The Thomas Massie primary in Kentucky's 4th congressional district represents a critical inflection point in American democracy, testing whether elected officials can represent their constituents' interests or must prioritize donor money. Despite Massie's 70% approval rating and strong support from young conservatives (78.5% among voters under 30), he faces $30 million in foreign and special interest funding (95% foreign money) from groups like AIPAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition to unseat him. This race demonstrates how financial influence can override democratic will, with 63% of primary voters being 55+ years old while younger voters overwhelmingly support Massie. The outcome could serve as a blueprint for whether politicians can prioritize constituent interests over donor interests, making it a bellwether for American democracy's future.
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The Inflection Point of American Democracy with @5149jamesli ZFS 69Added:
Welcome in to episode number 67 of the Zack FA podcast. I am somewhere completely different than where I'm used to being. We're in Florence, Kentucky.
Uh, as creators, I think there's 20 something of us that have come to Kentucky in support of Thomas Massie and I'm joined today with a beer by >> You don't even need an introduction in the social media spaces, brother.
Ridiculous. 5149 James Lee is joining me, brother.
>> Happy to be here with you, >> let's crack. Yeah. Come in my camera first. Yeah.
Cheers, buddy.
>> Cheers, brother.
>> Because I've um talked to you a bunch of times, never met in person. I had to be here tonight to meet the legend.
>> Where is he? Where is he? I haven't met the legend. I don't know who you're talking about.
>> You can't see him because it's >> You're nuts, dog. So, um let's focus around the topic. I I I guess because we could talk about a billion different things.
>> Yeah.
>> We're here for Thomas Massie. So just briefly bring me up to speed as to why you decided to come out to Florence, Kentucky from California.
>> Brief. Well, so yeah, I could do this briefly. I mean, it's it's quite simple.
This is probably the most important election in American history, at least modern American history.
>> Okay? This is an inflection point. This is like >> the billionaires versus regular people.
Right.
>> Right. Because Massie, you may not agree with everything that he believes in, >> but I think that he's true to his word.
You know, he says what he believes and he does what he says he's going to do.
And now you have pretty much what he's approval rating 70 plus%, right?
>> Right. Rest of Congress six, something like that. And you have 95% foreign money coming in, $30 million to try to unseat this guy. Why? Because he voted against the war in Iran, released the Epstein files. He's trying to hold Bayer accountable for pesticides.
And what? This is the guy you want to get rid of. This is the guy that you want to put your chips all in on. Like, I'm here for it. Okay? Because this is this is the future of American democracy to say, can you really survive in Congress and represent your constituents or is the only way to survive to serve the donors?
>> Yeah. Money.
>> Yeah.
>> And this is what this is what that inflection point kind of is right now.
This is it right now. People beat money, >> right? Because if he loses, it's like >> the money.
>> I'm going to have Yeah. I'm going to have a little reckoning myself. I'm not going to give up necessarily, right? But it is sort of like, okay, we definitely can't vote our way out out of this. And he even said that to me yesterday. It's like if I lose like maybe we can't vote our way out of this.
>> But if he wins then it certainly is a blueprint to say we can replicate the success in other parts of the country and we can actually incentivize representatives to represent >> right >> the people.
>> Yeah. That and that's that's what people want. We just want politicians actually want to do what the people they represent want. Yeah. And I think this year at the very least has been may maybe I'm wrong, maybe it isn't just this year, but it feels like this year more and more people are seeing that billionaire control in all of this.
>> It's becoming more overt, right? Apex, >> good word, overt.
>> 10 years ago, nobody even really knew.
Like they had their conferences and everything. I've seen all the clips now.
They're they're popping up. But they did their thing from behind the shadows.
>> Now it's the donors.
>> The donors, the Apac, the Israeli lobby.
Now they're overtly saying boom, $30 million reported into this race. And this is like like I said one more time, this is >> like Massie. I think I probably agree with on some stuff, some stuff I don't agree with, but I can I know what he's all about. Like I I know him. And this is same I came like 10 years ago. If you rewind, I was a Bernie guy. And I think Bernie had the same kind of appeal where people knew where he stood and what he fought for and they [ __ ] him for a lack of a better word. You know, >> I think the respect that's gained just by being a uh >> regular human being.
>> Yeah. Just a straight shooter talk about normal things. Well, honestly, that's what got Trump so much push is the guy that I could grab a beer with. Like he's not a politician. He's a businessman.
I don't get that from Thomas Massie, but I I do get what you're saying. Like he is uh >> Well, he ran on everything that Trump ran on, right? He ran on no more wars, right? He ran on cleaning up the food supply. He ran on releasing the Epstein.
>> Fighting the deep state.
>> Fighting the deep state. And he's still doing it. Trump has sort of gone off in a different direction for whatever reason. I don't know if it's a honeypot situation or if it's a blackmail or if it's whatever getting paid off by Israel. But he certainly veered off, right? He was the one that tweeted out, "If you vote for Kla Harris, you're you're voting for a war with Iran." And now we're war with technically a war. James, >> look, I think they called it a war the other day.
>> I think they've called it a war many times.
>> Well, I mean, they literally changed the >> We've won 18 times.
We've already won 18 times the war that isn't a war for a country that isn't Israel.
>> They changed the name called, you know, from Secretary of Defense or Department of Defense to Department of War.
>> Yeah.
>> So, what was the calculus there, you think?
What do you think they were? And then and then to then go say it's not a war.
>> Well, what defines war then? Because I've heard that argument. Is the definition of a war sending troops? Is that when we officially have an AR rifle cross their borders? What's the definition of war?
>> Well, there's different throwing drones at them and throwing missiles at them.
>> We're doing a blockade.
>> We're blockading. Yeah. An act of war.
>> Economic warfare at the very least. So, what's war? Are we ever going to experience legitimate definition war like people running at each other and shooting each? I don't think that's modern war.
>> That's what Thomas Massie is fighting for to say if this is a war, let's call it a war. Let me introduce the War Powers Act or whatever it is called and let's vote on it. If we want to do a war, let's do it properly. Now, another thing he brought up which I found equal parts powerful and hilarious is Thomas Massie introduced the bill two days ago stating he was going to force Apac to register as a foreign agent.
Very familiar with a JFK type history, but >> is that something you think that could actually get through Congress? Because I don't believe it could. Zero.
>> There's zero chance. Right. That's why I found it equal parts hilarious because it's a great jab.
>> Yeah. zero chance right now. But if he wins, I hope he does. You got a few. I think a lot of people underline they they all feel there's no reason why it wouldn't be a foreign lobby, you know, because you're lobbying on behalf of the interests of a foreign country. If any other country did that, even if it was like Chinese Americans like >> Germany or Australia like >> Well, those are Yeah. And those are allies too, right? If you talk about even nonallies, Russia, China, these kinds of countries, you would you would of course never accept that.
>> And so here it's like what's happening right now. It's like they're clearly all the wars that we've gotten into Iraq, Syria, Libya, whatever. You go back in time, it's all sort of related to Israel wanting to knock out the more most powerful country in the region so then they can dominate, >> right? Greater Israel.
>> Greater Israel. We talked a lot about the Greater Israel.
>> Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia. I don't think Sudan's involved in that, but uh Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, >> Iraq, >> like >> even parts of Jordan, I think, are in >> Yeah, I think it's all almost all of Jordan. It's it's an insane map. And it's it based off that.
>> I think it's Nile to the Euphrates is what's mentioned, like Genesis 3 or something like that. That's where I don't get this this this and and I guess we could shift to Israel. Do you think that a lot of the support around Israel just stems from the religious stigma of if I don't support them, I'm not a good Christian.
Well, so I think that's part of the strategy. There's multiaceted I mean they have a I was talking to Joe Kent today and he said Israel has a comprehensive strategy depending on who you are.
>> Explain that for me. So like if you're a Christian, right, you care about and and that's how you sort of form your opinions and your worldview and that's what guides your moral compass. It's like, okay, if you want to be a good Christian, you have to support Israel.
Those who don't bless Israel >> or what is it? What is it? Those who don't >> I will bless those who bless Israel, I will curse those who curse your name.
>> That's Genesis 12:3, I believe.
>> I think it's Genesis 12. It's talking to Abraham.
>> Yes. So that's one side of things, right? But if let's say you don't care about that, then it's is is it money?
Maybe, right? Is it is it can we get you through some sort of like financial agreement to get you to support Israel or is it we bring you on a trip over to Israel? Is that what you like?
>> Seems pretty common.
>> Yeah, that's that's >> there were three Delaware representatives to Israel. I'm like, where are you? You represent Milford, Delaware. Were you living in Tel A >> or is it media? You you know, you go after, you know, if you want a job in Hollywood, >> this is what you got to do. There's various means of influence that they have based on your particular, you know, I guess walk of life, right, >> where they can say it's good for you to support Israel. You should support Israel.
>> And a lot of that probably just stems off the fact we've been saying it for so long. A lot I know a lot of people just say, "Hey, that's our greatest ally.
That's the democracy of the Middle East.
We have to support them. The terrorists have been terrorizing them for for decades." But I think when people like you and I start looking into more of the history of things, it seems like it's been the other way around.
>> Look, it it does seem like that. And and that's why, you know, a lot of people accuse me. I don't know if you've gotten the same accusations of of being Israel derangement syndrome. Have you got >> I haven't heard IDs. No.
>> Yeah, IDS. I haven't heard IDs.
>> Like every And like because I'm doing a video, it's not even related to Israel.
It's like I get comments like I can't wait till he ties Israel into this.
Well, it shouldn't be it shouldn't be one to two layers deep to get there.
Like it's like whenever I'm I'm looking into a government official or someone in the cabinet.
>> Yeah.
>> It's like I don't have to look more than 20 minutes to find Epstein.
>> Yeah.
>> Why Why is it so close to everything? I think is where people start to raise their eyebrows because if there's just one thing or one war or one politician being backed, that's one thing. But when you have 90 plus percent of Congress receiving money from Apac and and when you look at the the amount of influence they have at where and when we go to war, Trump said it yesterday that we're at war because of Israel.
And I I I can't wrap my brain around why America as a whole would push against any congressman, whether it be a Rand Paul or it even be on the other side like an AOC or a Massie who don't want us throwing missiles at people. This seems pretty basic, but what is it about America? Do you think that we just love war and we we we validate it through like we're we're bringing them freedom. Oh, they're they're terrorists. Like why do you think we love war so much?
>> Well, that's a good question >> because I get the oil thing. I get why we go to war. I get I get the money involved in geopolitics.
>> Oil here in this situation.
>> Fair. Like so why there's not even about Trump even said we don't need their oil, >> right? We're trying to become the the de facto oil supportive last resort for the world which we can't support long term.
>> I mean obviously part of it why we love war I mean it's it's with any industry here is like because of the industrial complex every industry eventually becomes an industrial complex. You have the war industrial complex like the military-industrial complex which Eisenhower famously warned us about.
>> But then you also have the pharmaceutical industrial complex. Right now, we're starting to see some evidence, you could say, or at least some incentive to create more and more people who are relying on pharmaceutical drugs in order to survive, and you create conditions for that. And you start to say, well, are they poisoning us? Is that possible? No.
>> Right? And then you have, you know, when I looked in California, you have the homeless industrial complex. Are these people homeless because we can't solve the problem or we don't want to solve the problem?
>> Right? Then you I think that's I think that's where you start to get into everything because we don't really have any kind of um cultural cohesion other than getting your bag and then therefore becomes well let's everything then becomes all distilled down to like can we make money.
>> But then why >> you know it's like that that that um you know when Trump tweeted out >> that's like I'm going to end your civilization. Yes. And the lady on CNBC was like well so he he tweeted this out today. How does an investor think about >> on MSNBC or something like that?
>> Yeah. Yeah. CNBC.
>> CNBC. Wrong letter.
>> And it was and and that just kind of distills down our culture. It's like are we not going to take a beat on like what does it mean for a civilization to end?
You can go straight to the investor sentiment, right?
>> Yeah.
>> Even if it's CNB, people are like, "It's CNBC. That's what they talk about." It's like, okay. But it's like it's just saying you're like, "Oh, you know, what is murder?" You know, like this guy committed murder. Like, can we just talk about the murder? Like this dude died.
Let's take a beat.
>> The way that we can absorb war and death and then be like, well, how am I going to make my portfolio going?
>> Exactly. So, it's like, yeah, I get the show CNBC. You got to talk about, >> you know, >> you're talking to investors, >> right? But let's say like, hey, this is really bad. You know, at least acknowledge like, hey, we shouldn't be tweeting out, we shouldn't be wanting to end civilizations. This is not ideal for us.
>> And then move on to the investor, you know, sentiment.
>> Add a little bit of empathy to your apathy.
>> Exactly. Exactly. They'll go straight there.
>> But why?
Like I understand as you do at a much deeper level than I the the the the complex and and finances at a macro level for the big elites and the big companies and the contractors.
But why is why is Bill a fan of the war?
Why is Mike?
Why is the regular everyday American able to look at war and support it? It seems like a crazy thing to to just blindly support and >> that's years of propaganda.
>> Fair.
>> That's years and years of Iran is building a nuclear weapon.
>> Fair.
>> Right. We're you know that that >> which we're now 23 years into two weeks.
>> But that's I mean I've talked to some people who are like that.
>> Oh, I have too.
>> I'm sure you have as well. Right. Yeah.
And that's because they've been fed that propaganda and therefore that's all they consume. So they don't know anything else.
>> But then what was June about? What was Operation Midnight Hammer all about? I thought we got rid of the nuclear facilities.
>> Well, but they they started building it again. You see, >> but how quick it's just I don't get it.
I don't get it, James. And it seems like and and I'd like your take on this. Does it seem like um with this war that people like Massie are avidly against they're avidly against foreign support of any country? He's mentioned Ukraine.
He's mentioned uh Israel obviously, Argentina, others that why are we sending any money overseas when our own infrastructure is falling apart?
>> And that's the issue. That's that's I think what a lot of Americans have woken up to. That's optimistic view, right? I think you know you're saying a lot of people still want war. I'm seeing optimism. People seeing the shift. I am seeing the shift.
>> There's a shift happening, right? It's like there's, >> you know, we got crumbling bridges, hospitals are closing, right? There there's everything is falling apart here, right? Roads are, you know, there's potholes everywhere. This kind of thing, right? You're starting to see like an erosion of this.
>> O, >> Tiffany, we're on a podcast.
>> Anyway, >> continue. Sorry she interrupted us.
>> Um, we're live.
>> We'll do it live.
uh where so I think that's the part where people were like this doesn't make any sense anymore you know it's it's it's similar so I compare it to like China you know I don't know if you've seen a lot of these videos coming out of China that's very propagandistic where it's like look at this new bridge look at this new train station we built highspeed rail there's tons of corruption happening in China I know for I know a lot of people over there there's tons of corruption but they offset it with like these very visible things for the people to then say, "Okay, I understand there's corruption."
There's corruption in everything, but at least there's some corruption happening in favor of us, >> right?
>> And right now, I I I struggle to I don't know if I can cite like a bill other than maybe the Epstein transparency act, which Thomas Massie worked to pass. He was one of the >> the the co-sponsors of it that is like a bill that is meant to provide transparency or provide protection for the American people, right? It's always some law that was like, "Oh, in 1942 we passed laws saying that like you couldn't like kill somebody or like you couldn't do this, you couldn't do that."
It's like, "Oh, you you have certain protections of this." And then since then, nothing.
>> It's all good.
>> We're doing it live.
>> We're doing it live.
>> I don't think we're live.
>> We're not live. But >> but we're probably not going to cut this part.
>> It more Do you know what I'm saying?
It's like >> No, no, no, no. I completely >> like people say there's corruption everywhere. That's true.
>> I drove I drove here 10 hours from Delaware to Kentucky. The amount of rest stops and exit >> would have been a 45minute highspeed rail.
>> Legit no public transit to help me out.
But just every exit I'm sitting there driving. I was like >> every exit McDonald's, Exxon, Subway, Dairy Queen.
>> Next one, McDonald's. Yeah. Exxon, Subway, Dairy Queen. And just with their 200 foot signs and their wires running everywhere, just nothing looks like it's happening. And I passed like 200 of them.
>> Yeah.
>> Interesting. All of these places have looked the exact same for decades and are just littered with glyophate fil.
They're littered with just these, it's almost like we're in a little zoo of of capitalism that we're locked into with these terrible options and we watch our money flood overseas. And I think people just have questions of like, hey, maybe all the money we're sending overseas wouldn't immediately solve our problems. But a couple dollars toward some of our infrastructure, a couple dollars toward this wealth gap we're growing into, a couple dollars toward this weakening dollar overall toward this economy, especially Gen Z. There's no there's nothing that the Gen Z individual I feel is looking at in this economy think I can't wait.
>> I think well that's a government.
They're not responsive to the response.
They're not held any so like another example, if you live under a dictatorship >> and something goes wrong.
>> It's like very obvious who's at fault.
>> Whether they're going to fix it or not, that's a different story. But you know who's at fault here. I feel like there's a lot of fingerpointing back and forth.
Like Republicans are saying, "Ah, the Democrats are obstructing. The Democrats are like the Republicans are obstructing." And so then there I mean I'm a big believer like I truly think that there's a uni party situation. It's there's not really like two parties.
There's maybe two flavors of the same thing. It's like Diet Coke or sorry, it's like Coke and Pepsi.
>> It's like they're rivals, but they're also the same thing.
>> What do you mean by that uni party? Like when you say that, >> when I mean uni party, it's like I'm saying the Republicans and the Democrats have the same goal. You know, they both want war in Iran.
>> Yeah, that is bipartisan.
>> Okay. It's bipartisan. They are both tied in with big pharma. They're both proc corporate, >> pro- Israel, >> pro- Israel. They're the same thing. So, a lot of the big ticket items that's been I think sort of uh I think uh stressing a burden on this nation, they're both in favor of, right? There's different things. There's different like okay, one is maybe like they got the social issues that are different, right?
One is like the BLM, the the trans and this and that. One's like, okay, conservative, family oriented. I would argue I don't know, man. Look at Erica Kirk. I don't know how family oriented is going on over there. You know, and and you and to to to once again tie back to Massie because that's why we're here. Like, how do you not have Turning Point endorse Massie when Charlie Kirk literally said, "This is my favorite politician."
>> Okay. He said, "This is my favorite politician."
>> Yep. Loves Liberty. Loves the Constitution >> and you don't endorse. What does that say about what is happening here?
>> Now, we talk about media. What do you think about Turning Point USA? Because >> what about what do you mean? terrible.
>> It just seems demonic.
>> It truly seems like a clear and obvious plant scenario, like that they're there specifically to encourage the conservative base regardless.
>> Well, I think Turning Point right now is what they've always imagined it would be. It's not very successful right now, but this is what it is supposed to be for. It's supposed to be propaganda.
It's supposed to be a machine. It's supposed to be a coalition builder of like it's supposed to serve the establishment, >> right? Charlie Kirk started out uh he had different ideas, right? If you look at Turning Point now and Turning Point when he started, Turning Point was like about like libertarian ideals very much like Ron Paul kind of like Tea Party stuff, right? Small government. And then it took this like very weird like Christian turn. And that was deliberate because of the pro-Israel thing. That was on purpose.
>> Well, Christian nationalism was Yeah, exactly. That's on purpose. So then now you you know I'm not saying that they killed him or whatever, but now you've eliminated the leader.
>> I've seen a few of your >> I don't know if that's what you think.
I've seen a few of your videos on that.
>> What I'll say is they've eliminated the freethinking leader and you put in a person who will basically say and do anything you want. Right? If you look at Erica Kirk, I'm not, you know, it's like widow, whatever, but she l she's she's a tool. She'll just say whatever people want. I mean, if you look at her past, that's what she's always done. She's an actress, you know? That's that's what she does. And and and I just have to this is a nonsecular, but like I can't imagine because I was talking to Massie last night. and he says he cries every day um because you know after his wife's passed and literally a few maybe a few days after Charlie Kirk had passed or even that I think she described at that day she's like there's nothing I wouldn't change anything to bring him back like who says that >> when your spouse passes away you're like I wouldn't bring him there's because everybody else would be like I would do anything to bring them back even for a day she's like no this is what I'm cool with it.
>> I think she doesn't she doesn't pass the eye test for anybody.
>> No, >> she doesn't pass the eye test for anybody.
>> No. And that's I think so I think turning point is back to your question.
I think it's operating the way they sort of envisioned it's supposed to operate, but it's not effective in this day and age >> because there's so many other people who could be like, "That's weird. That's [ __ ] You went back on your word."
And we have the platform to allow people to disagree. Right? Before if it was just one direction, like you only had a few people who could say stuff online, they could really easily control the narrative. Maybe you were thinking it, but there's no way for you to put it online >> and sway other people. Now you can't.
>> You know, you've built a massive platform.
I think I don't think any establishment person like signed off and said, "We're going to >> we're going to help this guy out." I think you just built it yourself because you were saying stuff that people were thinking, >> right? and that resonated with people and it's an organic audience.
>> Well, there's no doubt regardless of what your thought on Charlie was that he was the really there's no one else that even came close in terms of conservative following. Young conservative following >> and he liked debate.
>> You know what I'm saying? That was important too.
>> Debate.
>> Debate.
>> Oh, debate. Yeah, >> debate.
>> I was like baiting people.
>> No, no, no.
>> Baiting you in. Tricking >> debate. He was genuinely enjoyed debates or else I don't think I could anybody could do it for that many hours a day, >> right?
>> You know, >> yeah, >> you couldn't do it if you didn't like it.
>> 100% he enjoyed debating.
>> So, I think that that's that's you know, it's a shame that he's I think Massie was saying that last night. It's just it's it's actually a detriment to to American politics that that kind of voice is not around in that type of large organization, right? He was the one in there going back to the war, right? He was in with uh in the room with Trump saying no war with Iran. This was last year when they did that as it midnight hammer was it called? When they did that he was like no no.
>> Yeah.
>> So let's lighten it up a little bit >> and talk about Israel again.
>> Yeah. I was going to go I was going straight to BB Netanyahu.
>> Did you enjoy your trip out to Kentucky?
>> Oh, I did? Yeah. I've never been to Kentucky before. I've been to other parts of the Midwest. Never Kentucky.
>> I haven't been to Kentucky either. It's my first time. It's a nice house though.
>> It's good. I mean, it's good people.
People, this is what like I think America's I made a post. I don't make this kind of post. It was like because I went to this place that one of my followers suggested. It's called Urban Thas. And it's just like a a bar burger place kind of thing. I got there kind of late because I I got in late and the owner I didn't know he was owner at the time, but he's like the grill's off.
Sorry. Closed. And I was there trying to figure out with um there was a couple people there's two other people in the bar at the time just drinking like a do you guys know where you know where I can eat around here and basically every suggestion is like McDonald's like dear is like fast food and after like five or 10 minutes I was in there >> the guy was like all right I'll fire up the grill I'll make you a burger.
>> That's dope.
>> I know. And then I ended up having like seven beers with him.
>> That's dope.
>> And and got to know like the whole history and and so I made like a pose. I was like, "Here, give me a shirt. I'll wear it with Massie tomorrow." But I did. I was like, "Hey, I was whipping boats." I was like, "Hey, do you like Massie? Like, what's going on?" And they gave me a little insight, which is interesting >> in that he was there. There were older people. And he was saying, you know, we like Massie because he's a fiscal conservative and we're small business.
Like, we like, you know, that's important to have that, but hardly anybody's with him anymore. Like, he's gone against Trump and all these things.
And so, it makes him uneasy that he's gone against Trump. So I was like, "Okay, so Trump still has a lot of sway in this area."
>> Yeah.
>> You know, he says he still has a lot of that cult following of like if you go against Trump, >> you're going against what's good for America, >> which is just so interesting to me in a place like Kentucky or places like Ohio, Idaho, Arkansas where you have such a like there's a lot of farmers. It's so agricultural and >> and the one guy fighting for farmers rights, >> right? And the and the guy in charge has not helped farmers.
>> In fact, he's protected the pesticide, right? He literally >> he protected the pesticide company. He invoked tariffs. The soybean tariff specifically destroyed the soybean market. And now we look at this war affecting fertilizer and fuel, diesel.
They're already running on tight profit margins. We already got record suicide rates amongst farmers. And now we're adding more fuel to the fire. I really worry about the food situation, not just for America, but for the world because of this war.
>> Well, have you thought about the short-term pain for the long-term game?
>> I haven't. You're right. I haven't. I haven't thought about going through a short-term famine and economic crisis, you know, >> in exchange for Israel being protected.
I haven't thought about that.
>> You're right. I was shortsided. Thank you for clearing me. Well, that's I mean, on all seriousness, I I fear for America's downfall, honestly, because of how much we do because of Israel's interest. Like, everything that we're doing is on behalf of their interest.
Maybe they're gaining power in that region, but we're certainly losing power over the world. I mean, if you look at this Iran war, man, it's [ __ ] embarrassing what's happened.
>> No doubt. And any and anybody that views that differently, even is crazy.
>> Yeah. Like if you're >> if you haven't watched this Iran war and realize we are not as strong military militarily as we thought we were. Yeah.
Like we cannot win this war at all. And that's why I think we have all these billionaires in China right now kissing the ring because we realize we can't do that. We're not World War II America anymore.
>> No. No. It's it's it's embarrass I mean even if you're a pro, you're like I love you know the US military like what we just we can't even enforce a major water like a critical waterway >> and we're just lying about it. We're just We've learned so many times.
>> Yeah, it's open. We've won. They're decimated. They don't have any military power. Well, then why are we still there? Yeah.
>> Why are we still having to blockade their blockade if they have no military power?
>> Why are they paying a million dollars to pass through, >> right? Why are they in R&B?
>> They have a whole website now. The the straight they've they've created a website to enforce the tariffs and organiz the fees. I didn't even see that. The Chinese Well, they're >> the Iranian.
>> Well, the Iranian, but then it's getting denominated in Chinese R&B.
>> Yes. Correct. Correct. So that's also impacting the petro dollar. So once that goes, >> US hegemony is gone. I mean, not that we thing is like are you cool with sort of >> losing hegemony? Is that bother you at all if like the US isn't the sole decision maker of international affairs?
>> I would love that because we talk about being because man, I served in the military. I did the thing. I went overseas. I I defended the poppy fields of Afghanistan. I was there, dog. like my dual military kid. I traveled the country to different military bases. If we were going to vacation anywhere, it was going to be cheap. We were driving and we're going to stay at a military base. That's just how it was.
>> I I'm all for the defense by offense by us having one, one of the most strategically located countries on the planet. We're ocean on each side, A. And then B, our military force keeps anybody else from trying to mess with us. I I think that's extremely imperative. Yeah.
>> To a strong, thriving country, but we just keep getting lied to about what we're actually using that military for.
Because it seems like throughout the years oftent times we're pring it as if, oh no, they want they hate our freedom.
They hate our liberty. We got to destroy them now. And then we bomb a kid's school and and and ruin lives and destroy families, destroy infrastructure. The people who are homeless, dead, still not found under the rubble in Gaza, just it doesn't matter to us because we're not seeing it. But if anything at even the most minuscule level were to happen in southern New Jersey, we would be up in arms. We would realize h like how real what we're doing is. We're killing people. We're killing people and we're doing it for another country's sake.
That's the thing about it.
>> And on top of that, if you talk about it, you're a big old anti-semite >> or or not patriotic or anything like that. I I I just I I I would much rather in a world where we are the military superpower >> that we don't try to because it seems like we're just just swinging right now.
We want to maintain control. We see it spiraling and we're just swinging and it it seems like we're just flailing. It seems like we're watching the the last final spins before the the [ __ ] goes down the toilet and it's cra I I feel crazy and I know probably you feel crazy sometimes too looking at it realizing, wow, are we like is the superpower ending? Are are we going to fall off from being the world's number one? And answer your question. I'm cool with that because, you know, Denmark doesn't have the world's number one economy, but their people are a lot happier and they're killing themselves. You know, Spain's not the number one superpower, but they're not that.
Every issue that we have, you could find it not being present in so many other countries that aren't the number one economy.
>> That's a good point.
>> We're the wealthiest country on the planet, but no one feels wealthy.
>> Yeah.
>> So, what do we have? Who cares? Who cares?
>> That's a good point. I think it's um you know I think it goes in cycles you know I think >> right Dio would agree right now it's like I think we're we're living through the transition and that's why it feels so like jarring right because trans change is always really disconcerting to feel I think we're going through that change right now >> and it could be a change for the better like let's say we lose our world power it's like maybe we focus on other things other than >> maybe we go more nationalistic focus our money here yeah that could be it's other countries. It's like, okay, because you had the, you know, Roman Empire, whatever, and now Italy's, they're still there, and they got great pasta. They really care about whatever.
>> I hear the Vatican's still doing well.
>> Vatican's doing well, but that's is that's a small thing. But but my point is other kind they have other time to think or they have more time to think about other things than making money or like keeping power, right? Because it's like if you're the most powerful person, you have to do everything to keep that power. But once you're not, it's like, okay, the weight's lifted off. It's like, okay, we're not we don't have to worry about that anymore.
>> Yeah. Why do we have troops in 120 different countries and 200 plus bases?
I That's the part I don't get. If we if Germany said, "Hey, we're going to set up shop in North Carolina."
>> You're like, "Fuck, no, you're not.
>> No, you're not." But yet we do it everywhere else. We're like, "Yeah, this is >> But now they're not even They're not even allowing us to do this anymore, right? Didn't you see like a couple, it was like last week, right?
We're trying to enforce the the ceasefire or we're trying to say the straight is open and Saudi Arabia, a couple other of those um Gulf nations said, "Sorry guys, you can't use our airspace."
>> I did see that when we uh operation something freedom, we're trying to get everybody out of the straight.
>> Yes, that's humiliating.
>> Yeah. British uh Britain did that too, I think. I think >> those are yeah Spain those were our allies and said sorry guys you can't use our airspace >> that means like it's already changing >> and according to our media they doubled back on it and said never mind you could but then the mission never ended >> we didn't do it right >> so I was like did they actually did they actually >> they just thrarted us they just said you can't do it >> does it feel like the rest of the world >> is just done with the swagger of America >> yes 100% >> yeah they're done like we've been the cool we just Yeah, just let's live in peace, you know. Let's just have harmony again. And also they they also know it's like number one hated country in the world is Israel. Number two is America.
>> Wonder why.
>> And and I think a lot of people overseas, they know that Israel is involved. And I don't want to blame everything on them >> 100%.
>> But they know that they're involved.
It's America's fault that Israel's involvement is hurting America.
>> Yes.
>> So, it's it's ultimately our fault.
>> It's ultimately our fault.
>> Absolutely.
>> Like because there's supposed to be a client state and if you can't control it's like if your dog is a crazy dog that's, you know, [ __ ] barking at everybody, you know, attacking people on the street. That's your fault because you're the owner of the dog, right? It's your job to train the dog.
>> Are you calling BB Net Yahoo an animal?
Look, that's that's to put it mildly. Okay, that's that would be a generous analogy.
>> I've often called him a dog kicker. Have you I've often called him a dog kicker.
>> A dog kicker.
>> You heard that phrase?
>> No, I don't. It's just like a person who kicks dogs. That those are the worst people.
>> Those are the worst people. But this person specifically is terrible because they kick the dog strategically.
>> So there's this old episode of Powerpuff Girls. Were you a Powerpuff Girls guy growing up?
>> No. I I know of the Power Five of them, but I don't know.
>> Blossom is a casual friend.
>> No, I don't.
>> So, there's >> I never watched that. Yeah.
>> Oh, man.
>> I was more Nickelodeon than Cartoon Network.
>> Oh, really?
>> Yeah.
>> Oh, I was a Cartoon Network head.
>> That's probably where it's at cuz then I found out later on [ __ ] Nickelodeon was full of pedophiles, >> you know, like everybody running Nickelodeon logo island.
>> Like literally Nickelodeon is just run by pedophiles. Well, when their initial logo was a foot, we should have been questioning a little bit what was going >> entire network where adults >> manage kids for a living.
>> Nothing could go wrong in Hollywood.
Nothing could go wrong.
>> That sounded like looking back I'm like that's bad. That's like that's how you create even if the people, you know, that's just how you create really bad situations, right? You have all these child actors. You have adults that making decisions for them. It's like, oh, do you want to be on the show? You know, you know, this is bad. Yeah, this is not a situation and at least the mental health at the very least. Like have you seen Amanda Binds now?
>> Not ideal.
>> She's nearly unreal.
>> I loved Amanda Bines back.
>> Nearly unrecogniz. You've seen her.
>> Yeah.
>> Nearly unrecognizable. It's like a labbotomy. It's really >> I know. It's It sucks when people like they don't you know some people make a full recovery like Lindsay Lohan I think is making a full recovery right now. I don't know if you've seen her lately.
She looks Anyways, >> you know what I did? because she was in Freaky Friday 2 and I was like, Lindsay still doing it. Good for her.
>> They're still doing it. They got everybody back in that movie.
>> They did. It was actually a good movie.
>> Yeah, it was decent movie. Yeah.
>> A good movie. Not many sequels make the good list.
>> I know.
>> But there was this episode of Powerpuff Girls where we we were we were just in the basement talking about what was gone overseas because it seems like we we set up the scene for us to come clean it up. And that's how we run the PR. We create the problem and then we solve it. And in this episode, >> well, we don't really solve it, but yeah.
>> Right. Right. Right.
>> In this scenario, the the Powerpuff Girls, saviors of Townsville at all times were getting beat by this other kid, this one boy who started basically solving all the crimes. He he was saving the town. And the town sentiment started to shift. They're like, "Oh, this kid, he's actually better than the PowerPoint. That's crazy. We love this guy." And so the town would cheer and blah blah blah. And so it comes like halfway through the episode and there's this dog about to get hit by a car.
Dog's like freaking out and then the boy flies in right the last second saves the dogs. Everyone's like, "I saved the dog.
Great job. We love him."
>> But somebody saw that he was the one that kicked the dog into the road.
>> Oh, what is that called? Isn't that There's a There's like a term for that. Not dog kicker, but it's like you you basically like created created the >> I don't know, like a hollow hero. I don't know.
>> It's like Yeah. When you you when you did the crime and then you pretend to solve the crime.
>> Yeah. Essentially. And that's what I think false flag >> is going on situation. Exactly. Exactly.
And so you you you you have a war that obviously BB has been wanting fought for decades.
>> If he didn't fight this war, he's in jail. Like anytime this stops, he's going to jail.
>> Correct.
>> So >> correct.
>> He's going to do whatever it takes.
>> And probably more will come out around how he caused these wars. And I think there will be questioning around the the the standown orders around 2023 and the money that has flown in from Qatar to Hamas in the tunes of a billion dollars in cash reported by his own leaders, former leadership. I mean, not random people. It it does seem like they cause a problem so that we can inevitably try to solve it. And that was in this case, hey, we think they're going to attack us soon. So, can you go in and just go ahead and attack?
>> Right? It's always like the nuclear weapon thing, weapons of mass destruction, or you got Gaddafi back in the 80s or 90s or whatever that was.
It's like he's about to do something.
Syria, Bashar al-Assad, it's the same [ __ ] >> And it's the perfect play, honestly, because we'll never get any proof if they actually have one. You definitely don't want one going off down the street from you. And we have the military industrial complex where we don't have to worry about like the budget because we can just print more money, expand the budget. We have the greatest weapons.
So, it's not like we're gonna like run ourselves thin. I mean, maybe because there has been now talks that we're >> Look at the inflation though. I mean, there's an impact for this. You can't just keep doing >> There's no economic impact on this war.
What are you talking about?
>> Oh, no. Not at all.
>> Not at all.
>> I could tell you didn't know if I was being sat.
>> I was like, wait a second.
Oh, there's a little bit of impact, but >> it's late, but it's not.
>> We're driving around Kentucky. The gas is five bucks.
>> That's crazy, right? Right.
>> It's $5 here.
>> Yeah, it's closed. It's at $489.
>> How?
>> That's more than Delaware.
>> I thought Kentucky was cheaper.
>> Well, it's gone up a lot.
>> Jesus.
>> And the long-term effects of this have not hit. People do not understand the ramifications on our economy that are coming. And I wish I could grab every American by the shoulder and tell them because we love reacting to the moment the ripple effect hits us.
>> Not examining the ripple effect beginning.
>> No, because people it's hard for the people to relate to something or care about something that doesn't necessarily impact you personally. A lot of people get woken up. It's like, oh wow, all of a sudden I'm impacted or my somebody in my family >> once the prices go up or once something happens.
>> Yeah. You feel it, you know? It's like nobody gives a [ __ ] until like, "Oh, wow. That happened to me or somebody I knew and now they're like awake. Awoke, whatever the word is.
>> Awakened to this issue."
>> Awakened.
>> I think it's a proper term.
>> But it's it's really hard. I mean, that's one of the hard things that I I have to just kind of um be okay with.
It's just like I'm providing so much information, guys, and people are still, you know, >> everybody's going where you get your push. Is that where you get your push to to keep making content you're making? is you're you're you're waking more people up to what's going on.
>> I mean, that's my theory. It's just like, hey, if more people are knowledgeable, maybe they'll make better decisions, maybe things will change, right? Knowledge is power. That's sort of the, you know, the old adage.
>> Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. I keep going. Uh, I mean, I think I I'll keep going as long as they'll allow me to keep going, right? I've been deflatformed from Tik Tok, right?
There's >> other other things that you know they could they could get rid of me and I'm like all right I did my best. Yeah.
>> You know but I'll keep going as long as they'll allow me to keep going.
>> Right.
>> Right. But if they're like sorry you can't speak anymore. I don't know if there's anything I can do about it.
>> Do you think that world comes?
>> It could. It certainly could. I mean they did it to Tik Tok. They're doing it to other news stations. Who knows? I mean right now I think Meta is being pretty I think LZ fair to be honest with you with a lot of the content. I know some people are saying Meta is cracking down on this and that, but I think for the most part they're much more loose and relaxed.
>> Yeah, >> but that could change in an instant.
>> Could >> it could definitely I mean all of a sudden boom, new regime come. Who knows, right? It's like, oh, somebody takes over. They hire an IDF guy to do content.
>> Never happen over.
>> Never happen, right?
>> Hiring an AD IDF soldier for cyber intelligence oversight over social media platform. That could never happen to Tik Tok.
So, you never know. So, I'm I'm going to be here as long as they allow me to be here, >> right?
>> Keep going as long as I'm allowed to.
>> What's your backup plan? What if you can be a backup plan?
>> Yeah. Well, if you can be a contecer, what you going to be doing? I just You going to plum?
>> I'll just I'm going to be a contractor.
>> Open up an iced tea shop by the beach.
I'll just sell >> I'll sell every variety. I love iced teas. Sell every variety of iced teas.
Be a little >> That's really random.
>> Yeah, it is really random. Yeah, I picked it up. I was uh this is many years ago. I was surfing in Spain.
>> Whoa.
>> And um >> fancy.
>> It was it's hot, you know. I was surfing for a few hours and I'm like and I had this like iced tea that they had. It's like a normal iced tea. It's not really great iced tea, but like this is amazing. And at that point I was like, dude, I'll just open up an iced tea shop. That's that's be that's it, you know? And my point is like I don't like I don't desire I think notoriety or like I don't feel like I don't even like the sound of my voice that much.
>> So like if I didn't feel compelled to do this, I would just do something else.
>> Felt, >> you know?
>> Absolutely.
>> Like I don't need to do this.
>> Well, as we do do this, we're in Kentucky. I'm going to finish this with some stats. Got some stats for you to react to.
>> All right. Here we go.
>> All right. So, Kentucky, uh, this fourth district has a population of 760,000 individuals. Of those, 596,737 are registered voters. So, there's about 160 or so that aren't. 310,000 of them are registered Republican. So, they're the ones that are going to be able to vote in this primary coming up. I wanted to know though, like in past primaries, how many people normally show up? So, first I went to 2024's general election.
>> The general election hosted in 2024, of course, when the president is getting elected, >> 278,386 people showed up.
The primary though, the Republican primary prior to, which again was Massie, 52,593 people showed up. So, less than a fifth.
>> But did he have a legitimate challenger or no?
>> Not at that point. there was not a legitimate challenger by the time of the midterm, but at the primary there was.
>> So, it was kind of a shoe in. He won by a lot, but only 52,000 show up. I anticipate a lot more are going to show up just based off of the money, just based off of the advertising.
>> Yes.
>> Um, but what's interesting is of the people that showed up to these polls, 63% of them are 55 plus.
>> 63. So, that's not good for Massie. Not good for Massie, right?
>> Because it's a there's about a 30 point difference between plus 55. I don't know if you have those.
>> I do have that. Yeah.
>> Okay, go for it.
>> Um, as of an April poll of conservatives in this district under 30 years old, he has 78.5% support.
>> Mhm. Um, so I mean that the gap between 30 and 55, I don't know where that uh where that number may be, but I mean the the drastic amount of support that he receives from under 30. While now this polls say that the over 50 demographic, older 55 demographic is supporting Ed, this random politician who showed up out of nowhere. No one >> Yeah. They found >> he's not a politician. He's he's by Trump's definition a warm body. Trump said, "I want a warm body and I found him and he's got a big beautiful brain."
Is >> it's a warm body.
>> Look, it's a central casting thing. I mean, >> he said it. He literally said this a central cast. It's the second time ever.
He said that about Kevin Worsh and now he said it about Ed. I'm like, can you stop like calling it on the nose of exactly what this is when your billionaire buddy's son-in-law is becoming the chairman of the Federal Reserve central? Like, duh. Like, thanks for confirmation, brother.
the money.
So, the money side of things and these are numbers that I took down yesterday morning.
>> They might be outdated by >> about at this point there's has 100% been another $3.2 million sent in and a mixture between MAGA Kentucky and the Republican Jewish Coalition.
>> Um, but as I wrote these numbers down, the Preserve America pact has put in 750,000.
Uh, that is Mary Matt's pack of choice.
>> Super American. MAGA Kentucky, which is neither MAGA or a representative of Kentucky, has spent $5.6 million on attack ads against Massie.
>> Have you seen some of the ads, by the way?
>> Well, I've seen some of them. It's the most >> the throppple.
>> The throppple, the outrage, >> holding hands, just full AI slop. Even though I thought I might be crazy and and someone listening this might be like, "Zack, you're out of your mind.
That's not true." I swore a year ago they banned AI political ads.
>> I don't think so.
>> No. Am I crazy? I've seen a lot of AI.
>> Maybe it came up and it didn't pass or >> I think it's more of like a disclosure.
>> Disclosure >> and there is a disclosure at the bottom in the fine print.
>> Yeah. But it's so small >> and it's at the very beginning >> you're so focused on what the hell is happening in this video.
>> Seeing the beginning of the admy's holding hands with two other ladies.
>> Yeah. You probably didn't see the beginning of the ad.
>> Yeah.
>> Cuz you're doing something and you turn over, you're like, "What the [ __ ] is this?" And then by that time the disclosure is gone. And the phrasing of all the advertising, I think, is extremely uh obviously purposeful, but honestly smart. They're leaning into the Trump brand. Yes. And simultaneously not even trying to brand Ed. All the ads simply end by saying, "Fire Massie, >> which I think is brilliant in terms of strategy, >> but clearly an obvious strategy." So back in November, Paul Singer buys sitgo. Oh, is that with the Venezuela thing? And he somehow like made a shitload of money somehow.
>> 100%. He's profited 157 million just this quarter from sitgo. Oh, great.
>> Because he bought it a month before we go into Venezuela.
>> And he didn't have any knowledge that that was going to happen.
>> No, I'm not I'm not insinuating in any way, shape, or form he had for knowledge of that. He just loves oil.
>> Yeah.
>> And he buys Sitco and then Sitco receives a contract in January to refine the oil out of Venezuela. So he just happens to be in the right place at the right time connected to Epstein and he's funding Massiey's opponent. I think that's completely normal and we shouldn't put any side eyes or ask any questions.
>> The people behind this I mean Mary Madison I mentioned at the top as many know 250 million to Donald Trump that was his number one donor I believe >> at least individual donor.
>> Well we had an interesting revelation last night about Mary Mson. So you know how she's Israeli citizen American as well Israeli American.
>> Yeah. She was actually born before the uh the state of Israel became a country.
>> So she technically was born in Palestine. She's Palestinian.
>> Whoa. Yeah.
>> That's actually crazy.
>> So there's a lot of Palestinian money.
>> That's actually a crazy revelation.
Well, on that, James, brother, we got a lot of work to do these next few days.
Um we're going to be pushing forth as you already have been. January or a little bit before me uh toward just the people having their voice heard and their voice um reciprocated in the voting system. I I I feel a lot of us feel that our voice does not actually perpetuate into politicians pushing for what the people want. We think Massie does that. This is our opportunity whether we whether someone agrees with Massie or not. This is going to be proof as to whether or not people can beat money. I think Tiffany who Tiffany Cianci put this all together, got us all here, worked her butt off to make this happen.
>> Big shout out to Tiffany by the way because you know she's funding this herself. Yes. Because >> initially I think there was supposed to be some some help involved but then it would have violated campaign finance. So now she's doing it herself and she's doing all this organization. This is like literally if if she was doing this on behalf of an establishment candidate, this would be a huge pay. This would be like a $100,000 paycheck for her to organize this.
>> Absolutely. Cuz as she was saying, we have 37 million followers between all of us. I mean, that's the equivalent to a Super Bowl ad. That that's it's an incredible amount of influence that we're able to bring with our own voices.
And if our own voices can't make an impact and we can't beat money, what does that say?
>> Well, it says that, you know, maybe we got to do some things outside of voting.
Maybe you cannot vote your way out of this. So >> which leaves you with not many non-violent options unfortunately.
>> Right. So I think that's I mean it's critically important that I think this is this is once again the bellweather not the bus right this is the inflection point of of American democracy whether it still exists or not. Right? If this is if if the people if Massie gets reelected, I think this is going to I think this is make gonna make a huge impact on how politicians sort of calculate what they do in Congress because now they know they can represent constituents. I think Lauren Boower, she's been here and she's taken some heat now from from Trump. She's making I think she's making a political calculation that this is maybe going to work because she's like I want to get ahead of the curve here. It's like if I can show this then I'll build a lot of political will, a lot of political capital specifically.
>> I think the people are craving politicians that are willing to stick their neck out across partisan lines for the morality of the country.
>> What's the moral?
>> Just do what you I mean you should do if you say you're going to do something for your constituents, you should do it >> at the least. You should try to do it at the very least, right?
>> At the least.
>> None of this like, oh, sorry, like I had to do that. That's why we we need to get rid of the omnibus bills. We got to get rid of all that [ __ ] It's like single issue, like this is what we're voting on. Boom.
>> Single issue bills, term limits, age limits, get rid of corporate and foreign lobbying. I mean, there's a lot of seemingly easy things we could do to get the, you know, the insider trading and all these different things that are influencing our politicians out.
>> Yeah. May 19th. So May 19th, Tuesday, May 19th, go vote.
>> Yes. If you are a Republican registered voter in the fourth district of Kentucky, unfortunately, it's limited to only you. The weight of whatever >> the weight of the country.
>> The weight of the fate of our country is on your country hands.
>> Yes, >> brother.
>> Appreciate you.
>> Any last takes, thoughts?
>> You know what? It's just such an honor to sit with the legend. I've been waiting. I'm >> still waiting to see how you're talking about time to do this podcast. And I'm glad we were able to do it in person.
>> I can't wait to come out to Cali and do it on yours.
>> I guess this is kind of my pocket. This isn't my normal podcast set.
>> Well, look how great the set is.
>> It is a pretty good setup.
>> Shout out to LJ.
>> Shout out LJ. Thank you for tuning in.
Like, subscribe, and James can be found at 5149 James Lee, YouTube, Instagram, X >> X, Facebook, >> Only Fans. Perfect. I'm looking at the wrong camera. Thank you so much. Have a great one. Go Freedom.
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