Digital Social Hour - Lessons From Leading a Nonprofit at 16 | Cameron Kasky DSH #1391

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

🚨 Lessons From Leading a Nonprofit at 16 📈 | Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly 🚨 Ever wondered what it’s like to lead a multi-million dollar nonprofit as a teenager? 😲 In this jam-packed episode, Sean Kelly sits down with Cameron, the inspiring force behind March for Our Lives, to uncover what it takes to navigate the chaos of running a movement at just 16! From managing trauma and balancing egos to the life-changing impact of a bipolar diagnosis, Cameron shares it all—raw, unfiltered, and authentic. 💡 Plus, dive into candid conversations about navigating politics, social change, and the future of leadership. Cameron keeps it real with his hilarious takes, powerful insights, and unforgettable stories. You won’t want to miss this! 🎙️ 👉 Tune in now for valuable lessons and insider secrets. Don’t miss out—watch now and subscribe to Digital Social Hour for more inspiring stories and epic conversations! 📺✨ Hit that subscribe button and join the conversation today! 🚀 CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:29 - Cameron Hates Vegas 04:16 - Bipolar Disorder Diagnosis 07:28 - Kanye West Comeback Discussion 10:28 - Dave Rubin and Russia Allegations 11:39 - DNC Payment Accusations 14:22 - Strategies to Go Viral 18:15 - Piers Morgan's Debate Value 23:55 - Political Evolution Insights 26:13 - Trump's Influence on US Reputation 29:14 - Understanding Panic Attacks 33:47 - Overcoming Victim Mentality 42:30 - Benefits of Psychedelics 44:20 - Overview of the Democratic Party 50:47 - Republican Debate 51:18 - Episode Wrap-UpAPPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] GUEST: Cameron Kasky https://www.instagram.com/cameronkasky LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ The views and opinions expressed by guests on Digital Social Hour are solely those of the individuals appearing on the podcast and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the host, Sean Kelly, or the Digital Social Hour team. While we encourage open and honest conversations, Sean Kelly is not legally responsible for any statements, claims, or opinions made by guests during the show. Listeners are encouraged to form their own opinions and consult professionals for advice where appropriate. Content on this podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, medical, financial, or professional advice. Digital Social Hour works with participants in sponsored media and stays compliant with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations regarding sponsored media. #ad #nonprofitleadershiptraining #mentalhealthawareness #nonprofitskills #nonprofitjobs #mentalhealthally

Sounds intellectual. Even when he's saying the most ridiculous Kermit the Frog sounding shit. You know, he can at least mask it in this faux intellectualism. Whereas Dave Rubin is just affable. And is like, look, that's also sort of my brand. But it's crazy that he, I mean, do you think he still makes money? Dave Rubin? Yeah.

Yes. Okay, guys, got him in Vegas, all the way from New York. Ruben? Yeah. Yes. OK, guys, got him in in Vegas, all the way from New York. Let's go. We got Cameron here. How's it going, man? I fucking hate Vegas. You just told me that. And East Coasters don't usually like it here, to be honest. It's the dry heat.

It's the debauchery. And I can't even enjoy, like, a lot of the more touristy stuff because Flashing lights loud noises that shit really bothers me So and in New York City like it's not all Times Square like there are very chill parts of New York But I've been to Vegas so many times and every time I see but I'm having fun this trip because all I've done so far See you and that's been fun. Not again'd get in a fiery debate after this too. It's gonna be a fun day for you. I love a fiery debate.

It's my favorite type of debate. Did you watch the Charlie Kirk debate with Cambridge University? I've watched so many Charlie Kirk debates to this point. I think that certain debates, and I hope that this isn't the case with this one, are so team sport and they're never really done in the pursuit of some greater truth. Like when I'm watching a debate, I'm watching it to watch somebody get owned. I'm not watching it to get a better understanding of how different people feel about things.

You know, like I was just watching videos this morning. Did you see Jordan Peterson talking to the atheist? And he was getting really angry at kids. And they asked him if he was a Christian and he said, I refuse to identify as that. Uh, and it was like, dude, it's called Christian versus atheists. Why did you sign up for it? If you refuse to identify as a Christian. Yeah.

Um, and somebody asked him if he would have lied to save the lives of people in the Holocaust. And he was like, that is an absurd question and you're not going to bring me to answer it. I was Parker, right? Um, I don't, I don't know. Is that the, is that the Parker kid who doesn't have a last name? He just goes by Parker?

Yeah. I don't know, but I always thought that was funny. I was like, dude, respectfully, you seem like a nice kid. Get a fucking last name. No, that debate was tough to watch. I didn't watch the whole thing. I got like 30 minutes in. I was like, Jordan's lost his edge because he used to be really good on the mic.

He's gotten Federman. He and Federman both had like a near death experience that they came back from with their brains melted into a fucking pudding. Like, have you seen Federman talk? It was something. Actually, John Federman, Senator from Pennsylvania had had some sort of a stroke or something. I don't even remember. And he came back doing two things.

Number one, like tweeting incessantly about how much he loves Israel. And number two, sounding like how I sound after I've taken my Xanax, 300 milligrams Gabapentin and my Ziprasidone, which are my sleeping meds. After like an hour, if I'm still awake, I sound sort of like what John Fetterman sounds like. And then John Fetterman was like complained about how he was getting pressured into showing up to his job at the Senate. He was like, yeah, I'm showing up more at the Senate because I'm getting bullied into it. It's like, dude, that's your fucking job and you don't even dress for it. You look like shit. But, you know, it was him or Dr. Oz.

And now we've got this guy who's who just doesn't sound like he speaks any language. It's a disaster. Geez. Thanks for being open about being on those medications. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's a lot of your age. That's that is. And it's not. I'm also on the McDoll, which is for mood stabilizer because I'm bipolar. Damn.

And not the fun kind, which is why I can't fucking gamble while I'm in Vegas. Cause when you get diagnosed with bipolar disorder, dead ass, one of the first. Five things you hear is do not gamble. You are genetically coded to get addicted to gambling. So like, you know, I'll bet my friend 15 bucks on a sports game or something. But generally speaking, you can't put me in front of a fucking slaw machine. I will get taken over by that shit. Was that bipolar diagnosis or a wake up call for you?

It was, especially since I got diagnosed with bipolar when I was like 14 or 15. And it's something that's been passed along in my family. And when I heard it, I was sort of like, nah, that's girl shit. I'm not bipolar. I just get mad sometimes. You know, bipolar is for girls. And over the next couple of years,

I had these mood swings in these episodes that were so destructive to my life and made me so bad at being a person. And it wasn't until I absolutely fucking crashed out that I realized I needed to start getting on medication. And unfortunately, I crashed out while I was running a movement which was surrounding a multimillion dollar nonprofit focused on gun control, where we were on the news every day, talking to people from communities affected

by gun violence all over the country, going to a state or two every day or two. And this whole thing I found myself at the epicenter of, because March for Our Lives, which is what the organization was called, started in my bedroom. And the group of kids that came together for it was assembled by me and a couple of kids that came together for it was assembled by

me and a couple of the classmates I invited over and managing this group of hormonal teenagers who had just survived a school shooting and hadn't processed the trauma at all. Managing the parents. Oh my fucking god. The parents. The parents. Well, the thing is, when something good happened in March for our lives the parents were like well it's because my little angel is so amazing and when something bad happened

it was because that asshole Cameron sucks and mind you I was a total prick who was deserving of hate plenty of times. I forgive myself for it because I was a little out of my depth and things were pretty crazy at the time. But balancing the kids, the parents, and then the adults who helped us run the organization and manage this thing. I can't manage a fucking 501c3. I don't even know how to spell 501c3. You're a teenager.

So I mean, I'm, I'm now well into my twenties and I can't manage a hundred dollars. So you know, if anything, I think I've gotten worse. But, um, I was crashing out and having these rapid mood swings and everyone around me was paying the price. And I was being very destructive towards people who not only loved me, but people who cared for me and stuck it out for me when I made it really hard for them. And as soon as I started medicating for that, things really started to change. I was so much more conscious of the way I was treating other people. I was conscious of the way that I was treating myself and I was so much less self-destructive. That's not to say I haven't

done some absolutely fucked hard brain shit in the past couple years, but I got a lot less self-destructive. I got a lot less destructive to others. And I'm very glad that I was able to accept that diagnosis that I had shrugged off years before, because that is how I operate as a person now. No, I am bipolar. I'm not going to pull a Kanye and release a song about how I love Hitler and Hitler's the best guy ever. And, and he's, he's amazing. And I have incest with my cousin.

You know, I'm not that type of bipolar, but I am bipolar. I'm not gonna gamble. And I take my meds. You think there's a coming back for, well, he changed his name. I think it's Ye now, right? You think there's a coming back for Ye? I think that Kanye West is sort of like

Milo Yiannopoulos at this point. You know, he'll continue finding ways to piss people off that satiate his desire to be in the media. I think that the media enables him in a way that just ends up in this feedback loop where, you know, Kanye does something atrocious, the media covers it, and then the media is like, how does Kanye keep doing this? Who's letting Kanye do this? And it's like, all of us by looking at him. And also not that this is important when you're talking about somebody

who is spreading antisemitism, bigotry, hate, all these other things, but the music hasn't been good in forever. The music has been, like there were maybe two tracks on Donda that I thought were really good. There was one I think it was on Donda called 24 but maybe that was on the Jesus album and that one I really liked but other than that it's like he sucks at the music now too it's like the fuck is he do and that's one of the things about Kanye that pisses me off so much

is that because he's open about being bipolar, he becomes a representative of people with bipolar disorder. And therefore, when I tell people that I'm bipolar, which is not anything I'm ashamed of, nor is it something I'm particularly proud of, it's just part of who I am in my life and how people deal with me, he makes us look bad. He makes us look like fucking crazy. And he's just not a good representative of the community. He also calls himself a Christian. Does he? Yeah.

Oh, I'm like Jordan Peterson. No, I'm like Jordan. Maybe we should do Kanye West debates Parker and the other twink. I'd love to see that. Well, he walked off Pierce pretty quick, so I don't think he's down to debate anyone anytime soon. I can't bring myself to watch Pierce. Really?

Yeah. I think, I think it's funny. And my cohost for my podcast that you should all subscribe to, by the way, it's called FY pod, we have a YouTube channel. Um, you should check it out. It's pretty fun. But my cohost, a guy named Tim Miller, who's a very fun kind of punchy dude, who was a former Republican.

He was part of the McCain world, Romney world, Jeb Bush's communications director, and then Trump got the nomination. He said, this is not the party I grew up in. I can't stand by this anymore. And now he's like left of the Harris campaign out of much issues. Wow. Tim was on Pierce talking to Dave Rubin. I think I saw that one.

He called Dave Rubin out for getting money from Russia. Like he was getting directly paid by Russian operatives to espouse rhetoric that supported what they want. And Dave was like, uh, yeah, I, um, you know, Tim, it's funny that you say that because, and he totally tripped over himself, but Dave Rubin has a tendency to trip over himself. I don't, I get that he's affable.

I've actually been on Dave Rubin's show. I like Dave. He's like the nicest guy. He's a comic book fan. Husband's really nice and everything. But you know, with Jordan Peterson, at least he's able to use language that sounds intellectual. Even when he's saying the most ridiculous, Kermit the frog sounding shit, you know,

he can at least mask it in this faux intellectualism. Whereas Dave Rubin is just affable and is like, look, that's also sort of my brand. But it's crazy that he, I mean, do you think he still makes money? Dave Rubin? Yeah. Yes. he has a very big podcast and being in the space I know for sure he's making millions god damn bro because it's based off your downloads and it's based off your views

and he's one of the top podcasts in the world that is so well Dave Rubin you'll see in a year once you build your show up ideally yeah once you all subscribe yeah Dave Rubin if you're watching this I will call you an idiot all the time but also you're making more money than I am. So you got to, you got to respect his business. So who's the real idiot here? You know, you're, you're, you're going on much nicer vacations than I. So I, so fuck me, I guess. Sorry. That was, I'm just looking at Dave. It makes you wonder, cause when that broke out, that was a big story with the Russia

stuff. Who else in the political space is getting paid in like indirectly or directly? I have been accused of getting paid by the DNC, which is so funny because I shit on the DNC so much. I was one of the first people calling out Joe Biden's fucking senility at a time when a lot of people in the liberal world were defending Joe and saying, no, behind closed doors is super sharp. I was saying, this old man needs to get the fuck out. That's what he said he was gonna do when he was running.

He was running as a transition president. He was gonna pass the torch. We were gonna have a healthy primary. Kamala Harris was gonna be the nomination. It was gonna be because she won the primary. And Biden then said, because he's so fucking obsessed himself, no, no, no, no, Jack, it's actually, it's gotta be me. And he sounded like shit.

He was very unpopular, people didn't like him. And I was calling on the party because I wanted the Democratic Party to be successful. Because I wanted Trump to lose the 2024 election, I said, Joe Biden needs to be pulled out of the office and I don't fucking care if it's kicking and screaming, which by the way, it was. A lot of credible reports say that Joe wasn't doing some honorable passing of the torch, you know, stepping down like a hero.

He was fucking pissed. He felt like everybody betrayed him. Obviously this is hearsay, but it's fairly reputable hearsay. But anyway, I was going to say people act like I'm a paid DNC shill, especially when I was doing gun control, especially because I'm... People were saying that I was receiving George Soros money. Yeah, APEC money. I've certainly never been accused of the APEC money because I talk shit about APEC all the

time. But I've gotten accused of Soros money and it's like, okay, can I have it? Like, I fucking take the money. Like if the DNC wants to pay me, if Soros or some other, you know, behind the scenes operative wants to pay me off to espouse their... It's like, I live in New York City. I'm 24. Like, make me the paid shill that I'm getting accused of being.

You need that Harry Sisson money, man. Dude. My fucking dog, Harry Sisson. I love that kid. Um, and if I, I don't know how much Harry Sisson makes, but I guarantee you it's quite a bit more than I do and, and I got to hand it to him. He's laid with that. I mean, he put in the work. You got to admit, hate him or love him.

He's on TikTok live eight hours a day. He's grinding. He's on TikTok live eight hours a day. Dude, every time I'm on there, he's on it. Like it's got to be some stupid amount of time. Yeah. I ain't built like that, man. I don't have that fucking Harry Sisson dog in me. And I mean that in multiple ways, by the way. Yeah. Multiple ways.

He's debating randoms all day. It's impressive. I can't do it. I'm we're gonna find out because we're doing we're doing a debate today and so yeah. I'm excited to see you in action. Yeah I'm not very good at it. This is my first debate moderating in the political space actually. No shit. Yeah. Well so I'll be with you I'll be a rookie in that regard. The thing is I'm just too fun. So I don't get a lot of like, I owned somebody moments because I don't, I don't like thonking on people. I like, I like it when these conversations are in the pursuit of some

greater understanding of some truth. I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like, and subscribe. It helps the show a lot with the algorithm. Thank you. But you know, unfortunately the way to go viral is to slam dunk on people. So it's like, you know, I went on Tommy Lahren's show on Fox Nation and it was a couple months ago and we kind of just had like a fairly nice chat, you know,

we didn't agree on virtually anything other than she was talking about the Democratic Party covering up Joe Biden losing his mind. And I was like, I mean, Tommy, you're not gonna get me to disagree with you there. Like, I don't know what you want me to say, girl. This is gonna become a circle jerk. But other than that, like we weren't agreeing on any of the issues, but I was just like,

I wasn't going on there to like throw jabs at her. Like that wasn't gonna be productive. I was going on there to represent the beliefs that I represent and communicate to her audience, not to go on there and try to communicate for my audience that already agrees with me by making clips to post of me dunking on Tommy. I mean, she dunked on herself a couple times.

She was talking about how trans athletes are stealing people's championships. And I was like, well, Tommy, you know, the NCAA championships were last night, women's basketball. Were there any trans athletes? And she goes, well, that doesn't matter because in a few years... And I was like, yeah, but that's the thing is like, that's what they were saying a few years ago. And that was a clip that you put up, but generally speaking, it's, it's like

with debates, I always try to go in with them with the desire to understand the other person just a little bit better and with the hope that they understand me a little better. And that's not in line with the online debate. The online debate world is like, you know, uh, who can own each other harder. And the other thing I'll say to that is like, if I am debating somebody and I say, okay, this thing that Trump is doing with immigration violates the law, it violates the constitution. Someone I'm debating can say, okay, which law.

And if I don't know the specific name of the law because a I'm not an encyclopedia B adolescent drug use made my memory really bad if I don't know the name of the law They get to be like yeah, that's right You know, you're saying it's breaking law. You can't even tell me what law it's breaking and then they win Meanwhile, you turn off the debate you Google it and it is violated law I just didn't remember the fucking name of the law. Yeah, you turn off the debate, you Google it and it is violated law. I just didn't remember the name of the law. And that's the thing about these debates. It's like, you know, some people can be fact lords, like Ben Shapiro, who are able

to like rattle shit off quickly enough that it sounds like they have a better argument, but a lot of these debates are a memorization game. True. That's not talked about enough to be honest. It's like, Ooh, I can reference. And you sound so much smarter when you're referencing, you know, specific instances that service only your narrative that by the way, those very instances, whether it's a modern historical event, a bill, a Supreme Court case,

you know, could also be used to supplement the other person's argument. You're just the one who's using it more effectively as a tool in the conversation. And that's why I think that, you know, uh, moderated conversations are quite a bit more productive than debates where you go in and it's like a team sport. Yeah. That's why I wonder if Pierce Morgan is actually producing value with his debates. No, Pierce Morgan is an entertainer and it's fucking entertaining. The shit that I do see from Pierce is

Really good clips. So like he is a good youtuber You know, I would love to see him in a content house like like a bunch of fucking Like 18 to 22 year old twinks making like dancing videos and then you know, Pierce Morgan's just in the background Would love to see the Pierce Morgan hype house But you know, it's content and it's content farming and for that Would love to see the Pierce Morgan Hype House, but you know, it's content and it's content farming. And for that, you got to hand it to him because he's really good at it.

He's crushing it. Him and Jubilee, Jubilee one on 20s. I mean, I am just, I don't watch content. Like I binged your show before I came on, but generally speaking, you know, for someone who makes content for Bullwark and for my show, the FYPoG, based on Gen Z and this sort of sphere and everything, you'd think that I know content and the internet better,

and yet I'm only just now learning about shit that I probably ought to know about, so I'm just figuring out what Jubilee is. I'm like, I watch Jubilee now, like a sitcom. Yeah. I don't watch it to learn more. I watch it because a lot of the people they have on are just so unqualified to be there. And by the way, I identify as one of those people.

If they put me on a Jubilee where I was debating 20 people, I would come out of it looking like a twit. My brain, my neurons don't fire fast enough. Like, you know, Ram on a computer, the amount of giga, it's like a twit. My brain, my neurons don't fire fast enough. Like, you know, RAM on a computer, the amount of gigabytes it could process at the same time. My wits are still about me. I haven't gotten less intelligent over the years, but because throughout my teens and early twenties, I was smoking so much weed, I did, hopefully not, but possibly permanently damage my ram.

Damn. My brain can only process so many thoughts at the same time. And it's only now that I've become super busy that I've realized how low my mental capacity is because I'm like, I haven't gotten less witty or intelligent. I've gotten less capable of actually thinking about stuff. Holy crap. And it's a pain. I mean, I haven't done drugs or alcohol or anything like that.

And over a year now I'm completely clean and sober. Um, mostly it's just a lifestyle choice. It's not like I had some sort of addiction or anything, but weed definitely did a number on me, especially since the study came out that said adolescents with bipolar disorder, your working memory is way more affected by Specifically cannabis and I was like well if only I had read that like 10 fucking years ago cuz I'm from Parkland, Florida In Parkland, Florida, there's not a lot of shit to do other than survive school shootings and trucks. I Love that you could joke about it now by showing me you've gone a lot mentally

Yeah, I'd like to think I was joking about it most of the time. I have friends who lost family members in the shooting who are probably the people I hear making the most jokes about it because part of processing this type of thing is like accepting that this will always be part of your life and therefore you have the opportunity to let it hurt you or make it a part of yourself. And a good you or make it a part of yourself. And a good way to make it a part of yourself is to recognize that there's some funny shit about it. Like, you know, occasionally I'll make a joke where I'm like in an uncomfortable situation

that I don't want to be in and I'm like, this is slightly more comfortable than when I was hiding under a desk that I was going to get shot. I think I said that at a party recently. How did they take it? I'll tell you, speaking of parties, now that I have a podcast that you all should subscribe to, I am getting introduced to people as someone with a podcast now.

And it used to be, I would go to these social events and people would be like, hey, this is Cameron from Parkland, where the school shooting happened. He created March for our lives. And I used to think that that was the worst possible way to be introduced to somebody and now that people say he's got a podcast, I'm like, no, no, no, go back to the school shooting.

That one I can manage. You're known as a podcast for now, bro. Yeah. School shooting survivor was at least a little bit more nourishing to my soul. Man. I used to be a big stoner too. I wonder if I damaged my brain. You seem like you're doing fine.

All right. My IQs dropped 20 points though. Is that true? According to the test I took online, but who knows those are. Yeah, I was going to say, I don't know. I know my, for a fact, my attention span is shot though. I mean mine too. I can't watch a movie now.

I never liked movies. I'm a TV guy. Oh can't watch a movie now Oh your TV I'm a TV guy because when I my favorite character stories are the ones that get told over a very long period Of time or even in my favorite movies, you're only spending 90 minutes with these people But we were talking about better call Saul and Breaking Bad and succession and stuff like that Narratively, it's so much more enriching for me to watch stories be told over a long period of time where you really get to sit with these characters during these formative experiences that otherwise in the movie version of the TV show would be like a footnote.

That's true. Not enough time for, for character development, right? In a movie. I mean, there's so many movies that get it right, obviously, but, and, and, and there's different things that, you know, don different things that are made for that form, right? Like Breaking Bad couldn't be a movie, and Everything Everywhere All At Once couldn't be a TV show. But generally speaking, I'm way more into TV shows.

But low-key, I just watch the YouTube now. I get so zapped at the end of the day, like... And I like to watch shows attentively because I want to be a screenwriter, and therefore I like to observe the different decisions that are being made and learn from them and everything. Um, so when, but YouTube is how I turned my brain off. I just don't watch shit like you. When you were living in Florida, were you still identifying on the left, like democratic

side of things? Oh, I've been a fucking lib pussy nerd since I was a little kid. I mean, yeah, that's the difference between me and a good lib pussy nerd since I was a little kid. Really? Yeah, that's the difference between me and a good amount of the kids I did March for Our Lives with was a lot of them had to learn about politics on the fly. A lot of us were figuring out the policies that we were talking about as we were talking about them, which by the way, members of Congress do too. Like there are Congress people who get briefed on the bill that they're going to pass the

day before and otherwise just didn't know shit about what that bill was. I mean, do you think George Santos was a fucking law expert? But I was, I was a lib nerd the whole time. It's just how I was raised. And I think my family and I have sort of diverged politically a little bit. We still vote the same way, but I think certain members of my family have a little bit more TDS, Trump derangement syndrome. So they're more center.

Yeah. I mean, with plenty of respect for them, they don't let center versus progressive determine what policy stances they're going to have the hands of some policy stances that are way more middle and some policy stances that are way further to the left. They don't allow that sort of like, you know, team sport, you have to vote this way or you, you know, if you're going to be a real progressive, you can't have this moderate take, like they make their own goddamn decisions. But what I'm more saying is I think that a lot of people, not just in my family, a lot of people close to me are more emotionally affected by Trump than I am.

I think that I am so upset about what the new administration is doing. I'm so upset about what his last administration did. I'm so upset about what the new administration is doing. I'm so upset about what his last administration did. I'm upset about how he makes our country look and the long-term impacts of how other countries are going to be relating to us about how other countries are going to be interacting with us. I think there's going to be a long-term divestment in America. It's something that might not be immediately easy to see, but I think that

Trump's new administration, there, I, for the, there's the deportations to El Salvador. There's a lot of things that are so upsetting to me. But one thing that I talk to people on all sides, the aisle about is, um, it makes me upset that Trump has basically tanked our reputation as a stable trade partner, the games that he plays with tariffs are telling other countries that investing in us is something that is going to be volatile. So now you've got a country like China that for all the things to hate about

China is stable as fuck. Um, and they're gaining a lot of soft power. And I think that Trump's look Trump's outlook that we should have kind of no friends, no enemies, first of all, doesn't make sense because he makes friends with plenty of people. They just are very often the wrong people, but Trump's no friends, no enemies tactics, um, very often blow up in our face because you need soft power. You need to have alliances around the world that are built on goodwill.

You need other countries to look at us as a place that is going to be resourceful for them. And a lot of conservatives look at the money that we spend on development in other countries. They look at these things as unnecessary expenditures that a ketamine addicted billionaire from South Africa needs to cut but This is how you build power in different regions where we're gonna need it So now you've got the EU an extremely valuable trading partner an extremely valuable geopolitical partner The alliances that we formed post-world war two are essential to the West having any sense of security These people are looking at us like we're fucking crazy now and they're looking at China and

saying okay well you know their crazy fucking evil slave labor laws aren't very good. The fact that they call themselves communists but seem to only pull the bad stuff from communism and are otherwise, in many ways, authoritarian fascists. Like, those things are all bad. But when we're making investing partnerships, you know, China, we know what we're getting out of them. China's thinking 50 years ahead. Trump is barely thinking about what foot he's going to put in front of another. So these terrible instabilities in how we're trading with other countries

are going to have long-term effects where people are going to want to put their money elsewhere. Yeah. We don't know the consequences of the tariffs long-term. And we're not going to know them for a while because more than anything, the tariffs sent a message to the rest of the world, which is America, which has been seen as this financial powerhouse, stable place to invest isn't necessarily going to be stable.

I mean, I personally don't have extreme confidence in the US dollar right now. Nor do I. I also don't have extreme confidence in my ability to determine, um, what money is or how it works. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to invest it. I I've heard there's this thing called the S andP 500 which I personally thought was a was like a race It sounds like it sounds like a fucking NASCAR race But I learned about these things we had Scott get one of Scott Galloway's co-hosts a guy named Ed Elson Who you should talk to he's a brilliant guy

We had him on our podcast and he was talking about the S&P 55. He was talking about investment and he was talking about how like a lot of people, not in a way that might be immediately easy to identify, but a lot of people are looking at putting their money into Europe. Really? It's a little bit more stable. You can look at leadership over the past couple of decades in these countries and you can get a sense of what that currency is going to look like. Whereas in the United States, it's so volatile. It's like the country itself is a

fucking day trader. I mean, Bitcoin just hit an all time high and I think for good reason, people are not certain of where to put their money in right now. It's very strange. And there's a huge Bitcoin conference that I think you're going to. Yeah, I was there this morning. I'm going to go back tomorrow. Isn't it like 30,000 people? It's a lot of people. Yeah, that sounds fucking terrible. Yeah.

I wonder how they treat you there with Trump Jr. speaking, Eric Trump and shady vets. I, I, I'll tell you what would happen. I would show up and I'd have a fucking panic attack because I do not do well in crowds. I don't care what crowd it is. I don't care if it's a rally for my favorite politicians in the world. You claustrophobic? It's not just claustrophobia.

I hate being around large groups of people. I don't care if I'm in the center of it getting lost or if I'm in the wings. Um, it is 95 degrees in Las Vegas right now. So if I were to go outside to get some fresh air, I'd probably die of heat stroke, it just sounds bad. And also I don't understand crypto to get some fresh air, I'd probably die of heat stroke. It just sounds bad. And also I don't understand crypto. I know that Hawk to a coin didn't go very well. Not at all.

Shader, but it's on everyone. Yeah. And the shit coins are very concerning to me and also Trump's use of crypto. The fact that Trump is doing a crypto grift where he's like using his power as president of the United States to have his own meme coin. like using his power as president of the United States to have his own meme coin. It's like, when Ben Shapiro is calling out a conservative for their level of corruption, you should listen because Shapiro has capitulated to the Trump, to the MAGA world in a way that 2018 Ben Shapiro never would have.

2018 Ben Shapiro never would have. 2018 Ben Shapiro was like, Donald Trump does not represent my values and that type of behavior is not the type of person who should be President of the United States, blah blah blah. I'm pretty sure he was all in for DeSantis in the 2023 primary where Trump didn't even show up to the fucking Republican debates. And Chris Christie was there being hilarious. But Shapiro very much changed his character from the years that I was

watching him in high school. Cause I used to watch Ben Shapiro all the time. I used to be a big fan of that type of conservative media. Even when I wasn't politically bought into what they were doing, I was just so interested in the types of things that they were saying, cause I had a lot of concerns as a young man about like what my place was in the world as a young white man while woke and PC were happening, DEI hadn't happened yet, but you know,

while the world was getting a little bit more woke and while me too was happening everything, as a young teen man, I was like, well shit, what the fuck do I do to make it in this world? Guys like Shapiro and Jordan Peterson were telling me that it's not my fault and that it's actually woke's fault. And that if I can't get a sense of my place in the world, you know, Jordan Peterson says

to make your bed. But also they're saying there is this large elite scheme to, you know, make it so the white man isn't in power anymore and to make it so the diversity takes over. And that really resonated with me because I was looking for somebody to blame this on. I was looking, I was of the belief that steps forward taken towards social progress for women and minorities were taken at my expense and that I was losing something when more efforts were being made to platform women who were survivors of sexual abuse, to create new opportunities and jobs and education for black people.

I thought that I was getting screwed. I thought that, you know, as I was growing up, this might not be a country for people like me anymore. And then I came of age and I was like, Nope, I'm fine. Being a white man still rocks. It's still kind of awesome. I would recommend it to anybody. Um, and now I'm having a great time.

I'd be careful with the programming, man. What, which types of programming? Well, there's all sorts, but the racial divide, you know, racism, victim mentality has a big one. Um, well, I mean, victim mentality is something that I think pretty much every community experiences. I don't know a group of people in this country who I could not explain, um, some sort of victim mentality amongst them. I mean, I am from community and there's a lot of people who want us to feel as

unsafe as possible. A lot of people want us to feel like it is not safe to be a person in America. And two things can be true at once. Number one, we could be one of the most discriminated against groups of people in history. Number two, I can walk around New York City safely. But because a bunch of Columbia students had a protest that made people upset and they broke a window in the library that I used to do drugs in, people are fear-mongering and trying to make Jewish people in America afraid.

Beyond just spreading awareness of anti-Semitism, something that, by the way, people act like it's this thing that happens on the left, anti-Semitism thrives on the right. Guys like Nick Fuentes, like they're saying more anti-Semitic shit than I've ever heard from even the craziest people at some sort of free Palestine rally. People are saying the most vile and reprehensible shit at those rallies. The people that clips of them are the ones that go viral, not clips of the peaceful protesters. Nick Fuentes is saying shit infinitely crazier than that. But a lot of the people who want me to feel afraid as a person will only talk about anti-Semitism on the left. And they will take every inflammatory thing that is said and use it to make me

feel afraid very often so I can donate to some sort of organization that operates solely in the interests of a foreign government's military. And I'm not in on that. They want to put you in a state of fear. So you're more easily controllable, right? They want me to feel like Israel is of fear so you're more easily controllable, right? They want me to feel like Israel is the only place where I can be safe as a Jew. And I'm like, well,

I feel like a lot of people have been killed in Israel. And I feel like here in the United States, the NYPD gets sent to beat the shit out of student protesters because Eric Adams tells them to. Literally, I mean, the definition of anti-Semitism has been changed by Congress to include anti-Zionism. So when people are speaking out against the concept of Zionism, which started as a right-wing political movement, and people are acting like Zionism, which started as a right-wing political movement. People are acting like Zionism means it's like, it's a political thing. It's about the existence and governance of a country in the Middle East.

Like, they went in and they changed the definition of it. And the United States government basically gives a blank check to Benjamin Netanyahu, who, by the way, was under investigation for corruption in Israel before all this stuff happened. They fucking hated him in Israel before October 7th. People were marching in the streets against Netanyahu and they kind of are again. Netanyahu, they talk about how he runs the only democracy in the Middle East. And it's like, he hasn't held a fair election in a while.

Damn. So, so there are people, and this goes back to the victim complex thing, there are people who want me to feel as victimized as possible. And I have been the target of anti-Semitemitic attacks starting in after Parkland. I mean, if you are someone who is trying to take people's guns away, um, a lot of people on 4chan are going to come after you because you're so around back then. Well, I have been threatened by antisemites. I have been doxed by antisemites. I have seen the evil of antisemitism foremitism for years. But the degree to which people

want me to fear being a Jewish person in America, I believe is so exploitative of the Jewish experience and it's kind of infuriating to me. Wow. I mean, I can't log into X without seeing anti-Semitism these days. It's crazy. It is truly nuts. I am just, again, what's really upsetting to me is how many people in the community talk about anti-Semitism on the left without talking anti-Semitism on the right. I didn't know that long. It's like-

I see it more on the right, personally. So do I. Jake Shield, Dan Buzarian, Fuentes. Some say, some say Ian Carroll, some say Candace, I don't know. Okay. I actually, I hear it a lot about Candace. Um, but you know, the, the, her whole falling out with Ben Shapiro, I, I'm willing to bet she said some fucking crazy anti-Semitic shit. I just haven't actually looked.

Uh, cause I'm not going to pay Candace Owens' attention. But her falling out with Ben Shapiro would have happened anyway, even if she was saying the most rational stuff about the Israeli military. You think so? I mean, if you're at the Daily Wire and you are saying that this military goes unchecked and that there are not enough checks on their power and that the operations they are conducting are focused on maximizing damage and there is no concern for civilian casualties. Like if you were to just say that even completely supportive of the state of

Israel even saying state of Israel should be allowed to defend itself they are playing offense way too hard and tens of thousands of children are being murdered because of it. Ben Shapiro would never let you be at the daily wire. Like you to, to fit into so much of the right wing world, you need to completely support the state of Israel. And one of the things that really infuriates me is when people tell me that speaking out against, um, a lot of policies that are associated with Zionism is a form of anti-Semitism I'm like most Zionists in America are not

Most Zionists in America are evangelical Christians who believe that they hold like Jerusalem or something for Christ to come back Like the majority of Zionists in this country are not. Well, I actually didn't know that people conflate Zionism. I'm like, it says, if you are, it's you are either ignorant to what it actually means, or you are purposefully conflating the two for the interest of your personal politics. And I'm sitting here like, man, like you said, there's so many anti-semites thriving right now But because they are in the right-wing world, they just don't get the same amount of attention from

Communities that I'm in and I think part of it is because these communities have spent so long Socially liberal that they feel betrayed by the anti-Semitism on the left because they said, well, this could never come from the left. Like it can only come from the far right. So then when you see people on the far left saying insane shit about how we need to kill all the Israelis and this absolutely monstrous rhetoric, like it's more of a betrayal and therefore it gets more of the attention. But it's like if there's one thing that the far right and the far left can agree on, it's

hating the Jews. Yeah, fucks. Hating the Jews is one of the most popular takes in the world. Right now it's insanely popular. You get the most engagement I've ever seen if you talk about it. Yeah. And it is very frustrating to me because I think that a lot of people who say they're fighting anti-Semitism are actually using all of their resources to fight criticism of the state of Israel.

And it's like, okay, well, there's anti-Semitism happening that you're not really paying attention to. I mean, the anti-First Amendment League, they call themselves the ABL, the Anti-Defamation League, I call them the Anti-First Amendment League. Um, when Elon Musk did not one, but two sig-hiles, uh, they put out a tweet defending him and then he went on Twitter and started making Nazi jokes that trivialized the Holocaust. And the ADL had to be like, actually, nevermind what Elon's doing is wrong. And it's like, guys, just because Trump wants to build a Trump tower in Rafa,

you know, just because Trump and Netanyahu are being BFFs, doesn't mean that the larger MAGA world has love for the people. The state of Israel is a military base for our interests in the Middle East. It is something that evangelical Christians care about a lot. It's not intrinsically tied to... Yeah. People just say that it is. that evangelical Christians care about a lot. It's not intrinsically tied to- Yeah. People just say that it is. Yeah.

So you are not a big Elon fan? No, I can't say I'm a big Elon fan, but as somebody who used to enjoy ketamine quite a bit, I'm sure he and I would be able to talk about that. I'd be curious on taking that one. I like psychedelics. Did you do it assisted or did you do it recreationally? I mean, what do you think?

I'm second. I used to be a psychedelics guy. I did acid a lot, definitely. All right, Steve Jobs. Did acid a lot, did shrooms more because I think shrooms is much more chill. That's my favorite one. But I did acid the day that Kanye West announced that he was running for president and I was on a glacier in Alaska and cool place to be on acid level.

And I was tripping so fucking hard that I was like, Oh my God, Kanye's about to win. And I'm a lot of my friends, political friend, you know, when you're somebody who's outspoken about politics and when you're someone who has a platform or you talk about these types of things a lot of your friends text you when there's a big political development You know like when Trump got shot I got off that was in text after the debate people were like Did you have any thoughts on the debate? Yeah, and I was like, yeah, I had several I hope you did as well I wasn't gonna fucking walk them through it But people were texting me about the Kanye thing and I just should have turned my phone off because I was on acid

But I was texting them like it's really bad guys. He's gonna win He's gonna rip Biden and Trump at the debate and then the next day I wake up and I'm like I Need to send a bunch of apology texts right now. He dropped out shortly after that, right? He will know so he only qualified for the ballot in like 13 states, I think. Um, and he was running in his own political party, uh, that he called the birthday party. And his rationale for that was that when he wins, it'll be celebrated like it's everybody's birthday.

Any faith in the democratic party coming up for 28th there's rumors about AOC and Bernie going at it. Bernie's really old. I think that the Democratic party needs to stop shitting ourselves to death before we win an election. I think that there's a lot of promising politicians in the Democratic party right now. I think there's a lot of people who are worthy of the position as nominee, but it's going to be a very conciliatory role because if I were getting elected as Democratic president

in 2028, first thing that I would be focused on is restoring our relationships with all the countries that Trump burnt our bridges with. Trump is burning through extremely valuable partnerships to us that, you know, maybe it's people that were giving money and therefore Trump can characterize it as something that needs to get dozed out of existence, but these partnerships are important and China has benefited so greatly from Trump's erosion of the goodwill we have with so many people. Us divesting from offering aid programs in Africa. Do you know how ape shit China is going on

Africa right now? They're going hard. They are going insanely hard. The Belt Road initiative, I encourage you all to look it up, is one of the most evil things in modern history and it is part of how China means to seize an insane amount of global power because America does not think very far ahead. China thinks 50 years ahead. They plan slowly and methodically and in a way where they are happy to take an economic hit because they are thinking farther ahead than us and smarter than us. And that's not to say that I am a CCP shill.

Although you know what? I downloaded TikTok to post some of the clips when I'm on like MSNBC and stuff. And it happens to be the two clips that I posted about how China's gonna win the trade war did way better than the other. I'm like, huh, I wonder why the clips I posted where I'm saying China's going to do better, I wonder why those did better on TikTok.

The algorithm like that. I'm sure that I'm sure the CCP was twirling their mustache, laughing at my shilling for this, but seriously, it's like Trump has positioned himself as like the, we're going to beat China guy so much. It's like they can handle Trump. They can withstand Trump. As a matter of fact, they are cracking the fuck up at this.

And there's reports of Chinese government officials, like thinking that this is funny because the partnerships that we had around the world that gave us a leg up in these certain situations are going away. People don't trust us anymore. I didn't know it was that bad. Trump is so quick to threaten tariffs. He's so quick to talk shit about other foreign leaders if they're not doing exactly what he wants.

And he's so quick to change his agenda that they can't be taking us seriously. I mean, do you remember when Trump was going to, and this is like three weeks ago, remember when Trump was going to tariff movies that were made outside of the United States? You can't do that because tariffs are for physical goods. You can't tariff a service and a movie is a service. And on top of that, this was inspired by his Save Hollywood committee where he had a bunch of like cancelled actors,

John Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone. He had them put together a committee to like restore the golden age of Hollywood. Meanwhile, Mel Gibson, who's on that committee, is shooting a sequel to Passion of the Christ in Italy this summer Which I don't know how you do a sequel to passion of the good like Passion of the Christ's I don't know what the fuck that means, but so Trump was doing his restore the Golden Age of Hollywood plan Like while his boys were about to shoot movies overseas But he just did not he just flagrantly announced this plan with no real explanation of how it could be done, and it has since just like fallen out of the news.

I haven't heard anything about it. What the fuck is gonna fucking happen? I was actually excited about it because most Hollywood movies as of late suck. If we're being honest. I agree. I think that movies have taken a huge nosedive and part of that is because Corporate people came in and started making creative decisions. The movie studios got so big they went public they got these big CEOs and

They started adapting this model, especially with streaming Where they were trying to make the things that would do the most numbers right away But they stopped trying to make things that would stand the test of time So the Minecraft movie which I kind of enjoyed just saw it. It was okay The the Minecraft which was at the very least fun and core a quirkier than something you'd expect from like a soulless reboot Yeah, not reboot, but a soulless IP adaptation from like a soulless reboot, not reboot, but a soulless IP adaptation. Minecraft was made almost a billion dollars at the box office, but it's not something that people are going to be going back to watch 20 years from now. Whereas so much of how

the greatest, most successful movies ever made their money was in DVD sales and was in syndication and was in people going back. But movies are no longer made to stand the test of time They're being made to have a good three weeks in theaters and then go to streaming facts And it's because data nerds got brought into the streamers to make creative decisions And when you let data nerds make creative decisions you get shit like Minecraft. Yeah, it's like analytics guys being brought into the NBA It's take more three being brought into the NBA. Take more three-pointers and then it actually doesn't work in the playoffs. I mean, look, I'm a Heat fan. I don't want to talk about it.

Oh, I thought you were a Knicks fan. You're in New York. No, I have a Knicks jersey, but it's my cousin's. My only sports team is the Milwaukee Bravers. Milwaukee? Is that baseball? Baseball. Greatest baseball team of all time. Have they won a chip yet? So anyway, are there any other topics? That was a genuine question

because I don't follow baseball, but it sounds like no. The answer is of the next 10 World Series, I expect us to walk home with at least five. Okay, so you must have signed some big recently. You got an Otani on the team or something So anyway, we're there are there topics Well, we're almost up. I mean you got a debate coming up. So you want to just get ready for that month? You think I'm gonna be ready? I think you'll be good. You got a good sense of humor. You got a

Good good knowledge. Not so good memory, but no not a very good. It'll be a short debate. So are you, um, have you debated? I have not, I would suck. So I'm real with myself. Like I know my skills. I am not a debater. Well, this will be fun. I needed something to do between this and my flight. Yeah.

So I was like, this is something to do. I think it'll be cool. I think it'll be interesting. So check them out guys. You got a podcast. we'll link it below. Thanks for coming on. Yup, see you guys. See you guys.