From Combat to Campaigns: Sheen Mayberry on Veterans, Politics, and Leadership

Sheen Mayberry shares his journey from military service to politics and nonprofit leadership. This episode explores personal growth, leadership, and why veterans must step forward to shape the future.

In This Episode:

• Military transition and growth
 • Veterans in politics
 • Leadership lessons
 • Political system realities
 • Community and purpose

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Chapters:
00:00 Military Transition and Personal Growth
 02:51 Veteran Leadership and Identity
 05:51 Why Sheen Joined the Military
 08:59 Early Military Challenges and Lessons
 11:56 Military Setbacks and Resilience
 15:07 Turning Points and Personal Development
 18:03 Finding Purpose After Service
 20:58 Career Transition and Leadership
 23:48 Civil Affairs and Special Operations Role
 25:14 Military Leadership Lessons
 26:14 Transition from Military to Politics
 29:32 Entering Political Campaigns
 31:44 Climbing the Political Ladder
 33:47 The Reality of Campaign Life
 35:56 Money and Political Influence
 39:31 Campaign Challenges and Lessons
 41:28 Nonprofit Leadership Challenges
 43:33 Networking and Leadership Development
 44:50 Political Landscape Reality
 47:37 Political System Challenges
 50:00 Disconnect Between Leaders and Citizens
 54:45 Why Veterans Must Lead
 01:00:53 The Future of Veteran Leadership
 01:05:03 Hope and Purpose After Service

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Transcript

Redefining Opportunity And Self-Worth

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It's different being in this phase of my life or like before, like at one point you're just like, fuck, any opportunity, any opportunity, I'll take anything. And then you get to a point where you're like, you understand your strength, your skills. What we do as veterans is really minimize our lived experience when we get on the outside for a long time until you have like great awakening. You have that ability to see, like, oh, wait a second. I may not fit the role of conventional hire for this, but I'm a fucking badass when it comes to this because I learned how to do it from having to watch other people's success and analyze it and study it.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Back in my 20s, when I was, you know, I'm actually doing a school project on this. So, like, you and I are similar, we're both going to school. Like, we have multiple sources of income. And so it gives us that leeway to say, no, I don't want to take this opportunity. Because I remember back in my 20s when I was all I was doing was working full-time, starting out my professional career. And like my resume wasn't that extensive. And every job interview I had, I placed so much like credence on whether or not I got that job. And then if I didn't, I was crushed. But then if I did get it, I was like, whoo. But now, like lately, I've been interviewing for jobs too. And uh, I'm not doing aggressively like I was because I'm kind of like maybe I'll return to work soon, maybe I won't. But if they shut me down, then that's cool. There's plenty of other opportunities out there. Glad to be back. Uh super glad to be back, actually. So I have me on.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

It was one of those one of those episodes where I was I was editing. It was late at night, 2 a.m. And I'm editing. I'm like, man, fuck. I didn't really do a good job leading us down this discussion. Like there's more meat on this bone. I didn't want people to take away from it and be like, fuck, man, he really dropped the ball. He didn't really discover it. Everything that Sheen had, he you served up a lot of friggin' dingers, and I just missed, man. I was at bat and missing.

Why Veteran Voices Matter In Politics

SPEAKER_00 1:57

But uh now more than ever, we're being reminded that the political space is absent of veteran voices, individuals that really care about what's going on in our country. And one thing from your from our first attempt that I didn't focus on was your attempts at getting in there, being willing to get in at the local level, at the local level to change things. And uh that that, you know, that's something that a lot of people, especially our young veterans, are trying to do right

Sheen’s Rural Florida Roots

SPEAKER_00 2:29

now. So, dude, let's dive into your story. Take us all the way back before your attempts at getting into the uh the local movers and shakers in the political realm. Tell us about Sheen, man. How did uh how did Sheen grow up and how did he find himself in the service?

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, I'm actually excited that we're we're doing this episode again because it's like you said, reflecting and going back. And I made the mistake, and that's another thing I've learned in my 30s. Hey, I messed up too. I rambled too much. And I have this when I got I got I got excited in the episode, I was kind of rambling and I was like, I needed to go. Rambling's good. Yeah, I needed to open it up for you to answer more questions. Yeah, man. Yeah, so um I'm Sheen Mayberry, um, veteran of the the Army, Navy. I was uh a guardsman reservist the whole time for 13 years overall. Uh grew up in um in rural Florida, a little town called Okeechobee. I think you and I discussed that.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

You're in Florida too, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So right now I'm temporarily removed from Florida. I'm up in Alabama, but uh I know Central Florida pretty well because my roots, my my early years of uh a transplant and a hard-earned American citizenship. I I lived in Paisley, Florida growing up for a few years. Um, a lot of people think of Florida as this like bustling urban area, and they always think Orlando, Disney World. There's a lot of rural areas in Florida. And one of those tiny places that was an absolute hellscape and shithole was Paisley, Florida. I'm proud I escaped it. Glad I don't live there. And I don't care how well it's developed. And if you're listening right now and you happen to be of Paisley, Florida, fuck you. No, I'm gonna edit that out. I'm gonna edit that.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

No, I mean, there's a lot of ho-dung towns in Florida that you drive or like every time I go to Florida, well, I generally take the same route, Turnpike, I-95, you know, you name it. But that you can discover new places in Florida. And uh, but yeah, starting out, so um I live, I you know, I was born in Palm Beach County, Florida. Uh grew up with my mom, and my dad and my my mom, they split up when I was four. So my dad lives in uh Broward County. He and I are pretty close now. Um, but uh my uh mom divorced my stepdad when seven, you know, so uh she went she let me let uh sent me to go live with my grandma in good old Okeechobee, Florida, Fort Durham, Florida. So I grew up a little bit in Palm Beach, knew Palm Beach well, went to go move to Fort Durham, Florida. And then I was also growing up, I was pretty involved on the treasure coast, like Bero Beach, Fort Pierce, uh just because church was there, school, you name it. So uh grandma, you know, didn't have a lot of money growing up. She was retired. Uh my her late husband who had passed away retired from South Florida Large Management. So she had like a combined income of like social security, his retirement. So, you know, I I never went without and I had a good wholesome upbringing, I would say. Very sheltered for sure. Uh, but she instilled in me, you know, hard work. Like I was seven, eight years old out in Fortune, Florida, cutting down trees, mowing the grass. Uh, and uh it was it was in the summers it got really hot, but I look back on it with some fondness. I actually went and visited a few years later before she passed away, and I would realize it was such a humble upbringing because I grew up in this modular, she called it a modular home, but it's basically a trailer. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, there's there's fancy ways to church up trailer talk.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

But uh my neighborhood, it my neighborhood was really unique uh because next door this family bought it and they turned it, they built like a new McMansion. It was like during the whole housing crisis. So this family moved in, they build this McMansion, they then get uh pretty much fucked, you know, due to the whole financial crisis. So the owner of the gold corral in Oakabi, Florida, bought that house. And so we had them next door, halfway down the street. I used to, as a kid, you know, I'm out and about, you know, riding my bike or whatever. There was uh I didn't realize this until later, but I would walk by this this trailer and there's dogs and barbed wire, and you smell these chemicals. I realized later he was cooking uh some kind of something. Oh fuck. Yeah. And so really interesting area, and then there was some gossip in the neighborhood. There was like this little airstrip nearby, and uh uh

Enlisting Dreams And Guard Realities

SPEAKER_01 6:46

later my friend and I were watching a documentary about the whole like Colombian drug thing, whatever. Yeah. We have a sneaking submission suspicion that there was drug runners flying into that airstrip and then taking it down to South Florida. Oh, bro, a hundred percent care fucking teed.

unknown 7:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

If your neighbors cooking chemicals in a remote part of Florida, chances are you're not stretching the truth to believe that. Yeah, man. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

But uh, yeah, you know, growing up, I I had the the full rural experience. Um, you know, I was a kid digging trenches and foxholes of what I thought military was. I wanted to join the military from a young age. So, um, so yeah, fast forward, uh, Florida Army National Guard, which I know you and I are both acquainted with. Yeah, yeah. Uh I joined the uh split training option. Uh I it took for forever because my grandma, that was during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. And so me being 16 at the time, all I wanted to do was deploy. Like I was watching the news. I was jealous of seeing the soldiers in their ACUs, you know, getting all this glory. And I was like, dude, I want to be. I want to if there was an option for me at that time to be 16, and I was like, I was like, hey, let me I'm gonna negotiate with the military, let me finish basic and send me over as like a non-MOS. I'll I'll do it. You know, I didn't know the full spectrum. So I joined the split training option as an 11 Bravo. It took forever for my grandma to sign the uh parental consent because uh she didn't want me to go to the front lines, and then finally she did did agree, but uh go to MEPS, you know, uh and you know how it is. Like you were 18 series, right? That's all you want to do. Uh go to MEPS and the recruiter's like, hey, you got colorblindness, so you can't be an 11 Bravo. And I'm like, oh man, no, because you know how it is, right? Like you were 18 series, or or did you start out as 11 Bravo?

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Like I was uh when I first started as when I was a kid, when I went to the guard, I was a 95 Bravo. Back then, that was an MP. Um and then I reclassed and went active duty later on. But yeah, man, same thing. You're a kid, and the thing that I always tell people, I feel like the National Guard is predatory because it makes it seem like it's it's it's just as good as everything else. And dude, when you're a kid, like I had very like similar circumstances, but like I was already out of the house. I ran away from home, and that National Guard paid even when I was in uh in high school, they paid for drill weekend. So I was like, shit, I'll make I think at the time it was like 200 bucks, 200 like 270 bucks or something. As a kid in high school when I went down for drill weekend. So I saw that as like, dude, that's groceries dog, that makes no sense. But at the same time, like and and and you let me know, like if once you get in the guard and you're young, it it feels like you're getting cheated. It feels like you're not quite there, you're not and it's like deployments aren't coming like the you know, you see on TV, and it's like, what the fuck? I thought this was I thought this was the army. I thought this was the main deal. No, I mean you're absolutely right. So like This episode of Security Health is brought to you by Dr. Taylor Bosley and Persistian Wellness Group. Let's be real. By now, a lot of New Year's resolutions have already fizzled out, life gets busy, motivation drops, and health ends up on the back burner. But here's the truth: there's no better time to start than right now. Persistian Wellness Group specializes in hormone optimization and hormone health, delivering first-like care and treatment right to your door. If you've been dealing with low energy, brain fog, or sleep, or stalled performance, hormone imbalance, maybe the myths of feast. Dr. Taylor Bosley and his team take a data-driven, individualized approach to help you get back to operating at your fast. Security all listeners receive 25% off their initial consultation when they use Security Hall 25 at checkout. Click the link in the episode description to find out more and get started today.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

My recruiter comes back to me and he's like, Well, we can do 27 Delta or 88 Mike. And I was like, I honestly looking back, I should have gone with 27 Delta because they would attach me to the MP unit out of Fort Pierce. Uh, that was the armory I enlisted out of, but I was like, yeah, the recruiter's like, well, 88 mic is basically infantry, like you're gonna do convoys, and I'm like, I guess, whatever. So I reluctantly sign up. I was so crushed I had I didn't have an 11 Bravo contract. That's what I want to do. And then, you know, I go to basic and all that. Um, and I come back to do the RSP thing. And I remember it hit me so hard being 17 was that uh at RSP, we had a lot of 11 Bravos that were recruiters, and they also sent a couple of the recruiters to drill sergeant school. They were all 11 Brabos and they would just be like, You're pogged, you know, you're out of infantry. And I it just it kind of stabbed me in the heart because I wanted that 11 Bravo contract. But no, like uh it did feel like I was being short a little bit because I finished up my AIT and all that good jazz, and then I enrolled in my local community college, which was my which is why I'm in school now because I also I didn't do well. But uh same, it's same exact yeah. They got us, they got us sheet. Yeah, I mean, I'm making like 200 bucks you know as a E3, E4 at drill. I got my 600 bucks 1606 GI bill, which hey, praise the Lord for the G uh post on 11 now. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I mean, like, my unit had just come back to my rack, so they all had their combat patches, which they had all fallen under like the South Carolina National Guard. But it was like, I did, I did, it was like I was looking around at my unit, and they were, you know, look, they're good people, right? I mean, there was definitely some folks there that were like, you're kind of overweight, you know. I don't, this is not what I signed up for. I wanted, I pictured myself going to like, you know, I want to be an infantry unit, maybe try out for the scout sniper. And like here I am doing PMCS on busted up PLS trucks. Um but yeah, I mean, like you said, like I felt cheap. I mean, it was I felt like it was good money, but like for a weekend gig. But I I definitely developed some attitudes that

Hitting Bottom: Skipping Drill And Fallout

SPEAKER_01 12:55

bit me in the ass later.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Oh, dude, yeah, it's so easy. It's you take a good kid, put him in that environment, and the veneer, the facade kind of like falls off, and then you see, like you said, you see the individuals that aren't quite soldier material, not trying to hit on you guys in the guard. Please don't take it that way. It's just it's one of those things. You you you have an idea what it's gonna be, then it's not that, and you can spiral, you can quickly become very jaded.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Yeah, no, and I mean that it that's exactly what happened to me. Like uh, you know, so like this is where my my story turned a little bit dark, but I did bounce back. Um we love that.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Dive into that. This is what's that's uh that's uh the meat right there, it's meat potatoes right there.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Yep. So this was before I jumped into the whole political thing or whatever, but like you know, so how it is, you know, you come back from training, and in my head I was thinking, like, dude, I I graduated Army basic training from Fort Jackson and I'm gonna 88 Mike. And I was like living at home at the time, going to school. I was failing my classes because I'd met my first girlfriend, that's distracting me. Um, and I'm trying to apply for jobs at the time, like anything, like hey, Wendy's or like Publix, whatever. And nobody was was biting. I finally got a job from at Wendy's, but I got fired because like three weeks because again, I'm distracted. Um so um I so my grandma end up ends up kicking me out in like 2012. Oh, and before this too, uh my dad giving me this like Mercedes car. Uh oh shit. So I really burn it and then I gotta take it. I didn't pay the ticket, my license gets expired, uh, or gets suspended. I'm sorry. Uh these credit cards that I'm not paying off because I max them out, they get sent to collections, and then I have like no income. Uh and then then the VA comes back and they're like, hey, you were skipping classes, you owe us money. So then my I don't have that, and my drill pay is being taken. So damn. So everything. Boom, boom, boom. Yep. So I'm like thinking, I'm like, so I'm in the E4 at the time. Uh I got promoted fairly average, you know, but like I'm like, dude, this is the only thing I have. So she kicks me out. I ended up uh walking from Okeechobee down to I was trying to get reach my unit in West Palm Beach, and I'd called them before and I was like, look, this is my only option. Like, I don't know where else to go. And they're like, my platoon sergeant, she was also one of the 42 alpha. She's like, Yeah, come on down. Uh I walked for like 20 miles that night, and I was still wearing my ACU pants and the weird tan shirt we had at the time. You probably remember the ACU. That'll oh, I remember them fondly.

unknown 15:41

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

So Martin County Sheriff stops me. Uh they're like, we got a call from a lady. She thought you were a kid. I looked so young then. She she thought I was like some high schooler that you know, to add insult to injury, you're a runaway kid. So luckily, uh the deputies, uh, there was a sergeant in my platoon that he was uh a deputy sheriff on that that same agency. And I mentioned, I'm like, hey, do you know Sergeant so-and-so? And the deputy knew it. And he was like, Hey, I'm gonna call him real quick. He calls him and he's like, Oh, yeah, this adds up. And he put him on the phone. He's like, I'm talking to the sergeant. He's like, Look, Mayberry, like, whatever's going on, like, don't worry, we got you. I'm gonna call the unit. So the police, they're so cool. They uh they give me a ride to the Palm Beach County line. And this is like down in like Okeechobee, like the sugar canes, like Paokee or whatever. I've you know, and uh they then give me a drive. Palm Beach County Sheriff then gives me a drive to the unit because like they had to stop by the the prison that was over there anyway, but they were like super cool. And so uh the unit ends up helping me out. They're like, hey, we're gonna get you placed with like this veterans organization, which I wasn't really a veteran at the time, but I was a slick sleeve E4 with like two knees. But um, they helped me out, they placed me in like this like kind of home with this lady out in Wellington, Florida. Super nice house. And I didn't realize this though until later. Um, so she gave me a room, and I'm thinking, like, dude, I'm in like the suburbs of like Wellington, you know, like the world is my oyster. Well, I started this crappy job uh selling like windshields door to door, and I actually started like doing pretty well at it. Like uh basically it got me out of my my comfort zone. I was talking to people, I came fairly decent, but then she gave me a bill like two weeks later of like, hey, end of the month, you gotta pay this. And it's like a lot of money. I don't have the money for this. So I ended up moving out of that and moved in with like six co-workers in um Palm Beach, Florida. I'm sleeping on the floor, you know, like and I'm thinking, like, can it get any worse than this?

SPEAKER_00 17:44

And oftentimes when you say that and you put it out loud into the universe, it uh it tends to get worse.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Yep. Yep, and so and it is funny in retrospect. I look back on I'm like, I'm so glad I went through that. So I uh I start missing drill like an idiot. And my and this guy, like, I have mixed feelings on him because I understand he's like a company commander, he's got a job. Oh, sorry, my computer unplugged, he's got a job to do, but uh slick sleeve uh company commander. He originally had been like one of the the rear debt leader when the unit deployed, and uh he starts busting me down, and I get it. He's gotta impose you know his command, right? At the same time, like I'm going through things. I remember checking my pay and it busted me down E4 to E3, and I'm just crushed. And I'm like, you know what? I'm just gonna skip drill. So I I end up skipping drill. I'm working this crappy sales

Climbing Back Via The Army Reserve

SPEAKER_01 18:38

job. We end up moving to uh we end up relocating to Orlando to the main office, and uh the guard ends up chaptering me out. They end up chaptering me out. So um I ended up getting away from that group of coworkers just they were bad influence. Like I was like, I was partying a little bit too much, you know, just not focused on the right things. I'm like, you know what, I want to make a change for the better. Like the past year and a half, everything has gone downhill. Clearly, whatever I'm doing is not working out. So I moved in with a buddy of mine in Orlando, Florida. A buddy of mine I actually knew from the the the 88 Mike unit, um, he got chaptered out for high and late. So well, so anyway, guard chapters me out. Uh, I ended up working at Home Depot, and then this is where I started getting into the political work. Yeah. So um some stuff happens with that friend. He was like mismanaging some money, so I ended up moving out of there. Uh, but so I ended up by this point, it's like middle summer 2013, and this is a summer where it all turns around. So, so mind you, at this point, I'm chapter out of the guard on um all the army websites. It says I'm an E1. Uh I'm working at Home Depot, and I had applied to University of Central Florida, which somehow I got accepted. And so I'm sitting there in this nice lake house in um what county is that up there, just north of Orlando.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

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SPEAKER_01 20:54

It's not uh Orange County, it's the one north where Okoe and all that is, or O V. Well, anyway, that that happened. So I'm like, you know what? I'm looking up in the internet, and this was before we had Gemini and ChatGPT and all this bullshit, and I'm like, how can I get back in the army? And I see this article of like, yeah, you can get back into the reserve through a loophole. So I'm like, yeah, fuck it, I'll try it. You know, I'm sleeping on, you know, I'm renting this room for 300 bucks a month. I only have my Home Depot money. I feel like a piece of shit for getting chaptered out of the guard. Uh so I go and visit this career counselor. And so, oh, and mind you too, during this time, I was driving around on my 49cc scooter, which gets stolen from Home Depot.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

So like you might look at it, yeah. This is I gotta tell you, but I've heard this is not good.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

It couldn't get any worse. Every time I turn around, like, it's like I'm losing this, I'm getting kicked out of here, whatever. So, and this whole time I'm living off of like 800 bucks a month, if that. So, so I I I ride a bike 20 miles down to visit this Army Reserve career counselor on the phone. He's like, You seem like a good guy. I'll hear you out. I show up all sweaty. Uh, and uh he's like, All right, so tell me your story. I'm like, look, I was in the guard, I'm going AWA from drill. You know, here's how he's like, All right, I'll look it up. He looks in the system with the other career counselor, they're like, Oh, they didn't fuck you. They're like, they just chaffed you out, they put you in IRR, and your RE code was okay. So, like, you're good, you know, like we'll find you a unit. Like, he's like, but here, here's the thing. I'm about to retire, so whatever unit I put you in, you're gonna be the last succession I make, so don't fuck it up. I'm like, all right, yes, Sergeant, I got you. So we go to visit Civil Affairs. Uh, there's like this huge reserve compound with all these units. They won't take me. They're like, what does this guy have to offer? He's like an E1 that's got shit. Like, we're not taking him. Okay, and I'm like, fuck, I want to be civil affairs. Because I'm in my head, which I don't, you probably worked with Civil Affairs a lot. In my head, I thought civil affairs were these badasses that were like kicking indoors and stuff like that. But I don't know what you probably know more about them than I do.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Oh, yeah, civil affairs is our special operations and they're made up of some great dudes. Um, they have a very different mission set. They often fancy themselves as the foreign civil dignitary guys that can do both kicking indoors and speak eloquently. And no shade to civil affairs, you know, fucking green beret. But we need we I love those guys. Those guys are awesome. They have their own mission, they have their own uh talents, and um, they're part of the brotherhood, man. They do some great stuff. I have had the the personal pleasure of working alongside some amazing individuals um that were part of Civil Affairs, great dudes, um, great gals, too. Great individuals, and I can't say enough good stuff about them. Uh, unlike PsyOps, we can't say anything good about PsyOps, and you know why. I'll just play. No, but Civil Affairs would have been a great friggin' uh path for you, man. That stinks. Uh well stinks.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

I was able to do some cool stuff in the Navy later, but uh, I'll get to that. But 88 Mike unit takes me. They're like, yeah, fuck it. We need people. So I show up to the unit, um, and then I started going to drill. And to close out that part of the story, basically, they promoted me back to E4 within a year. Uh, it was a good unit, it was good people. My my sergeant, I showed up, he's like, How long have you been in? At this point, like three or four years, and I was in E1, and he's like, Yeah, just keep your head down. They made me the company guide on dude, you know, whatever that promoted me, and uh, I have nothing to say but thank you to those people. Like, I showed up, I kept my head down. Um, but so this is where it starts getting the political stuff. So uh that later that fall, things were heading in the right direction. Um I got a new scooter.

First Steps Into Campaign Field Work

SPEAKER_02 24:47

Yay.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

We have to emphasize that. That is things, Sheen is looking up, things are going great. Got back in the guard, got the E4, and to put an icing on the cake, he got a new scooter. Got my new 49cc scooter.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

So um so I'm at a college Republicans meeting at UCF, and uh the they had a rep come in from Americans for Prosperity. It's one of the freedom partners, and they're like, hey, we're hiring door knocker for 10 bucks an hour. Who wants a job? And I'm I had just gotten fired from Home Depot. I won't go into that.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

But uh No, no, no, no. We're gonna we brought you back. Let's go. We gotta circle back. What happened at Home Depot?

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Yeah, so Home Depot, um I had, I'm trying to remember. Yeah, yeah. So I'd gone to drill. Uh so I worked Monday through Friday. I got up early every morning at like three to go to um to work. I was like the this was back before this other team took it over, but I was the dude that basically did inventory and scanned the labels.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

Yeah, yeah. Everything that comes in and uh I used to work at Ace Hardware, so I know about uh order day and managing and having to that's a pain in the ass, man. Taking in bringing everything in on freight day is a is a dude. It's funny how many things intersect. So when I was, you know, on my own in high school, I'm I'm a senior having to pay for room and board and make ends meet. I would take those late shifts. I would come in late at night to do freight night and scan everything in and process all the orders and restock the shelves at the uh the Windsor Ace hardware. Yeah, I couldn't, but you know, I couldn't I couldn't have done it without that job. That does that's a big reminder of all these things that when you look back on, you're like, fuck, I have to do this. Like, no, no. You get to do it. You get to do it. God isn't just gonna give you whatever you're praying for. You know, those 200 bucks, those 300 bucks, like that, that made a difference back then, man. Like those shifts, uh, the shift work that you had to do to get to where you're at today, it's a it's a it's a blessing. We don't see it then, but now, definitely, man. Like getting up at three where you were, I would imagine you were riding your scooter in.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

So yeah, um, before I bought the let's see, so I got gained back to the Army Reserve, and then I had some extra money, so I bought a $400 scooter, but that whole summer there, I was riding my bike into work every day.

unknown 27:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

But yeah, basically, as far as how I got shit canned, um I uh what is it? So it's a Friday, and I ended up work. I go to drill that weekend and I come back Monday. And so, like, you know, any 21-year-old, I'm not investing in sleep. So I'm in work, and oh, actually, they here's what had happened. They had uh eliminated that position, so they moved me over to lumber department. And I didn't want to, you know, I didn't want to be in one of the customer departments because like you gotta answer questions and all that. And lumber sucks. Like you're it's funny now because now I'm a CB carpenter or was, and like I know how to do this shit like the back of my hand. Um, but uh I'm dealing with all these contractors and like they're very uh abrupt. And I'm I'm fairly abrupt and um well, I can't be obnoxious now, but like this guy like snapped his fingers at me, and I you know, like it's and I I got so upset, I'm like, don't you snap your fingers at me? And uh they fired me. Like, you know, nothing, nothing, no fight or anything happened, it was just a little argument. But the Home Depot, they don't they don't fuck around, like they fired me. And uh yeah, that's how it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

It's it's the customers, uh, the the customer service stuff, man. Like is uh and you you kind of looking back, I bet you probably understand it, but in the moment it's it's hard because it's like fuck dude, I needed this. Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely. That's where politics comes in. All right. Well, take us back there. So you're a UCF and uh then uh you you start meeting and did you just volunteer for this? Was this a student initiative? What got you involved?

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Yeah, so um I'd run into the college republicans during the net because obviously I'm fired from home people I don't have shit to do, so I spent all day at school. Uh so I'm in the student union, or it's like the outdoor where all the tables are. And I met the college republicans, they're like, hell yeah, come down to a meeting, they're all super cool. I go to the first meeting and uh representative from Americans for prosperity there, which American AFP, uh, I've actually done interviewing with them lately for a couple of roles. Um go maybe going back, but uh they uh the rep comes in, they're like, hey, we're hiring, you know, the the midterms are coming up, we're hiring 10 bucks an hour, come knock doors. I'm like, well, yeah, let's do that. It's more than I made at Home Depot. So uh I show up to this nondescript office in uh downtown Orlando, and it's like awesome. You go in, there's snacks, there's coffee, like I'm learning about politics. Like, this isn't like Home Depot where like, you know, people are like from all different walks, like these are like political people. The thing I noticed is most of my coworkers, they're all college students, but they all had like they came from some memes. Like people are showing up in cars, like you know, their parents are paying for their apartments, and so I was probably you know, I I didn't have what the other people have.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

Yeah, completely you can you can start to tell, like, well, like this is like I'm at the other end of the spectrum. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

So I uh I'm like, you know what, this is my this is my golden ticket. Everything up until this point, I it it's all falling apart. And I was like, if I if I can come back into army the way I did, I can take this and turn it into something. And so um, so I did my internship there. That internship turns into a part-time job. And there was some ups and ups and downs. Like for there was a while they ran out of funding. I had to battle out, and I actually found uh one of the the field directors, the full-time guys that was the territory over, had a position open, and I biked 20 miles and got the job from him. Um, it was narrow there. Like I was like, how am I gonna pay my bills?

SPEAKER_00 30:53

Um so narrow. Never fail. There's one thing I'm taking away from this story. If there's a chance, if there's a chance, Sheen's gonna get on his bike and he's going for it. Yep.

Inside The Money Machine And Influence

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Yeah, I had some jack quads on left. But uh yeah, so I I'm there for two and a half years. Um, and I'm I'm like highly energetic. I definitely rub some feathers, but I was able to to to uh to you know push it out. So Chris Hudson, who's the state director at the time, and I have a lot of thanks to this guy. And and so probably you being in Florida, you know the guy that's running for governor now, Byron Donald. Yep. Chris Hudson is his campaign manager now, which I think is really cool. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Unless I'm mistaken, but thanks to Chris. So Chris believes in me. He's like, hey, listen, there's two criteria I need you to meet before I promote you to full-time. Because in my head, I wanted to be a field director, I wanted that full-time job. $40,000 a year, it's a hell of a lot better than sleeping on the couch making a thousand. He's like, I need you to get a car and I need you to start uh getting volunteers on the door for door knocking. And so I go and I meet that criteria. Um and needless to say, I had coworkers that helped me along the way with various things. But 2015, two years later, I get a full-time job offer after an interview. And this that's where I start getting into politics. So I take over the uh Gainesville, Ocala villages, uh region. And at the time I was still living in Orlando. Um, I I uh rented a room for my friend, but I'm driving up there every day, but like everything changes. Like, so not only am I starting to get involved in politics, I'm like I'm meeting all these big players, right? Like uh I'm I'm starting to become a full-time professional. So like they send me my work laptop, my work phone. I'm getting consistently nice paychecks every two weeks, my standard of living is going up. And so I was in that role for like two and a half years, and I it was cool because I got involved in affordable politics. Like, and you find out about politics that like politicians are just like us. You know, uh like the average person looks at politics and they think, like, this elected official, they're way up there. Yeah, these people are only two or three phone calls away.

SPEAKER_00 32:58

And what were you doing for what was the specifically like what was the you would say like the the actual like day-to-day job?

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Yeah, so starting out when I was part-time, I was strictly knocking doors. Like uh, you have your field director, which is your full-time guy, he generally has three or four part-timers, and they're going out there knocking doors, or if it's raining, they're making phone calls. And you're basically you're trying to get people to go out and vote. So I did that for two and a half years. Then as a part-timer, I started getting involved. I was going to meetings. I would go to meetings to recruit people, getting a little bit more of that field director. I was trying to position myself to be a field director. Then when you become a field director, um, the field director is they're in charge of an assigned area. So, like for me, I had six counties, and your goal there is you're gonna go to meetings, you're gonna promote the organization. If need be, you'll interface with state and local reps on the local level to you know build relationship with them. And then you're also managing that part-time team and also those volunteers.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

So the goal is it it's almost like being a force multiplier, which I know you know in your, but you basically you go into the territory, you build up your your enablers, you know, and then you're just trying to generate as much support and and backing for whoever, you know, is running for for office. And is that generally what you would say?

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Yeah, and then for us in this case, we were uh a nonpartisan organization with conservative leanings and the organization. But our goal ultimately was we were trying to get volunteers, part-timers out there to interface with voters so that way we could get data. And ultimately it leading into the 2014 election and 2016 elections, we were trying to flip Florida so that way, got it. Yeah. So it think of it. The cool thing about AFP is that you've got both parties since AFP, I always say about the conservative side, conservatives, we have much more funding than the left because we have all these special interest groups, right? Which we can get into that later about my thoughts on that. But not only do you have the RNC, but you've got the Coke network organizations out there knocking doors, making phone calls, sending direct mail. And so you're basically the regional rep for those counties.

SPEAKER_02 35:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:08

That brings in like a lot of my uh because I've in in my old age, the the less government, the better. And I really fucking hate lobby groups. I really hate outside entities getting involved. And it it just it it fucking floors me these days to see the amount of power that a corporate that corporations have when it comes to raising funds, man. I feel like like, did you how do you feel being in this space and saying like, because if if you ultimately boils down to money, it boils down to who can get who has the most reach, penetration in the area, and who's got the most money. Do you ever feel like you've, you know, you've seen way too much of how things run on the backside to ever feel like you you really truly believe in the government anymore?

SPEAKER_01 35:57

No, I mean AFP, and and I don't mean this, uh, you know, I believe very much in freedom of speech, so I will speak online because I don't work for anyone right now. And uh doesn't matter if I do work for somebody and they get offended, then don't hire me, you know, fire me, whatever. I have my freedom of speech, and you know, what are you gonna do? Fire me? Cool. But uh, no, with like AFP, for example, uh what I realized was a lot of these organizations, they have a stranglehold on the state legislatures. Like AFP Florida, we had some the Republican House majority in the Florida House and the Senate, um, the the the lobbyists on our side, which is usually the state director, the deputy state director, they have very good relationships with these folks. And so, for example, that organization, one of the means that they hold account uh legislators accountable to their agenda is that during the election cycle, they will help try to get that person re-elected. Then once the election's over, and before that, and then the primary season, right? If there's a primary season and you've kind of pissed off one of these well-funded organizations, they'll send direct mail, they'll send people to knock on the door to either attack or promote the other candidate. And so then when you, let's say once the election's over, you go into the session where they're passing the bills, um, they'll, you know, they'll use some fairly draconian tactics to try to intimidate lawmakers, not in like a physical sense, but like, you know, we would do things like, okay, Senator X or House Member B voted against this. So now what we're gonna do is we're gonna have our entire staff and volunteers call into their district, and then we'll talk to voters, and then we'll connect those voters to their office. So now their office is getting flooded with calls left and right. And guess what? According to the law, these legislators have to respond. So I don't know the nuts and bolts of it, but that's like one of the things. Or secondly, you look at like direct mail. Um, let's say you vote against a certain bill and the company, the special interest group, they don't like it, they'll just send out 20,000 of pieces of direct mail in your your district. And so my viewpoint on it is like, you know, it's it's me being having been

Palm Beach Politics And Ego Checks

SPEAKER_01 38:14

in political work, I haven't done it for five years, but I was getting a little jaded at just how much money is there's is in it. Yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

That seems that seems pretty fucked.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

Yeah. Um so that was a special interest side, you know, and then I I went on to go into the campaign world of Republican politics, which everybody knows everybody's the same, but you know, I went on, I went to uh I went out to Nevada for a bit when Harry Reid retired. I worked on the NRSC's project out there right after that. Um then after that I went to Virginia. I did, I was Dave Bratt's political director on his campaign. Um and so I was getting a little bit of good experience there. After that, I went back to Florida for a bit after 2016. Uh, during the 2016 election, I just got so burnt out I took a year off. So I went to go work for a nonprofit. Uh nonprofits, that's a whole nother set because I go into I'm used to having unlimited money and I go into a nonprofit. Everybody's liberal. Uh, you know, like nobody knows how to run anything. Like, at least on campaigns, like people have Augusto and they're professional. These nonprofits, like, dear God, so dysfunctional.

SPEAKER_00 39:22

Yeah, I've I've seen I've seen that there's there's a there's a a a misconception out there when it comes to the nonprofit space. I I had it for a long time. I thought like, holy shit, all these organizations have to be run by individuals that know exactly what they're doing, well-oiled machine. And then you see some, you you see one that i is ran by by two people. And it's just like, what the fuck are you guys doing? Like, and everything's just last minute, hurry up and and do this, or just wild harebrained ideas, and it's like, holy fuck, like you guys need a lot of help. Like it's crazy. It it's crazy the that but but they're well known, right? They're they're established out there, they're they're trying to do good, but I feel that coming from the military, you have an appreciation for like well-planned out processes, like phases of an operation. And when you run into some of these other organizations that aren't being managed appropriately, that that maybe have like a a very loose idea of of how to do day-to-day operations, it kind of blows your mind. You're just like, fuck, how are you surviving?

SPEAKER_01 40:38

Oh, absolutely. Like when I so after I left AFPE, I did a couple of races in 2016 and I took a break. So I go to work for I got a job offer for Epilepsy Foundation of Florida, South Florida, and uh, you know, about 40, 50 people in the organization statewide, good people. Uh, it was a little liberal for me, but the lady that hires me, she'd come from like corporate sales or something, and good person, good person. But she was the director of development, so they hired me as the development coordinator, and she didn't know what she was doing. And the bosses, the people on Miami who were in charge, they didn't give her any guidance, they didn't like her. And so for me, yeah. So for me, I I kind of had to figure out on the flight. There was no training program, there was nothing. They're just like, go, so I'm managing the fundraising. I hit all my benchmarks, and then during this time, this is when I started figuring out local politics. And so I uh I joined the Chamber of Commerce, Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce. I'm in Palm Beach County, so like the president's backyard, like uh doing chamber of commerce, like you know, and so I'm going to all these meetings, I'm meeting all these people.

SPEAKER_00 41:47

Yeah, and I want to I want to pause right there and reflect something that that's kind of related, but any veteran entrepreneur out there, get plugged into your local chamber of commerce. Get plugged in to your local chamber of commerce. If you're trying to find clients, network, just find a mentor. Anything like that. Get plugged in with your chamber of commerce. If you're if you're running a business that relies on foot traffic or local interaction, that should be your first stop. That should be the first place to meet people. You're gonna meet and it's it helps you get out of your comfort zone, helps you reconnect, helps you start talking and engaging like a normal human being, which a lot of us hate doing, but is absolutely crucial to being successful in business. If you have a storefront, if you're breaking into a market and you need people from your local area to back you and support you, please go to your local chamber of commerce. That's the number one place to go to. And you're gonna meet people that want to help you. That's the crazy part. They'll go out of their way to figure out how to help you, whether it's fundraising, whether it's figuring out how to write that business plan, like go there first. Talk to people, engage. Your local community is vital for your success if you're actually, if you're not like me doing something that's remote and digital, you know, you know, it's not gonna help me to go there and sit down and talk about podcasting. Vast majority of those people will be like, What the fuck's a podcast?

SPEAKER_01 43:09

And it won't help me, but it could help you. No, Chamber of Commerce, absolutely. Because like when I was at that nonprofit for a year, I was doing going to Chamber of Commerce meetings. I was meeting all these local officials in Palm Beach County and all that. And then so then moving into like tw late 2017, I went to go work for the RNC. The RNC opened up the spot and we're heading into the 2018 midterms. I'm pretty much the only guy down there that because Palm Beach doesn't have a lot of younger people, and so I get the job. Uh, it was a cool experience because I had all the connections from the Chamber of Commerce and all these local races, which I later got involved in. But uh the it was RNC job. I was gonna be the field director for Congressional District 18. I also worked alongside Conks and Mass team, good people. He's a double APT EOD vet. Yep, yep. Um, I don't agree with all his issues now. Now on certain things, but fact. Yeah, I'm glad you said it. Um he's very pro something that I think that we need to be a little Don't say it.

SPEAKER_00 44:10

Don't say it, cause the motherfuckers that run Riverside they're based out of Israel. That's all I'm gonna say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:19

But overall, good people. Um that was a a very that race right there was where I learned a lot. I learned a lot about myself and a lot about other people.

SPEAKER_00 44:29

So what was difficult about it? What was that? What was uh particularly difficult? It sounds like you it was a difficult uh race for you.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Yeah, so this gets into like some of the I think the psyche of politics. So Palm Beach now has become, you know, when we used to think of political powerhouses, we were thinking LA, New York, DC. Now Palm Beach has transformed into the one of us because it's where Trump lives, it's where Paul Manafort was, you know, all those people. And so I was there during the beginning of that, and I'm meeting, you know, you have like your local political people, like old people that are retired that want to go wave signs. You know, then you got like the local political people, like the chairman of the party or these various races. And Palm Beach was really interesting because you have all these conspiracy people. Everybody's running against the Ann Frankel or whatever her name is Democrat. They're not gonna win. Right. And so I I occupied a very unique spot of being the RNC guy working with an incumbent congressman who at the time had expressed some Second Amendment views that a lot of people didn't like. And so I was the establishment guy. So I was dealing with Tea Party people, conspiracy nuts, uh, but I was also trying to build an infrastructure which I had to reach down and do that that inner spirit. And we we pulled it off. We won the race. Um, we were able, we I lent some assistance to some local city council races, which was really cool. Where I what I learned about myself though was that my ego got out of control. And that's this is when I started having to realize I need to get out of politics. So uh we won we won the race, you know. I was I had changed as a person. Like I was and I was like, I gotta get out of Palm Beach.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

Like it just that whole environment had changed me because it again, it's like I, you know, I'm sure you've probably been to Palm Beach

Burnout, Nonprofits, And Local Power

SPEAKER_00 46:18

or South Florida, you know, very, very few times, and every time I'd been there, I couldn't wait to get the fuck out of there. Yep. To be completely honest, because I think you're about to touch on it. It it is it is a weird I don't want to be disparaging towards towards people, but it's it doesn't feel like it's a real place with real people. It feels gross. It really does. It absolutely does. If you're driving through the area, buckle up, lock your doors, get the fuck out of there. Like it's attractive when you're I can understand the appeal when you're young, or if you're looking for power, if you're looking for like glitz and glamour, but like it feels weird, man. It's a weird vibe, dude. It really is. It really fucking is.

SPEAKER_01 47:09

Oh, yeah, absolutely. And like I look back on those 15 months I was down there, and I was glad that like with RNC, once the election's over, that's the shitty thing about politics when I left. Your job's gone. Like, I didn't have a job at the end of the November. Yeah, so I had to move. And but I was I was glad of like, look, I came from like not a lot, and then suddenly I'm like one of the go-to political guys in Palm Beach. Like, it's kind of cool. You know, I was like, That's a lot that can go to your head too, though. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 47:36

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SPEAKER_01 48:34

You know, I'm glad for the experience. Would I do it again? No, I've already done it, but I'm so thankful for it because I learned that was one of those pivotal points in politics that I went from being a guy that like I was kind of a mediocre field director to like I can now become a campaign manager. And that's, you know, after that I got a job in Kentucky, which uh so I move up to Kentucky for this Navy JAG officer, Andrew English, great guy. I think he now runs a bourbon distillery or whatever. But uh he was running for secretary of state. He's like, I need a campaign manager, I need a military guy. And so I go from Palm Beach, so I go from the president's backyard to Kentucky, which we know who lives at Earth used to. Good old Mitch. So I go from the president's backyard to the Senate Majority Leader's backyard, and so and it was kind of a cool experience. Like he he uh convinced me to join the Navy Reserve, so I rejoined the Navy Reserve. Oh damn, that's that's some influence right there. Yeah. Yeah. But got I'll realist. And uh yeah, so you know, we didn't win the race. I ended up uh after that, I went to North Carolina for a bit, worked on a house race, came back, worked for the Kentucky State Party. Um, and then after that, uh that's uh I had a pretty good amount of political experience at that point, and I was just so jaded from it at that point, you know. And I think getting back to like one of your early questions, uh I felt cool because I had met a lot of cool people. You know, I remember shaking Mitch McConnell's hand or Lara, Eric and Lara Trump came to our office in Palm Beach. Like, you know, that's some cool experiences, but like at what point am I sacrificing my health, my conscience? I feel like I'm becoming changed. And my thing was is like when I go and talk to these voters that are out, you know, as a field director, like I usually wasn't out in the field, I was usually in my office, but sometimes I would go and knock doors. And people at the end of the day, what they care about is how do I pay my mortgage? You know, can my my kids go to school in a safe environment? Do, you know, is there gonna be a nation for us when my kids grow up? And the issue that I have with the parties now is like with everything that we have now, it's like everybody's talking about all these hyper divisive issues. We already know what's on the going on the news now. And it's like what I found annoying was that I'm an American first, I'm a veteran first, I don't give a fuck about Republican loyalty. Like, you know, when I wanted to join the county party, they wanted you to sign a Republican loyalty load. And it's like, no, I don't, I don't pledge allegiance to your party. Fuck you. Like, and this is coming from a guy that did it, and that was the issue I have with politics now is that all these people that are super involved in it, they they they don't they've lost connection with the real people out there and all of these issues, they're so divisive and it's it's hyper-polarizing our country.

SPEAKER_00 51:30

Dude, you're a hundred percent correct, man, and you've seen it from the inside, you've seen the inner workings. It's um it's disturbing because both sides feed on ignorance. They want to hyper, hyper agitize each other. They want their loyal followers to go after each other's throats. I mean, a prime example of it, man. I everybody right now it's January, I'm seeing January 3rd. I'm I'm kicking myself in the dick right now because this means I've got to rub. Yeah, I gotta, or February. I'm sorry, January 3rd. I'm like, see, it's what happens when you get old. Now it's February 3rd, so I gotta rush and make sure I put this out in time so this doesn't uh fall to the wayside. But right now, you know, just a couple days ago, they released the latest updates on what's going on with Epstein Leist. And I made a joke about one of the individuals out there, um, friggin' Bill Gates, because his his situation in regards to that. It's just I find comical. You're a married man, you're a multi-billionaire, and you're going to go to an island and and do nefarious things, and then you're gonna complain when you get an STD. You're gonna freak out. Of course you're gonna get an STD. You gotta trust the freaking guy that brought you there. Come on, dude. But I made a joke about that, and then somebody underneath the comments like, yeah, well, now you gotta roast Trump too. I'm like, you're not you're not my fucking boss. First of all, um, you you don't dictate what I post. You don't, you're not gonna dictate who I go after. And I purposely didn't go after freaking anybody in the political realm because I don't fucking care to give away my understanding of like what my values. Like my

Disillusionment With Parties And Media

SPEAKER_00 53:18

values should be up front. I'm a Catholic person, I'm a Catholic man, my faith and my family first. Um, neither of your candidates, neither of the people that are running are people of faith. So what does that tell you? Who do you think I rally behind? Who do you think I support? Certainly not individuals that aren't putting family the American way of life or and and taking care of our American way of life first, like then I'm not gonna support it. I'm very, very strong and very my conviction is strong. I believe and I support things that are gonna put our country first, not another nation. So there, there's that. If you're looking to figure out who I align myself with, America and faith first and families first, and and taking care of our American people, make it as so people can afford the American dream again. People should be able to buy a family home when they're moving out of their their It shouldn't take you till you're 40 to realize the American dream. It shouldn't mean that you have to work your entire lives and and just so you can afford an apartment. That's not the American dream. I don't believe in communism. I don't believe in fascism, I don't believe in the idea that you can just wake up one day and say your one thing when biology tells you another. Read that however you want to fucking read it. That's how that's what I believe in. And I'm sick and tired of people coming in the comments or sending messages wanting you to declare who you support and who you don't support. It's such a weird thing, man. And it's only coming from people that are hyper fixated on their party lines. Both sides. Both sides are pieces of shit, and I can prove it to you mathematically. Um it's just disgusting, man. It's so fucking insane that we have to, you have to tell me who you believe in. You have to tell me who you support. Like, I don't support either one of you. I don't. Like you've you've gotten, we've got to this point where it's just like I don't I don't understand, man. I don't understand how people can't just come and sit down and be able to have engaging discourse and disagree to disagree, man. Like, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 55:27

No, it is crazy. And it's like, I when you think about the issues plaguing our country and our discourse at this point, I you know, I I when I was in the inside, right? And I'm sure there's a lot of shit that's changed in politics since I left. And so, but like 2015, you know, I remember when I first started, 2013, Obama was president, John Boehner was speaker, and Harry Reid was Senate Majority Leader. And they shut the government down, but it was like they had civil discourse. Like, as much as I disagree with Obama, he was presidentially, you know, like in a in a way. Uh Boehner was a decent speaker, but you know, then the the 2016 primary pops up, and you know, I can see both sides of it. Like, yeah, no Trump has done some things I like, there's a lot of things I dislike. But the GOP at that time, they're all thinking, oh, Jeb Bush, Mark Rubio, this we're gonna elect a president that uh believes in good old conservative values by the Heritage Foundation. And that was the fucking issue I had was that you know, I'm working with all these people on the political inside, and don't you know wrong, they're good people. A lot of them are also slimy as shit. Like, um, and I think actually Pete Heseth was head of the Conserved Veterans of America when I was at AFP, the sister organization, I think vaguely running into him one time. But uh, you know, the the people in the inside, they're so detached. Like in 2015, people thought, oh, if we talk about cutting taxes and immigration reform and all these bullets, you know, or and revive reforming Social Security, that will win us the presidential election. What did Trump say? Trump came and said, No, you're not gonna touch Social Security, we're gonna basically essentially start halting immigration. And no, we're not cutting, you know, like he obviously did pass tax reform, but Trump had a completely different message. And it caught the GOP inside or establishment by surprise, you know, and obviously the GOP is is completely changed. But the thing is that establishment is still there, and these people are so disconnected from reality. Like it's just, you know, in the in the in the flip side of that, on the voter level, like on social media, and this is why I don't comment on things on social media, is because politics is one of those things where like you're like you're a video digital marketing guy. If I hopped on this podcast and said to you, well, this is what you should do for digital marketing when I don't know anything about it, that's how it is with politics, is that 100% tweets they know about politics, but they they don't, they're they're getting it off of social media, and don't have to mention the the foreign influence, like or legacy media too, man.

SPEAKER_00 58:04

If you if all of the if all the news you're consuming or all the insights you're consuming are coming from Fox, MSNBC, freaking any any of those talking head shows, like you're misinformed. You're absolutely misinformed because both sides, both sides are just spewing propaganda, man. You have to go to another, you have to go find 15 different reports and go to like different, you know, entities that that aren't even part of the US media to get some actual factual truth and information. Like, and I'll I'll be the first to admit it. The uh the recent publications of the Epstein list and and no nobody being held accountable has maybe Luce lost a lot of faith and trust in our government. I mean, a lot of it was already gone for for various reasons, but now it's it's one of those things where it's like our our government-run agencies aren't doing their job, and rather than continuing to blow smoke up our ass or just letting us know it's just now it's just ah well, they're not gonna do anything about it. And that's sad. That's a sad state of affairs where the people fucking you over aren't even gonna do the common courtesy of lying to you. They're just saying, fuck it, you won't do anything. And I think like now, I think I was telling my wife, like, everything is so depressing. We haven't had a a presidential run. We haven't had a uh a four four years of at least steady state. It's just been bad, it's just been consistently bad on both sides. And nobody's gonna stand up and say, hey, enough's enough. Get rid of it. Bull bulldoze it down, bring in the third option. And sadly, that's what I think we need. We need a third option. We need something different. It's just to where we're at right now, in my point of view, and you can tell me how you feel. I feel like things have gotten so out of control, so out of hand, that there's no way to get this back in order. Like it's just you can't put a media spin on it anymore. But when I was growing up, you could you could you could platform a movie star like George Clooney, have him go to a red red carpet event, talk about whatever leftist ideology he would he had in store, and people would rally around it and be like, yeah, absolutely. They did the same thing a couple nights ago at uh whatever the Golden Globes or whatever awards. Yeah. Yeah, nobody gives two fucks. Nobody cares. Nobody cares. You've un you've done too much to now be able to sway. Like, yeah, you have your your normal, everyday, average um idiots who will pander to that. But I think by and large, the American people have now seen that both sides of the political spectrum are absolutely morally bankrupt, and there's no way of inspiring any hope in the system. Yeah, there's more, there's more people advocating today to just not pay taxes to walk away from the system than I've ever seen before. Like, I really truly feel like if coming from a guy that that uh has spent a good amount of his adult life studying like civil unrest and uh unconventional

Do We Need A Third Way

SPEAKER_00 1:01:20

warfare, I really feel we're getting close to the point where Americans are just gonna say, fuck it, we're out of the system. We're just done. We're checking out. It's still, we still have a long way to go before that happens. But I really do think that a vast majority of us have seen, and and now we've gotten such a stark reminder of our government not giving two fucks about the American way of life that it's like, okay, what do we do? Whatever we do, we have to do something drastic. We have to do something, and it's I I think it leaves the door open for a radically different candidate to come in and raise uh support and go for a run. I don't I don't think we're gonna have the same type of Democrat or the same type of Republican run for office in the next election cycle. It's gonna be completely different. I think there's enough things have gone wrong, enough things have gone bad that you can't just give us another puppet. I really hope. I really at least I hope, because if you prop up Vance as the next shining star, I'm out. I'm just I'm out, I'm fucking out, dude.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:28

Yeah, I mean the whole American whale, like what do I start? Like and again, I I don't have the the answers. This is my viewpoint. Like Yeah, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:39

People listening, this is just us riffin, man. We don't have I don't have the answers. Uh other than please, dear God, don't run Biden.

unknown 1:02:50

No.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:51

But no, these candidates, like I think this is just my my thoughts. I think Congress, the members of Congress will always continue to be corrupt. Oh, yeah. You're going you're gonna have modders re-elected, you'll have your far lefties like AOC elected, you'll have your Thomas Masseys and your established guys that'll be re-elected. But as far as presidential candidates, like honestly, I don't know who, you know, like continuing the trend, like honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if like the left has far left people nominated and then the right starts going towards neo-fascism. Like Nick Flight is right, yeah, right. I wouldn't be surprised in 15 years, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:31

I don't know. I don't know where the fuck we go from here. Sheen, I wish we could end this episode on a good note, but I don't know. I don't I I I um I uh all I can say is pray. All I can say is try to connect with real human beings in your local community, really understand each other, really see the human condition as having hope, being built for hope, being built for better days, not giving in. I know it's been a very depressing last few minutes of this segment, but um, you know, it it's there needs to be change. I I I need to see that there is an opportunity for us to to see our way way out of this. Um, but I'm older, man. I'm I'm 41. I've seen enough political candidates come and go at this point in my life. And the one thing that I'm focusing on right now, we're no better off right now than we were with um the vegetable that was in office a few uh few years ago. Um I'm starting to just feel like, okay, we need drastic change. And that that I think that change comes from more veterans running. Um I really do feel that way, man. If we could have more veteran representation in all these offices, and and dare I say a veteran president, maybe we could see some change. At least see some some return to like dignity. Um is just crazy to me. There's so many things. Like I can't think of a time where there were more conspiracy theories that were proven right in just a matter of a few weeks. Just crazy. It's crazy to think that the guy we were all saying was fucking insane and out of his mind is now walking around with his head hell high, saying, Well, I've been saying it from day one, folks. Um, Alex Jones. Gosh, bless your heart, man. You you were trying to tell us all along. Here we are. Absolutely. So you know, she do we we do have to wrap it up. We're at the hour mark, but um yeah, you know, as you're reflecting your journey, where are you at today? What's next for you? And and uh how do you remain hopeful in this whole political climate?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:47

I think that's a strong closing statement. Um, I think, you know, so after I left politics in 2020, I I took a break. I was so jaded with politics. I went, I didn't, I went and pushed, I became a full time reserve. Essentially for four years. Did two back-to-back deployments. I went to uh you know Jordan Bahrain, Djibouti. Uh, I was in Djibouti during the Houthi crisis. So we had some fun with uh drones and the early warning system going off. Yeah. Uh, you know, I came back, um dealt with some weird transitional points in that that year, as any veteran does when they come back from deployment. But uh, you know, because you you go from that work and then you suddenly you're over in the Horn of Africa, you're dealing with drones and a semi-permissive environment. Uh, I learned a lot about myself. And I realized that when I was in politics, I was becoming kind of a crappy person. And I came back and I realized I'm like, the best place for me is not being that political stuff, becoming jaded. The best place for me is to come back as a veteran with a political experience and be the best person I can be. And I think uh that was what I walked away from. So now what I'm doing now is um, you know, still recovering from four years of deployment, uh, because I I basically didn't do anything while I was the guard, and I went became a Navy reservist and maxed it out, right? And so uh, you know, went to two back-to-back deployments, you know what that's like. Uh, but you know, some cool stuff. I was a CB, was in Measron, small belt units, went to some cool schools. Uh shit, I learned more tactical stuff from the Navy than I did in the Army. Um, but you know, now I'm a full-time student, slowly uh, you know, applying out to jobs, you know, maybe probably go back to the nonprofit.

Leaving Politics For Service Again

SPEAKER_01 1:07:26

Uh probably I've been interviewing for political jobs, but I kind of doubt it. Because it's like this. I had this conversation today, and then I realized this is why I left politics. Like, I you get that little itch, and you're like, maybe I'll go, and I'm like, I'll just go back to nonprofits, you know. But uh, I spoiled it for you. I spoiled it. It got too dark. We got too dark. No, no, it's a good reminder. But uh, but no, like you said about veterans, like now that I'm officially a veteran after Navy deployments and things like that, like there's so much more to life than politics. And I I one of the things I've been doing lately is staying off social media. And what I think I encourage every veteran to do is like, you know, follow people like you know, Denny Calabara, like obviously you're you've got it, you're going to school, business, you name it. Like, learn, maximize your benefits, right? Uh cut out the bullshit out there, like all that political stuff. It's good to stay informed, but stop commenting on social media. You're not contributing, you don't know the tip of the iceberg. Um, what can you do to be a good person? How can you be a good veteran? And and veterans, I think we've got it's such a fucking cheat code. Like, if you can get, you know, maximize your VA compensation benefits for legitimate things. Like, I'm not talking about don't try to get to 100% because you think you can. If you're only owed 70%, then fuck it, go for 70. But you know, get the benefits you deserve, use your school money and be the best citizen that you can be because America, we need veterans, we need people to run for office. These old boomers that never served in the military that are happy to send you know you to Afghanistan or send me to a routine combat deployment to the Horn of Africa, they wouldn't send their kids. And so we have the benefits, we need to get in there and we need to fight and make this place a better country and save a country while we have it. Because and I don't care what your political beliefs are, like if you're a good person and you believe in a good community, put it push aside that extremist stuff and how can we meet in the middle?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:19

Absolutely, Lulu. I can I couldn't have said it better, man. Find a way to agree to disagree. And you'll see that when you meet somebody and you talk with them authentically in person, not throwing you know names and shouting at each other, you agree on a lot of things. You'll find more common ground. Guaranteed, your political beliefs should be more nuanced than yes or no and black or white. Take that however you want to take that. I I can two things can be true. I can have a strong belief that we should have a nation that has defined borders and has an immigration policy that works and is strict and it forces everybody to use, utilize the processes at hand. And I can at the same time say that maybe we don't deport a six-year-old kid or his family members without taking care of the kid. Like, maybe that's a thing. Maybe we look at every case. Maybe we look at our Hispanic communities and say, hey, um these people have been here working. Let's not let's find a way to fucking make them citizens. And then we can look at Somalian communities in Minnesota that have been robbing our nation of billions of tax dollars, and we can say something like, hey, you know what? You're a criminal. Let's deport you. Yeah, I'm biased. I want my Mexican workers, people that have been here, that are contributing to their community, to not be worried about if they're going to be deported tomorrow. Now, if they're criminals, fair game, baby. If they have a job, if they're giving back to the community, yeah. I think that there's enough room in this country that we can make a concession and say, hey, this person came here. They have a family, they have kids, they're working, they're contributing. Let's figure out a way forward. That's a nuanced look, yeah. But I will say that I have to work on it better. But yeah, I don't have the same feelings towards Somalians. I don't. It's different.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:19

Neither do I.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:21

That costs me a job in the future.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:23

It's fucking different. I'm very biased. I I want my my uh Hispanics that are working hard to make ends meet. Because I I grew up with individuals that come from that community. I grew up with individuals that have those same issues. And dare I say that, yeah, I think it's different. And I think we need a nuanced approach. Now, when it comes to people getting shot in the face and individuals and all that stuff, I'll hold my beliefs uh to personal, it's a personal matter, but um I think you can guess where my stance are. I think that uh individuals need to be better trained, better trained, man. If we have better restrictions in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Djibouti, when it comes to you know having to uh control ourselves and go through different levels of approval to be will be able to take lethal action, I think somebody here in the United States has to have the same thing. Yeah, that's just me. That's just me, man. Um, Sheen, again, thank you for being here, brother. Thank you for what you're doing and for being willing to share your story, dude. Now more than ever, we need our veterans to be able to step up and lead, especially in politics, because I think not all of them, Dan Crenshaw, but some of us are the right person for the job. And I want more of you guys to take uh take the take ownership of this problem, be willing to go, be willing to get elected, be willing to lead our nation into some years of prosperity. Please, somebody, get some adults in office. Sheen, thank you for being here, brother. If people want to connect with you, where can they go?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:53

Yeah, um, you can follow me on Instagram. It's it's like my name at Sheen Mayberry. Same note, Facebook. If you want to connect, uh shoot me a Facebook request. You know, I'm always happy to network or you know, whatever you need. I'm I'm I'm here if you want to talk or need some questions about how to be a civilian or join whatever. I'm here. So I'm a normal guy.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:14

So he is, I can attest to you. He's a normal person. Guys, thank you all for tuning in. Sheen, thank you for being here. Do me a favor, you know the spiel. The episode's almost over. Go to the episode description, click those links, let us know what you think. Uh, but hold your political opinions to yourself. Because I want to hear your rants. I don't want you to come at me because I don't support your latest and greatest cool guy. Like I said before, I think both parties have filled with complete fucking idiots. I think it's up to us to change that with some exceptions to some awesome people out there. Some representatives are leading the fight. Some great people are doing great things out there. But by and large, for a lot of individuals, they fucking suck. And they know it. Let's change that. Maybe you can run. Thank you guys for

Sponsor Messages And Offers

SPEAKER_00 1:13:59

tuning in, and we'll see you all next time. Till then, take care.