Pablo Torre Finds Out - The Other J.D.: Meet the Candidate (and Pitcher) America Can Agree Upon

Episode Date: July 30, 2024

J.D. Scholten is a state representative from Iowa who went viral for the ultimate call to the bullpen: He left a music festival, a beer-and-a-half deep, to suddenly sign a minor-league contract and pitch into the seventh inning — at 44 years old. But that's just the beginning, because this J.D. might be the opposite of J.D. Vance. In fact, he's unlike most elected officials from either party: He fights punch-down politics. He is selling a real form of populism. Hell, he's running for re-election and says he doesn't even like politics. And, yes, he's still starting for the Sioux City Explorers.Further reading:"You're Probably Getting Screwed" Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Pablo Torre finds out. I am Pablo Torre, and today we're going to find out what this sound is. I'm 44, I'm beer and a half in, my legs are pretty tired, and let's call it a day. Right after this ad. You're listening to Draf King's Network. J.D. Shulton, how old are you? I just want to get this on the record for everybody who's not familiar with your work. 44 years old, and in all the things that I've been... like the headlines and all that, the fact that they lead with that is a little disappointing, but I know that's part of the story.

Well, hold on, though. Hold on. Because, yes, that is young for a sitting congressman, but for a pitcher, a professional baseball pitcher, this is why I'm talking to you today. It's both of these things in combination. Life's a little bit surreal right now and a little hectic, but, you know, how do you make God laugh? Have a plan.

Okay. So it is late July and the American News cycle, if you have not known, noticed, is drowning in surreal and hectic stories of plans gone wrong. Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt. Kamala Harris replaced a malfunctioning Joe Biden. And then the focus recently turned to J.D. Vance, the guy who got the call to be Trump's vice president. All of it has been a lot.

But there is one story, a local sports story, which went national, that I wanted to make sure you heard today. Because the man at the center of it, it turns out, is a very different kind of politician, even though he also happens to be named J.D. At six feet six inches. Stand tall with someone you believe in. J.D. Shulton says he wants to take economic opportunity to new heights,

claiming what is good for Wall Street is not necessarily good for Iowans. 60% of Americans can't handle a $500 emergency. And the average 30-year-old makes what a 30-year-old did 30 years ago. And a few weeks ago, over Independence Day weekend, State Representative J.D. Shulton received an emergency call of his own. For those who that haven't seen the Kevin Costner film, for the love of the game, it follows a 40-year-old Billy Chapel pitching in the major leagues. And while it wasn't in the majors tonight,

the Suicide Explorer got a taste of Hollywood when they called on 44-year-old J.D. Shulton to start against Milwaukee. That's right, member of the Iowa House of Representatives and former Morningside in Nebraska pitcher, J.D. Shulton got the nod to start for the Sioux City Explorers. The Sioux City Explorers are a minor league baseball team in Iowa in the American Association of Professional Baseball, which is partnered with Major League Baseball,

and so it employs lineups that are full of former and future major leaguers, these real live pro athletes who tend to be a lot younger than some middle-aged local lawmaker. And so the first thing I needed to find out about J.D. Shulton was what he had been doing, what his plans actually were, on the day that he got the call. We have this big music festival here in Sioux City called Saturday in the Park, where bleachers were headlining, and I volunteer for the last five years. And so my friend had a pre-year-year-old. pre-festival party. I stopped there, had a beer and a half. I was just finished delivering a bag of ice or a bunch of bag of bags of ice. And I looked at my phone and my phone was blown up. I had like 10 missed calls. And the manager of the Sioux City Explorers, he texted me, said, call me ASAP.

So your manager in the present tense is this guy, Steve Montgomery, whose nickname is, I believe, Mongo. My name is Steve Montgomery, field manager, Sioux City Explores. Everyone's called. Everyone's called. me Mongo. I knew my guy had a stiff neck, almost a pinched nerve in the neck. So the starter said that night, I should be good to go. I think, you know, one more day. He comes in the next day. For a six o'clock game, we're hitting BT at three o'clock. Obviously, starters there are roughly 3.34 o'clock. He comes in. He's in worse shape than he was the previous day. I literally just drop everything and I run to my phone. I start calling five, six college kids. you know, just, hey, who can be here?

July 4th weekend, as you can understand, a lot of people out on vacation, family events. And I remember having a conversation with J.D., him saying, if you ever need anybody, just give me a call. That was about 3.15, and he said, hey, our starting pitcher went down. We're desperate. We went through 10 pitchers of the two previous nights.

Is there any chance you can give us a couple innings? I'm just like, man. He's like, is this a prank? Is this like a practical joke? I'm like, no, I'm dead serious. I got a guy with a pinched nerve. I told him I have to call him back in 10 minutes because I needed somebody to cover my shift. Because I wasn't going to leave Saturday in the park high and dry either, you know.

So I talked to the people who are overseeing the volunteers and they're like, no, go do it. You're good. We got you covered. He calls me back 15 minutes later, says I'm in. And he's like, what do you expect that of me? I said, you give me what you can give me. Because whatever you give me, whether it's two-winning, three-innings, morning, it's a huge bonus to me. When opportunity knocks, you've got to open that door, and that's kind of how it started.

Your day job is you're in the Iowa House of Representatives. We just call it state rep. But, yeah. So I was an elected official. I won my election in November of 2020, so I just finished serving my turn, or I guess it goes until the end of the year. but my two sessions, and then now I'm up for re-election come this November. But there's another reason why Mongo knew to call this state representative, after, yeah, those aforementioned five or six college kids all turned him down. And the reason is that J.D. Shulton had pitched for the Sioux City Explorers before. 17 years ago. Yeah.

This was back when baseball, like politics, was a lot of politics, was a pretty different game. And back in 2007, J.D. Shulton had an ERA of 8.25 for the Explorers, which, you know, not good. But in the years since then, he was at least keeping his arm loose. J.D. had played pro ball internationally, and he was playing on a local amateur team in his town league, both because J.D. still loves the game, and also because starting pitching, kind of felt like a relief. I use baseball as a form of stress relief.

You know, being able to throw, get on a mountain, just throw. It helps me tremendously because, like, politics is pretty cumbersome and overwhelming these days and polarizing and all that jazz. And I'm the only Democrat in 32 counties in northwest Iowa. So, like, I'm kind of a blueberry and a bowl of tomato soup is what I like to say.

So for me, baseball has always been a way to just like talk to people before I even got into politics. And then when I ran for Congress twice, that's U.S. Congress in 2018 and 2020, that's when I really focus on the baseball because it's a thing that can bring people together. For an example, our state legislature is from about June until April, May, there's no official closing date. And so during that time, we were supposed to be in Des Moines, Monday through Thursday. I found a baseball academy that's just pretty much you punch in a code and it's 24-7 access. And it's just a bunch of batting cages.

They have some mounds. And so I've thrown bullpens at 10 p.m. I'm throwing them at 6 a.m. But for me, I would always get my throwing in because it's such a big form of stress relief for me. And so, like, I did that all this legislative session. Well done. Okay. So you have this concoction inside of you, a beer and a half.

And tonally, it doesn't sound like this. They're saying, hey, J.D. We've been scouting you. We think it's time for you to finally get your well-deserved chance. They're kind of saying, hey, J.D. We're f***ed. Can you help us? I had to fight traffic to get to my house, to get my equipment,

to head to the field, grab a bite to eat, and then I get to the game probably about an hour and 45 minutes before start time. And then it's signing a contract. What are the details on this historic contract? I got the league minimum, so $1,400 a month. So probably should have get an agent or something? I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I recommend a financial advisor on the next deal, perhaps.

What are you wearing? Like, what's the uniform situation? How does that work? They were scrambling to get me one. They just had a bunch of stuff, and then you get an option of what you wanted to wear. Luckily, one of the other pictures, he's 6-7, I'm 6-6, and he had an extra pair of pants because all the pants were a little short. And so I wore his on the first night.

And then they just gave me number 50. I don't know if that was just to show I'm old or what. I don't know. He was sitting in my office and he told me, normally I don't drink on game days. And I'm like, drink on game day. Like you were drinking? He was like, yeah, I had a beer.

He didn't tell me the half, but he didn't tell me he had a beer at lunch. So just, again, the mental image here is you're wearing some other dude's pants. Yeah. You have a beer and a half that you've now sort of like, I believe, absorbed by whatever food you just ate. What did you eat, by the way? What was the pregame meal? I tend to have a specific burrito from Chipotle.

It's a carnitas, half both beans, like a half of the rice, white rice, cheese. It's actually my ex-girlfriend from a few years ago, her order. I'm finding out a lot on this episode. It just, it's saved in my app. So you are wearing another dude's pants. You have in your stomach your ex-girlfriend's Chipotle order. And you're wearing a number that you haven't worn before that might be an allusion to the fact that you are 44 years old

about to get into this game. And so the scouting report, JD, the scouting report on JD Shulton, as constituted, as your teammates are now trying to piece this together, what's happening, is what? What should they know about you, thrower. I don't throw anything down the middle. I'm the corners guy. I have a cutter, slider, and a change-up that just really change locations, change speeds, keep things out of the

middle. Pitching isn't complicated, but it's the execution of doing that. That is the complication. Precision is what you pride yourself on. I was going to wonder, like, would you call yourself a junk baller, but it sounds like you have a different sort of scouting report? People want to say this, or compare me to this or that, I think the closest would probably be more like a Bartolo Cologne later in his career. He can manipulate the ball, change speeds, locations, and just like really spot. So those combinations doesn't allow too many barrels. And so for me, that's all I need. I christened the Little Sexy.

J.D. Shulton. He was a Sioux City Explorer in 2007. Actually, 2003 through 2007. Where here were you born? I was born in 2003, so when he made his professional debut, I was not yet born. It's been a crazy day and what's been a crazy week and what's been just around every corner, something new here. The first inning, dude. Yeah.

What is your memory of just how it begins? The game of baseball has changed, and I didn't know if my stuff could play at this level anymore. And so there's all of that. And then first batter hits a seed up the middle. A crazy day. He lined the center. That'll be a base in a set of Reggie. Pruitt Jr.

on the O one. Like, I'm not used to getting hit hard. And so, like, I forgot how hard these guys hit it. I mean, there was multiple guys in that lineup that played AAA the year before and a big leaguer from two years before. So, like, this isn't, like, I don't know, just walking in from the cornfields or anything. It's not guys like me just showing up randomly. And so first guy gets a hit, steal second.

Into shadow, center field. On the third goes Reggie Pruitt Jr. Stottom base. They overthrow, so he goes to third. Next guy hits a sack fly. Towered out towards center. Arras will break in now. Should score the run, though.

Two batters in, I'm down one, nothing. I'm just like, oh, geez. Okay, here we go. Then the next guy, their three-hole. Groundball at the middle. That's a base hit. Just on the glove there. Hits one right back at me, up the middle.

So hard. It was a grounder. It was so hard that even before my brain was like, get your glove down, it was way past me. Like, it was hit so hard. I don't know what the exit velocity on that was, but like, that's when I was like, okay, don't hurt yourself, J.D. Just get through this. The straw pulling in the dugout right now, not going great for a state representative

Shulton at this point in the first inning. Then proceed the bases loaded, one out, and then they have this lefty up. And in my mind, I'm like, okay, if I can. can get on top of my sinker, he can roll over. And that's exactly what happened. Our second baseman made a great play and got out of the inning. That'll do it. They get a run of getting coming on.

And that's when I was just like, who, okay, one run, got out of it. Because two nights prior, they scored 17 runs in the first two innings. So, so giving up one run was a lot better. And so the boys scored a run in the second or third. So it was one, one. and I got through that inning. And then it was about the third inning. We scored two more.

And I went out and threw a donut. There's one hit out toward left. Montanos drifting back. There he is. At the track, reaching up, makes the play. That's a shut down inning, sir. Back to back, nonetheless. And that's when we're like, oh,

there might be something here. I'm noticing you're using a lot of general terms like the boys or the second basement. Do you know the names of your teammates at this point? Or is that still a work in progress? Most of them. I like you being your own political aid, trying to figure out, oh, God, okay, I got to figure out what this guy's name is. Let me Google this on my phone real quick.

That's exactly right. I wish I had a staffer who could, yeah, prep me on all that stuff. Back out there for the fourth inning. And I'm going to be honest, entering this game, I didn't know if we'd see him enter the fourth. And, well, he's really proved himself. Things were starting to build up. Like after the 13, we got the lead 3-1, and then a couple innings later, we blew it out. First pitch to Harris is driven into left field. This one's pretty well hit at the wall, turning around.

See you later, kiss it goodbye. It's out of here. A three-run shot for Chase Harris, and the explorers extend their lead to 9-2. We have a big enough lead. They want me to get my pitches in, go as long as I can to help say, the bullpen. And so that's kind of where my mind was okay, let's just pitch out.

3-2 count. This one is a slow roller on to first base. Nogowski picks it up. He'll step on the bag himself. Four out number three, three, up, three down, and Jady Shulton is through five complete innings. And the crowd was really getting into it. They're like if a guy got on base, they were yelling six, four, three or four-six-three, depending on right or left hitter. Four six three. And the fans are chanting four, six, three. A double play chance. Right, exactly.

And like just when we get two strikes on the guy, like the crowd was get crazy. And like it was the crowd was awesome that night. And this one's ripped over to John Nagowski, picks it up off a hop, steps on the bag himself. That's out number three. The X is able to do another shutout in and he is J.D. Shulton. The Iowa State. representative, just continuing to shove right now for the Explorers. Six innings, just two runs allowed for the 44-year-old.

But the good news is that you get into the seventh inning. Yeah. It's remarkable. I mean, this is objectively impressive at any level of baseball, let alone one that is harder than I think maybe the brand label would indicate. But you've thrown 100 pitches. You're two outs into the seventh at this point. And Mongo, Mongo makes another call.

I've been involved with professional baseball since I've been 19 years old. So we're looking at, you know, 31, 32 years. And going into that game, I didn't know if this was going to be a one-time thing or if this was going to be a two-time thing. You know, basically, hey, get me through until my guy can come back and rejoin the team. Him being from Sioux City, I wanted to make sure he got his ovation. said I'm going to walk out and talk to him. And he goes, you deserve

to get recognized and to get an ovation. And he goes, now you can either go get this last out, but then you'll have to pitch to at least one batter in the eighth, or you can go out now. And like the competitor in me is like, let's go, let's do this. And then, but then

I was like, you know what, I'm 44, I'm beer and a half in. My legs are pretty tired. I just had a bunch of my ex-girlfriend's beans. And let's call it a day. He's getting high-fives all around as he'll make his walk back to the exes dugout. And man, the night that was never expected is over for J.D. Shulton.

But what a performance. The crowd just gave me a standing ovation. One of the most emotional moments of my life, I would say, just because how much like this town means to me. You know, I get to not only represent it at the Capitol, I get to represent it with our uniform across my chest, St. Sue City, and to have all these people that I've either grew up with or know through different avenues to just be there and be so supportive.

It just, I'll never forget that night and that standing ovation. But the thing about J.D. Shulton's pro baseball renaissance is that it isn't simply about that one magical night and that standing ovation. because JD, it turns out, has now made four starts for Sioux City in the month of July, and the dude has been a $1,400 revelation. He's had three wins, no losses, and an impressive 2.82 ERA.

At age 44, he is pitching better than he ever has in his life. And yet pitching is just the beginning of why I wanted to talk to Little Sexy, as I will now continue to insist on branding him. Because this juncture in American politics has been, if nothing else, a reminder. A reminder of how we all hunger for elected officials who hunger for something other than money and power. And as we kept talking, it became clear to me that JD is not like most elected officials from either party. and that I also had zero idea how the guy balances all of the jobs he has. The state legislature is January until April or May.

So if I were to join the team at the beginning of the season, then there might have been a little bit of overlap. But now it's this time of year, there's meetings and different things, but we're mostly focused on the re-election. Now, the one thing that really put in a wrinkle for the next start is the fact that we had some major flooding here and people in my district were impacted by it. And so the second start was up in Fargo and I couldn't travel with the guys because I had meetings to help make sure our flood victims got the resources they needed. And so we are a part-time legislature too. So that means I also have a day job to go along with all this.

Wait, what is your day job? It was working at a law firm, Cunio Gilbert, and Luduka. But not just because of baseball reasons. There's a lot of different things. And like I loved working for them, but I did put in my two weeks. Oh, wow. And so I thought with the election coming up and like I've made the rotation at this point, I think I was like, okay, I'll try and find another job.

But like right now, I just need to call. some things. And so I stepped away from that. And so definitely banking on that $1,400 a month this next month. I was going to say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just want to also remind everybody how and why you got into politics, because it wasn't obvious, it seems like you would be trying to do all of the things you're doing today. I mean, as a Democrat, I think the 2016 election influenced a lot of people. I was living out of state, and my biggest inspiration in my life was my grandmother. And she was a fifth grade teacher, wonderful woman. When I was playing professional baseball previously, my off seasons, I tend to take care of her and live with her.

And we got to be very, very close. And she wasn't doing that well. And the last thing she said before she passed was, you need to move back to Iowa and you need to take care of our farm. And we rent our farm out to a family friend. I'm first generation to be raised in town, so I wasn't hopping on the combine any time. soon, but it made an impact because when she passed away, I gave the eulogy, and it's the hardest thing I ever done in my life. A month after that was the inauguration, and the next day, I'm in Seattle, and I went to the Women's March, and I was just so blown away by the raw power and energy

of that day, I was like, I need to do more. I had a very comfortable life, but I needed to get uncomfortable and do something. And one of the things I did, as I called my folks, and I told them, It was a weird call because I got news and they go, we have news for you too. You go first. I go, well, I'm moving home. And there's just long pause. And they said, we're moving to Minnesota. So I ended up buying my childhood home from my parents.

And that snowballed into running for Congress against Steve King. When you see the polls and how frustrated people are with folks in D.C., it's bizarre that they keep on getting reelected. And while Congressman King did run on term limits is when he first ran. And I'm trying to hold him to that by allowing him only to be at eight terms. For people who are not familiar with Steve King, this man is maybe the most famous Iowa politician because he's an institution unto himself. I mean, this is a long time, far right, hardcore conservative. Like the quote that comes to mind, I mean, he tweeted, under his own name, quote, We cannot restore our civilization with somebody else's babies.

Yeah. That was just one of the things. Yeah, like he was very close with Victor Orban before anybody else, the fascist president of Hungary. And then famously in the 2018 campaign, it came out that he went on a Holocaust trip and then took a side trip to meet with neo-Nazis and Hungary while he was over there.

Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King is facing widespread criticism for retweeting a Nazi sympathy. Faiser. British white supremacist Mark Collette tweeted a screenshot of a story from conservative news signed Breitbart regarding mass migrations to Italy. He included the caption, Europe is waking up. Representative King then shared the post writing, Europe is waking up, will America in time? I mean, there's the whole racist side of him and all that, which is awful. But then there's this whole other side where he wasn't doing anything for the district, other than giving it a bad name. And he wasn't doing the work that,

that a member of Congress should do. And that's the disconnect of a lot of it. And so Trump won my district by 27 points. King won by 20 every time except for one. And that's where I've thought, you know, I'm going to try and just do something different. And all I wanted to do was raise enough money to get a used Winnebago RV because they're made in the district, throw my logo on the side and go nonstop. This is our third 39 county tour.

We're doing 39 counties, 39 town halls, getting out there to the people, and we call it the can't fake showing up to her. Until the last about month of the campaign, I was driving that thing everywhere. I would joke, but it was true. I spent more nights in a Walmart parking lot than I did in my own bed. But, like, I was willing to put, like, those 16, 17 months of my life on hold because I was so passionate about what I was trying to do. And in order to win in a very difficult seat like that, that's what you have to do.

What I'm realizing is that you were quite literally doing retail politics. You were in the parking lot of a Walmart and go in a meet and greet. Iowans in a state that, I mean, again, Iowa is famous for anything, is famous for how important it is to go out and meet people and travel around. This is the, it's position in American politics is that, if nothing else. And that's the thing. When you go out and talk to people and just stop into places, like, if you lead with the fact that you're a Democrat, you're going nowhere. But if you just lead with these conversations you have and talking about how you meet

some farmers having coffee around their diner, you stop in and you start talking about how they're getting squeezed between the input and the market side of their economy. and they relate and they're like, yes. I mean, it was a lot and a lot of work. It was 15 months to build to that last month, and we got lightning in the bottle then. And it was one of those things. We got all this national attention.

There was a poll that showed we were within one. Another hotly contested congressional race in Iowa Republican, Steve King, took the lead over Democrat J.D. Shulton with 50% of the vote to 47%. King claimed victory in the race last night in Sioux City, and he told them he's not going to tolerate name-calling when he heads back to Congress. Ultimately, to come within three percentage points of beating the aforementioned Steve King, which was eye-opening. Again, it was a victory in an election that sorely needed more of them, but it was optimism. And so, you know, it gets to the point where, like, you become a character that now, okay, the national, picture is beginning to recognize. You run for Congress again in 2020. I remember seeing a photo of you.

You're at the Iowa State Fair holding a giant minion. So this is where I would say the baseball starts getting picked up again because at that time I hadn't picked up a ball in years. And they had a radar gun. And so my staff was kind of egging me on like, hey, let's see what you got. And those things are a little bit rigged too. So I don't know what it was. But I hit over 80. And so I got the big prize or whatever. And I picked the life-size minion.

Now, at the same time, about a month into COVID, I probably had a few too many whiskeys that night. And I went on a Saturday night and I went down a rabbit hole on YouTube on pitching mechanics. That's how much of a nerd I am. I love it. Wait, you're like finding like pitching nins. like drive line. Absolutely.

Oh, man. I wake up and I was like, I'm going to buy a net and a couple dozen balls. And that's where it started. And then I was like, okay, if I hit 80 at the state fair, then my goal is to hit 87. So work on it all summer and hit 87 in August. And so, again, the world was shut down. We didn't have a state fair. So I went to a baseball academy in Des Moines that a friend had.

And it took 60 pitches, but I hit 87. And then from there, the next year, then I started playing ball again in 2021. Well, I would say that this is all like a very on-the-nose Kevin Costner screenplay. But before I say that, I should point out that Kevin Costner actually did narrate one of your 2020 political campaign ads. It is here. Among the Rolling Hills. along the endless road and the wind. My campaign ads, both from 2018,

and then the 2020, we did a field of dreams kind of knockoff. I think it won awards. It was beautiful. And then when I decided to run again, somehow my media firm, which is win media, shout out to them, they got Kevin Costner to do the voiceover. And, I mean, it was just breathtaking.

It is here. within us, within him. It still gives me chills. So you go from that, all of that, to you finally get elected to the House. This is now the state legislature. In 2022, it's District 1. You run unopposed.

And simultaneous to this, I want to point out, it sounds like, J.D., you've been working on your pitching for what sounds like mental health slash physical upkeep reasons. Like, how would you describe your ambition? as you're also entering the state legislature. Definitely, but also I've had this feeling since I left the game in my 30s that there was more.

And I always knew, like, there was just, if I had more consistent mechanics, then I could do a couple more things. And now, like, that's, I think the root of it all is that I still couldn't, like, I was so disappointed in that I wasn't a better pitcher back then. and that's the thing that to me just has kept me motivated. And like nine times out of ten, if this happens, if we relive this or whatever, I still work my tail off. And I wasn't training for this or was to do this. But like, I was just training it for myself. And I feel like when you're honest and true to yourself and always try to better yourself,

that's when you put yourself in positions to have that good luck. and that's, I think, an old Thomas Jefferson quote saying, the harder I work, the luckier I get. And that's both politically and in baseball, that's where my mindset has been the past few years. The landscape that you're entering politically, just to reaffirm the degree to which this is a Republican institution historically, I mean, it's a, it's the governor, the attorney general,

both chambers of the house, right? Like, this is how. Every federal, every statewide, other than our state auditor is Republican, every member of Congress, every senator right now. But like growing up, it was not that we were proudly purple. We had almost four decades of Tom Harkin being the Democrat senator and Grassley being the Republican senator. And that's the Iowa I know. And that's the Iowa I'm striving to get back. Right.

because the Iowa that I have sort of been monitoring as a person, again, trying to parse the, and this is an overused word, but I use it because I mean it, the largely dystopian political scene, you know, it's a legislative body, the one that you now serve in that tried this past session to legally redefine the word sex and male and female to exclude, to discriminate against trans people, intersex people. It's a laboratory, it sounds like for some of the people. of the worst political instincts that you are seemingly, yeah, trying to fight against. Yeah, I call it punch down politics. I mean, that's what it is. They're just,

they're trying to find a group just to knock them down for no reason other than to bully. And so that's, that goes into more my bigger message. I mentioned I'm kind of an anti-monopoly person. That's just protecting working class people from the bully corporations. It's protecting trans kids from bully politicians. It's protecting women's rights from, again, bully politicians. And to me, like, it's not the Iowa I grew up in. And that's why I'm so passionate about fighting for it to come back to where we were. Let's talk about the other JD who's in the news these days for political reasons. J.D. Vans for people who are not familiar, what's interesting about your entire philosophy here is that it is, in other,

in other words, a populist one. And yet J.D. Vance is all of the time, along with Donald Trump, on that ticket, selling populism as their core identity. And that makes you as guy in Iowa making $1,400 a month playing professional baseball, how does that land with you? I mean, it's a faux populism, you know? It's not populism when you give and you say the one thing that Trump did during his presidency was give tax breaks to the super wealthy and huge corporations. That's not populism. Populism is putting FTC Lena Khan as chair of the FTC and the work that she's doing.

Populism is having a strong antitrust division at the DOJ on the work that Jonathan Cantor is doing. That's populism, helping out folks, everyday folks, whether it's junk fees, whether it's the price of insulin, all these things. that just help everyday Americans. And like, to me, there's two things that I cannot stand in politics. The first one is the fact that we're the wealthiest country in the world and we don't have universal health care. Like when I was playing minor league ball before, like when I was in my 20s, I was my, like, prime body shape and everything like that.

In the off season, I had to decide to pay, either pay rent or my health insurance. And so there was times I would not have health insurance. My mom doesn't want to hear that, but that's the reality. And so many Americans are like that, you know? And it's only gotten exceedingly worse since I was that age. But the thing that I think is the exact point of what's wrong in politics is this. It's the fact that the maximum that you can donate to a federal candidate is right now, I think it's $3,300. When I was running in 2018, it was $2,800.

And so it rises with inflation. But the minimum wage stays at $7.25. and has been that way for 15 years. Like, that is insane. That, okay, when it comes to giving campaigns money, it rises with inflation. But the fact that the minimum wage is $7.25. That's nuts to me.

The other JD, I think about stuff he has said on the record before. I can't stomach Trump. I think that he's noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place. He's comparing him to an opioid, which is a fraught metaphor with great resonance across the working class of the United States. And now, I mean, you watch the RNC, and he says effectively the exact opposite, that he is a champion of the working man. For the last eight years, President Trump has given everything he has to fight for the people of our country.

And I just want to, again, for people who are not fluent in the way that money and politics, is tilting right now, the people in Silicon Valley, the tech billionaires, the Elon Musk's, the Peter Thiels, the David Sacks, they are the people funding the quote-unquote populism that is being worn as a costume effectively. It's the best return on investment they can have right now is to invest in Republican politicians to do their dirty work for them. We're seeing that at the state level. We're seeing that at the national level. And like, I think COVID put it, big spotlight on a lot of this stuff. You have meat packing workers working in dangerous conditions. You have farmers being squeezed on the input and market side. You had consumers paying the most

they ever have for meat. Meanwhile, you have all those corporations, the four corporations that control 85% of the beef industry or 70% of the pork or similar to the chicken. All of them came out with record or near record profits at that time as well. Meanwhile, more foreign entities are buying up farmland in this country. It's larger than the size of the state of Ohio. And you have JD Advance when he was a venture capitalist. And he invested in one of the main companies that is doing all this bidding for this foreign investment of buying farmland.

So for him to come out and say like he's this isolationist or doesn't want like the global impact and all this stuff, well, let's, let's. Let's see the receipts. And the receipts are, is that, like, he just did it to make money. He'll say what you want to hear. That's a politician. Like, J.D. Vance is just will say whatever just so he can get ahead. And, like, that's the type of crap that I hate in politics.

And that's why, like, I don't even like politics. I do it because I'm passionate about it. Like, I would love to just play baseball. I would love just to have a job. And, like, I'm so envious of so many my teammates who just don't follow politics. you know but at the end of the day like i've seen behind the curtain and i'm i that's that's the thing that fires me up and that's why i continue to do this so i do want to point out that um since that debut appearance you had that fateful day over independent again it's all very it's

just a cliche j d it was independence day weekend also i'm just like come on what are we doing here But since then, it's continued. I mean, you just had another start. You know, got into the sixth inning, two earned, 79 pitches, 53 strikes, two walks, three strikeouts again. Round balls and standing ovations feels to be the J.D. Shulton story for Sioux City. And meanwhile, you know, have people talked to you about, like, the national stage since all of this? Because I've been seeing on Twitter, just again, it's Twitter. there are people who are unironically saying like, hey, this dude, again, there are many, many names in the vice presidential hat right now, but they're like, this guy.

And so how did that make you feel when you are also being, you know, just discussed in these terms that maybe are a lot to process along with everybody else? I mean, if I were to become VP candidate, and this is more of a joke, so to take that just to be very, very clear. It'll take away from what I'm looking forward to as one of the greatest months of my life being on the road playing minor league ball again after all these years. So, no, I mean, you know, I get a lot of run for governor here, run for Senate and different things like that. And I mean, I'll be honest, I have talked to some members of Congress and about the congressional baseball team as well. Oh, my God. Right. I don't have political ambition.

That's the thing. Like, I just hated Steve King. And that's how all this started. And here I am a few years later. And, you know, I'm passionate. I feel like being a state representative, I feel is a huge honor and get to represent Sioux City, the place that I love, huge honor. Don't get me wrong.

But at the end of the day, like, if I never run for anything bigger than just this seat, I'm okay with that. Like, I don't have, like, I'm not a J.D. Vance. I'm a J.D. Shulton. Like, I'm comfortable in my own. skin and where I'm at. But unlike Joe Biden, it sounds like, you are maybe on pace to continue to break records for the oldest guy in your profession to keep winning.

And the all-time list has ahead of you guys like Satchel Page at age 59, Jamie Moyer at 49. The record belongs to Bill Lee, I should point out, the San Rafael Pacific 65 years old. So I guess what I'm really saying is, as you try to diplomatically. establish what you're really after here. Are you going to break that record, J.D. Shulton? Oh, I mean, that's 20 years away, isn't it? Like, 21? Was he? How old was he?

65. 65. Oh, my goodness. That's impressive. I have no idea how much longer my body can hold up or any of this. So, like, I am so appreciative just to be on the mound. And, like, these mounds are so nice. Swiggin' away.

See you later. It's just the little things I appreciate now and just focusing with the Susit Explorers this next month. I'm very much looking forward to this next month. Yeah. J.D. Shulton, thank you for currently being the old guy refusing to give up. It's an honor.

And for more from J.D. Shulton, by the way, you can subscribe to his substack, because of course the guy is a substack. It's at screwed.com. title is, you're probably getting screwed. It is a newsletter about, quote, how we are living in the second gilded age where economic concentration works for a few, but leaves the majority of us behind. This has been Pablo Torre finds out, a Metal Arc Media production.

And I'll talk to you next time.