The Pete Quiñones Show - Episode 1327: Winning at Local Politics w/ Claude

Episode Date: February 8, 2026

59 MinutesPG-13Pete invited Claude to come on the show to talk about his experience and successes as an under-30-year-old engaged in the politics of his local town.Pete and Thomas777 'At the Movies'Support Pete on His WebsitePete's PatreonPete's SubstackPete's SubscribestarPete's GUMROADPete's VenmoPete's Buy Me a CoffeePete on FacebookPete on TwitterBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-pete-quinones-show--6071361/support.

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Good, Pete. How are you? A long time listener, first time caller. Tell everybody. Tell everybody a little bit about yourself, you know, so we can get going on the topic today. Yeah, so I'm in my late 20s. I lived all over the Western United States. When COVID hit, I was living in a metropolitan area. I've sold my apartment and moved back out to my hometown. It's a town of about 2000 in the Western United States. Great culture, great sports

programs, great academics, honestly great people too. And, you know, after being back for about a year, I was just like, you know, it's just awesome being around people that I know and trust. Yeah, and it's been great. And basically, I just kind of used things that I've learned in this space. For example, I, burden will like this one. I sell propane and propane accessories. There was an old guy in town who owned a propane business, and I walked in the door one day and said, hey, I'm looking for a job. And he was wanting to get out. So now I run the place. And then after, oh, after doing that for a couple years, the fire chief approached me and asked if I wanted to be a board member for the fire department. And I graciously accepted.

And, you know, from there, I just used like, for example, like Schmidt's friend enemy. First thing I did when I was on there, I managed a pension account. I gave every pensioner a 70% raise. And yeah, anytime I see those guys. around town they you know nod at me we talk it's it's awesome and yeah so that's went really well and then so that position it covers the county i'm in and two surrounding counties and yeah here recently the town manager approached me and asked if i'd run for a position as town trustee and in my little municipality there are eight town trustees and they over

oversee the town government. And, you know, for being a guy under 30, it's a great honor. And honestly, I really didn't do much other than volunteer my time and, you know, not be a spurg. That's truly a remarkable story. And, you know, I know that there are still are spurgs. We're going to be like, well, the Chinese, well, you're not going to be able to fight off the Chinese when they come. So, you know, I mean, good luck to you, buddy. Yeah.

Yeah. No, I feel yeah. But, yeah, no, that's really impressive. So, I mean, the town you, this is a town you grew up in, right? Yeah. So, I mean, that is a caveat. I mean, that's not an option for everyone. I would, you know, young Anna and on out there, if you more or less like the place you live

growing up, there can be some great advantages. going back, mainly that I know almost everyone in town on a first name basis. You're not going to get that almost anywhere else. What originally made you leave and go to the big city? I was a smart kid. You know, straight A's in high school. Athlete had a athletic scholarship and an academic scholarship, so I went off to school. You know, at that point, I was like your typical small town Normie Con. And, you know, similar to a lot of, you know, people, guys my age, I got into libertarianism and I read about every libertarian book you can possibly imagine.

And then from there, ANCAP, and then, you know, after COVID, I just started reading some different stuff. And when you had Z-Man on your show, I went back and listened to every single show he ever did and read every single article he ever did. And from there, my, my world views, it's just completely different. And for the better, I'd say. Yeah, he's greatly missed. He, I mean, and it's, it's good that his stuff is still out there because it really is a gateway.

It was one of my gateways. It was, uh, him and Charles Heywood were, you know, really brought me and brought me out of the, the way I was thinking about things, the way I was, you know, self-government. kind of stuff, which is important. I mean, you can't have a society without people who can self-govern. But not every, the problem is, is not everybody can self-govern. And, you know, there really are, there really is only, when it comes to the West, there really is only a certain group of people that can self-govern. And, you know, people like Z-Man were able to definitely flesh it out, especially when it comes to the United States. Oh, yeah, I would read his article.

morning and then when the group like the drivers and whatever we'd sit down to go over the routes and stuff i would just like bring up what he wrote about that day and they would think it was fascinating and yeah now i can talk about all sorts of stuff with those guys when you got back i mean you went back during covid was it 2020 or 2021 is sure uh right when covid started school got canceled um i did not i was i was living like downtown downtown and i was like i want no part of this And so I just moved back in with my parents. And we have a great relationship, so that wasn't an issue. And I always had one foot out the door.

Like I was like, oh, this town's too small for me. You know, I'm smart. I'm, you know, a couple semesters away from getting my degree. You know, I always thought I was going to be like an academic or, you know, something like that. History teacher, this, that, the other. Well, I don't know. It's given confinement at the time, for one, it wasn't going to happen. And two, I just kind of woke up to the real world and I work a job that I like and it pays well.

And it gives me influence within the community. And yeah, that's basically how I got into that position at the propane place. What was the thinking about trying to do anything political in the town? I mean, I live in a town where it's so everybody's been here so long. Most of the people who live here have been here so long. It doesn't even really like the only people that are going to be elected or people who have been here. Outsiders wouldn't even, it's really hard to infiltrate.

What was your motivation for getting involved? For one, I knew that that was not going to be an issue for me. I mean, yeah, I have dudes over at my house all the time. to watch football. You know, everyone kind of sits with each other at the local water bowl at lunch and stuff. I just knew I was already in the club. And that's a big step.

And that's, you know, for people who are living in places that aren't, you're not part of the club, it's not that hard to become a part of the club. You know, I guarantee you every morning at the local diner, there are old guys, military vets, police officers. you know, the who's who of the town are having coffee or they have lunch. Just ask if you can join them. And most of the time, old guys love talking to young guys. And I would say that's one thing.

You just have to have the balls to actually inject yourself into it. And then the other thing is, is don't scare them off. Like, they have certain beliefs on certain things, and they're never going to drop those beliefs, just have the discipline not to talk about those things. Yeah, I think that's one of the big problems is that once you start seeing things a different way, especially a way that runs counter to the kind of political thinking you were raised to have, you think that you can convince everybody.

A lot of people think that they can convince anybody of what they believe, you know. you may even convince somebody for about an hour. And they'll be like, oh, yeah, definitely, definitely. And then you come back the next day and they've forgotten what you, they've forgotten the conversation that you had. So yeah, that's, yeah. Oh, yeah. When I was a libertarian, I tried to convince everybody, state bad, you know,

this, that, and the other. And I, you know, I'm pretty sure people looked at me like I was weird. And I don't really blame them now. but now the way I look at things what is best for my town and what sort of power do I have to implement those things in my position and that's just real politique

it's not some all this theory stuff I love it I eat it up I have my earbuds in all the time but it's kind of pointless unless you put a tagging and that's what I've tried to do is take the things I've learned from you and others and implement them in the real world yeah that's the thing is

is that anyone who's dealt with any political party or anything like that. And I mean, I've never really dealt with the GOP on any level, but I did have the misfortune of dealing what the Libertarian Party is. Same. Yeah, you know that all the theory in the world means nothing once you start talking about, like, politics. And even though the Libertarian Party is not real politics, politics, they certainly act like they are. And you just see that ideology goes out the window. And basically what it needs to turn into properly, and I'm not saying the libertarian said this,

but is what's good for our people. And if you, if you can think about political theory and see the way people have implemented things or acted in the past and use it. It's not something like you have to be out there and go, now the reason I'm doing this is because Carl Schmidt said, you just do it. You just go ahead and do it. And, you know, the account was overfunded. And yeah, I saw no reason why not to give those guys a monthly race.

And it actually was awesome because lo and behold, the town manager's dad is a pensioner, which I knew that. I mean, of course, that all those things play into it. But yeah, it's just, and you don't even have to explain it to yourself. Deep down, we all know, especially in this fear, what's right, what's wrong, and what needs to be done. And, you know, getting yourself tied up in knots, you know, trying to justify yourself just slows you down. you know a friend of mine said once that if everything collapsed the people who are going to be in charge were the people who are going to be able to feed people and you know what you what you do by increasing a pensioner's income by 70% is is not only is it rewarding your friends and

you know try to make sure your enemies don't get any of that but um it's a way of doing that. It's a way of patronage and people don't understand exactly how important patronage is. If you want people to be on your side, you may just have to pay them sometimes. And it doesn't have to be that outright. You know, like increasing, it's like if you just started cutting them checks, that's a different story. I mean, that's obvious and everything. But if you increase their, you know, their income legally and its income they're already getting. I mean, these people are, how are they going to turn on you? I don't.

I think at least now, they'll definitely hear what I have to say. And I think that's a big first step is, as a young man, proving to your elder men in your community that you're capable and you are looking out for them, just like you hope they look out for you. So you said that basically as trustee, you're over like you're basically the mayor's boss for lack of a better term. What's a mayor like in a small town like that? Really, what's their job? What are they doing?

Basically, it's a, in our, and again, it's different everywhere, but in our, in our specific case, the mayor is more of, a figure. I mean, it's more or less a popularity contest. They do have the tie-breaking vote. So that's why there's eight trustees. And they do run the meeting. But other than that, they don't have any real power over other. That's about all the actual power they have. That and their mayor. So when they say something, people listen.

In your opinion, how hard would it be to get one of our guys elected mayor in a town like that? Oh, I think if, you know, after I served my eight years as trustee, I could get it fairly easily. And that's mainly because I'm going to focus on practical things that people have been telling me for years that need to be done in town. And I'm going to focus on that stuff instead of like the friendly stuff that often comes with local politics.

So I think you have to put your time in. I would say first. And again, I've climbed the ladder a lot faster than most would, but I don't think it'd be that hard. You just have to show up. You know, and I like, I ref high school football games. I volunteer, like, when there's events in town and stuff. Like, people see my face. And that's a big thing.

Like, you got to hang up the phone every once in a while. and like just be in the meat space. And I think, I don't think it'd be that. I really don't. I mean, and that's coming from someone that has kind of had it easy in this whole thing. But it wasn't though. I mean, I, you know, I'm something and I'm not getting paid for it. So I guess the question would be, you know, getting elected mayor and everything.

But what would be the most powerful position? I mean, that's the one you want. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we know the president of the United States is he can't do anything that he wants. What would be the most powerful position? I mean, it almost sounds like you at this time can probably influence more than even the mayor can. Would that be true? To a certain degree, just because I'm dealing with seven other people.

But like I said, like they just love that I'm going to be the younger. person on the board by at least 10 years. Everyone I've talked to, oh my gosh, it's so great. A young person actually cares about how copolite, you know, all that jazz. So I think they'll listen to me because I think that they're, again, people always say, oh, the boomers don't want to give up power, blah, blah, blah. You know, they kind of do. They're getting tired.

They're kind of fading out. And if you're enthusiastic and more or less known, what you're talking about, they will gladly hand you the rates. Yeah, I remember Stormy telling the story about how, you know, there's a lot of boomers whose kids have basically abandoned them or, you know, it could have been vice versa, or it could, I think it's on both sides with a deracinate, you know, the way everything is deracinated now and the way we've been socially engineered out of, you know, even caring about any kind of leg, But, you know, Stormy told a story about how you have these boomers that own these businesses.

They're very wealthy. And if you just go down and talk to them and show interest in what they're doing, you know, you can get a job. And one, you know, you can, depending, you know, and considering a lot of them don't even have good relationships with their kids, I mean, you can take over, take over their business. You know, they may sell you their business or even give you their business. or even give you their business. But, you know, it's not something, if you're doing it, like, you know, in a, if you're doing

it maliciously, I mean, it's, it's not going to be good for you. It's not going to be good for them. People can tell if you have good intentions and a good heart. And Stormy must must have been who I heard that from, because I literally did that. This guy, his kids went off to school. They live all over the country and he's stuck there running the family business. It's been open since the early 50s by himself. And I just walked in the door one day and said, hey, and this guy used to be my neighbor

when my parents still lived in town. And I was just like, hey, Dave, how's going? Do you want to talk about? No, I invited him to lunch. Yeah, so we went to lunch and I was like, well, hey, I'm just moved back to town. I'm looking for a job that kind of suits my skill set. I was wondering if you're hiring. and he within five seconds said yes

and I didn't even have to interview and I got the job. And now I'm running things and this time of year the propane guy is the guy. So I yeah, I would say that's the main thing is you have to establish yourself in the community and once you do that people start coming to you

because like no one wants to be in these positions I won't even, I'm yeah, I didn't even have to run Like I was more or less appointed because they came to me and they didn't have enough people that applied to vote or to run. Excuse me. Yeah, the prudentialist says all the time is like the easiest way to get involved in your local area is to go to like the historical society. And especially if you're a young guy and young when it comes to historical society, young could be like 45. And they're just happy to see somebody there. And, you know, it's just a great way in to getting to know people.

And people who usually run the historical society usually know everyone. Oh, yeah. Well, and so like our historical society, they do a banquet every year. And they have like a silent auction. And anyways, I went to that. If I've been in town and not living somewhere else, I've been to that every year since I was like a sophomore in high school. And that's just because I'm a history buff. But yeah, no, stuff like that's awesome. And the people there are awesome. And they,

and they're interested in historical timelines and they understand that history affects the president, whoever, you know, they're, yeah, great people to have as advisors and even, yeah, just on your side. Have you noticed or what's a situation where you are with, illegals and migrants? So it's not terrible. I do notice just random,

for lack of better words, brown people walking around town. But I would say it's below 20. And I've, you know, try to keep my ear to the ground and figure out what, you know, where are these people doing? Why are they here? Why am I like sitting behind a desk working away and I see them walk by twice a day?

Stuff like that. It's really not bad though. I would say, I mean, the town's got to be 99 plus white. And that's one thing I'm very diligent about is that all it takes is one, someone who owns some real estate, someone that, and then all of a boatload of them. but as of now, not a huge issue. Yeah, that's the one thing that I think that, you know, I'm talking with some,

some friends of mine in another state and, um, immigration is absolutely in their most important issue. And, you know, I'm just wondering when it comes to when it can't, if it can't like, you know, if a,

if a, if a bus load, if, you know, regime, regime, NGO types send a bus load to your to your to your to your town exactly what could you do about it you know that's always that's always the question yeah it's something something i should you know definitely put some more thought into um i don't really see that happening we don't have a ton of like well yeah there's there's like quite a bit of like fast food and stuff like yeah labor labor labor

labor doesn't matter it's to destroy the culture of the town yeah they just want to punish you so I'm at like an outpost of a blue state for years the city has been sending people out to my community

to get Gibbs because they go further and they are local you know whatever department disperses the Gibbs they uh they caught onto it and yeah they were a lot more strict now about proving residency for um i think it's

like more than a year before you're allowed to get any benefits so i mean there are people that in the community have kind of caught onto these little tricks but i i just i don't think it would work here which is nice but i'm sure a lot of a lot of communities have said that though yeah yeah i mean i don't think springfield ohio ever thought that they were going to be overrun by But, you know, and I mean, I don't think that's going to happen now. But, you know, the unfortunate thing is, is that we have a, you know, there are elections every year and there are big elections and national elections where people, you know, get into power. And, you know, people will say, well, you just got to make sure they don't even, they don't get, they don't ever get into power again. Well, that's not really up to us. I mean, voting. Voting. voting machines are, you know, I talk to my wife about this all the time. It's like everybody's talking about, oh, and she's like, you know, they can just turn the voting machines back on. And it's like, yeah, man, it's really, really difficult.

Well, and I mean, that's, I guess, why I spend, I'm not really on social media. It's not never, not my thing. But, yeah, that's why I shifted my focus to my town, Because on the state level, other than writing a letter to my congressman, there's not much I can do. National level, there's certainly nothing I can do. But in my little town and my little county, I do have influence. And people do listen to what I have to say. And that's real politics. getting online and complaining about, you know, Trump this or Epstein, that, or whatever,

it doesn't really affect what's happening in the here and now for me. And that was the biggest mindset change I had was that all the time I spent, I was a research hound, spent hours on social media, this on X, whatever. And I just quit doing that and started focusing on what was in front of me. And that just, like, totally changed how I thought. about things and like the actions I took. Even a lot of our guys, you know, because when you talk about local politics, people just think, well, most of the things that have been done to us have been done from, you know,

from national. I'd say, it's been done from D.C. I'd say traders from within are a lot more dangerous. And they are certainly. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I'm in Alabama and, you know, there's a town about an hour from me. and the mayor of the town, black guy, is like, well, you know, we're going to be a sanctuary city. And, you know, our 1819 news, which is Alabama's best news source because, you know, there are guys.

They reported on that. And it was like, and I mean, I just immediately started getting in touch with people that I know here because thankfully I've gotten to know some people here. And I'm like, you have to shut this shit down immediately. You have to shut this down. You got to let that person know, you're in a small little city, motherfucker, and we can, you know, we can break you. I mean, there's nothing else you can, there's no other way you can deal with somebody like that than to just say, you know, the state is the state will break you. And, yeah, and that's the other thing is like, you have to talk with your chest out. and like look people and like and actually have like force with what you do.

Otherwise you will get walked over. And it certainly happened to me, you know, right when I started on the fire department board, I had no idea what I was doing. I, the only thing I could think was this shit is lame. I could, you know, it was so boring. And while I got coxton to be in the, the pension rep, which is basically a bureaucrat position. And again, I'm glad that I'm glad that. I at the time cowered away from that from, you know, saying, hey, no, I'm a, I'm a board member.

I don't need to be doing paperwork or, you know, but it ended up working out. But as long as you don't let yourself get walked over, people respect you. Like if someone knows that they can just push you around, they will. Yeah, and I think that's important. You know, people talk about, you know, we need to do this and we need to do that. We need to do this. We need to do that. and it takes power.

Most of the things that people want to see done, it takes power and it takes legitimate power. And even if you're the trustee in your small little town or you're the mayor or you're even on the school board, that is seen as legitimate power. And really, when it comes down to it, people like you and I, the only power we really have is the power we really have is the power. that we can wheel locally. I mean, we, you know, I don't know about you, but I'm not, I'm not sitting on, you know, on eight, nine figures so that I can buy politicians, buy national politicians. So, you know, all you can do is in your, is work in your local area.

And, you know, I, you know, I get accused of being, of being, quote, unquote, blackpilled. But, but what it, what really comes down to is, I understand exactly that there are things that I can do with people I know and influence in my area. And really, that's the best most people are ever going to be able to do. And if anyone tells you, yeah, go ahead, Pete. My bad. Good. No, no, please.

And if someone's telling you that taking interest in local affairs, even county affairs. I'd say actually probably the county offices have a little more power, but I'll get there. Um, like they're just someone who's not willing to go out and do it themselves. Like they would rather sit on their laptop or, and again, I'm not trying, I was this guy for a long time. And I still am to a certain degree. Like I just, I, you know, I'm always taking information. Yeah, don't let anyone tell you that taking Control of your own personal life is less important than What's going on in the cesspool that we call DC or your state capital or whatever like you'll be a lot happier if you just focus on yourself and those around you

While acknowledging that if the if DC is run by our enemy which, I mean, it's been for a very, very long time. They can hurt you. They can hurt you on the local level. There are a lot, you know, busloads of Haitians and Somalis start showing up. And, you know, if you're not ready for that, if you haven't, if you don't have a contingency plan, you know, it's like we, it's like I used to say when, when COVID was happening. I'm like, look, man, if your sheriff is on your side. can deputize the whole town, arm the whole town.

And if they came and they're like, okay, everybody in this town needs to get, needs to take the jab. You can just meet them at the, meet them at the county line and be like, okay, let's go over our dead bodies. And, you know, and also, you know, people that need to understand is that in those kind of situations, the, um, the feds only have so much of a budget. that they can't do these things like you know wake when wake waco happened um you know and ruby ridge happened and a bunch of other things happen a bunch of other things happen you know the

whole pat-com thing in the 90s but for the most part the like 99% of the groups out there who were you know talking about patriot stuff at that time never got touched because they don't have the money to do it one and that's again And that's why I'm attracted to the political space I found myself in. Those are important things. And within the eight years that I'm going to be a town trustee, the police chief will retire. And he's a great dude, but he's a boomer. I mean, there are certain things that he's just not going to be willing to do.

But that is certainly something I have circled is making sure that, for one, it's someone that's not an outsider gets that position and two it's got to be someone that's willing to hear some outside the box ideas especially along the lines of things that you just discussed so I mean that's on time I would have never even thought of these things without like these communities

and I just think it's yeah it's important if you are listening to this stuff it's very practical advice it worked like it worked worked perfectly for me. Yeah, it's just, yeah, it's just a well of great knowledge. And, yeah, anyways. Yeah, you know, and when you take into consideration that the, you know, the chances of your town being targeted are, you know, on the slim side. But being our guys, people who know what we know, having control over that and being able to, you know, sort of build the bulwark against, you know, immigration or, you know, pass, I mean, you could pass laws in the town that, you know, like businesses are not allowed to, you know, I don't know about this. I don't know if you can pass your own labor laws

where businesses you can't hire illegals or or you know landlords can't house illegals but it would definitely be something to an experiment to push because you know somebody's going to have to start pushing the states do have nullification

um nullification rights but unless it's written into the state constitution cities aren't going to have nullification rights so um you know i mean while things are saying it would be interesting to see you know the kind of experiment little experiments that you could do locally well and yeah i i think the one the one bugaboo in town would be the school and that's because a lot of their yes they do get mills like they are partly funded by taxpayers, but a lot of their money comes from grants from the state and the federal

government. They have, they back down on quite a few things. And so that would be, and again, it's, and I don't know, it is tough because I know some of the dudes on there. And they more or less, the state told them you will do this or we will shut you down. And so, yeah, there's, yeah, it's tough. And that's, I guess for me, I just want to be there, be a part of the conversation, and at the same time build up a bulwark to, you know, push things. Like, the young guys I talk to, like, it would blow your mind like what these guys are talking about. I can't believe it. When we're sitting there watching a, you know, we're watching the football game and, you know, every commercial has the black dude and the white chick and one of the guys just goes this shit's

disgusting why do they do this and i like look over like excuse me um you know stuff like that and then you get to talking to them and it's like oh my yeah these these dudes know especially the young guys and a lot of old guys too like it if you just like i would say let them come to you and then that's that's the best way to find allies because you can blow your reputation all your plans everything you're doing up quick if you say one wrong thing to one person. So that's kind of been my thing is like, I just let people talk to me. And eventually they let me, I, they tell me whether they know what's going on or they don't. Yeah. Anecdotally, like I've heard stories about the, like the young Republicans in a certain extremely blue state and their, um, they're, yeah, the level, the level of,

radicalization that they're at and you know I just saw a video of James Fishback is running for governor in Florida probably probably has no chance of winning but he was at UC at University of Central Florida UCF and he was just talking to a bunch of students and they were talking about like food talking about the food that's served and you know he's saying we don't want you know the children in our school to eat boy slop oh that's and like And to me, him saying that is enough, but the reaction of the students to that was what tells me that, you know, there's, yeah, there might be a little more radicalization going on amongst young people than even my friend who was on on the last episode, Keith Preston might be, might be aware of. Well, that's another thing is like, you got to show like the other young guys.

guys in town that you can make a difference and that it yeah like you don't you you can take control of your own future and I might be taking a bullet being the first one through the door but that's my main thing is I need to get there so that I can talk to my friends about that stuff and maybe inspire them to run later so that instead of just myself and some are less like-minded people there's two or three or four of us on there that have a specific goal and we can work to obtain that goal. But that's the main thing with young guys right now is that you got to get off your butt. And they just need to be shown that like you can take power. You can just do things.

And that's more or less what I did. And that would be my main goal is that by the next term, I want at least two of my buddies to run too. Yeah, I think that's important. The whole meme of you can just do things means a whole lot more when you're at when you're the ones actually do it. Yeah. And again, I and you know, brain drain is a real thing in small communities like mine. I mean, I again, circumstances were different.

I probably wouldn't have came back. But I mean, there are dudes in town that they're engineers. They run these giant construction companies. Smart dudes. Know what knows what's going on. and they actually have something to lose if shit hits the fan and you just got to like these yeah we just got to get these types of guys

directed towards you know preserving our local cultures and communities that would be my main thing is just you know my buddy that owns a construction company like dude it's one night a month like let's make sure that we can keep living the life so we like to live stuff like that. Yeah.

No, you know, and it's like I said before, really, taking care. When people look at national politics, they feel helpless. Oh, yeah, it's very likely. Yeah. And being able to say, look, this is what we're doing here. You know, that's important. But I wanted to, I wanted you to talk a little bit about the fact that you said that you know, you think the reason why that you are able to do the things that you've done and

the things that you've achieved is because I think you just said you're just like a friendly, pleasant guy who, you know, doesn't spurg out. Yeah. So basically, they're, again, we're kind of a transit town. There's a little bit of trash in town. Oh, mostly nice people. They're just, you know, either not all there or have a drug problem. And actually, I care about these people.

Like, I want these people in my community not to be trash. I want them to actually have purpose. And do you think every person I come across in town, please thank you. Yes, sir, yes, ma'am. I tip well. I clean up after myself at restaurants. You know, I see someone I know in town. I wave or say hi.

You know, and like when someone brings up something, I don't know, I've just made myself a guy that people like talking to because I listened and I listened intently and I don't try to make everything about me. And it goes a long ways. Like I had no, I spent no money to get to where I'm at now. And even if I ran a campaign, I wasn't going to spend a dollar and I probably would have got the most votes. And that's like you said, it's just I don't, yeah, it's just, I'm polite, I'm pleasant.

everyone in town. I don't have beef with anybody other than a couple people, but that comes with politics. I mean, that's going to be part of it. Just don't, you know, hopefully you don't piss off the wrong people in the process. And if you do, well, you better have a plan to combat that. But that's the main thing. I'm just a normal dude. I like obscure books and weird political stuff, but I love football. You know, I love good food. I love getting together with the bros and playing cards and drink a beer. Yeah, just, I don't know. Again, normal's different for everybody, but be yourself.

And people will see the authenticity. Yeah. I mean, that's another thing that's really important. I think that it's, I think it's super hard for a lot of people, and especially a lot of young men, because they're rightfully angry about the situation that the world is in, the world that they're inheriting. but I think that one of the reasons why that is is because they see the world as a lot bigger place than where they live.

Now, if you live in a big city or something like that, I mean, you're talking about a totally different, you know, a totally different framework that you're working in. You know, I've been in a town of 2,500, something like that, even up to 20,000. I mean, I have people contact me all the time and tell me this is what we've accomplished. This is how we're, this is how we're beating back the hordes and everything. And this is a way, I mean, there's a guy in my town who like has run out, like two, like two woke people showed up, almost like they were sent here to try and infiltrate the library and try and infiltrate City Hall. and one guy, one guy making phone calls, got both of them to leave. I don't know if you remember. This was like a year or so ago when they were, oh, someone was wanting to put a vote to the

community to shut down the fire department and then it would have went under the county's control. All I did to beat that was I knocked doors for like a weekend and just explain like, It's actually really good that we have a separate fire department because we get our own tax funding. We're under our own umbrella. We're able to get you better insurance rates, this and that and whatever. One weekend and that that vote lost. It was like 75 to 25, something like that. And that's never going to be brought up again because of that.

That's amazing. That's amazing power. And, you know, it's just, you know, it's like. I'm going to keep saying over and over again, you know, while we're talking. But the, it's just the idea that something has to be done nationally in order for it to change your life. And it's just not so. You know, I mean, just moving, moving to a town in a, you know, in an area that is, it has a lot of people that have lived there for, you know, the majority, not the majority,

but the most influential people have lived there for 150, 200 years. I'm, yeah. And they're not going anywhere. And they're not going anywhere. Their kids are, though, which opened up some opportunities. I'm just, I just want to put that up. Their kids are leaving, which opened up opportunities for you. This is things that we have to be able to, we have to be able to recognize.

But the point is, is if they're staying there and they're influential. and when they get a little bit of money, they buy it maybe a little more land in town. Now they're invested in the community. And these are people, if they're large landowners, if they're business owners, they're going to do everything they can to make sure that the town is not destroyed. And can it be destroyed? Can it be overrun? Sure.

The odds of that happening? Well, I mean, depending where you are, if you're around the big, city. I think the, the, and I'm not telling people to leave cities. No, that's not your suburb. I'm not telling people leave the excerpts. But, you know, the, the idea that you can't have local power and control over its mechanisms is just basically because you're, you're not remembering that all politics is, in fact, local. You'll, you'll like this story. So when I was, I was in Phoenix going to school. That was like right when T.P. USA was kicking off and I was a member of that and the Young Americans for Liberty. Oh, no, no, no, no, young Americans for Freedom. Well, yeah, even in that little

thing, I just started showing up to the meetings. And after the first semester, I was voted in as treasure of the Young Americans for Freedom chapter there. And again, different time. You know, we got Ben Shapiro to come to campus. We got, um, Oh, what's her name? LAB Stucky. Like, we got some big names to come to campus. And, yeah, and I got to sit there on the stage with them as they did stuff. And people see that.

And so even, like, if you're in a big city on a college campus, the same rules apply. Like, you just, yeah, show up. And if you're not, you know, a loser and unpleasant, you will rise up to your organization. No, I mean, you know, the reason why I wanted to have you on is, because this is the kind of thing people need to hear. You know, when they're not getting, you know, the amount of deportations they want or, you know, the prices of things are still going up.

You know, you're going to be, you know, the price thing is obviously going to affect us all. It's kind of hard. We have a national economy. But still the idea that you can control, you have some control. over and some say over what what is being done politically in your area. I mean, that should be that should be enough for most people. You know, you can, and then you can just, you know,

if someone like you gets into power, gets some kind of someone's to power locally, and you get a couple of your buddies elected, and you can sit there, you know, a couple nights a week and talk about, okay, what's the best way to insulate ourselves? from, you know, the, you know, in the inevitable event when one of our enemies gets back into national office. I mean, I mean, and this is me saying, you know, this is me assuming, I'm just taking the assumption that the administration isn't our enemy. But like, you know, but, you know, if we, like a real, you know, somebody who is just like

fire breathing to destroy everything um you know every small town everything at the yada they you know sending sending buses bus loads to small towns and things like that so you know it just yeah good oh yeah i just like with this stuff in minneapolis um you know there's a dude that he'll comes over and he'll hang out and you can tell he's a little more lived than the rest of us even that dude was like, that dumb motherfucker deserved it. And I was like, okay. So, I mean, I just think that there's just a, and I'm not trying to do the silent majority thing.

It's, but they're like, most people are just getting sick of it. And if you can provide some answers and maybe a path towards, you know, control over their own lives, I think, I think people eat it up. especially if they think you care and the best way for them to think you care is for you to care and that's it and i think that's what's most that's most important and that's i mean it's easy for me because i'm third generation in this town um and you know we were and this town has done did a lot for me and i plan to do a lot for it but even even not like just um every town was cool has its quirks has something that makes it it and i don't know just fall in love with where you're at and um i think

that's a big first step yet you have to love where you are in order to be willing to protect it yeah and if you don't love where you are unfortunately you know i i used to tell people you know try to get his way from cities as it as much as you can and yeah the argument that people come. Oh, that's where all the power is. And I'm like, all right, well, that's really not, I don't say that anymore, mostly because there's a lot of people who've been in cities for five, six, seven, eight generations. And I don't want people to feel like they're, you know, they're abandoning, abandoning their heritage, you know, but, you know, they gets to a point where you know, if you're, I think I said this recently, if you're somebody who is like, you know, you're,

you've already moved around a bunch and everything like that. And you've ended up someplace that's just terrible. Go find some places nice. I mean, you know, or if where you're from originally is nice, go back, go home. Be the prodigal son. And also, like, everyone's like, well, I don't want people knowing my business. Like, oh, people gossip in small towns. Yeah, that's a defense mechanism.

Like, you don't want some, you know, freak or some bad actor being able to operate without consequence. So it's actually a great buffer that people talk in small towns. And, you know, then again, back from my libertarian days, I do have a criminal record. No one gives a crowd. They don't. It's not been brought up once. Most people know that I had something go on. and yeah i don't know where i was going with that but you yeah it's not um she lost my train

sorry p but uh you're you're you're not in the upseat you're not in the upscene no i'm not yeah not that i know of it well not this release maybe maybe maybe maybe later on i kind of caught him at the end of his reign but um no like even if you have something in your past because that was that's what held me back for a long time. Oh, well. And, you know, just, just, just so people know, like, I got to do it when I was in college. And I thought, oh, I'll never be able to do anything. I have a misdemeanor conviction. Well, it happened in this town. It was in the paper. And no one remembers it. And if they do, they don't care. So like, don't let something trivial hold you back either because everyone has their dark little secret and in small towns as long as you're you show

that you're willing to move past it the gossip doesn't matter the gossip matters when you are a continual bad actor and it's just obvious to everyone so i guess that's where i was going with that is like it's not it's a yeah gossip in small towns is natural and a good thing everybody knowing everyone else people think that that's a, you know, oh, there's no privacy there. That's just a history of, it's a history of man before we, before the industrial revolution, basically, before people started going to cities and, you know, I guess that would be the second industrial revolution. But, you know, before people started going to cities and becoming deracinated and, you know, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,

it's not a bad thing. I, um, being able to get someone on the phone. immediately or it's just you know hop in the car and drive a half mile to um you know to a friend who has some has something has something i need to borrow or hey i bought this can you come over and help me move it really quick and everything like that and and don't keep tech i've never i'm sorry oh yeah no i'll let i'll let you finish i just had a point off of that yeah yeah and you know and people hopping to to do it be like hey i'll be right there you know you know It's like, I mean, I've never really lived any place like that before where, you know, as gracious as the people that I live around are right now. Oh, yeah.

And it's awesome. And don't keep score. If someone asks you for help, help them. If you ask someone for help and they can't, don't, like, take it too hard. That's where it gets dangerous is when you start, like, trying to, like, oh, you owe me, you owe me, oh me, me. Just, yeah, just don't keep score. that's how it kind of works is I don't think anyone around here does that and the ones that do people know oh that's a shyster you know watch out for that guy but yeah that's i mean that's the other thing

like i get asked to volunteer at the wrestling tournament i say yes i get volunteered to help with the um help make dinner for the history banquet i say yes and it's and you can lead by example like people see you volunteering all of a sudden volunteering becomes cool and then before you know it, you have a well-oiled community that looks out for each other. And at that point, you don't need, you know, the federal government, state government to step in. You can control and support your community from within. I'm glad we did this. Thank you.

Yeah, of course. Thank you for the conversation. I think it's some info to get out there. Even for a lot of the guys, you know, a lot of the guys I hang out with, I hope they'll listen to this and they get some really good ideas. because these are the, these are the things that go that bring us into the future. And as I, you know, honestly think that we're watching the regime crumble, building what next, you know, people say, build what comes next. Really, the only place to do that is locally.

So I appreciate what you do. I said it. It all starts with the foundation. And this, you know, this country used to be awesome because communities were. safe. People did stuff together. They went to church. They, you know, hung out at the local watering hole instead of watching Netflix. And once we get that back, maybe then we can think about affecting things on a larger scale, in my opinion. Awesome, man. Thank you, Claude. I appreciate the talk. And, yeah, stay in touch. Yeah, we'll do, Pete. Thank you.

Have a great night.