Ever Onward Podcast

Matt Todd on Idaho Politics, Budget Cuts & Untold Stories | Ever Onward Ep. 124

• Ahlquist. • Season 1 • Episode 124

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In this episode of Ever Onward, Tommy Ahlquist sits down with Matt Todd, host of The Ranch Podcast, for a wide-ranging conversation on Idaho, politics, media, and the stories shaping the state.

Matt has built The Ranch Podcast into one of Idaho’s most consistent long-form platforms by doing what few people are willing to do: sit down with people, ask real questions, and let complicated issues breathe. From legislators and educators to sheriffs, farmers, business leaders, and local voices across the state, Matt’s work has become a valuable resource for anyone trying to better understand Idaho.

The conversation starts with a look back at Idaho’s legislative session, including budget cuts, local control, agriculture, higher education, workforce issues, mental health funding, and the downstream consequences of policy decisions. Tommy and Matt also discuss the value of public service, the difficulty of governing, and why long-form conversations matter in a world driven by short clips and headlines.

From there, the episode opens up into a broader conversation about curiosity, personal responsibility, health, jiu-jitsu, Idaho history, storytelling, and the importance of staying connected to people and place.

If you care about Idaho, leadership, culture, or the issues shaping the future of the state, this is a conversation worth hearing.

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Appreciating Public Service In Idaho

SPEAKER_02

Welcome to the Ever Onward Podcast. We are thrilled today to have the high-energy uh ultra-talented uh Matt Todd back. He's become a really good friend, and I appreciate him coming back on uh today. You know, uh this legislative session was uh I spent more time at the Capitol than I usually do. Um there were several issues that I was very um very involved in and wanted to help with this session. So I was down there, oh, I don't know, a dozen, maybe 15 or 16 times uh uh visiting uh various legislators in our Capitol. Um and you know, I wanted to start this episode with Matt uh by just one expressing our appreciation for people that serve. Um I it's really easy to um give the legislature a bad time. And certainly there are bills that come out every session that are very um uh unpopular or popular, however you want to look at them, that are controversial, and those get most of the headlines. But if you look at these uh public servants, uh many of them live all over the state of Idaho. They're elected in their districts and they come to come to Boise for these uh several months. Um the the breadth of information that they need to know, uh how hard they work, um, their dedication to the state, uh I I'll tell you uh now, knowing most of them, uh one thing they have in common is they love this great state. They love Idaho. Um they love our people, they love our header heritage, and they're here doing the best they can to um to create laws uh that are for our people. Uh now with that said, um there's a lot of disagreements. Um if you look at the Democrats, which are the super minority, and the Republicans, and then within the Republican Party, there's other clearly different factions of of different uh ideology. For the most part, there's a lot of agreement on on uh principles. Uh but just like our government, uh it it's messy and it's a Democrat uh republic where ideas are shared and then ultimately uh the sausage is made. Um again, this year I would I'm more involved than normal uh being down there, but I wanted to start by just expressing my appreciation for all those that serve and encouraging the people out there that are listening if you've ever thought about serving. Uh it is a great way to understand uh what's going on in our state by getting in there and and serving and and meeting with your legislator that's in your district. Uh they're very accessible. Uh we still live in a state that's small enough that you can get in and see your legislator and understand what their issues are and they'll listen to you. Um, and a lot of really, really good people. With that, uh I want to talk about Matt Todd. So um, you know, Matt is uh I met him a few years ago, but he he literally has more energy. Um he's usually caffeinated pretty good um and ready to go. But watching Matt start his ranch podcast, which really, as he moved here from out of state, he wanted to understand the issue. I think he allows an outlet for people to understand the issues. He dives deep on on so many things. I am an avid listener. It's how I get so much of my my information. I love how he doesn't he he brings on everyone uh and really lets different sides of an issue be expressed in a public way. It's in a long format setting as well. I think sometimes when you got two or three minutes to understand an issue, it's different than when you can go do a deep dive. And Matt does that. Um again, love Matt, appreciate him very much. He uh started the ranch podcast. Um it's gotta be four or five years ago after moving here. He's a graduate of UC Berkeley. He uh had an education business that he focused on, college entrance assistance in California before moving here, and now does his podcast full time. I I often kid him how many people it would take him, employees to do what he produces, and it's probably four or five, but he does it all himself. Um it's an incredible uh service uh to our community. And uh, if you haven't listened, uh go go to the ranch podcast and and follow and listen to to Matt Todd and the Ranch Podcast. Also, for our listeners, thank you for following us. Um, like and share and and give us a review if you can and enjoy today's episode with the great Matt Todd. Let's

Matt Todd’s Curiosity And Work Ethic

SPEAKER_02

kick some masks too. And I just you know what I am in life? I'm just Matt Todd Super fan. You know I am.

SPEAKER_03

Bless you, sir. Thank you for watching. I I was so I was so pumped up coming down here. I was telling you, I was listening to the doors, I was listening to Jimi Hendrix. I've just I get so pumped, you know. Like you you you work really fast. You were you're very optimized. And sometimes, you know, when you're like, I'm gonna just take 20 minutes and just dig in, dig into whatever's in here and just let it happen.

SPEAKER_02

Man, I uh first of all, let's start where we should start with you. I'm blown away with what you did during the session. So much great content on so many things that matter, Matt. So um I I already did I already recorded our intro, but ranch podcast, it it it the content and quality and amount. If you care about Idaho, I I love the breadth because there's stuff that I I get on to listen to you. I'm just telling you this. Yeah, I and I I know I I'm I'm one of the probably few guys that are lucky enough to be your friend, too. So I want to hear what you have to say, but I love how you ask things. I love how open you are, I love how you dig in. You're really good at what you do.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, I uh first off, thank you. And for me, it's not it's really not a task. You've known me in and out of the show, and you could attest, I am the same way out of the show as I am in the show. It's really just applying me, like sitting somebody down in front of being like, okay, Matt, ask your questions.

SPEAKER_02

Like, how did you do this? Well, I I and listen, I'm gonna, you know, I you know I love what you do, but I think in a community like ours, it's a treasure to have someone that is just naturally inquisitive and curious. You just want to know. And it's not, it's not you're just doing it because you're asking questions because you want to know about whatever the thing is. And so as a listener, I'm like, yeah, that's what I want to know. And so I think that's why it's resonating with so many people and your growth has been explosive. And yeah, it uh again, you gotta be exhausted. I remember talking to you a couple times, you're like, I'm doing 10 today.

SPEAKER_03

And I'm like, oh my gosh, how do you do it? Yeah, I it's that line from it's that line from Yellowstone. I was blessed with stamina. But I for me again, like I went to ISU. Here's a great example. ISU last week, last Wednesday. All right, I get up at uh, I think it was like four o'clock or something. It's dark out, cold, right? It that's the day it started snowing. It's like hilarious. Anyway, so I get I have all my stuff in the car, jump on the road, get to ISU, and the interviews start. I do eight back-to-back interviews, and we do break at noon where I do a keynote for an hour and talk unobstructed for an hour. And I didn't have notes. I didn't have like I had, you know, rough outline in my head, structure of uh dealing with mass communication and not being controlled by it. Great, great important thing that people need to understand. But then I went and did four more. One was in like next to the nuclear reactor, and then one was in the president's suite, but it I don't even feel it because it's like hanging out with you. I'm just hey, can we just talk it? Like this is so interesting.

SPEAKER_02

Well, that's you know, the older I get, Matt, it's I think the number one quality I love in people that I love to be around, because I don't love being around everybody. Sure. Is are they genuine? Are they authentic? And man, you have that in spade. So congratulations.

Higher Education Costs And Student Debt

SPEAKER_02

How was ISU?

SPEAKER_03

ISU was super cool. Um, I I think there has been a large problem across the country and very justified in a lot of cases, where people have started stepping back from the value proposition of higher education. I think that's across the country. And you're you have a lot of private universities that are starting to close up shops and people that the cost got exorbitant and predominantly because we had the most the safest debt in the history of the free world, which is you can never get out of this. Like you're gonna take out this loan, we'll give you as much as you want. By the way, if there's a debt that you and I could lend on, that's talk about how messed up this was.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, right. It was it was interesting. I was talking to Jen White, who's um the state board executive director of and we we were having this discussion because if you look back at higher ed back when we were young, yeah, right, you you kind of could afford it and it wasn't so sub then the student loan thing came up. Well, if you're on the other side of that as the as the business that gets paid by these student loans, guess what happens to your fees? I mean, you look at how this thing goes. Anytime government comes in and makes it super easy to subsidize a thing, then guess what happens to the cost of that thing? So I remember 15 years ago, I was at some lecture at Boys State and it was someone from the Harvard uh business school. I don't I wish I could remember. I I could go back and look who it was. But I remember them getting up in front of this room and saying, hey, I don't know who's here from higher education institutions, but raise your hand if you think you'll still be in business in 10 or 15 years. And that was that was that long ago. So the pressure's been there. People have seen this unsustainable model of costs going through the roof where you can't do it. And then the reality of these loans that you know, again, you can just I remember when I went to medical school and they're like, Remember going, I remember distinctively going to my first meeting in medical school and sitting down with uh with the advisor and them saying, How much do you want? Like, do I get to pick? Honestly, Matt. I'm like, what do you mean? And they're like, Oh yeah, here's the Pell Grant, here's this one, here's this one, here's this one. You just need to tell me what you want. And I and I remember the question looking in the eyes and saying, Well, I have to pay it back. And them saying, Yeah. And then I'm saying, Well, I don't want any more than I need to, I don't, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to have a bunch of loans.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02

Because then I have to pay it back. Right. And it was they're like, yeah, but how much do you want? Like, what kind of car do you want to drive? And I rem and this is I I've never actually talked about this, but I remember like a couple of my so I had some really great friends. They were, I was a poor kid from like the wrong side of the tracks, and I just thought of the world differently. I'm like, why would I take loans? My my buddies, and I won't I won't mention their names on here, but they were like come from really wealthy families, and they're like, they're gonna give us $32,000. I'm gonna invest it in the market. And I'm like, what? And the one guy did, he did, and I and I we should look back at what he made off of it. But he would take his student loan money, put it in the stock market, and and I'm like, this is crazy. The world we're in is crazy that that that's the way it went. And so now you look at higher ed, and I it's a long roundabout story to say, no wonder we're in trouble.

SPEAKER_03

You know, again, you you take you take something where they're like you will get your money back, or this person's gonna die. Like, until they die. I have a friend who's 50. He just he just posted to you know the Facebook the other, I think it was yesterday, he just paid off his law school debt. My wife, we just paid off her, she had, you know, we had loans in our family from college, you know, we didn't come from wealthy families. And you know, so the the reality is when you have no incentive to to rein in the risk, because there is no risk now. So it's like, okay, well, if there's no risk, let's loan more money. And if there's more money to loan, then the university says, well, let's get a bigger stadium, let's do these more amenities. Because by the way, even though it's gonna 2x our cost overall, it doesn't really matter because they can get 2x the money. And the banks are like, yeah, we'll give 2x the money. You know what the thing is? They just had to find something to loan the money on. They had to have a finance, they had to have a marketable item that they could give that money, right? There was a big articulation that homeownership is that that argument is like these banks had to have a vehicle to distribute this money and get interest back on it. Higher ed has become that thing. They're like, we don't want 50 grand, we want 200 grand. We want each 18-year-old signing on the Dodd Line for 250 grand and they will pay us back forever, and we will be made whole, or they will pass away first.

SPEAKER_02

That's it. I know. I feel so it's it's so messed up.

SPEAKER_03

Can I ask you something though? Yeah, you're a responsible person, all right, and obviously we're sitting in uh a manifestation of your foresight and responsibility. To what degree do we make the world less risky for people?

unknown

Right?

SPEAKER_03

Buyer beware, a fool in his money. These are old, old sayings that people very, very much ignored.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and now and yeah, and now and then but now I I think back to, you know, yeah, I I was aware just because I guess of my upbringing, but but I think I also just didn't make sense. I mean, I'd already, I was like mowing well, I had my own little business and I'm like, why would I do that? I I wouldn't I I wanted to save my money to buy my lawnmowers instead of going and taking out. I mean, but but it didn't make sense to me. But now I think of when I went to medical school. Well, I first of all I remember going in, I interviewed all over the country, and every place I go, you're like, hey, this is interesting that I'm here, but I can't afford this. Right. I mean, I I would never back back in the day, it was like $35,000 a year. And I'm like, okay, I can't. I will never be able to, even if you could lend me, I I don't want to afford that because I know at some point I gotta pay it back. But I got to the University of Utah and I think it was like for a resident, it was like $12,000 a year. And I'm like, well, I'm why would I take out loans? I'm just gonna work a part-time job and pay for my education. But anyway, my my point is now I don't know that that's possible. Because I look around now, look at do you know how much uh do you know how much uh uh ICOM is here to go to school? Oh no, I'm sure it's like upwards of 60 to 70. $65,000 a year.

SPEAKER_03

Look at that.

SPEAKER_02

Look at that. I was right on. So so so here's Idaho College of Osteopathics Medicine here. They take kids, but it's $65,000 a year. And when I when I said holy smokes, how and and yet they're they're full. You've got, you know, they've got waiting lists, but I don't know how, I don't know how, like, if my son or daughter was saying, hey, I want to go there, I'd be like, Well, how's that gonna work? Well, I I remember telling my son, my son wanted to go to vet school and he wanted badly, and he started looking around these places. I said, Hey, run a run a model for me. Run a run just run a business plan on how this works. And he's like, What do you mean? I'm like, well, if it's $65,000 or $70,000 a year, and like I don't know what veterinarians make. So pick you, you can do small animal, you can do large animals, work in a clinic. Working on frogs, what are you doing here? Like, but but just like find out what their average salary is at the region in the country you want to work in and what it's gonna cost you to live and how much carrying that debt will be, and tell me how this is gonna work.

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_02

And I wasn't trying to bust his tail or anything. I'm just like, no, hey, tell me how this works.

SPEAKER_03

Was that a bad question, Matt? No, I don't listen, I don't think it's a bad question. I think, and this is at the heart of it. I I interviewed somebody from BSU, Dr. uh Sam Martin. She published, I think, last week. Very interesting interview. And she was articulating that there's been a shift since uh right around the time the Tea Party came out to um from uh looking at, you know, obviously some kind of government systems where we all recognize that through no far to uh fault of our own, like we might have something bad might happen to us. So we need these safety nets. And she's like, we transitioned away from that to like ferocious personal responsibility. And she was articulating that there was no downfall for these large banking institutions when, you know, the market crashed, but then everybody lost the values of their houses. It's like, okay, I get that, but nobody guaranteed the value of your house. It's an investment. There's an inherent risk here. She's like, yeah, but that shouldn't be, you know, again, that shouldn't be personal responsibility. I'm like, I mean, to a point, but how else are we gonna move through the world? But that's how else are we gonna move if you can't if you can't pin the the the outcome to the individual.

SPEAKER_02

Right. I mean, just like just like paying $65,000 a year to get a medical education. That's right. Like, what if what if my job doesn't pay me enough?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's a great question. Then you shouldn't engage in that professional, you know, my house pay goes down.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, it's just that is what we're built on. Yeah. Anyway, sorry.

SPEAKER_03

No, no, no. Uh but these are important questions because I think people are struggling with this within the Treasury Allen, within Idaho in general. There is a large group of people that don't like the way the state is changing. I was talking to Superintendent Critchfield just yesterday. She's like, look, there are plenty of people that will tell you they don't want things to get better in Idaho because they don't want Idaho to grow. So they're willing to cut off their nose to spite their face. There's a whole there's a whole bunch of that right now. Holy cow, man.

SPEAKER_02

Hey, let's talk about the session. All right. Here we go. Who did you interview? I can't wait for these to come out. Did you interview President Wagner?

SPEAKER_03

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Great guy.

SPEAKER_03

Who else is there? Robert's an incredible. Okay, so INL. Okay, so I had um the first guy uh was Rex Storm. That was Rex Force. I was like, is this a wrestling name? Dude's name Rex, he was awesome. He's he's uh part of the medical um like nursing careers and things that super cool. Tom Wadworth, he's from pharmacology and he's the dean of pharmacy there. Huge, super incredible. By the way, the last guy I interviewed, John Stoner, um, invented copper stoner. I swear to god. I was talking wider is the most reasonable, like the that's only normal name you said. Dude, there was Corey uh Corey balls of steel. No, it was like Corey Janet or something. She's uh she's a chemist. Sorry. All of no gosh, that sounded really bad. It's fine. People will either miss that or we'll cut that out. I know Corey was a uh no core, it's fine. Um anyway, so chemists, uh somebody who invented nuclear nuclear medicine, the copper 67 was invented in an electron accelerator at ISU. And now and then they had this grant from the the Idaho State, um, the Idaho State government that got them like three years of research, and then uh Australia started picking it up because they're like, okay, we have a delivery mechanism with um finding cancers. We just need to seek and destroy. Like we have the seek, we just need to tag on copper 67 in this medicine so that we not only find it, but it'll go right to the tumor. And there's like, right, all of these things you never you don't know they're there. Did you go to the INL? Um, I did I did an interview in front of the reactor. You did with Dr. Chad Pope. Yeah, in front of the reactor.

SPEAKER_01

Isn't that cool? Have you been over there before?

SPEAKER_03

Um, to ISU, I have been to Pocatello, but I hadn't been to the campus. Yeah, yeah, it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02

Isn't it cool? Yeah. I remember like I've been there several times and going in some of those buildings going, what on earth? There was an incredible time in U.S. history when we were doing those things back with the technology we had, and I'm like, right, it's really cool that it was here. And it and it's gonna, we're at the forefront of all this stuff. Well, I'm glad you're spending. I mean, listen, everyone out there, the ranch podcast, you're not just a treasure valley dude, man. You're all over the state.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's awesome. That's the plan for 26. It's awesome. Essentially, start connecting the corners of the state again. It's I've been up to Moscow. I really want to go back. Um, Haley, hot take Haley, the mayor up there, she's super cool. Um, we're lining up a trip up there. I gotta get to North Idaho this year. I have not been up there, and uh, I've interviewed people from North Idaho when they're down here, but I gotta make the trip up there.

SPEAKER_02

They're really, really good people up there. You get it, you go that whole that whole area is some of the greatest folks we have. Yeah,

Local Control And State Power

SPEAKER_02

it's awesome.

SPEAKER_03

Let me ask you something. The session. It was my understanding that in general, Idaho conservatism really emphasized limited government and government closest to the people is the best. What do you think about the session from that lens, my guy?

SPEAKER_02

I got it's so funny because I what I did is in prep for this. I I wanted to talk to you about kind of some takeaways. Yeah, let's go. And one of this is um the state overriding local control. I mean ADUs for everyone.

SPEAKER_03

We're gonna make it rain. 1,200 square foot lot size. No, excuse me, 14, but you gotta build 12 of them per acre.

SPEAKER_02

I just I I think uh I think one of the greatest hypocrisies of all time in in kind of when you talk about local control, is it's okay for our state government to tell all the local guys what to do all the time. It's just they don't want the federal government to tell them what to do right now.

SPEAKER_03

There was one rep who was like, I am the most local control possible because I'm elected locally. Like, that's not what local control means. That's none of my affair, but not my guy.

SPEAKER_02

That's so so funny. But what were your takeaways? I'm dying, like I do want to get into this with you. Like this was you spend so much time with so many people, you're down there all the time, they're coming in real time, they're going through the thing. What were kind of your big takeaways?

SPEAKER_03

I think I think by and large, people are trying to solve problems. Yeah, and there's a very specific, like, okay, we have this problem right in front of us. Some people were trying to say, hey, look, why do we have this problem? Like maybe if we could get to why we have this problem, because the the entire session was dominated by budget arguments.

SPEAKER_02

So we we we we did our first podcast, the first of it, and it was big, beautiful bill passed. They didn't anticipate some of the conformity challenges to formulas that then gave us uh you know, we got a balanced budget. So then we the question there was a question earlier, like, well, if you just cut a bunch of stuff and you just overcut, do you just make an adjustment so you don't make five percent cuts?

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_02

That was not considered. Then it was like, let's do five, it was by basically a five percent cut across the board, was kind of what everyone was asked to do, correct? Yeah, some are it's like three to five. Three to five. And that dominated most discussions, it dominated most legislation. The budget reconciliation process took a long time this time, and I think over we have an a glut of reserves sitting there doing what?

SPEAKER_03

Picking its nose. Now, listen, I don't know how to have reserves. I don't know how to like save up stuff with taxpayers. I don't know any of that. But what I do know is like, okay, okay, hang on a sec here. Like, when we're dealing with problems around Department of Corrections and then local jails, and we have Aiden Canyon County predominantly absorbing a $15 million annual bill because we have an undersized Idaho Department of Corrections uh holding facilities, like that doesn't make sense to me. They can't that that's a state expense that we're absorbing within these counties for no particular reason. Lewis County is supposed to pay in, Bannett County, uh uh Kooteny County, they're all supposed to pay in on this bill, but we're the one absorbing it because those IDOC those IDOC residents are supposed to be in the the facilitate residence convex. I don't know how to that's where it gets real. Yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That that's where that's where the like five percent. Yeah, like so it's really interesting because I've had some people say, well, everyone can trim five percent for their budget. Right. Well not to say that look you could trim five of these chairs, you could trim half of the table, you can trim five percent. But not not when you're already I I was just looking at the IDOC stats actually this morning. Like we're at so we we have uh 10,101 uh inmates right now. Over 10K for the first time. We have a capacity of 8,232. And so you're already you're already stretching busting at the same. So now to come to that and say, hey, you need to do a 5% mandatory cut, there's just certain things that that was just painful.

SPEAKER_03

And here's the thing they're cutting off the state budget, patting themselves on the back for it. And that cost, we have 10,000 people that need to be incarcerated. Okay, that number doesn't change if you can only hold 8,300. That number stays 10,000, which means the 1700 Delta that lands in county jails. So wherever they were convicted, they're just hanging out there. Now, mind you, that wouldn't be a problem if the county jails were getting reimbursed properly, which they are not. Okay, so that in in AD and Canyon County, we lose about 40 to 45 bucks a day per inmate that is here that IDOC can't pick up. And what's worse is because not only are we losing money, but they're dominating our jail system. We then have to do pretrial release with people that are being charged with felonies because we don't have a place to put them.

SPEAKER_02

I've watched a couple of your episodes on this, and I think it's some of the best stuff you've done. I mean, I just like it points out the real downstream. So you have budgets and you have problems, but then you have the real downstream consequences of those problems, which is then you have to release people.

SPEAKER_03

Right. Right. We have there's a guy from uh Teton County who's he's a county commissioner there. He's running for governor. He called me and he was like, hey, I'm running. I'd love to come on your show. I'm like, listen, I'm not, I don't have space to do the governor's races for the primary. I'd love to check with you, uh

Budget Cuts And Real-World Fallout

SPEAKER_03

check in with you after. But he was his primary issues. He's like, we had to get with you after if you beat Brad. Well, I I will check in with him just because I want to hear his issues. I just don't have time right now. But the point is, he's like, listen, we had to get a million and a half dollar private donation just to keep our hospital open. We got we got uh oncology cancer treatment patients driving 60 minutes both ways because we can't keep open our hospital. He's like, transportation? He's like, we have a state, we have state systems here that all of a sudden it's falling on us and our tax burden to cover these state systems. Now in the great state of ADA, yeah, maybe we have enough tax base to cover that expense, not out in Teton County, man.

SPEAKER_02

I always think that that's as you watch legislation go through, and we were just trying to do the we don't know for sure. We think there were eight eight hundred to nine hundred bills kind of printed and presented, and we think the number's somewhere around 300 to 400. They don't know the exact number yet, or at least they're not reporting.

SPEAKER_03

Sure, sure. That have been officially signed.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. But all the time when I'm reading and trying to stab on it, because I tried to stab on it, um, I always ask that question how is it affecting rural Idaho? How is it affecting our populated areas? Because it's different, right? Right. So a lot of the stuff that you just don't think are the downstream consequences of formula changes or things that happened and which are probably really well intended, then you get out and you're like, oh man, I didn't know that would do that there, right? Right.

SPEAKER_03

Right. And here we have the we're in ag state, the largest driver of our economy is ag. Whereas ag in rural Idaho, who's getting hammered? Rural Idaho. I had this guy, Casey Stevenson, sugar sugar beet farmer, a lot of other things. He's from Paul, Idaho. I had him on at the end of the episode. I was like, hey man, would you recommend your kid get into this? And he sat back and he's like, I mean, I want my kids to be happy. I don't know that this is like the way to do it. He's like, our capital return because he's part of amalgamated sugar, right? It's co-op. He's like, our ROI on capital is like under 1%. We're losing money left and right on sugar beets. But by the way, I have to hit my quota or I get fined. So they have to hit a certain volume of sugar beet production to put into the co-op. Mind you, Canada's importing liquid sugar in the form of molasses and then refining it out, like Brazil's dumping. We believe in the free market in Idaho and the United States, but that doesn't mean the players we're in gate in the game with believe in the free market. So you have all these protectionist markets in the EU and Canada and Brazil that are protecting their growers, and we're like, okay, Idaho Ag, like just you know, go you because you're like a fierce independent man, like go be independent.

SPEAKER_02

Farmers right now are getting hammered. It's terrible.

SPEAKER_03

It's terrible. Yeah. Where are those relief bills? Where's that discussion in the legislature? We have the largest driver of our economy in the entire state is agriculture. Where were the bills that were supporting those people or helping them or doing anything? It was just it was the opposite. It was e-verify. Why is Idaho being asked to do the job for the federal government? I don't know. Verifying citizenship, this is a federal thing, man.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and for me, I on that one specifically, you think about e-verify, which I think everyone, you know, you this you've got this decades, decades old problem. You've got a president who's been who fixed the border. Like, by the way, fix the border immediately. But then you that doesn't take care of the problem that's here, and he's pro-farmer. He'll tell you from his own lips, hey, I'm I'm the most pro-farmer president that's been in here. They're my guys. They voted for me overwhelmingly, 90-something percent. Yeah, well, you then go fit. And I think the president would fix the problem at some point if he gives if he gets time, but you can't have then the legislature come in and say, we don't care. We're just gonna we're gonna take the role of the federal government and we're gonna do it here locally. I don't know. Sometimes you you you see the I I think it's it's hard for me when I see the ID ideology sometimes just not match up with you got federal kind of almost worship of Trump, and then you got local uh policy that is different than him, and that's where I'm like, well, what do you actually believe?

SPEAKER_01

What do you do?

SPEAKER_03

It's what you do, is what you believe. Don't tell me. Yeah, I'm looking at here's one for you Michael Dykes. He's the CEO of International Dairy Foods Associated. I interviewed him back in DC a couple weeks back, yeah, and I said, Look, man, what are we doing? In Idaho, the biggest driver of uh of economy is ag. Within ag, it's cattle. Within cattle, it's dairy. Dairy is the engine of the state of Idaho, right? Dairy needs 365 24-hour day labor. They do we do not have a visa, a work visa program for this. Okay, great, fine. What are we doing, Michael Dykes? You know what he says? Everyone knows we're not doing anything until President Trump says go. We are literally just waiting. Everyone knows what needs to happen, everyone knows what should happen. We're just waiting.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. And that's where it needs to come from. It's right. It's a it's a decades-long federal issue that, by the way, it's fixable. It's always been fixable at the federal level. But then to have it be the dominant thing now of like, no, we're gonna, you know, and then the other, the other hypocrisy that I just of this session that I thought, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02

Like the fact, the fact that they're saying that they're worried about the the the migrant workers being taken advantage of by the farmer, that was part of the the spiel. And I'm like, oh come on, give me a break that you're the you're now you're the you're the voice of compassion in Idaho. Have you visited these people? Have you looked at how they get taken care of? Their housing's provided for, the transportation's provided for. Nothing was further from the truth from that. But as you know, Matt, truth sometimes doesn't matter, especially the deeper you dive on all this stuff. Hey, I'm gonna go back to some of these budget cups dominated the session. Yes, 100%. Um, and you heard a lot about that. Um state is overriding a lot of.

SPEAKER_03

Whatever you want. My my father-in-law emails me today. I sent out a news my newsletter. Um, and he emails me back. He's like, hey man, I just read this letter. Well, you kind of sign up for it, Tommy. Just go to the website and there's a cute let's watch it on the newsletter. Yeah, so I send out a weekly newsletter with the episodes.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know what you have a newsletter. Listen, mate. I'm not being a very good super fan if I don't even know you got a stinking newsletter.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but you you probably go to all the platforms where the episodes are published. This is for people that don't regularly go. So they're like, oh, I would like to. I just have my up next. Yeah, you're you're already there, man. My God.

Mental Health Cuts And The ACT Program

SPEAKER_03

But he he hits me up and he's like, I just read this article. It was either in the uh New York Times or Wall Street Journal, and it was about how Idaho cuts medical care or mental health care and people start dying. I was like, Yep, the ACT program, I already did two episodes on this. Here you go. So I send him the I sent him the episodes. But the Act program, here's one where it's like, okay, good idea to cut. I have no idea, but here it is the affirmative uh community treatment act. Okay, so what we have is we have people that are extreme bipolar, schizophrenic. This is they exist in every single community. By the way, there's somebody who's murdered several people in Southeast Idaco, and you know, but be that as it may. You have these people. Now, the Act program said, all right, look, Brian, Brian is a counselor. He's gonna go to Bob's house, because Bob's a little schizo, right? He's gonna go to Bob's house and he's gonna make sure Bob's taking his meds, that he has food, that he's like, hey, Bob, you get into your appointment, all these things, right? He's gonna go and check in with Bob. And if Bob's not there, he's gonna be like, hey, Bob's not here. I'm gonna go find him so he's not wandering around the elementary school playground, right? No problem. Look for the robots, whatever. That was the act program that kept people, and it was like it was very love you, man. I actually haven't had that much coffee today, believe it or not. I was hoping you'd offer me some, but you did not. I love it when you get on these things. I love it. Keep going. So that was the program. Now, mind you, it was only something like 60 bucks a day to do this, which is the cheapest possible way you could manage this. So they cut the find any other way to do that for us for 60 bucks. So they cut the outpatient portion of the act program. So the act program technically still exists, but what happens now is Brian's in an office somewhere across town. Bob has to theoretically go check in with Brian. Now, Bob thinks there are robots out to get him, okay, and they look like spiders. It's not a good play. Do you ever see uh Despicable Me like the robot cookies? Like that's what he thinks that he's like that. I can't go out of my house, they're out to give me. All of a sudden, Bob's not taking his meds. Nobody knows where Bob is, nobody's checking in on him. He's not getting to his doctor's appointments since that happened. That's happened in the ER. Okay, so there are only three options for these people. One is they have an episode in the public and they grab him, they send him to the hospital. That is an astronomical cost because now Bob's not at his house, he's in the ER. $7,000. Right. Or they're like, we're not taking him to the hospital, we're taking them to the jail. Now, mind you, we're already overflowing with IDoc and everyone else. So that's a problem. And you can't section them off. Sharon Don Sheriff Donahue was very clear on this. Or as happened, I believe, four or five times by the end of the session, people just started dying. So there were four, I believe it was four to five of these individuals that were on this program that just died. They they no longer got the medication, they no longer had people checking in on them. I don't know how to manage these budgets. I don't know what to do. But what I do know is the reality of what we what we generally tend to agree on, which is if we have community members with schizophrenia and extreme bipolar, their options probably shouldn't be jail, hospital, or dead.

SPEAKER_02

Can I just give that an Amen? That was one of the best. Hey, I'm going Manny pull this up. There we go.

SPEAKER_03

Hey, uh, where's where do you sign up for? I'm it should be, it's a pop-up. You guys probably have a pop-up locker. If you just go to the main page, it should pop up. And if it doesn't, my guy. I'm telling you right now, you got pop-up blockers.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Just send me a contact. Send me a contact at the bottom. I'll put you on the just send me a text, bro. I'll I'll manually input you.

SPEAKER_02

I I don't probably need the newsletter because I'm super fancy follower. But I just wanted for our listeners to make sure. So you so you can Yeah. Yeah, say you can send me a contact, it's no problem. I don't know what percentage of you out there have a pop-up blocker, but if you have a pop-up blocker, you're gonna need to have send

Newsletters And Beating The Algorithm

SPEAKER_02

a message. But you do a new weekly newsletter. I didn't know this. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, because essentially what I think was happening is I was relying on the algorithms to make sure people got the content, and that's the wrong way to do it. You know who told me that? Dante, Boise Dev. Because he he was like, listen, we were making all of this great content, and then we had these random influencers throughout the Treasure Valley who are making reels and clips off of our content, and they were taking off. And he's like, We need to go directly to the consumers, we need to help people find it directly. They can pick what they want. And I was doing in the session, like between 15 and 20 plus episodes a week. So I was like, I'll just send out a Monday email saying, like, hey man, this is what I did.

SPEAKER_02

The other thing I'm just thinking of why that's so valuable is even in um, you know, it's it's part of my morning routine. I'm just telling you, like every morning, every morning, every morning. But even with that, with the up next thing, if you if you're like, oh, so and so was on this podcast and it's a two-hour podcast, you can get behind, and and maybe this way you say, Oh, I I want to make sure I I I get this one with with President Pagner. Yes, whatever. You can kind of more target what you do. Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_03

So anyway, I cut you off. You were doing budget cuts.

The “Radiator Cap” Bill Swap

SPEAKER_02

Keep going. Uh well, budget cuts was number one. Uh here's here's my here's my uh here's the the I I did a little research. And so, like number one, budget cuts, um slower behind the scenes processes. I think this time there was it's felt like early on it was really slow. People were holding stuff back because they wanted to make sure they were part of the trades that happened down there, right? I think that happened. Um then we all understand the radiator cap. Then radiator cap, right? A term I never want to ever hear again. So, so that was like the last week, and I had I I had never heard of it. Um but but you know who so it was weird because I I was actually I went to uh Mayor uh Rick's funeral.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Did you go to that? Um I didn't know. Yeah, it was it was it was uh that was awesome, man. First of all, he was a good man. He was a good, good man. I know he was on he was he was on with you, right?

SPEAKER_03

Oh yes, many times. Yeah, yeah. And I talked to him a bunch behind the scenes.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, he I had talked to him the day before he passed away, and and what a great human being. Like just uh and then I went to his funeral and I I didn't know a lot of stuff about him, which often happens until you kind of hear his his family, and what an incredible guy. Um and and then the music. They had the North uh uh they had the choir from NNU there and orchestra, and oh my god, it was like powerful. It was like some of the most powerful um uh music that you could have. Anyways, it was great. But anyway, I I I drove out there with Senator Rish and uh I'm not name-dropping here, but I'm getting to the radiator cap today. I I wanted to get a ride out there, so I went with with Governor Little and Senator Rish. And on the way out there, I said, Hey, tell me about this radiator cap. That's what made me think of it. And Jim Rish gave me his, it was awesome, uh, of how it works and why it works and and and how things happen. But um anyway, t tell us about the radiator cap and what you thought about that and at the end of it and how it got really crazy towards the end of the session.

SPEAKER_03

Sure. So the radiator cap analogy essentially just says, like, okay, envision that you're staring at a Toyota Corolla that's owned by Tommy, right? And you you're like, all right, this is Tommy's car. You're like, yeah, this is Tommy's car. You're like, all right, pop the hood. You're like, pop the Toyota Corolla, pop the little radiator cap on. You're like, all right, get that car out of here. They're like, we don't have the cap on, get it out. And you pull up a nice baller Land Rover, right? You take that radio cap on and you put this new one. You're like, this is still Tommy's Corolla. You're like, well, bro, that was the Corolla that that's not the Corolla. I'm like, you see that radio cap? That's the Corolla radiator cap. That means that's a Corolla. So in effect, what happened is the what that means for bills is that you have a bill with a certain sentiment, right? A certain sentiment, a certain spirit, certain intent. And you have that bill sitting somewhere. It hasn't passed, it hasn't done something, right? And let's say that bills on uh outlawing um uh cups with uh phthalates in them in the state of Idaho. So you're like, hey man, we don't like phthalates, they're bad for reproductive systems, bad for everything. Let's let's get the phthalates out. But not everybody agrees, so it's kind of sitting there. And then you come in with like an e-verify, and you're like, bro, the phthalate bill is just sitting there. Let's just let's just do like the e-verify phthalates. It's a little crazy that this even exists. So you gut it, and then take uh you just for the title, except that's the radiator cap, and then you put all of the body of the bill in that phthalates bill, and now you're passing the phthalates bill that has nothing to do with plastic cups. It has to do only with e-verify.

SPEAKER_02

And the Do you want to know why I love you so much? Why? Because now we're gonna go down the phthalate.

Microplastics Fears And Daily Habits

SPEAKER_02

We're gonna go down the phthalate rapidly.

SPEAKER_03

I'm really worried about it.

SPEAKER_02

Hey, are you?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. I'm freaking out. And like, I don't, I do not modify myself with like testosterone or like I'm not like a better life hack kind of guy.

SPEAKER_00

I am.

SPEAKER_03

Um I I just really worry about like, oh my god, what like when I make my coffee in the morning, it's a ceramic pour over. I pour into a mason jar. I don't use plastic. I Maddie, have you been following this stuff?

SPEAKER_02

Holy smokes, you'll change like I started down this rabbit hole probably three weeks ago. So those people listening, phthalates um are microplastics, essentially. So in everything that's plastic, apparently there's these little microplastics that are depositing themselves in our brains and in our tissue. Endocrine system, and there's a big deal on what it does to your hormones, right? Horrendous deal. Yeah, yeah. And then you've got Brian Johnson, who's the live forever guy. Have you seen this?

SPEAKER_03

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_02

I'm gonna send you it. Okay, great, great, great. So he's on a podcast. So he's he's the guy that the tech the tech millionaire from from Utah sold his company and now he's gonna live forever. So he's the most studied human being ever. Right. And he literally has everything tested in him every day by his team, and he spends millions of dollars on this. Well, he starts tracing his microplastic levels on different things he does in his life and how he gets them and how he gets them out of his body. And it's shocking because now you have someone that's literally testing if I do this, then my mac microplastic level does this, and they're showing that it may be linked to all sorts of diseases, but specifically to hormone stuff. And now I'm like, oh so now I'm like I'm on Claude. Like, hey, tell me about the microplastics in a Keurig cup. Horrible. Well, you think about it, you're running hot water through a plastic machine into a plastic cup, into a even if it's a paper cup, it's lined with phthalate plastics. You're getting like a a superhuman dose of phthalates every time you get your coffee.

SPEAKER_03

Yes. Yes, that's bad. Okay, let's let's if you want to, if people are Rogan fans, you can look up Dr. Shanna Swan. She was just on recently. I actually heard her originally five years ago. She was on there five years ago, right? I went back and listened to the other one, too. Yeah, so that one was a good one. This was then she was back on this. She just did a documentary. That's right. Did you watch Dr. Marmate? I did not. I had to I'm already sold because like my my only touch points. Maddie, this is a huge, huge deal.

SPEAKER_02

Like, you are not gonna ever have any children anymore if you keep doing this stuff.

SPEAKER_03

Well, we're just gonna cease to exist. Yeah, and like humans in general, we're just gonna reproduce. My wife thinks I've lost my mind. Why?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I mean, which of the reasons? Well, this this like I've I've been I've been on this one-year longevity thing like big time. Like I am right, you moisturize, you look great. Whatever. Well, I'm I'm doing it all. I'm doing it all, let me tell you. Cold plunge, sauna, stacks, I'm doing the whole thing. I'm I'm working out, I'm doing everything. But now I'm like totally got all the paper products out. And she's like, What are you doing? I'm like, You you you gotta follow. She's like, You you like where is your tinfoil hat? You're like losing it because of the the bottled water things because uh my my routine in the morning, I would do get up, do my little pre-electrolyte thing before I work out in a bottle of water, then I go back and get my I do three of those before I even leave the house. And I'm thinking, my my microplastic level's gotta be through the through the roof.

SPEAKER_03

Have you tested it? I haven't. Have you? No. No. Here's the thing: I don't test my testosterone, I don't test, I don't test a lot of things. I eat a lot of meat, I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, I don't eat a lot of processed stuff.

SPEAKER_02

You work out though.

SPEAKER_03

I work, I beat the hell out of myself. I'm 44.

SPEAKER_02

So you're 44. Yeah, you're you're you're you work out every day.

SPEAKER_03

Uh uh yeah, I try to. Over the session, it was really hard.

SPEAKER_02

But yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And like I'll work out before I work out.

SPEAKER_01

Weights?

SPEAKER_03

Uh no. I'm not a big weights guy, quite unfortunately. I was in college for rowing. I had like gigantic quads and really strong back. Um, but I just cardio do you do? Oh, like I'll run on the treadmill and then I'll go do jujitsu. Okay. And then I'll like run again.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Like I'll go, I'll go dark.

SPEAKER_02

So you go hard. Yeah. So you so that's that's probably all you because that's like the like everyone focuses on everything else, but that's probably the most important thing you do.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. So I eat well, I work out really hard.

SPEAKER_02

Like those are probably the two things you need to do.

SPEAKER_03

Right. I weigh the same as I did in college.

SPEAKER_02

So if you're doing those two things, then your hormones are probably good. Right. I drink most most of America, like me, uh are not, right? So I I actually started going to Peak Um clinic. It's actually in our building here. I didn't know that. Eric, Dr. Eric Lyall, L-Y-A-L-L, and it's been unbelievable. So he takes my blood every two to three months. Nice. And I'm tracking everything. And I am reasonably bringing it up is Monday, I got checked again, and I am like, I am tuned up. He looked at me and said, I am

Health Tracking And Training Hard

SPEAKER_02

tuned up. He's like, he's like, dude, like, just keep doing what you're doing. Well, because I I had I have really bad heart disease, right? And I got a really bad family history. I got high cholesterol and high blood pressure. So he's made all these changes and tweaks to me, and I've and I now, for the first time ever, like metabolically um sound.

SPEAKER_03

You know what you should do? You know what'll help you with blood pressure? Come do some jujitsu with me. I don't want and you won't listen to me. You won't care about anything after. You'll be like, the world is good. I don't care.

SPEAKER_02

You guys can all do whatever you want to do with me. Imagine like getting in a jujitsu, like like having you like get me in like a rear naked choke or something.

SPEAKER_03

Just I'm telling you right now, it'll be you your your world will come down to like you do with a group right now? No, I train privately.

SPEAKER_01

You do?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I have my own, I have my own mats.

SPEAKER_01

You have no but you do oh I have like a buddy that comes. You do. Yeah, yeah. And you guys do it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, like I train, you know, three, four times a week with him, and yeah, it's great. He he's huge. He's like six, he's like six five, two thirty. Am I belted?

SPEAKER_02

Like like what belt are you in? Jiu-jitsu.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I've been a black belt for like 12 years, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I did not know that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it's been a long haul, man. Yeah, no, this is what I do. You're a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. Yeah, I got my I actually got my black belt in five years. Sons were gone. Five years? Yeah, so the guy I got it from, this guy coyote. Well, I knew you did this, but I didn't know you were. No, no, this is like okay, so I got into I was screw the session.

Matt’s Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt Story

SPEAKER_03

Screw the session. It's true. We gotta focus on things we like, man. That's the biggest lesson.

SPEAKER_02

Tell us about getting your black belt.

SPEAKER_03

Um so when I was in college, so I was grew up as a swimmer. Yeah. Okay. And then I was in water polo and in high school I joined the wrestling team. You can imagine, like big lanky guy. I was not like a savage wrestler. I had a lot of heart. I was scrappy. Still are. Still are, still are. Um go to college, I joined the rowing team. It's like boys in the boat. I actually am sleeping on the boathouse. Great movie. Kai Ebright Boathouse. Yeah. So I row all the way through college, and that's a really big hole to fill when you leave. Because you're just kind of like, okay, what do I do now? Like my whole life has been this thing. And you know, I was very committed to academics too. So I had passed anyway. So point is around 27, I had dabbled in jujitsu right after college, but I was like, I gotta get on because I grew up broke, so I was really worried about uh existing as a broke person later in life. So pretty much right after college, I'm like, okay, I see a path forward to get some financial security. I'm taking this path. Like, forget the sports. I get this big boy time, right?

SPEAKER_02

So around 27, um, my wife's like, hey, congratulations happen at 27 for the rest of us that was like 18 or 19, but keep going.

SPEAKER_03

You're like, okay, I gotta live a life. At uh at 27, my wife's like, hey man, there's a jiu-jitsu place around the corner. You should go check it out. I'm like, nah, I don't do that anymore. I did it for like six months, eight months. She's like, just okay, but like you could just go try. So I go, I just go look at it, and I'm literally I'm watching it. My hands are like sweat, I'm clenching the. I'm like, could I join right now? And they're like, no, no, no, this is the end of class. I'm like, I know. Do you have a gi? And they're like, no, no, no, we're done in five minutes. I'm like, so I'll have four minutes to train. They're like, dude, calm down, come back tomorrow. So I come back way in.

SPEAKER_02

I just I can't so had you followed, were you like uh you don't I don't consume pro sports, you know? So you didn't do UFC, you weren't you weren't like a hoist gracie guy. You weren't this was I don't fanboy.

SPEAKER_03

I'm on my own journey, Tommy. I'm on my own adventure.

SPEAKER_02

Is he trying to make me feel like after I told him he's I'm his fanboy, and then he's like, I don't fanboy.

SPEAKER_03

No, I was like, I listen to Joe Rogan, but I don't watch professional sports, I do sports.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, great, man.

SPEAKER_03

All right, I just was wondering what your inspiration was. It was an easy I don't I I don't know what it is. You know what it was? It just makes sense to me. Okay, I would see it and I'm like, I think I could do that. Okay, and then I did. And so I again fire up at uh roughly 27. This guy that I start training with is this guy Kyotera, very well uh incredibly famous, 13-time world champion, 130 pounds. So I see this guy like inverting and arm barring and choking people, 240 pounds, like nothing. And it's like, how did he even do that? Now, mind you, I have a very good memory. For me, I could literally watch him and just kind of like shut my eyes and run my head. I'm like, uh, okay, I think he did this, and I could do it. Right. So it turns out my dad, who's a Vietnam helicopter pilot, tested when he was in flight school and he was in like the 99.9% after spatial relations. So like he can see the world. So you've got some DNA in that. I have something. This is what I've kind of teased out. So I could do that. Plus, I have a very good memory. So I understand how the world feels and I can remember things like it just ran through my head. So I start training with him, and my wife and I are traveling all over the state. We go to other other, you know, states within the country. I'm going to the world championships, all these things. And yeah, so I just trained like an absolute animal for for five years and uh ended up getting my black belt in in that five-year time frame. I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. You did it. I didn't know you were black belt.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so I started doing pro fights before um COVID, 2020, March. I was supposed to fight Jake Shields in a pro in a pro-Jiu Jitsu fight.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So we were both fighting for the race. No, because uh essentially what happened is as we were getting up, I was in this just so you know, I I went on my mission to Brazil.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, there you go. So I go to Brazil and down there, you know, I was in Kudachiba, Brazil, Southern Brazil, and jujitsu was huge. Huge, huge, huge, huge, huge.

UFC Fandom And Enjoying Life More

SPEAKER_02

I come back, UFC starts, yes, hois Gracie lays it out, Brazilian legend, right? So from from UFC one, two, three, four, I am in it. I don't miss any of it. And I literally for that many years, it's like it's been for me. I have I have not missed it. And I still like I watch it every single weekend. I watch the that's cool. I am I'm like into this big time.

SPEAKER_03

So I want I want to be into it more. I just I think for my kids and for my family everything.

SPEAKER_02

Like it's it's it's evolved. Like what was awesome is back in the day when you would see Hois Gracie get in there with these animals and just wait for him to make one mistake and then just done. And it's changed now. I mean, well, actually, there's a lot of wrestling now. I mean, a lot of oh yeah. Armand Korean and everybody right now, a lot of the the Russian, they're they're wrestlers, right? So people are complaining now because it's not as exciting.

SPEAKER_03

You know what the key is with the wrestling? In the UFC, if you're a wrestler, you get to decide where the fight happens. Yeah. And if you can decide where the fight happens, you can take a striker and get them on the ground and ain't nothing you're gonna do about it. Like, right? Or you could stay on your feet. Will you come over when I invite you over in the next one? Oh, of course.

SPEAKER_02

Well, you like I don't have to pay for them anymore.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, because they're on they're on Paramount Plus. Yeah, and now on Paramount Plus, what is it? There's a lot of people don't like it, but I love it because now you now you can just go grab each fight. Yeah, you're it's whatever you want.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. I mean I listen, I enjoy it when I watch it. Yeah, I'm just too engaged in the world, right? Like I grew a lawn last summer, but I didn't have enough time to put in sprinklers. So I spent like all last weekend, the weekend before trenching manually because I didn't get the machine because I'm like, I ain't about that life, I gotta shovel for free. So like trench across a gigantic lawn all over the place.

SPEAKER_02

You should have called me. You know, growing up, the uh my dad, you know, you I don't know if you've met my dad. He's still I have not. He's just an animal. The guy's just he's just the he's the real deal. But he probably I probably I should ask him, how many how many sprinkling systems did we put in for widows in our neighborhood growing up? I don't know. I just remember sitting there going, Dad, isn't there a machine to to buy, like to rent, to do this? He's like, No, get back to work, right? Digging trenches. I love it. I would have helped you.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, well, I appreciate that. I'll tell you what, it does a number on your back. And you know what? I loved every second. I was like, I don't care. I'm gonna be so strong. I'm trying to think down is it sandy or rocky where you live? Um, it was sandy through part of it and then like kind of clay through part of it. So there are some parts that were pretty tough, but just one bite at a time. Just keep going. Don't stop, keep your head down. I so like I really, if you invite me, I'll come over and I'll enjoy every second of it. But left to my own devices, I just I'm a person that starts acting. Like I start doing things.

SPEAKER_01

Have you been have you been to a fight?

SPEAKER_03

No.

SPEAKER_01

We're going. We're going.

SPEAKER_03

I'll go.

SPEAKER_02

Let's go, baby. I love it. We're going. That that's yeah, like in person, they're like, we've we've been to Maddie and I, we've been to some epic, epic fights. Oh, I'd love to. It's in person, it's really fun.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it's funny hanging out watching UFC with people because people people know I do jujitsu, but until I'm like, no, no, you see his left arm, no, he's got it. And then like two seconds later, the guy's like, you know, do it. I was like, see, he's got a with the hand and the thing.

SPEAKER_02

So one one one of my favorite you went with us when we took Kent Orm, right, Matty? Yeah. So we COVID kind of shuts everything down, right? So the very first fight, public fight again, uh, was after COVID was down in Phoenix. And you had to do so, they did it in Phoenix and you had to get all pre-COVID screen or whatever to get in. And I and I'll and I remember we were so excited we were just fired up. So I invite Kent Orham, who was the CEO of it, I don't see for credit union, and then Courtney Lidier, my old partner, and they didn't even know how to spell UFC. Like, literally, like, and this was this Nate Diaz was fighting. Yeah. Brandon Moreno went. I trained with Nick and Nate before. Oh, you did? Yeah, yeah. Oh, I love those guys. Yeah, they're so so we are fired up, and we get the best seats, and we we fly down to the fights. And remember looking over at those guys, they're like looking at us like, what are we at? Why are you guys freaking out? It was like, I'm I likely come out. And I'm like, we're never inviting these guys ever. Wrong crowd. You know Poncho Romero? No. Oh, you gotta meet Poncho. So Poncho's late, he leans over to me, he's like, hey, who did we invite to this thing, man?

SPEAKER_03

Anyway, dude, I'm all in. Again, I enjoy it. You know what my bl downside is? And you could appreciate this. I have realized now it's like, man, I really gotta do a better job of enjoying life. Yes. And I am being reminded of this time and time again. It's like, listen, man, good for you that you do these things that you are very optimized. You have to go get a coffee with a friend. You gotta get lunch with somebody, you gotta do things to enjoy life.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and I think I think I think I this is a I've I've had this discussion with a lot of people, even some on this podcast. The idea of balance is probably not the right word for us. Because to me, you're probably never gonna like when I compare your balance with any other human, you'd be like, dude, you're wacko. You know, you don't even understand how to spell the word, right? And you're like, you're you're screwed. But but prioritizing is different, right? So if you can say to yourself, hey, in in in the next 12 months, I'm gonna prioritize having some real experiences where I'm able to just connect with people, connect with relax, yes, whatever that is. And then you have your family, like, hey, I'm gonna really prioritize them. You still may work the same number of hours, like because that's that's I think people equate balance with the amount of time or hours you put in. And I think that the the different phases in your life, you're gonna go through the phases where you're like, I'm no, I'm working 12 hours a day. I'm I'm doing 12 podcasts today, I'm going to tell the one back, and that's insane. But I love it and I'm doing it. So that you kind of kind of can't use the time effort kind of thing to balance, but you can do priorities to where you say, hey, in the next few months, I'm gonna I'm gonna do some things that I really enjoy. Okay, yeah, that's on my bucket list, like right now. Like we're making this thing happen.

SPEAKER_03

You know what's interesting too? I'm still home by five. Like I'll be home by four o'clock today. I got up at three, but I'll be home by four. You know, because I prioritize my family and my friends. There's just I you ever been to the Yellowstone in Pocatello? Uh the hotel or restaurant bar. Oh, I guess I have. Down to Pocatello. Super beautiful, right?

Idaho History Through Art And Story

SPEAKER_03

I go there when I was in Pocatello at ISU, these guys, Tal Sampson, who's was on the hat committee for hunting. He's like, come on, you're here. We're gonna take you out, we're gonna get you a drink and a steak, this whole thing. I'm like, God bless you, man. That whole bar, first off, the whole establishment is gorgeous. They have done they have like if you think Yellowstone is for the Duttons, you need to get yourself in a car and get to Pocatello right now. But the the artwork that hunts in that place, Tal is the artist. He's the one that drew Chief Pocatello, he's the one that drew the buffalo. Because I'm into this. Oh, look it up. Chief Pocatello, Tal Samson, T-A-L Samson. You don't you don't know how one I'm into this.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I'm into old Western art.

SPEAKER_03

He had, yep, that's him. He brought me a copy of that painting. Are you kidding me? That's his painting. The Tribe Adopton. That's him in the green. Okay, so that's the guy who came on the show to talk about hunting in advanced technology for Idaho, and he drew a bunch of different pieces of art that hang in that. That's Chief Pocatello, right? I have that print. I have that print. That's right. That's Chief Pocatello. I have that print in my studio. I I say a prayer to that every day. You want to know why? Chief Pocatello, 1820 to roughly like 1880. He was one of the notable chiefs that continued to advocate for communication. Yeah. And he died on a reservation. Knowing it was a failed endeavor, but he still fought for people to connect and understand each other.

SPEAKER_02

I've read a lot about him, and then I a few years ago I did a re I did a deep dive on him and then Chief Joseph. Like between those two stories and understanding those two men, I mean it's the volumes of stuff you can learn.

SPEAKER_03

Do you know the origin story of the Nimi Pooh? Like their creation story? Uh no.

unknown

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03

I I was out, I was in Riggins, and Roy Aikens, city councilman in Riggins, is taking me fishing and he tells me the story. He's like, they believe there was a giant beast. And this beast is slithering and crawling across the earth, right? Dragging his gigantic tail. The snake river is because he's crawling along, dragging his gut and his tail, and he's eaten all the people. He's eaten them all. They're all in his stomach, they're trapped. And he's there the different mountain ranges, he rolls around, they believe that's what he created, and you start to turn it up, turn it up north, and all of a sudden, there's uh a coyote. A coyote sitting there, and all of a sudden, like the rabbit and the mouse come running by. They're like, there's a monster coming. You have to take it off. He's like, there is they're like, yeah, he ate everyone. We gotta go, man. And the rabbit and mouse run off. And you know what coyote does? He takes like lava rock, like glass, and he makes knives out of them, and he straps them to his chest, and he lies down and lets the monster eat him. And from the inside out, he cuts the damn heart out and cuts his way out of the monster and frees the people. That's the origin story. And when I heard that man, you you just you understand the value that these archetypal stories from culture to culture have with people.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

That you can run away. My favorite podcast, and I think you've asked me before, Charlie Lyons, he's coming on again tomorrow. And the number one thing that I think about almost daily is like, you gotta turn around and spit in the eye of the devil. Stop running away. Man. I want to know more about these people. It's a beautiful thing. There's so much of Idaho that even the people that have lived here their whole lives don't know. I wanna I definitely wanna help share that.

SPEAKER_02

I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_03

Matt. Tommy got intense today.

SPEAKER_02

We just gotta keep doing these every once in a while. So listen, anyone listening,

Gratitude And Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_02

Matt Todd, Ranch Podcast, love what you do, man. Love your friendship, love your example, your heart, your work ethic, you're you're a great example to everyone. So thank you, man. And you know what else I love about you? No, everyone that knows you loves you.

SPEAKER_03

I don't know if you They don't know me well enough.

SPEAKER_02

Well, they might not know they actually might not know me well enough, but at least you're faking a whole bunch of people right now out. Fake it till you make it. Every everybody uh this thinks so highly of you. I really appreciate you coming on and I think this was supposed to be a legislative update. I think we talked about legislature. You know what, man?

SPEAKER_03

We did 10 minutes, maybe. I think this is your show. I think your life gets to be what you want it to be. I like that too. You should. You've worked hard enough, my guy. Thanks for having me. Appreciate you. Thanks, everybody.