Hodgetwins Podcast - James Fishback Is The FUTURE Of The Republican Party | Hodgetwins Podcast | James Fishback

Episode Date: August 7, 2026

James Fishback joins the Hodgetwins Podcast to discuss his campaign for Florida Governor, his America First platform, and why he believes it's time for a new generation of conservative leadership in the Sunshine State. As a fourth-generation Floridian, investor, and Republican gubernatorial candidate, Fishback shares his vision for the state's future and tackles the biggest issues facing Florida voters. Tune in for a wide-ranging conversation on politics, the economy, and the direction of the Republican Party.Support James Here! - https://fishback2026.com/Become a Member and Give Us Some DAMN GOOD Support :https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX8lCshQmMN0dUc0JmQYDdg/joinGet your Twins merch and have a chance to win our Damn Good Giveaways! - https://officialhodgetwins.com/Get Optimal Human, your all in one daily nutritional supplement - https://optimalhuman.com/Want to be a guest on the Twins Pod? Contact us at [e-mail] Free Twins Pod Content - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_iNb2RYwHUisypEjkrbZ3nFoBK8k60COFollow Hodgwtins Podcast Everywhere -X - https://x.com/hodgetwinspodInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hodgetwinspodcast/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thehodgetwinsYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HodgetwinsPodcastRumble - https://rumble.com/c/HodgetwinsPodcast?e9s=src_v1_cmdSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/79BWPxHPWnijyl4lf8vWVuApple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hodgetwins-podcast/id1731232810

PAH Twins PARTAS. It's going to be a damn good show. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Debrazi commercial. Can you hear me? Can you hear me now? All right, we got James Fishback back in the house.

Primary elections coming up, what, August 18th? The election day? August 18th, we're, yep, we're. just two weeks out. All right, I saw this poll online. I forgot who put it up. Who was it? Diamond and Self? The Facebook place? They said Baren Donald's winning by 32 points or something. That's a shock to me and to many people in Florida. I'm traveling the state. I'm in a small town called Steve Brin right now. We have held town halls in all of Florida's 67 counties. And Byron hasn't. That's just the truth. We've been showing up talking about the issues that matter. We have to keep out

the Democrat socialism crazy ideas. We need to make sure that we put America first at the local and state level. And that's what's resonating with voters. And so the only poll that matters is on August 18th. Here's what I can tell you. Byron Donald spent $10 million in attack ads against us during the World Cup. And so if he's really up by 30 points, you don't spend $10 million attacking your opponent. And that's exactly what's happened.

Is this really what you want your Republican Party to look like? it's time to act before normal people are shut out of the GOP forever. Frontline action is responsible with the content of this advertising. Right. And he refuses to debate you. And it's a shame because President Trump ended up debating 11 times when you first ran for president. Governor DeSantis debated. And I think the basic, basic thing you do for the voters is you show up and take questions and you show up and have your ideas compared to others. He is on stage. And so we did have a debate. debate my two other, rather, so a total of three of us with Patrick Bet David in early July. And we actually won that debate with 79% of the vote. And so Byron doesn't want a debate. That's fine. We showed up. We did what we needed to do. And now over the next 14 days, we'll keep making the case on the ground with voters. Do you think he'll face a backlash because of that? Because that's like a cornerstone of our Constitutional Republic. I mean, our voters, the voters are entitled to that. He's putting himself above the voters.

That's exactly right. And I think he has experienced to backlash. We've seen it in our own polling. We've seen it talking to voters, getting calls and messages from voters, that they actually switch to vote for us because when they watched the debate with Patrick, but David, that had a quarter million people tuning in live. Byron was not on that stage. And we were.

And we presented a real vision for Florida that stops data centers, stops these crazy flock cameras, stops giving our monies to foreign countries that don't like us, and actually stands up for America first. And so it's kind of a win-win, right? If he does debate, he gets destroyed. If he doesn't debate and he didn't, he ended up losing out and we ended up winning because of it. But ultimately, the voters are going to decide what happens on August 18th.

What is Byron Donald's stance on DAI data centers? He said, quote, he wants to speed up the construction of AI data centers. And so that's all you need to know. In Florida, we're really pushing back hard against these data centers because they're being built near the Everglades. They're being built in your elementary schools. They're being built in our own neighborhoods. I mean, you guys wouldn't want a data center next to your neighborhood, or we wouldn't want one either.

And so I am the only candidate who can say, I will stop data centers dead in their tracks in Florida. They'll raise your electric bills if we don't. They'll threaten your water supply if we don't. And the worst thing is they'll destroy your property values. Think about it if they build a two million square foot data center, a quarter of a mile from your neighborhood. what's going to happen to your house and every other house in your community, it's going to go down 30, 40, 50% in value because no one wants to live next to a data center. It's starting to make a lot of sense why he won't debate you because I don't think it's a debate he can win because his policies suck. And on top of that, he's a coward.

He is a coward. And, you know, he hit me last week. Not like that. I'm not a woman. But he hit me last week and he said, James does not have political experience. You can't vote for fishback. And I said, wait, hold on it. And Byron, we don't need more political experience. In fact, it's political experience that got us into this mess. We don't need more people to make big grand promises, sit in Congress, do nothing but trade stocks and miss votes, and then come back and ask for a job promotion. So I'm proud to say that I don't have any of that political experience. What I have is real world business experience. And that's what Floridians want and need right now. Governor DeSantis has been great. And now we need someone who's going to continue that important work to protect our state.

Yeah, what political experience did Trump have before he ran for president of the United States? None. Correct. And what experience did Ronald Reagan have? And what real experience is someone like a Ronda Santos had? And hey, guys, if we want to go all the way back, what experience did Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington, and Alexander Hamilton have when they started this country? And so political experience is highly overrated. What we need is real people who are going to stand up and call a spade a spade, speak the truth, say, no, we don't want. want our money funding foreign wars. No, we need to hold people accountable. And no, we need to

stop the data center invasion that's not just overtaking Florida, but every corner of this country. Yeah, it's just a disingenuous talking point at this point. Anybody that use their talking point is not fit, you know, even served the people, Florida, or anybody. Yeah, I mean, I want to experience when I'm getting open heart surgery. You've got to be, have done this before. Right. But so long as you're putting out policies and you're putting Americans first, that's all I need to hear. You don't Canadian experience. Yeah. James, what about flock cameras? It's become a big, huge issue across the United States recently.

Well, think about it. Thousands of cameras pointed outside of our schools on our roads, playgrounds, and businesses. If there were flock cameras during the COVID scam-demic, a lot of us would still be in prison right now because we walked our dogs, counter to Fauci's orders. We showed up to school, counter to Fauci's orders. And we went out and enjoyed life counter to Fauci's orders. And so I'm against mass surveillance in any way.

way, shape, or form, whether it's the government doing it, spying on us, or whether it's a private company spying on us. And so when on that debate stage last month, I got up there and said very clearly, as governor, I will block flock. It's a very interesting point because every flock camera in Florida and pretty much across America is funded with taxpayer dollars. And so as governor, I would pass a law saying that no taxpayer money can go to flock. The taxpayer money stops. the flock surveillance state stops. It's one of the easiest problems to solve for how much of a problem it really is. And I don't believe that the government's spying on us, whatever their reason, whether it's safety, security, patriotism, no matter whatever the reason, we have to stop

flock, and that's what I'll do as governor. James, what's the difference between a flock camera and just a regular traffic camera that, you know, records your picture if you speed through a, if you go through a red light or you're speeding? What's the difference between us? So I'm not too familiar with flock cameras until recently. The big difference is two letters, AI. The flock AI system. It's not just the camera. We never had an issue with cameras.

We had an issue with cameras plugged into an artificial intelligence system that had a woman arrested and charged two months ago because she was a porch bandit. Well, that's interesting. What evidence did Flock have that she stole packages from people's porches? None. Flok just flagged her in its AI system because she was. She had driven around her neighborhood more than normal. So it's combining these cameras with the artificial intelligence, and that's what creates a dangerous mass surveillance state

that's going to falsely accuse people of crimes left, right, and center. That's why, as governor, I'm running to stop it. Some people have said, well, flock helps police. No, what helps police is having systems in place that give them accurate information. If you respect law enforcement like you guys do and I do, you don't ever want law enforcement to be fed false or misleading information about the public because that jeopardizes the public, but it also jeopardizes law enforcement. They deserve to know that when they pull somebody over or they're going to serve a warrant,

that that person has actually, beyond a reasonable doubt, been incredibly accused of that crime, not someone that they connected some dots on an AI system, and now you've got to go arrest this person. And so my view is you can't reform flock, you can't regulate flock, you got to block flock. and that's what I'll do is Florida governor. That's why you need everybody's vote on Tuesday, August 18th to win this election. Do you know the views of Byron Donaldson on flock cameras? I'm sure he wants more flock cameras. He wants more, which is interesting because the kind of criminality that he committed

early on in his life would have picked him up a lot sooner. And he does support flock cameras. And again, why? Because he is in bed with the same large donors that power flock. He is in bed with the same large donors that want to build data centers. He is in bed with the large electric companies, the large property developers who want to turn our state into the concrete jungle that he fled, known as New York. And so at the end of the day, follow the money. I've never taken money from flock.

I've never taken money from Palantir. I've never taken money from a data center construction firm. Byron Donald's has, and that's why he's not the guy to lead the charge. But, you know, at the end of the day, I don't think people want to choose between the lesser of two evils. As much as I love to punch back Byron Donald's, and you and I've talked about some of the memes that we have, A-PAC Shakur, H-1, Byron, Byron. We really want to send a positive message that we're at a crossroads right now, not just in Florida, but in the United States. What does the America First Movement mean? For me, it means Americans can get great-paying jobs, Americans can buy affordable homes, and Americans can raise their family on a single income. And when all of that is said and done, they are able to return.

tire with dignity. And that is what I'm fighting to do as governor, make life more affordable, get men out of women's sports, stop the woke idiocy in our public schools, stop the lie that we need to keep sending more and more of our hard-earned money overseas to countries that hate us. And that's how we're going to win this election on August 18. And it sounds amazing. I wish I really all had a debate with Barn. You could easily expose him. That's why he's running. Right. I mean, it's no different than applying for a job at McDonald's or talk about go bell you can submit your application you can submit your resume you can have a cover letter but if you're not willing to sit down for the interview then you don't deserve the job

and florida voters deserve to see you interviewed i.e deserve to see you debate president trump did it ron desantis did it ronald ragan did it we've all had to do it and what voters wanted to see was byron donald's debate he refuses to because he thinks he's entitled to your vote and he's just not. He has to earn your vote, and that's what I'm going to be doing over the next 14 days. Again, I'm not just the only candidate in this race.

I'm the only candidate in the history of Florida that has actually held a town hall in every single one of our counties. You guys know the big ones, Sarasota, Orlando, which is Orange County, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach counties, and Broward counties. But we've held small town halls that have been packed in in places like Liberty County,

Lafayette, Dixie, these small, counties with just 8 to 10,000 people because I'm running to be a governor for every single person. Whether you live in a big city center or you live out in rural farmland, Florida, I'm fighting for you. And the teen takeovers, that's become a huge issue in Florida. Seems like a majority of these teen takeovers are happening in Florida. What do you expect to do about that? Yeah, we got a lot of jits out here, and we got to hold them accountable.

You got a lot of kids who just want to go out and cause. mayhem and I'm not going to tolerate that as governor. I have said that a team takeover is not really a teen takeover. A teen takeover is a riot. If you come together and you take over the street and you block people from going home from work and you pull guns and you try to intimidate businesses and you flood the streets and riot like a bunch of animals, then that's not a takeover. That's a riot. And I would charge those rioters as such. If there is another teenage takeover in Pinellas County, in Hillsborough County, in any of the 67 counties. Sean, open carry is legal in the state of Florida.

It's for everybody, black or white, Christian, Muslim, or a Jew. If we find out that a teen takeover is showing up, we are showing up with a dozen people, with AR-15s, we're going to exercise our Second Amendment right, and we are going to protect communities like this. So what happened on Sunday here in Clearwater Beach happens nowhere. Governor DeSantis gave us the bill, House Bill 1 back in 2021, that allowed us to charge these people pretty aggressively. And what I would say is if you show up and riot at a teen takeover, it doesn't matter what you call it, we're going to look at what the law calls it. And if you riot at a teen takeover, you're going to prison for five years.

I will not hesitate to use the Florida National Guard to go after these teen takeover riots because we need law and order in our streets. And I say it with respect, but it is not a coincidence that we have a fatherlessness crisis in the black community in Florida. And nearly every single one of these teenagers going out to teen takeovers is black. And so we have to have a very honest conversation with the black community, with parents about what is actually going on and lay down the law that we want you to succeed. We don't want you to get arrested. Even worse, we don't want you to get shot like so many young people have. two young men got shot at a teen takeover in Clearwater Beach two months ago. We don't want that to happen to you.

And so what can we do to keep you safe? Reward with good behavior. But if you go and keep rioting at teen takeovers, we are going to throw it. I've been noticing a lot of your videos that you posted online. You're getting a lot of energy from young folks. And I think the young folks are like actually the future of the Republican Party. I think the young folks is the feature of the Republican Party, and they're going to fix the problems with the Republican Party. What do you think about that?

Well, it is young people who won't just save this country. It's young people who built this country. Think about it. Thomas Jefferson was 33 years old at the signing of a Declaration of Independence. James Madison was 25 years old. Alexander Hamilton was just 21 years old. And so when I look around and I see young men and young women standing up and saying, we want America first. We don't want this distorted Republican Party that is the very thing that Donald Trump fought against.

That is what we need to fight for. And so I'm obviously young myself, but there's a lot of people way younger than me who are out there and making it clear that we need to take back their country and they're fighting to do just that. And they're always going to have a friend in me. Our events are really insane because of how many young people come out. We had an event at a diner the other night. The event started at 11 p.m. and there were 250 people at 11 o'clock at night,

packed into a diner to hear our America First Division. And so young people are coming out in droves. I just talked to somebody on our team that found that voter turnout for young people in just one county, Miami-Dade, the first early vote yesterday. And so very strong signs that we are in a position to win this election. Whether you live in Florida or not, odds are you know somebody or a couple people who live in Florida. And so it's my hope that people watching this interview will reach out to people in Florida and say, look, we've got to vote for fishback on August 18th. He's the only one who represents the America First vision that we desperately need right now.

Yeah. I thought the Republican Party was America First. That was such a joke. I was lost. What a buffoon I am. Hey, James, do you have, if you win the primary against Byron Donaldson, do you think Trump will endorse you? I think so. I think the president has been clear that you're going to endorse any candidate in these general election rates in large part because he's a voter here in Florida. He's a resident. He doesn't want to see a gun grabbing vaccine mandating put men and women's sports Democrat, which is my opponent, David Jolly, who's attacked me, along with Pete Buttigieg, along with numerous other Democrats. They see us as the threat. And so I think that President Trump shortly after the primary concludes after we win, I'll be able to secure his endorsement. And we'll crisscross the state once again. We are going to run it back and do another six. 67 town halls in all 67 counties.

When we knock that out, we're going to be able to keep Florida in good, good, conservative hands because so goes Florida, so goes the nation. I mean, think about it. When the country was locked down, everyone was looking to Florida and saying, wait, why are we locked down in New York? Why are we locked down in California? Why are we locked down in Illinois or Michigan? Ron DeSantis has kept Florida open.

He has shown that you can in fact defeat the scamdemic hoax. You can, in fact, keep your schools open. your churches open, keep your businesses open. And so Florida led the way during the scambemic, and I think Florida is going to lead the way once again, whether it's stopping data centers, blocking flock, or fighting for America first. And that's what I hope to have the opportunity to do, not just for my state, but lead this, this charge, this revolution, this refounding of America, quite literally at the 250-year point

so we can really embrace the America First Vision that our founding father stood for. So I heard you recently got married and you're expecting a baby. I did. I did. My wife grew up about 30 miles from me. We both grew up in South Florida. And you know what's so funny? I am at the restaurant right now where we had our first date.

I am actually sitting in the table where my wife and I had our first date. And we were married at our local Catholic church where I live in the Panhandle. And my wife is now 10 weeks pregnant. and we're really blessed. And she's at home resting right now. The first trimester is brutal. But she voted yesterday. She was one of the first people in the entire state to vote early.

And I think she voted for me. I wasn't in there to technically verify. I don't think she voted for Byron. But she, she's an amazing woman. And I'm just really lucky. Yeah. Congratulations. Yeah, yeah.

Thank you. I hear you still, I hear you still feuding with Sophia Rain. Sophie Ray. Oh, Sophia Rain. I said Sophia Ray. Sophie Ray. Well, you know, he just gave himself plausible to liability, and I don't know who the woman is, right? I've never looked her up. I've never gone under that side. Sophia, Sophia, Sophie, it doesn't matter what the name is.

You cannot use OnlyFans as a means to make money in Florida. That's why I'm going to create the 50% OnlyFans syntax that says to people like Sophie Rain who make $80, $90, $100 million, that we have to take some of that to clean up the mess that you are creating the mess for young women by objectifying themselves with this adult explicit pornographic content. Never in my whole life did I think that I would wake up and see a Florida politician trying to start beef with me for clout.

So he's proposing a syntax on BOPs where we would have to pay 50% to the state on top of the 37 I'd already pay to the government. And I would be more than happy to pay that if multi-billion dollar corporations were also being properly taxed. But surprise, they're not. I never usually get into politics, but there are clearly better ways to raise funds from actual corrupt businesses in our country. I think that people also fail to realize that there are so many creators on this platform that do this job because they're

struggling. So to tax them like that when they're literally doing it just to support their families is sad. And then also for the young men who get trapped in a cycle of porn addiction, I also have what's called the Simp Tax, which is a 50% sales tax on any. people buying porn. So if you buy porn and you're going to spend $100, you're actually going to spend $150. If you're selling porn and you make $100, you are going to give us

$50. And the reason why is not because I want to collect all this revenue and be Florida's pimp. It's because I want to use taxes as a deterrent. I want to deter young men and young women away from pornography. There is nothing good from it. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, makes clear that the loving

relationships between and women should be free of the kind of adultery that pornography represents. It isn't just a sin. It destroys our interpersonal and our romantic relationships. And society, I think, has an obligation to stop it because at the end of the day, if it continues, we are going to pay the costs of young men and young women, never being able to get married, never being able to have a real relationship.

And they're going to be wards to the state. They're going to be collecting welfare for the rest of their lives. And taxpayers like you and me are going to pay for it. So we should draw the line now and say enough is enough. One final message, James. What's your call to action to the people of Florida? My call to action is vote like your life depends on it. What does it profit a man to inherit the whole world but to lose his soul?

We are staring down the very people who want us to inherit this immense wealth from data centers, inherit mass surveillance with flock cameras, inherit more overdevelopment that's going to pave over our wetlands and our Everglades to yet lose our soul of Florida. And so I'm asking Florida voters to give me a fourth generation Floridian, a constitutional conservative, a Christian who believes that Christ is king, a proud husband, and a real America First Republican, the awesome responsibility of serving Florida as Governor DeSantis has to stop flock, stop data centers, stop the overdevelopment, make Florida more affordable, make it easier for young people to buy a home, to get a great paying job, and to call Florida home again. man that was sharp you're a one sharp cat you see why he didn't want to debate yeah i wouldn't debate you either i call in sick if you if you were to debate it'd have been a political lynch fortunately you and i were on the same side of almost every issue and i can't thank you guys enough for having me on earlier this year having me on today i said it then and i'll say it again now

When we win this thing, you are going to be at the inauguration, celebrating what it really looks like to bring an America First Vision to a large state like Florida. And I thank you again for everything that you're doing for our country. Oh, thank you. Thank you for being you. We need somebody like you in America. I think he'll be the domino that's going to get the America First Movement really going. Yeah.

Thank you, Mr. Fishback. Thank you. Honored. Thank you very much. Honored. Yeah. That's a damn good show. Damn good show with James Fishback.