified
No!
joe rogan
That's not why.
But that is one of the most Texas things I've ever fucking heard.
unidentified
It is.
joe rogan
You're in an abandoned house, it just happens to have a tiger in it.
wesley hunt
It is.
That's absolutely it.
joe rogan
What does it say?
What's the title?
Cannabis Smoker Finds Tiger in an Abandoned House in Texas.
wesley hunt
What'd you do if you saw a tiger?
joe rogan
Well, you would hope it's been eating.
unidentified
Right?
joe rogan
You'd hope that motherfucker's full.
wesley hunt
Your lunch is what that turns into.
joe rogan
I mean, you ever seen those ligers?
wesley hunt
Absolutely.
joe rogan
That is the most weird shit ever.
wesley hunt
They're massive, too.
joe rogan
Yeah, apparently the gene...
I don't remember if it's from the male or the female, which has to be which.
I think it has to be like a male lion and a female tiger.
And then, for whatever reason, the genes for growth regulation don't exist.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
So you have this thing that can be like 15 feet long.
unidentified
Yeah.
wesley hunt
Massive.
joe rogan
It's so big!
They're pretty chill.
That's the other thing.
They don't necessarily attack people any more than a regular tiger.
wesley hunt
So let me get this right, Joe.
You're gonna buy a liger.
joe rogan
No, no, no.
wesley hunt
You're gonna buy a liger.
joe rogan
Bro, I got a golden retriever.
unidentified
That's it?
joe rogan
I have the calmest dog of all time.
Look at the size of that thing in the upper left.
wesley hunt
Gosh, look at that thing.
joe rogan
Look at that.
What in the fuck?
Goddamn, that's big.
Click on that, Jamie.
Yeah.
What?
unidentified
What?
wesley hunt
That's unbelievable.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's the dude from the movie.
Look at the size of that thing.
My lord, that is so big.
wesley hunt
That doesn't even look real!
joe rogan
That lady's just feeding it a bottle.
wesley hunt
Yeah, right?
joe rogan
That's like giving it a shot.
You give it a shot of milk.
A shot glass of milk.
Yeah.
Texas has got some wacky laws.
wesley hunt
Yeah.
But again, freedom, liberty.
These are just tenets that we have here.
That we just adhere to.
joe rogan
And also friendliness.
People go out of their way to be nice here.
Drivers are more polite, I noticed.
They cut you off less.
Generally, they let you in the lane easier.
It's a more polite society.
And the thing about Austin that I really enjoy is it's just not that many people, too.
There's something about...
Enormous populations where you kind of lose your appreciation of people because there's too many of them.
They become a problem.
Like, oh, all these people on the highway.
All these people at the mall.
You don't appreciate them as much.
wesley hunt
And another place that I find similar to Texas is actually Iowa.
So my wife is from Iowa.
And I have the most amazing mother-in-law ever.
She's great.
And when you go to Iowa, people are just flat-out kind to you.
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
They're just nice.
joe rogan
Well, it gets so fucking cold in the winter.
wesley hunt
They got us together.
joe rogan
They got us together.
Yeah, I got a good buddy of mine lives in Iowa.
Shout out to John Dudley.
wesley hunt
Okay, there you go.
joe rogan
Yeah, he lives in Iowa.
His reasons are the most nutty ever.
He's a deer hunter.
wesley hunt
Okay.
joe rogan
And he has an enormous lease.
Well, he owns land and he leases land.
Altogether, he's got more than 700 acres, I believe, in Iowa just for deer hunting.
I don't think I want to say.
I don't want to give out his spot.
wesley hunt
Gotcha.
joe rogan
Yeah.
But he's a rare dude.
He's a very famous bow hunter.
wesley hunt
Okay.
joe rogan
And so he teaches archery.
He teaches bow hunting and teaches it online.
He's got this knock-on archery set up.
They set up bows for people and all this stuff.
He makes videos of bow hunting, but literally move to Iowa because the best white-tailed deer hunting in the world, arguably, is, you know, it's arguable whether it's Kansas or Illinois or Iowa, but Iowa's in the mix and his place is pretty special.
wesley hunt
Yeah, I went hunting there a couple of years ago.
Hopefully I'll get to go back here late November.
joe rogan
It's pretty awesome.
wesley hunt
It's amazing.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's pretty awesome.
wesley hunt
It's amazing.
joe rogan
And when you drive down the road, you better go slow because those motherfuckers...
wesley hunt
They're everywhere.
joe rogan
They're just darting out.
unidentified
Everywhere.
joe rogan
All over the place.
wesley hunt
Everywhere.
And they will destroy your vehicle.
They will destroy your vehicle.
joe rogan
He gets some big deer there in his place because he cultivates it only for bow hunting.
wesley hunt
Oh my gosh.
joe rogan
Yeah, and he knows what he's doing.
He puts up food plots and stuff.
It's a part of the culture there that if you don't live in an area that has a culture that revolves around deer hunting, whether it's...
Wisconsin has it.
Other parts of the world have it, but it's different.
It's different there.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
It's absolutely incredible.
And I believe the state's actually buckshot only.
joe rogan
Oh, really?
Is it?
You can't use a rifle?
Nope.
Nope.
That's how Massachusetts was growing up.
wesley hunt
That makes things challenging.
It's like shooting a cannonball, but...
joe rogan
Yeah, those slugs.
Those are kind of crazy.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's just, it is though, in that way, like you get a lot of farmers, a lot of hardworking people.
wesley hunt
Yes, we do.
joe rogan
And generally, very nice.
They wave to you on the roads.
And again, not that many people.
It's a smaller population of people.
wesley hunt
So my wife, she moved down here, and she fits in seamlessly.
She'll always say the kind of values of Iowa, like kind of the values of Texas.
joe rogan
Yeah, but without the black ice.
That's the worst, dude.
wesley hunt
It's insane.
joe rogan
When you don't know, and then all of a sudden your car's like, whee!
wesley hunt
And you're spinning around in circles.
joe rogan
Yeah, on the highway.
Yeah, I grew up in Boston.
So, you know, I experienced a lot of snow and a lot of black ice.
That's the weirdest one because it just rains a little bit and then it freezes over.
And then I was on the...
It was a funny thing when I was in high school.
Me and my friend John were on the roof of...
I lived on a hill, and we were on the roof of the garage drinking, watching people slide down the street and slamming the curbs and bounce off of each other.
Because one day the whole street became just like a skating rink.
Just all black ice.
And we sat up on that roof for hours just watching people slide.
So we called the cops.
And we're like, hey man, people keep slamming into each other here.
So the cops did it.
They came sliding down, and they slammed into the curb, and they bounced off the fucking...
It was terrible.
wesley hunt
You're like, my bad.
joe rogan
We try to tell you guys.
You don't fucking look like, yeah, we got it.
No, you don't.
But that's a, you know, if you live in anywhere where it gets that cold, that's a common occurrence.
wesley hunt
Yes, I was.
I was in grad school at Cornell up in Ithaca.
So, I mean, it was just the same.
It got to the point, I'll just stay off the road.
joe rogan
The one thing I do like about snow, though, is it makes everybody go mellow.
Everybody mellows out.
wesley hunt
It chills you out.
joe rogan
Just drive slowly.
If you've got good tires and a four-wheel drive...
wesley hunt
You'll be alright.
joe rogan
You'll be alright.
Yeah.
It also makes you feel more comfortable.
You huddle up in the home.
You appreciate the fire.
wesley hunt
Cozier.
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And the weird thing is the eerie quiet outside.
When you go outside and it's snow, because the snow acts as like a sound deadening for everything.
So if you've got 12 inches of snow on the ground and it's snowing outside, you don't hear a fucking thing.
wesley hunt
Except for your steps as you crunch into the snow.
That's all you hear?
unidentified
Shhh, shhh.
joe rogan
Yeah, but the quiet.
It's really awesome.
It's pretty amazing.
Yeah, but that's the problem with Iowa is the cold.
And it's flat as fuck.
wesley hunt
It's a lot of corn, too.
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
It's a lot of corn.
joe rogan
Yeah.
There's good things.
Listen, a lot of people are exiting California and they're trying to find places to go and they're going to Bozeman, Montana and they're going to Arizona.
They're going all over the place and they're realizing that this situation, this COVID situation that we're in that's terrible, it's being handled differently.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
In different places in the country.
unidentified
In those areas.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I have friends that come from California and they come out here and they're like, holy shit, it's like everyone's normal.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
I'm like, yeah, you can be normal, man.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
Wear a mask.
Don't be an asshole.
And yeah, you could go to a restaurant.
wesley hunt
So the good thing about Houston is obviously we took it very seriously as we should.
And I would never tell anybody not to.
But you're starting to see glimpses of life again.
You're starting to see people kind of starting to go out.
There's restaurant rules.
So if you're walking around, you're wearing a mask.
But if you're sitting down, it's okay.
joe rogan
California, they want you to put your mask on in between bites now.
That's a new thing.
wesley hunt
I mean, think about it.
Shut the fuck up.
joe rogan
Just shut the fuck up.
wesley hunt
Think about what you just said.
joe rogan
Please, shut the fuck up.
So if you're outside, you have to eat outside anyway.
Do you have to do it outside?
Is that what the new rule is?
Outside, you have to put your mask on in between bites?
wesley hunt
Come on.
joe rogan
It's just so stupid.
wesley hunt
Come on.
joe rogan
They just want to control people in some weird way.
wesley hunt
It's so dangerous.
joe rogan
They were trying to tell kids they can't go to Halloween.
They can't go trick-or-treating.
wesley hunt
Yeah.
joe rogan
And then everybody freaked out.
They're like, okay, we changed our mind.
What kind of policies do you have?
What is the motivation behind these policies?
And how can you just change your mind because people get upset?
If it's so important that you really think children should stay inside on Halloween, and then everybody freaks out, so you go, okay, we changed our mind.
What are you basing it on, and who are you?
And why do you get to choose?
This is not what the Constitution was supposed to be enabling.
wesley hunt
No, it is not.
And my other concerning thing, especially when it comes to young people and kids, we don't have these kids in school.
And the problem is that when you are young, when you're 18 years old, one year means a lot.
And I'm not talking about academics.
I am talking about social growth and social development.
We are stunting the social growth and social development of these kids.
joe rogan
Unquestionably.
wesley hunt
Because when you are around groups of people, that's how you grow.
That's how your personality is formed.
And we're robbing them of that for roughly a year.
And I just feel like there's a way to do it to make sure that the kids are safe, which is our number one priority.
If there are instructors that are at risk, how do we keep them away?
And then allow the teachers, a lot of them that I speak with, Who actually really want to get back to work and teach these kids.
Because that's their passion.
And they're willing to take that risk because that's what they signed up for.
And that's what they told me.
And I feel like there is a way where we could accomplish all of the above.
But we don't want to have a conversation about it.
joe rogan
After the election, Wesley.
Let's just wait until after the election.
I don't know why you're rushing now.
You're going to put people at risk.
People's lives.
Someone died.
wesley hunt
These kids.
We're hurting the kids.
joe rogan
Unquestionably.
And, you know, the other thing that people don't want to take into consideration or even don't want to discuss is how many people are dying during this COVID crisis because of depression, because of suicide, because they lost their business, they lost their income, they lost their livelihood, they lost their home.
wesley hunt
It's devastating.
joe rogan
It's happening, and it's a factor, and it's not a factor that's being talked about.
You're not seeing charts that track how—the suicides have gone up so high— I have a friend who talked to a sheriff in Los Angeles who said, we used to see one suicide every week or so.
Now we see five a day.
wesley hunt
That's exactly right.
joe rogan
And you're like, this is crazy.
wesley hunt
And it's crazy because we have the technology to fix this and actually handle it.
I mean, for example, case in point.
Came to your studio.
Awesome studio, by the way.
It's good to see it in person.
Walk in.
What do you do?
You text me.
Hey, there's a nurse.
You're going to get COVID tests.
It takes 15 minutes.
Great.
We all find out we're negative, and we can get on with our day.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
Do you know how easy that is?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, it's not readily available everywhere yet.
wesley hunt
Yet.
joe rogan
But it can be.
It can be.
Yeah.
wesley hunt
That's the argument, that it can be.
joe rogan
Well, what I want to do with the comedy club is set up like 10 of those.
And just have everybody say, look, the show's at 8. Get there at 7. You get tested.
Once you're clean, 15 minutes in, you can go have a drink.
And the show will start at 8. And this way we could just sit down like humans, like we used to do, just 7, 8 months ago, and have a good old time.
wesley hunt
We can still do that, I think.
joe rogan
Yes, it can be done.
And I think, more importantly, you have to let people take risks.
If you let people take risks, like Dan Crenshaw jumping out of airplanes for a fucking video, we're letting people...
And I understand that you're putting other people at risk, too.
wesley hunt
I do understand that, by the way.
That's not lost on me.
joe rogan
Yes, it's not lost on me either.
But I do think that we need to take precautions about that.
That needs to be precaution.
But if you're a person, like, say if you're a 24-year-old and you live with another 24-year-old and you want to go out but you can't go out, that's bullshit.
You should be able to do whatever you want to do.
And just, it's up to you and we should really highlight your responsibility to get tested and not expose yourself to other people that are at risk, that are high risk or that are vulnerable.
wesley hunt
We could definitely do this, by the way.
joe rogan
Yes, it can be done.
But it can't be done with over-regulation, and it can't be done with the kind of attitude that they have in California, where they think they could just shut everything down.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
And this is why I left.
I don't see this getting better anytime soon.
I saw it as being a thing where they weren't addressing the negative aspects of locking things down for right now.
We're at six, seven months.
What is it going to be?
Is it a year?
Is it a year and a half?
Right.
How are you going to deal with the negative aspects, the negative social, the economic, just the way people feel about the city?
How are you going to deal with all that?
Is there a strategy in place?
Seems to be none.
Seems to be none.
They're looking at everything with rose-colored glasses, and they keep getting paid.
And that's part of the problem, is all these politicians keep getting paid.
And I know Gavin Newsom was at one point in time saying he was going to take a pay cut, but he never did.
As far as I'm concerned, as far as I know, I don't think he did.
wesley hunt
Well, I love what you said is you brought the Constitution.
And again, I've used the word liberty multiple times now because that's absolutely real to me.
I mean, they set this framework up to empower the citizens to have their own religion, to live where they want to live.
If you don't like your state, you can move as you did and vote with your feet.
If you don't like the tax rate in one state, you can move somewhere else.
I mean, we've built this country to allow people to make their own decisions.
And the second we start to erode that and take that away from people is when we're getting in trouble, and that completely flies in the face of what the construct of this country was supposed to be originally.
And that's where people like me, for example, you ask why I'm running for Congress, this is why.
Because we have to get back to empowering citizens to make their own decisions.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
Spent eight years in the Army, four years at West Point.
That's 12 years total in the military.
Love the military.
Thank God I did it.
Best decision I've ever made.
But we don't need more federal government and more regulation.
We need as little regulation as possible.
I understand the human condition every now and again can have some nefarious intent.
I understand that.
But really, it's about empowering the individual to make their own choices and make their own decisions.
Federal government is not supposed to tell people what to do and how to live.
People are fleeing their countries from all over the world to come right here to this country.
And I just sat with a woman from Taiwan today.
They are fleeing their countries to come here to live free.
And then here we are talking about regulation to take that very thing that makes us different away from our citizens.
joe rogan
My concern is that we're not going to get it back.
My concern is I understand that they have motivation to reduce these freedoms to contain COVID, but freedoms lost are rarely regained.
And my concern is that they're going to find other excuses to keep people locked down, other excuses to try to exercise these powers that they've learned how to use.
This is what's weird about this.
You've let a genie out of the bottle.
You've let people like that Mayor Garcetti guy in LA tell people what they can and can't do.
They're shutting off electricity and water if you have a party at your house.
This kind of shit is like, that's supposed to be, those are essentials.
When are you allowed to do that?
Since when can you do that?
And everybody's like, oh, because of COVID. Yeah.
Well, how do you get that back?
Does it have to be...
What if COVID is a returning thing?
What if COVID is like the common cold and people are just going to get it from now on?
wesley hunt
Or like the flu.
Or like the flu.
Right.
joe rogan
So are we giving up enormous amounts of power to the government now?
Are we losing all of our liberties because of this disease that we're all dealing with?
And we're going to put our...
Faith in the hands of people who are elected that we never intended them to have these powers in the first place.
And now we're seeing these powers are used very differently in different parts of the country.
wesley hunt
Yeah.
So this is the good thing about information, and we walk around every day with a supercomputer in our hands.
We're actually one of the first generations to ever be able to do that for the bulk of our lives.
And I think that people wake up and they realize that, so no, I don't want to be over-regulated, so I'm going to go somewhere where I am not over-regulated, so I'm going to move.
Exhibit A, right?
I think that people are awakened by stuff like this, particularly when government overplays their hand, and a particular population where they're like, no, we're not going to take it.
And then what happens?
People either A, move or they put somebody else and they elect somebody else and they fire the person who's in charge.
We're seeing a lot of what's happening in Portland and in Seattle and it's kind of interesting.
I'm very curious to see how those elections go in the future because those local leaders failed their people.
They failed their citizens.
joe rogan
I I think that area is so liberal that they're not gonna learn their lesson.
wesley hunt
We'll see.
joe rogan
We will see.
There's a lot of Trump supporters in Portland, too, that are doing these big parades with American flags and Trump flags and driving their trucks and honking their horns.
I wonder if that's gonna have an impact.
wesley hunt
I think it will.
Because the number one role of the federal government is to keep her citizens safe.
That's the number one goal.
And when in Portland you have a police chief that says to small business owners who are losing their businesses because they're getting rioted and looted, and the police chief says this, sorry, you're on your own.
Well, you have now failed.
joe rogan
Now, why are they saying you're on your own?
Because the mayor won't allow them to do anything?
wesley hunt
Well, that's because they are now defunding the police, and then they're setting up areas where they won't allow law enforcement to even enter.
joe rogan
Like Seattle.
wesley hunt
Yes.
And then now, the citizens are actually not as safe.
joe rogan
Well, that one was bonkers, where the mayor was on television saying, maybe it's the summer of love.
What the fuck are you talking about?
wesley hunt
You found out.
joe rogan
The whole idea behind it is so...
My take on it was, you're doing something that has never been done before.
You're taking over blocks, you're putting up boundaries, and you're deciding it's yours.
But you set a precedent now, because you didn't earn any of that space.
You didn't earn that land.
You didn't earn those buildings.
You took it by force.
You set a precedent, and what's to stop someone from taking that from you?
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
With the same strategy.
Saying, no, I think I'm right, so I'm going to come in with bigger guns and more people, and we're going to shut out all these businesses, and we're going to put up bigger barriers, and we're going to have more stringent policing.
They were beating people up for filming things.
Unbelievable.
It's so dumb.
You embodied the worst aspect of a dictatorship in a six-block thing, and you did it quick.
You became the worst country in America.
If that's an independent country, and then it's in the continental United States, you became the worst version of what America is.
wesley hunt
That's right.
That's right.
Can't agree more with you.
And people see this, by the way.
unidentified
People see it.
joe rogan
Yes, I think they do.
wesley hunt
People see it.
joe rogan
I think they do.
I think there's a lot of people that are seeing it.
There are a lot of people that are seeing that these idealistic portrayals of what government can be.
Like this idealistic, we need to defund the police and put all the money into social programs.
Like, yes!
With no long-term solution.
You see, oh, Jesus, look what happens.
Oh, this is terrible.
wesley hunt
That's right.
We don't want that.
joe rogan
No.
It's a wake-up call for a lot of people, I believe.
wesley hunt
It is a wake-up call.
joe rogan
Yeah.
And then the mayor of Portland.
I mean, he's hilarious.
He goes outside and they're like, fuck you, resign.
wesley hunt
Think about that.
joe rogan
He is the most progressive guy.
wesley hunt
He got canceled.
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
Think about that.
Not enough!
joe rogan
Not good enough, bitch!
wesley hunt
Like the price is wrong, right?
joe rogan
They try to light his apartment building on fire.
It's just amazing that literally the most progressive mayor in America, and they're like, not enough.
wesley hunt
Not enough.
joe rogan
Resigned, sir.
wesley hunt
Not good enough.
So where does it stop and where does it end?
joe rogan
I don't know.
They want 100% defund the police.
They want to give these people a year to...
That was their demands.
Give them a year to find alternative, meaningful employment.
And then no more police.
Yeah, okay.
wesley hunt
Come on down.
We need you to come on down here to Texas.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Congratulations, folks.
You just fucked up your entire city.
wesley hunt
You're welcome.
joe rogan
What are you going to do with that?
How do you plan on working that out with no police?
What happens if your car gets stolen?
You gonna call a social worker?
What are you gonna do if someone breaks into your house?
wesley hunt
What are you gonna call?
joe rogan
Yeah.
What are you gonna do about murder?
What are you gonna do about rape?
wesley hunt
These things happen, by the way.
They just don't miraculously go away.
joe rogan
Right.
Yeah.
Well, it's just these idealistic views of what the future should be and the way you think you're going to implement them today, currently.
We just need to get—there's bad cops.
We've got to get rid of all the cops.
Well, there's bad protesters, too.
Should we get rid of all protests?
Of course not.
Yeah.
When you see people smash buildings and smash windows, no one's saying you can't protest anymore.
No one's saying there's no more.
Well, obviously, that's a part of protesting because you got bad people.
And when you have a group that anyone can join in on, like anyone can join most of these groups, you're going to get a bunch of assholes.
wesley hunt
That's right.
Unquestionably.
That's how it happens.
That's life.
joe rogan
Yeah.
And you need law and order to fix that.
Yeah.
You need consequences for unlawful acts.
And the best way to do that is with the police.
wesley hunt
And they choose to do it too, by the way.
These people choose to get up in the morning and they choose to protect people.
They do.
And I always say this.
They don't always get it right.
We know this.
I recognize that.
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
But this is not the answer either.
joe rogan
Well, they're human.
wesley hunt
Yeah.
joe rogan
And when you get a bunch of humans together...
Look, if you get 100 people in a room, one of them is going to be a fucking idiot.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
There's no way around it.
unidentified
That's right.
joe rogan
If you get a bunch of cops, one of them is going to be incompetent.
wesley hunt
If you're lucky, one of them.
joe rogan
If you're lucky, it's only one.
And here's the other deal.
How many of those poor folks are running around with PTSD untreated?
A large percentage of them.
They're seeing murders and violence and car accidents and you name it.
wesley hunt
Child abuse and all this stuff.
joe rogan
You name it.
All the horrors of humanity.
They see it on a daily basis.
It's a part of their life.
wesley hunt
Human trafficking.
That's another thing that we don't talk about.
joe rogan
That is another thing that just goes in and out of the news.
We were talking about on the podcast, the 39 or 35 kids that were rescued in Georgia, and it was a blip in the news.
But meanwhile, I saw a thousand articles on how mean Ellen is.
Ellen's mean.
She's so mean.
People are out there risking their life to stop human trafficking.
They're rescuing children from human trafficking.
What is this?
Wow, 72 million missing children across Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, and Georgia in the past several weeks.
In the past several weeks.
So this is where these...
So when you read an article like that, U.S. Marshals Rescued 72 Missing Children, this is where all the QAnon people get crazy because they think that Donald Trump is secretly working behind the scenes to stop child trafficking and that there's some secret cabal in the government that wants to enable this shit and then Facebook bans QAnon.
Everyone's going crazy now.
Yeah.
This child trafficking thing is real.
It has always existed.
wesley hunt
Did you know that Houston is actually one of the hubs for child trafficking in the U.S.? Really?
Yes, it is.
joe rogan
Now, how do they find out about child trafficking?
How do they infiltrate?
wesley hunt
So usually it's local law enforcement that recognizes some abnormalities in the behavior of some of the children.
Usually it's certain areas, certain shops, certain businesses that are kind of harboring these people.
A lot of them just get stopped because, I mean, it's kind of really odd if you're in a van or an 18-wheeler and then there's like 20 kids in it.
It's weird.
We, as a culture, have got to work with local law enforcement to start to curb this thing because that's where the rubber meets the road.
I don't know if you saw the story.
I don't know if you could pull it up, sir.
But if you saw the story about the flight attendant that helped out.
joe rogan
Yes, the girl.
wesley hunt
That recognized the abnormality of a girl on a flight by herself and saved her life.
joe rogan
Yes.
And they had the authorities on the ground when the plane landed.
wesley hunt
Waiting.
We have got to see more of that.
And so this is how we talk about the Army.
You've got to police your own troops.
We've got to police our own.
If we are just acutely aware of the abnormalities and the behavior of young children who clearly are under duress, we cannot turn a blind eye to it.
joe rogan
Why is this not a bigger story in mainstream news?
This is one of the things that concerns me.
I don't understand why you're not seeing this on CNN. Every day.
Why are we seeing this every day on CNN? That story right there should be leading on primetime news.
That should be leading.
72 missing children rescued.
So it can't be just that they're randomly discovering these kids in a truck or they see a kid on a plane acting weird and that's how they catch everybody.
How are they infiltrating?
Because there's also a bunch of guys that are former spec ops guys that are working to fight child trafficking.
How are they doing this?
wesley hunt
The solution to this, in my opinion, I'll get the answer in a second.
The solution is, in my opinion, is actually, and I would be in huge favor of this, of literally starting a separate task force to address this in known hotspots.
The other way we're finding out, to answer your question, the other way that we're finding out as to how they're infiltrating is really if you go to hubs of the world, like Houston, you go to coastal cities where people are actually bringing people into the country, That's exactly where you're going to find a lot of it.
So if you just kind of hang out around these areas, then you'll see a lot more of it.
You'll discover a lot more of it.
And so Houston has become kind of one of those hubs because of its geographic locations.
It's actually near a port city.
And obviously, people are coming through port cities at a higher rate.
Cargo's coming through at a higher rate.
And so we're actually able to track that at a better rate if you just kind of hang around the hoop.
You'll find it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
So how are these people communicating?
wesley hunt
Oh my goodness.
joe rogan
It seems like if the government can use programs like Edward Snowden revealed, how are they organizing these things?
And where are they getting these kids from?
wesley hunt
They get these kids from actually all over the world.
A lot of them are coming from impoverished communities.
A lot of them are coming from impoverished countries.
And they're shipping them in.
A lot of them come from Asian countries, actually.
And A lot of them come from right here in the U.S. And this is something that dawned on me, particularly with having two girls now, and that is it's also my job to continue to protect them and all of these young people, and it's actually young boys as well.
It's not just young ladies.
It's actually incumbent upon them to keep them safe.
If we can't keep them safe, then what are we doing here?
Literally.
Like, that's our role now, you know, as fathers and as responsible human beings, is keeping our young people safe.
And the biggest thing is this, there clearly is an appetite and there clearly is a culture for it.
What I want to do is how do we place extreme punishment on those who behave in this and partake in this behavior?
I'll tell you what, it could be happening right next door to you to somebody that seems to be a normal human being.
But we have got to stop them.
We have to stop the predator from feasting on our children.
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
And it's got to be demonized.
Let's demonize that.
joe rogan
Yeah.
100%.
Yeah.
How are these people communicating, though?
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
Are they doing it through the dark web?
Are they doing it through forums?
Are they using code?
How are they doing this?
wesley hunt
I've heard all of the above.
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
I've also heard communicating through just open email inboxes.
They don't hit send, but they have the password for multiple emails, and they'll just go in, get the message, and then never open or close it, so it's impossible basically to track.
It's just like a draft.
joe rogan
Oh, I see.
And so other people have the login to the account and they check it out through the draft.
That makes sense.
And it's funny because this subject, because of things like Pizzagate, the subject became so taboo that no one wants to talk about it because it sounds preposterous because Pizzagate was so preposterous.
A guy shows up with a gun looking for kids that are tied up in the basement and everybody's like, oh my god.
wesley hunt
There's nobody here.
joe rogan
Everyone's wacky, these child sex trafficking fanatics that are interested in this and that are trying to stop this.
They're all crazy people.
But that's not really the case.
The problem with something like Pizzagate is that it confuses everybody.
And you start thinking that all this stuff is nonsense.
But then these stories, they make it to these websites and you see that this is a real thing.
These are real news stories, but then they don't get talked about in mainstream.
wesley hunt
And then we lose track of who the real enemy is.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's a real enemy, not Ellen.
wesley hunt
That's dangerous, right?
joe rogan
Ellen being mean to her assistant.
Just fuck.
Just what we care about is so bizarre.
It's such a symptom of how sick we are as a culture.
And that our priorities are so skewed.
And that this is sort of accentuated by our addiction to social media.
And that people are concentrating so much on Things that are trivial and nonsensical.
What's up, buddy?
jamie vernon
I found an article on Reuters that said that the mainstream media has been reporting on this.
I'm looking through pages to find out details on different reporting of this.
All I'm finding this on is local news sites.
What does that mean, though, that it's not being reported?
joe rogan
Well, you don't see it on CNN. You're not seeing it as mainstream television news where it's a big subject that gets discussed, that we have a giant problem like this in this country.
That's what I'm saying.
jamie vernon
I'm digging through here, and then the human trafficking angle, according to what the U.S. Marshal's done here, it's one in four of these kids.
So if it was 25 kids picked up, that's six or seven of them were human trafficking.
The other 20 or so are kids that ran away or kids that were being abused.
They found them because they were missing.
Some have been missing for two weeks, some up to two years.
Not every kid is in a human trafficking situation.
joe rogan
That's those 72. The 35 though in Georgia, I think those were all the same kind of thing.
So they're collecting, and then they're like reporting the numbers.
So they're collecting these 35 kids over a period of time, and then they're reporting, we found 35 kids.
So it's a month later, they found 35 kids.
jamie vernon
This one from September, which would have been reported five weeks ago, says that they recovered 25 missing and endangered children over the last month.
One in four was part of what they believe in alleged human trafficking situation.
joe rogan
Obviously, one is too many.
wesley hunt
Obviously.
joe rogan
Obviously.
So it seems like they're finding missing kids and a percentage of them happen to be a part of human trafficking.
And now here's the question.
How many of the kids that are being human trafficked actually get discovered?
We're finding this five here, six here.
wesley hunt
But how many actually are there?
joe rogan
How many of them actually are there?
Do we know?
We don't, right?
wesley hunt
We don't.
joe rogan
Just the fact that it's a real thing is spooky as fuck.
wesley hunt
It is.
And it's dangerous.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's terrifying.
It's terrifying for fathers and mothers.
wesley hunt
It is.
joe rogan
You know, it's like the fact that, or brothers and sisters, the fact that it could be someone close to you.
Yes.
What other subjects and what other concerns do you have about the current state of this country?
Maybe things that we haven't discussed before.
wesley hunt
So, again, we're sitting here talking about the division in the country, which is something that I think it's a very real issue that we've been talking about.
But I also just kind of want to say, what's the solution to the division in the country?
We always talk about problems, but then what are we going to do about it?
And the one thing I got asked a few weeks ago, like, Wesley, what are you going to do when you get into Congress?
What can you do differently that nobody else has done to try to start to bridge this gap and bridge this divide?
2018, we had the fewest number of veterans in Congress and in the Senate since roughly World War II. And I think that's actually a part of the issue and a part of the problem.
So when I get to Washington is actually what I believe will be my personal mandate is to go find Democrats that are veterans.
And let's have a conversation.
And it actually won't be about policy or politics.
It would actually be more about where did you serve?
What did you do?
Who do you know?
What circles did you run in?
Maybe we have a common bond there.
Because people that are willing to give their lives for this country just view the world a little bit differently.
So, I want to be a part of that contingent that actually tries to bring military people to the table and to be a part of that.
You look at me, you look at Dan Crenshaw, you look at August Pfluger.
We're all military guys.
We all get each other on that point.
Now, we're all Republicans, but Democrats do as well.
Because we've taken an oath to defend this country against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.
I think that's the beginning to start to bridge the divide, and it lies with soldiers.
And again, you look at this time period, this is the time for soldiers that are, you know, Operation Iraqi Freedom, OEF, Enduring Freedom, you know, folks that actually have gone into private sector, gone and gotten, you know, a further education, but still have that bug to continue to serve, still have that itch.
And I think they need, our country needs more of us than anything else right now.
I think that's where it starts.
I, Wesley Hunt, I'm going to be one of 435 congressmen and women that are currently serving this country today.
I'm one person.
One person can't change the entire system.
But two, three, four, five, six, ten, twenty can.
joe rogan
Mm-hmm.
wesley hunt
But you can't get to two unless you have one.
Can't get to three unless you have two.
Can't get to four.
And so, even if I'm two or three or four, I represent the continuance of the coalition building.
It's going to take some time.
joe rogan
Well, when it comes to foreign policy, when it comes to decisions of military actions, when it comes to war itself, there's I think it's very important to have people who have actually served that are making those decisions.
And it's disturbing as hell when people making those decisions that have never served, don't understand it, never been in the military, and they're making decisions that are going to put our veterans at risk.
They're going to send them overseas to do these actions in a way that they do not personally understand because they don't have any actual experience.
The people like you, the people like Dan Crenshaw, Tulsi Gabbard, people that have served, these are the people that, in my opinion, should be the ones that we listen to.
wesley hunt
So, it's personal because I lost 14 of my West Point classmates in a global war on terror.
And when I think about these brave men, way better men than me, paid the ultimate sacrifice, gave the eulogy.
This bracelet says David Frazier on it.
Wear it every day as a reminder as to why we are all here and why we have to continue to serve.
And we have to make sure that when we ask somebody to go die for their country, we got to make sure that we know exactly what we're doing and how we're doing it.
Regardless of what the cause is, dying for your country is the most noble death anyone can ever have, in my opinion.
I don't care what the war was.
I don't care what the reason was.
Those brave men died a noble death.
And moving forward, if we're going to ask somebody to pay that sacrifice, we as lawmakers and we as leaders better make sure it's for a reason that is the most high and most noble.
The one thing that I do see about President Trump and his doctrine is the idea of getting us out of these decade long wars.
I tend to agree with that, actually.
That region of the world is actually diametrically opposed to the way that we view the world here in this country.
It is.
And there are ways through technology to continue to be an effective fighting force, the most effective fighting force in the world without having brigades worth of soldiers in the Middle East in perpetuity.
So I like that.
I like using special ops.
I like using small teams.
I like using our brains and our technology.
I like all that.
I think President Trump is spot on on that.
And I do think that he's actually valuing the life of every individual soldier by making this decision.
And then when you do that, you build credibility.
Because when you do send people in harm's way, we get it.
We get it.
This guy is sending us here for this cause.
It's a worthy cause.
Get it up, let's go.
And that's the kind of confidence that you want to have in your leaders, not just the president, but across the board.
When you've been there, you know what it feels like.
When you've lost classmates, you know what it feels like.
And as a congressman, when we choose to send someone to war, and I look at that brave young man or that brave young woman, and I say, look, this might be it for you.
They look at me and they say, yes, sir, but if you're sending me, I trust you.
We've got to get that back.
joe rogan
The only way you're going to get that back is people like you.
wesley hunt
Thank you, sir.
joe rogan
I really believe that.
I don't think anybody who's never served is going to be able to make those decisions and have the respect of the people that are going to be sent over there.
wesley hunt
Yep.
joe rogan
What are the things we need to cover here?
wesley hunt
I was going to talk a little bit even about social media a little bit.
joe rogan
Okay.
That's a good subject.
wesley hunt
What makes this a very interesting topic for me is that while we are divided, I don't think it's as bad as everyone thinks it is.
joe rogan
It's not as bad if you get people in a room together.
wesley hunt
It's not.
At all, actually.
unidentified
Right.
wesley hunt
If you're just not a talk, it's not bad at all.
20 years ago, an event would happen, something would happen.
Something bad would happen and you'd turn on the evening news and you might see it twice.
That's it.
You might see it on the news.
You might see it in a newspaper.
That's it.
Something bad happens today.
Your phone blows up.
It's on Twitter, it's on IG, it's on Facebook, and then it's on CNN app, your Fox News app, then it's on Fox News cable, then it's on local TV. So we have now seen the same incident like eight times on eight different platforms, which gives the perception that it's worse than it really is.
I got to thinking about this a lot, because my father is my hero, and he is a very, very wise man.
I got to thinking about this because he goes, son, do you really think it's harder to be a black man today than it was when I was growing up?
That was rhetorical.
The answer is absolutely not.
But it got me thinking about it because it gives the perception that it is, given all that we're seeing.
But quite frankly, we've always gotten better.
My brother and I always joke about America.
He's like, what's the best time to be an American?
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
Am I better off being in America right now than I was when I graduated high school in 2000?
Absolutely.
So what is distorting our view so much that gives us the perception that we're way worse off?
Well, over the course of the past 15 years, we have developed this social media system that, quite frankly, sends out just negative information and people then hide behind their words.
They hide behind their posts because they don't actually confront people one-on-one.
But is it really worse, Joe?
joe rogan
Really worse in what way?
unidentified
So, like, so...
wesley hunt
Let's just go back to the racial issues in this country.
Let's go back to that.
When I was in high school, I thought about some of the language that was used, some of the language that was said, some of the ways that I was treated.
When I compare that to the way I am treated right now, it's very different, actually.
It's way better.
Again, I'm actually running for Congress in a predominantly white district, overwhelmingly white district.
Would that have been the case 30 years ago?
Would they have nominated me?
Would they have elected me?
I'm not quite sure.
But now they have overwhelmingly.
And they don't even care that I'm black.
joe rogan
I think what people would push back on is for sure things are getting better.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
But what they would say is there's massive amounts of room for improvement and many, many, many things that need to be done to correct the way things are wrong in this country right now.
wesley hunt
Of course.
joe rogan
That's why people have a hard time when people look at the bright side of things.
wesley hunt
Okay.
joe rogan
They look at the bright side of things and they go, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.
But you can't just ignore all these problems that exist right now.
wesley hunt
And that's what I refuse to do, which is why I tend to bring up the past and progress.
So when people ignore it is when they don't talk about their great-great-grandfather who was once a slave.
You see, I acknowledge that because I want to actually build on it.
What I don't like are people who just refuse to even mention that.
What I don't like are people who don't even want to acknowledge our past slavery.
I actually want to talk about it because when you talk about it, we can fix it.
joe rogan
What do you think could be done about injustices that are happening currently?
One of the things that I've discussed in this podcast many times is there are parts of this country, whether it's Baltimore or Detroit or South Side of Chicago, that are almost perpetually engulfed in crime.
And they have been forever, and there doesn't seem to be any effort whatsoever to reverse that.
How can you fix those?
I understand you're becoming Congressman in a specific district, but when you look at the country as an overall, and you look at these particular bad spots, what strategies can be used that aren't being used to fix this?
wesley hunt
The strategy of empathy and understanding.
Not yelling at each other.
Not demonizing each other.
Not saying that your culture is so messed up and it's your fault.
Acknowledging that, particularly in the black community, the welfare state was created, and that's actually what has caused a lot of the consternation in our culture today.
That's not black people's fault, actually.
It's actually the system's fault.
Black people also have to take some responsibility for some of the cultural issues that we have as well.
It's not all white people's fault, actually.
We have to accept some of this, too.
If both sides can accept and take on the culpability, some of it, on the problems that we see today, and we can admit it, and we can talk about it, then that's how we can begin to heal.
joe rogan
But obviously some physical actions need to take place.
wesley hunt
I can't actually agree more with you on that.
And physical actions need to actually take place for everybody.
The issue is that when somebody says, one side says, well, they should do this, but they should do this.
Well, you should do that.
We're pointing fingers and nothing gets done.
So the police are brutalizing us and a black person has a two and a half more higher chance of dying at the hands of police than a white person.
That's actually a fact.
It's actually a fact.
So we look at the police officers, but then the police officers and other groups can't say, well, that's because, well, there's a higher incidence of crime amongst brown and black people.
What did that accomplish?
Nothing.
Because nobody wants to assume responsibility that both are issues.
joe rogan
Right, both are issues.
wesley hunt
Both are problems.
This is where someone like me is actually uniquely positioned.
Look, I have been discriminated against.
I have been profiled.
I get it.
I have been treated poorly by white people.
I've been treated poorly by black people and vice versa.
I understand all this.
So what?
What are we going to do to actually solve the problem?
And this is where it takes real tough leadership.
Because what happens is you start getting in a circular firing squad and everybody is firing on you from all sides.
And it gets tough for someone like me every now and again who's kind of stuck and caught in the middle.
But I always joke around and I say, well, I've also been in combat and I've been shot at before.
I can deal with it.
But somebody has got to take this on.
Instead of pointing the fingers at each other, who's going to bring both sides to the table?
And again, can Wesley Hunt do it by myself?
No.
But what I hope in my candidacy and in conversations like this, thank you so much, is that what I hope, what I hope is that people can hear the message and then say, ah, okay, I get that tone.
I accept this responsibility.
So now what can we do about it?
That's where we start.
And right now we are way over here.
I recognize that.
But we have to work incrementally to get us back together.
I am confident that this country can do it, because just like I've said before, we've been way worse.
We've been at war with each other, and we were able to overcome that.
We can overcome this, too.
It's just going to take some work, Joe.
joe rogan
What would you do?
I understand you're running for Congress.
You're not running to be king of the country.
But if you had a magic wand...
And someone could say, Wesley Hunt, what would you do about, let's just say South Side of Chicago, which is just one of the most murderous places in this country right now.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
Terrible.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
What would you do?
I give you the power.
Like, Wesley, you fix this.
How would you fix that?
wesley hunt
So one of the issues, in my opinion, in Chicago, is the relationship with law enforcement and the citizens of that community.
We need to be in the business of building relationships with those that protect them and keep them safe, as long as we can again admit that there is a problem on both sides.
What can I, Wesley Hunt, specifically do?
You've heard so many different ideas on how to combat this.
What I say is this, we start off with conversations.
You have to start off with the community leaders who are, again, who are willing to accept culpability for some of the problems, culturally speaking.
And then you start with the law enforcement officers that are willing to admit that we actually want to be a part of the solution and not be a part of the problem.
And it takes one person to do that on either side to systematically fix the community one person at a time.
You can't take just one big bite of the apple on this thing.
It's going to take some time and it's going to have to be incremental.
Quite frankly, it's going to have to be generational as well.
Because there's so much distrust.
There's so much distrust on both sides that we can't even have a conversation about it.
So we have to start small and then go big from there.
And it starts right at the community level.
joe rogan
Do you think also an announcing intention...
To specifically work on this, and having this be a big conversation that takes place publicly, that law enforcement does want to communicate with community leaders, and that there's a direct effort to try to improve these places, to let people know we care, we know it's a problem, even though it's been ignored for so long, it will be ignored no longer.
wesley hunt
That's it.
That's it.
That's where you start.
joe rogan
That's where you start.
And I agree with you that it's a long process.
wesley hunt
Yes, sir.
joe rogan
The frustrating thing is that it just really hasn't been addressed that much.
wesley hunt
Sadly.
joe rogan
And I always said, if you want to make America great, you really want less losers.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
So you want more people with an opportunity to get past the situation they're currently in.
And so many people are trapped.
They're trapped in these crime-ridden, gang-ridden, drug-ridden neighborhoods where it's normal for people to be in and out of jail.
And this is what they grow accustomed to because they grow up with it.
wesley hunt
Right.
And that's no way to grow up.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Social media.
Let's get back to that.
One of the things that drives me crazy about social media is this flippant nature, this Way that people think it's fine to just censor people and censor people that disagree with you.
One of the things is Unity 2020 was something that was created by Brett Weinstein and many other people.
Brett, who is very liberal, very progressive.
He was the guy that was the professor at Evergreen State and was run out by these crazy kids that wanted to take over and turn it into a utopia for leftists.
That's the very paraphrased version of the story.
But he created this thing called Unity 2020 and he wanted to have conversations between the left and the right and have these people talk and try to come up with someone who's a better solution to run this country than what we're currently being offered.
Twitter banned the account.
I mean, it was the most reasonable...
I don't know if they got it back.
Let's see if they got Unity 2020 back.
But the most reasonable...
Their take on it was, say no to Biden, say no to Trump, and let's come up with a better solution that this can be done.
And Twitter's like, no.
wesley hunt
That's ridiculous.
joe rogan
It's completely ridiculous.
But the question is, the First Amendment...
What is this here?
Suspended.
Articles of Unity.
Is that what it is?
Articles of Unity.
Is that the same thing as Unity 2020?
Same thing?
Yeah.
The official account.
Articles of Unity.
Yeah.
Banned.
So they banned it.
And why?
Why?
Because they don't agree with the sentiment.
They think that maybe perhaps we should all fall in line and vote for Joe Biden because this is what they want.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
And if you are a progressive and you're a liberal, you just have to accept the differences that you have with Biden and Kamala Harris and their perspectives, and you need to just fall in line.
And there's no other third party.
And the idea that you're fucking carrying water for the two-party system in 2020 is bonkers.
Yeah.
Freedom of speech is supposed to be the freedom to discuss ideas.
This is not an enormous percentage of the population that's going along with this guy.
He's offering an educated perspective.
It's our constitution.
It is our constitution.
It's so important to listen to things that you disagree with to understand why you disagree with them and to understand if maybe there's some knowledge in there that you can acquire.
Maybe there's a part of their perspective that you do agree with.
Maybe you see the error in their ways and you can discuss it with them.
You can say, well, this is where you guys got it wrong.
Right.
That happens on this fucking show all the time.
wesley hunt
So improve it.
You can improve it.
joe rogan
Yes.
I mean, discussing things, it's fucking critical.
But whether it's Facebook, whether it's Twitter, Facebook banning QAnon.
Look, I'm not a QAnon fan.
wesley hunt
But how could you ban that?
joe rogan
Here's the problem.
If you ban them, why are you letting the flat earthers still have a fucking page?
Why are you letting the JFK people, the people that think the assassination was caused by aliens, where do you draw the line on what's true and what's not?
And The problem is you just started down a slippery slope.
And look, I don't even know what QAnon means.
I know a lot of people believe in it, but I don't even know what they stand for.
I just know there's a lot of wacky folks involved.
I know them personally and they're wacky, so I'm like, ah.
But the fact that Facebook wants to just ban it.
wesley hunt
It's ridiculous.
joe rogan
I just don't think they should have that kind of editorial power.
The power to decide what gets discussed and what doesn't get discussed.
Do you think that maybe, perhaps, and this is my friend Kyle Kalinske had the suggestion that the First Amendment should be...
Amended to include social media.
And that social media should be treated as a utility.
A utility that everybody should be able to enjoy.
wesley hunt
Interesting.
joe rogan
That, look, you can't do things like dox people or call for people's death or, you know, incite violence.
wesley hunt
Obviously.
Yeah, yes.
Or threaten people.
joe rogan
But express opinions?
wesley hunt
Come on.
joe rogan
You can't express opinions.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, you can get banned on Twitter for some of the most preposterous things.
wesley hunt
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, for a while it was like, learn to code.
You say, learn to code, you would get banned.
unidentified
You'd be banned.
joe rogan
Yeah, because they were saying, this was in response to people like coal miners, what are they going to do when they get out of there?
Someone said, learn to code.
And so then whenever anybody would get fired for any other reason, someone would say, learn to code, they'd be like, you're banned.
For life.
Like, come on.
It's nuts.
wesley hunt
Come on.
joe rogan
But it is this thing where you're allowing people to censor people's voices.
And I think you should let all the nuts talk.
Let them all talk.
wesley hunt
It's called freedom of speech, as long as you're not threatening somebody.
joe rogan
Yes.
And the question is, like, people say, well, they're harmful, and their opinions sway people in a certain way.
Sway who?
Sway you?
Is it swaying you?
Are they making you think the earth is flat?
No.
No.
Not at all.
Swaying morons.
So what do we do?
We're going to regulate to stop morons from believing stupid shit?
Is that what we're doing?
wesley hunt
It's impossible.
joe rogan
It's impossible.
And it's also un-American.
To stop expression, even expression that you don't agree with, is un-American.
It's the wrong way to approach it.
wesley hunt
Yes, it is.
joe rogan
But there's so many people that believe in deplatforming and that that's the way to handle these things.
I think they're wrong.
wesley hunt
I think the more conversation and the more discussion, no matter what, the better.
Because it teaches you about the world.
joe rogan
The problem is you have that switch and you can just pop them.
Just pop that switch and now they're off Twitter forever.
And that's it.
What did you say?
Unity what?
Fuck you.
Click.
Done.
Next.
And it's not, again, it's not even people harassing people.
It's not people threatening people.
It's just people expressing opinions that you don't enjoy.
What do you think should be done about this?
And why haven't they done something?
I mean, I know the president's discussed this.
But what can be done about this?
wesley hunt
So...
This topic is near and dear to my heart because you could imagine somebody like me going to Ithaca, New York at Cornell.
I am a Texan.
I come from the energy capital of the world.
I am a veteran.
And in Ithaca, you would kind of solve the world's problems in coffee shops.
And I'd walk in wearing something like this and boots and a hat.
I'm a conservative guy and I'm black.
joe rogan
I don't know anything about Ithaca other than John Jones is from Ithaca.
wesley hunt
Ithaca is a really liberal city.
Very liberal.
joe rogan
College town?
wesley hunt
Yes, it is.
It's Cornell and Ithaca College.
It's a college town.
And great place, by the way.
Love it.
A lovely place.
Love my time there, actually.
And I would talk to people, obviously, that were very liberal, and we would meet up on weekends all the time, and we would just talk, and you could probably imagine that we didn't see the world the same way.
But we always got to talk and meet up the next week and the next week.
And they were my classmates and they were my friends.
And we got to learn how to respect each other.
One of my classmates, actually, who is a banker up in New York, who was a Bernie bro, very liberal guy, he sent me some money for the campaign and then sent me a note.
And he said, you know, Wesley, if I was down there, I don't think I'd even vote for you.
I said, thanks, man.
And then he goes, but I hope you win.
Because I know you're a good guy, and I know that you believe in this country.
joe rogan
Why wouldn't he vote for you, then?
wesley hunt
Well, because...
joe rogan
How conflicted.
wesley hunt
Probably, how...
joe rogan
He's helping you, but he doesn't want you to win, but he wants you to win, but he wouldn't vote for you.
wesley hunt
But here's some money to win, so...
unidentified
I'm so confused.
joe rogan
I don't know how to feel about that.
wesley hunt
But it's complicated, right?
It's complicated.
He may not vote, but does want me to win, and so that's where we're actually missing that element of...
We might disagree politically, but I respect you as a person enough to hear you out.
This is why we have to stop canceling people.
This is why we have to stop quelling just opinions, because it's actually a form of disrespect to the very fiber of someone's human being.
We've got to get to the point where we start respecting each other again, and this has to stop.
And, you know, President Trump tweets a lot, as we see.
And it's dawned on me that he does a lot because that's his way to get his point across to circumvent everything else.
Now, do I agree with all of it?
No.
Do I disagree sometimes?
Sure, I agree with some of it.
I absolutely do.
But the whole point is this.
That's an attempt to go direct to the people with his voice and his opinion.
Rather you like it or disagree with it or not, that's actually beside the point.
This is where we start to break that down.
Because everybody should have the leeway to do just that.
So we have to lead by example.
And when I see stuff like this, it's actually infuriating to me.
Because if it's a very liberal opinion, knock yourself out.
In fact, I want to hear it.
I want to hear more about it.
But if it's a conservative opinion or if it's different from my opinion, then we ban it and it gets canceled?
Do you only fact check the more conservative points and opinions and not fact check the others because they disagree with you?
joe rogan
Right.
wesley hunt
Or agree with you?
This is a very dangerous place to be in.
This is a valuable conversation to have because this is where legislators need to have a conversation about this.
What is freedom of speech?
What is freedom of assembly?
What is it?
Like, really, what is it?
And I think our founding fathers intended it, intended it for it to be exactly what you're talking about right now.
joe rogan
They never anticipated something like social media.
And I think that social media represents the current town center where people can get together and talk about ideas.
They just never anticipated one person be able to reach thousands and thousands of people with one individual opinion.
wesley hunt
With one phrase or with one tweet or with one.
Millions of people.
joe rogan
But to stop that from happening because you disagree with it...
wesley hunt
Is just...
It's unconstitutional.
joe rogan
Particularly if it's just political.
wesley hunt
It's unconstitutional.
joe rogan
It's also...
It's abusive.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
You didn't...
No one anticipated that social media was ever going to be what it is now.
wesley hunt
That's true.
joe rogan
That it would be this town center of discussion.
In the beginning, it was just people putting up pictures of their dog or something.
It was normal stuff.
But what it is now is it's the battleground for global communication.
wesley hunt
It is.
joe rogan
And the fact that it's being run almost entirely by left-wing people is very problematic, especially with their penchant for censorship.
wesley hunt
Right.
Right.
Well, I think Dan Crenshaw actually does a really good job with his social media.
And again, it's about going direct to consumer is what he does.
And even with, again, with the video and his Instagram account that has millions of followers on it, that's actually the way to combat this.
He has built a heck of a brand that actually allows him to speak to people differently.
Without worrying about whether or not he's going to be censored or not, because it's his opinion that he is putting on his brand on his page.
This is how you kind of start to take that back through social media.
That's actually what I intend on doing too here over the course of the next few years.
joe rogan
The problem is you can be shadow banned, you can be silenced, your tweets can be deleted.
wesley hunt
And that's the problem.
joe rogan
Yeah.
And the fact that this has become a viable solution to a lot of people on the left, they think it's a wise thing to do.
Yes.
wesley hunt
It's cancel people.
unidentified
Yeah.
wesley hunt
It's just not...
It's not acceptable.
joe rogan
It's also, a lot of these people are mentally ill that are doing this.
Legitimately, and when I say mentally ill, I mean overridden with anxiety and depression and spending hours and hours and hours a day getting in fights online.
That's an ill person.
I mean, look, we want to talk about mental health, and this is something where people would push back against this, but I want you to consider this.
wesley hunt
Okay.
joe rogan
Peace of mind, like clarity.
If you are arguing with people on Twitter, I would say right now you're mentally ill.
If you're spending hours and hours every day, which a lot of these people are, just arguing and shitting on people all day long, you're probably ill.
That's not...
Optimal.
It's not healthy.
It's not a great way of communicating.
But these social media networks, they facilitate mental illness in a lot of ways in a lot of these people.
People that don't understand the negative consequences of engaging constantly in conflict.
wesley hunt
And negativity.
joe rogan
Yes, and negativity.
It's not wise.
It's just not wise.
And a lot of them are depressed.
I've talked to people who, you know, I've talked to them after they've gotten off of these, like, Twitter binges.
And they're like, dude, I gotta stay off Twitter, man.
I get depressed.
I can't sleep.
I'm like, why don't you delete it?
Like, why don't you stop?
unidentified
I can't sleep.
wesley hunt
Think about that.
I can't sleep.
joe rogan
They get up in the middle of the night to pee and they check their Twitter.
They check to see if people are agreeing or disagreeing with them.
They check to see who's angry at them and who's...
Who's tweeting them?
wesley hunt
Because they're neurotic.
joe rogan
Oh, they go crazy.
And it's just so unhealthy.
And then these people are the ones that think it's okay to silence other people, to disagree with them.
wesley hunt
Wrong answer.
joe rogan
It's a wrong answer.
It's a wrong answer, but I think it needs to be—we need to figure out a way to regulate this like we regulate utilities.
I really do.
wesley hunt
Interesting.
joe rogan
I don't think you could call—I don't think you could say, oh, it's a private company.
They can do whatever they want.
It's a private company that reaches billions of people.
unidentified
That's right.
joe rogan
Like, it's a pipeline for communication.
I understand that they created it, but it's being used by so many people and it's responsible for so much discourse.
The argument should be made, I think, that this is one of the main forms of communication and to deny people Because of their political ideology, the access to this, I think is devastating.
And I think it's terrible for our country.
It's terrible because it promotes division.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
It promotes more of the people on the right that are getting censored.
They're going to hate the people on the left even more.
wesley hunt
It creates that friction.
It creates more friction.
joe rogan
What can be done about this?
wesley hunt
It's a tough one.
It's a tough one.
What can be done about it is, again, what I always retort and go back to, that's conversations like this.
So who's actually having conversations like this, by the way, about this topic?
joe rogan
Not that many people.
wesley hunt
Not very many people.
So what can be done about it is we have to increase the conversations like this with what I believe can be reasonable people from all walks of life on both sides of the aisle.
We have to talk about this.
I think if there were reasonable people that were sitting here no matter where you were from, no No matter where you're from, no matter what race, color, religion, creed, political affiliation, if you're sitting here listening to this conversation and you've read the Constitution and you've been in this country for the bulk of your life, you've lived in America for long enough to understand freedom and liberty, you'd hear this conversation and you would say, maybe we should push back on that.
Maybe we should.
So this is what you're doing, honestly, as a leader by just even having these conversations.
And we just need more of it.
And we need to have conversations with leaders in politics and in the entertainment industry.
We have to have conversations with foreign countries and other leaders.
This is how we start with leaders in industry and CEOs.
We have to have these conversations.
I feel like we're at a time right now where we've just flat out stopped.
We're just yelling at each other.
And we spent the better part of an hour, in my opinion, literally talking about the crux of the problem, which is unconstitutional and against First Amendment and our rights.
Let's talk about that, what that means.
And even in my opinion, maybe, I don't know, you know, maybe I see the glass half full.
Even the most liberal person, if they were sitting here as a human being looking at each other, would say, they have a point.
joe rogan
I think liberal people that are objective would see the danger in censorship.
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
And if they didn't, I don't know how they'd call themselves liberal.
How are you going to call yourself progressive when you are anti-communication?
wesley hunt
It's the antithesis of being liberal.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
By not wanting to hear other people's opinion because it doesn't agree with yours is actually opposite of the word liberalism.
joe rogan
Yeah, it really is.
But in this day and age, it's become so tribal that these people, they form these groups and then they live in these thought bubbles and they only want to communicate with people that agree with their ideology.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
And they want it to be confirmed.
They want confirmation bias.
That's what they want.
They want to be surrounded by people that think the same way they do.
And that we're more polarized now than ever.
It's so disheartening.
wesley hunt
I always push back on people that start a question off like this.
Wesley, how could you?
Wrong.
Let me just stop you right there.
joe rogan
What do they say that about?
wesley hunt
Lots of things.
joe rogan
Give me one.
wesley hunt
How could you?
How could you be a black Republican?
joe rogan
Oh, that's an interesting one.
wesley hunt
How could you?
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
It's just the wrong question to ask anybody.
joe rogan
Right.
wesley hunt
The question is, is why are you or why do you?
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
Either you're seeking to condemn or you're seeking to understand.
If you're seeking to understand, you're asking the question why because you want to learn something.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
If you're asking how do you or how could you, you've already made your mind up.
joe rogan
Right.
You're casting judgment with your question.
wesley hunt
You've already done it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
How much grief do you get for being black and being Republican at the same time?
wesley hunt
I wouldn't say grief.
I do get a lot of pushback.
I get a lot of pushback on social media, as you could probably imagine, until somebody sits down and actually have a conversation with me.
joe rogan
Right.
wesley hunt
And then all of a sudden...
joe rogan
You're reasonable.
unidentified
All of a sudden.
joe rogan
Well, I can't imagine anybody listening to this conversation not thinking you're reasonable.
wesley hunt
Right.
joe rogan
But if you look at a tweet or sound bites, you look at a brief thing, and you try to categorize someone, the absence of nuance is very dangerous.
wesley hunt
Yes, it is.
joe rogan
And eliminating nuance from clearly nuanced discussions.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
Human beings are nuanced.
wesley hunt
Yes, we are.
joe rogan
Yeah, I mean, there's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
wesley hunt
We are complicated.
unidentified
Super.
wesley hunt
So accept that.
joe rogan
Right.
And to try to boil someone down to a quote, or to a demographic, or to any simplistic interpretation of a person.
wesley hunt
It's impossible to do that.
joe rogan
It's not wise.
wesley hunt
Yes, sir.
joe rogan
And when people do it, they're being disingenuous, and they're being sneaky.
wesley hunt
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, but that's more often now than not.
wesley hunt
It is.
joe rogan
That's the problem.
wesley hunt
It is.
joe rogan
And we accept it.
And if it goes along with our belief system or our ideology, we're like, yeah!
wesley hunt
We roll with it.
joe rogan
Fuck him!
wesley hunt
Yeah.
unidentified
Yeah.
wesley hunt
Part of my, I don't know, I believe in serendipity, and I'm just, I don't know how I got here at this time, at this place, but I do think I'm here for a reason, because This is a courageous thing to be able to have these conversations and then take it out to the public, specifically in politics and this climate today.
But it's kind of my mandate.
I have to do it.
Because if Dan doesn't do it and if I don't do it, then literally nobody's going to do it.
joe rogan
Well, I'm very excited about the entrance of all these veterans getting into politics.
wesley hunt
Thank you.
joe rogan
I think it's very important.
wesley hunt
It is.
joe rogan
And I think it's something that's been missing and lacking.
People with real-world experience on these subjects that we discuss.
wesley hunt
Yes.
Yes, I agree.
joe rogan
I'm happy there's guys like you and Dan and many others that are entering into politics.
And I think people that have experienced the kind of things that you guys have experienced, there's an education that cannot be acquired any other way.
wesley hunt
That's right.
Literally trial by fire.
joe rogan
Yeah, literally.
I'm just glad that no one's censored podcasts yet.
wesley hunt
I don't think you let that happen, brother.
joe rogan
I'll try not to, but fuck, man.
People get crazy depending upon who gets into politics or who gets into power.
I mean, look, there are...
Dictatorships that are currently going on in this world.
The idea that that could never happen here is preposterous.
Human beings can fall into all sorts of traps and they have throughout history.
We are aware of those traps and we think, well, that won't happen to us.
wesley hunt
We're always one generation away.
joe rogan
Yes.
Or one tragedy away.
wesley hunt
Or one tragedy away.
joe rogan
Yeah, or one decision that we make to give up rights in order to have safety.
And then, boom, next thing you know, guess what?
wesley hunt
We've lost it all.
joe rogan
Someone's checking all your emails.
wesley hunt
Yep.
joe rogan
Guess what?
You can't express an opinion.
Or, guess what?
You can't talk shit.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Like, men like to get together and talk shit.
unidentified
That's not what we do.
joe rogan
And we're like, yeah, and we say a bunch of shit that we probably don't even really mean, but it's funny to say.
Right?
Right.
Especially soldiers.
Dude, I've been around so many.
Seals have the most fucked up sense of humor.
Oh my god, some of these guys that work security for me?
Holy shit, they're hilarious.
wesley hunt
It's dark.
joe rogan
But fun.
unidentified
But funny.
joe rogan
Yes, but if you took some of that shit and put it in a quote, you'd be like, oh my god, lock that person away!
wesley hunt
Out of context, yes.
joe rogan
That person's terrible!
This is what they're planning.
wesley hunt
Like, that's not what he's planning!
unidentified
No!
He's talking shit!
joe rogan
Don't you know what talking shit is?
God, especially with alcohol involved.
Oh my God.
And everyone talking shit knows it's talking shit, and that's why everybody's laughing.
That's right.
wesley hunt
We are all in on the joke.
joe rogan
Yes, talking shit is a very important part of human beings.
unidentified
It is.
joe rogan
It's a very important part of men.
Men and discourse.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
If a man can't talk shit with me, I can't talk to them.
unidentified
I can't, because you can't talk shit.
wesley hunt
Come on, man.
joe rogan
Come on, man.
Yeah, you can't talk a little shit.
It's fun.
Like the half smile while you're saying things and I'm smiling too.
wesley hunt
You know what you're looking at.
joe rogan
We both know what we're doing.
We're talking shit.
Yeah, I think talking shit is very important.
wesley hunt
That's okay.
joe rogan
It gets demonized so much and it becomes a part of this whole narrative of toxic masculinity.
Listen, if it wasn't for toxic masculinity, we'd all be speaking German.
So shut the fuck up.
wesley hunt
That's exactly right.
joe rogan
Yeah.
wesley hunt
That's exactly right.
Because it was toxic masculinity that stormed the beaches of Norway.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's not toxic.
wesley hunt
In a barrage of machine gun fire.
joe rogan
It's just masculinity.
And by the way, here's the dirty secret.
Women love masculine men.
Sorry, guys.
Sorry, dorks.
You're not going to fix that.
wesley hunt
You're not going to fix that.
joe rogan
You're not going to change that.
That's just how it is.
We're animals.
Human beings are animals.
That's right.
wesley hunt
We are animals.
joe rogan
Yeah, we're complicated, though.
wesley hunt
We are complicated animals.
joe rogan
And you can't boil us down to some fucking ridiculous, Disney-fied narrative that you'd like us to fall into.
But there's an inclination to do that today.
Roy Jones Jr. talked about it on the podcast.
He's like, they're trying to neuter men.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
And that is how it feels.
They're trying to socially neuter men to get them to fall into a pattern that they would like because it's easier to control people in that way.
And also, it eliminates the kind of competition that you can't win.
If you're a nerdy, feminine man and you view toxic masculinity, you view men who are very masculine as something you could never be, You want to try to eliminate that or you want to try to control that.
And you see a lot of that.
You see a lot of it from people that have had bad interactions with men.
wesley hunt
There's a way to be tactful and there's a way to be respectful and still maintain your masculinity.
joe rogan
Yes, but you also, I was going to get to, you see a lot of shitty men that want to neuter women.
Which is absurd.
Yeah.
They don't like strong women.
They don't like power because they've had bad relationships with women or they've had women that didn't like them or that they feel bad about their relationships with them because the women dismissed them or weren't interested in them or just – it's just – See, when you do that, then you don't have a Wesley and a Rendon Hunt because my sister went to West Point first.
wesley hunt
She is a strong woman that actually set quite the example for my brother and I. That's why we all three win.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
So why would I want to take away her strength and her power and her individuality to actually lead men and women and also be a good example for her brothers?
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
Who are two masculine guys.
joe rogan
But here's the thing.
Strong people appreciate strong people.
wesley hunt
Period.
joe rogan
Weak people don't like strong people.
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
That's where it comes down to.
The masculine-feminine thing, that's a trap.
There's a lot of strong women who love masculine men.
There's a lot of strong men who love powerful women.
They don't fear it because they're not weak.
wesley hunt
A few days ago, I got to meet Nikki Haley in person.
She is remarkable.
She's a strong leader.
joe rogan
I don't know who Nikki Haley is.
wesley hunt
Nikki Haley.
She's the former governor of South Carolina, UN ambassador under President Trump.
Unbelievable.
You can tell she's strong.
She is level-headed.
She is extremely shrewd.
She is extremely smart.
She's amazing.
And I'm sitting at the table with her, and it's me and her and my wife and Dan and Tara Crenshaw.
And we're sitting there, and I'm looking at Dan.
Dan's looking at me.
I'm like, she is incredible.
That has nothing to do with her being a woman or me flying Apaches or Dan being a seal.
She is a strong person.
She's a strong woman.
She is a leader.
joe rogan
Exactly.
Exactly.
That's what we need to know.
wesley hunt
And that's what we need to get to.
joe rogan
Yes, that's what we need to get to.
We need to celebrate powerful people.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
People who are strong, people who are leaders.
wesley hunt
And want to stand for something.
joe rogan
Yes, people who exemplify what we enjoy seeing in others.
wesley hunt
That's right.
joe rogan
Great character, great intelligence, integrity.
wesley hunt
Right.
joe rogan
Someone who's interesting.
wesley hunt
Mental strength.
joe rogan
Yes.
wesley hunt
Yes.
joe rogan
All those things, we should really reinforce that.
wesley hunt
Celebrate those things.
joe rogan
Don't demonize it.
wesley hunt
Celebrate it.
joe rogan
Exactly.
Exactly.
What else?
What other subjects do you think we need to cover?
I think you made an awesome point today.
I really do.
wesley hunt
I think we covered it all.
joe rogan
I hope these motherfuckers vote for you.
I really do.
unidentified
Yeah, me too.
joe rogan
I hope they get out.
I hope we get the word out and they see this podcast and they go, oh, okay.
wesley hunt
Me too.
joe rogan
Me too.
wesley hunt
We're working hard at it.
And again, I just want to say always, always, always, I am an American first and I'm proud of it.
You can't tell me this is not the greatest experiment in history of this world.
And I'm just blessed to be a part of it.
joe rogan
You can't tell me that either.
wesley hunt
You cannot tell me otherwise.
joe rogan
No.
No, I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
And I love the guys like you are out there.
wesley hunt
Thank you, brother.
joe rogan
Trying to represent America correctly.
wesley hunt
Thank you, brother.
I appreciate you.
Thank you.
joe rogan
My pleasure.
Tell people one more time what district, how to get after it.
wesley hunt
Sure.
It's Houston, Texas, Congressional District 7. My website is WesleyForTexas.com.
joe rogan
Wesley for Texas.
Thank you, sir.
wesley hunt
Thank you, brother.
joe rogan
Appreciate it very much.
wesley hunt
Awesome.
Thank you.
joe rogan
Wesley Hunt, ladies and gentlemen.
You know what to do.
Get out there.
Vote for him.
wesley hunt
Thank you, sir.
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