Smash Notes
#033 Eric Spracklen - Donald Trump's #1 Fan
People
Speaker 1
What's up, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls around the world, I would like to welcome you back to Real Talk with Zuby. Today, we've got on another podcast, of course, it's what you tuned in for, and I have managed to find one out in the wild. This is a real life Trump supporter we've got on here. Not, not just a Trump supporter, a big, big Trump supporter.
In fact, his Twitter handle is at that Trump guy. Eric Spracklen, welcome to the show, man.
Speaker 2
Thanks for having me, Zuby. I appreciate it, man.
Speaker 1
How you doing?
Speaker 2
I, I'm doing really well, you know, it's, sunny down here in Florida, 75 degrees, I can't complain.
Speaker 1
Awesome, man. So, I live in the UK, and, People don't believe that real Trump supporters actually exist, or they think they're all, there's a lot of things you'll hear in the British media and amongst the British people about these, these so-called Trump supporters. Now, it's not something that I have found to be true. It's something that, I know that the, the rumors are not true.
The slanderous names are, are not true. So, Talk to us, man. Let's find out a little bit more about you, how you got into what it is that you're known for now. So tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 2
Absolutely. Well, I can assure everybody out there that's listening that Trump supporters do exist. I'm just a normal guy. I grew up in a middle-class family from Ohio. I played football, you know, wrestled and stuff in high school, went and played football in college. Eventually graduated with a degree in marketing. And, you know, I'm from a Republican household originally.
I was pretty apolitical, you know, at first. You know, I really didn't care either way. I was too worried about, you know, everything else that was going on in my life. I think a lot of people can relate to that, but There was, there was a time where I just kind of, I, I went to a Trump rally with my mom in Columbus, and it was just overwhelming.
It was absolutely overwhelming. I, I had, you know, been voting Republican just because, you know, for, like, since I was able to, you know, register to vote. but once I, I heard what Trump was saying, and I just, everything just really resonated. It was just like, it almost just like it all clicked. So, I can definitely vouch for the fact that Trump supporters are out here.
Speaker 1
Yeah, no, I know they're out there. I'm connected to a whole bunch of Trump supporters, which not everybody likes. But I think it's very interesting, the sort of juxtaposition between the reality and what people are and what people actually believe and the way that the media or the detractors would like to paint it. So tell us a little bit about the rally, because you see these little clips of the rallies on TV or on social media and stuff like that.
So I guess, one, what was it that drew you to it? And then once you were there, what was it specifically that this crazy orange blonde man was saying that enticed you?
Speaker 2
So, well, I guess I've, I've got a ton of rally stories, you know, we can get to that later, cause I ended up going to just, I mean, so many of them over the years. But, the, the first one I went to, and, and let me, I guess I'll back up a little bit, but, you know, I've been a fan of Donald Trump as, as a businessman, for, for a long time.
I mean, what he's been able to accomplish is, is nothing short of impressive, and I don't think anybody can, take that away from him. You know, his success in business is, is very admirable, something that, you know, everybody called it the American dream for the longest time. Everybody wanted to be Donald Trump, right? so that was something that I always viewed, you know, I want to be a success and, and all that.
So, you know, Trump was the, the pinnacle in a sense. So, you know, go to, the first rally and, and thankfully, my mom works downtown Columbus and I got down there early enough to meet up with her so we didn't have to, you know, kind of fight traffic and stuff like that. And we were actually lucky enough to actually get in the building. And I mean, this was early, early on.
Like, this was one of his very first rallies and the place was just crawling with people. I mean, he had barely announced and it was, you know, standing room only. People packed in. It was just like this massive sense of community. I mean, people coming from, you know, all over. And like I said, we were lucky enough to get in. I mean, I was, I was in the very back, corner, you know, standing there with my mom and, and Trump finally comes out and it was just Euphoric, I guess, in a sense.
This guy, you know, I'd never seen him in person. And he really is larger than life. I mean, if you've never, anybody that's out there listening has ever been to a rally, I mean, they know exactly what I'm talking about. It's just like this, this sense of, holy crap, here he is, you know? I mean, there's nobody else like it. It's just so polarizing.
Speaker 1
Yeah. So, yeah, polarizing is certainly the case. But, so why do you think that is? Why do you think it is that to, I don't know, say 50% of the population or 50% of the world, he's viewed in such a positive, inspiring, great light, and then On the, to the other half, it's the, it's the polar opposite. It's, it's so strange to me, like just being someone who's, obviously I'm, I'm not based in the USA, but kind of being an outsider, but, you know, just kind of looking at it and depending on which media you're looking at or depending on who you're following on Twitter or who you're talking to, the, it's rare to find someone who the things that people say about them are so
opposite. Do you know what I mean? It's like you'll hear, and it's like, are you, are you both talking about the same person? Are you talking about the same thing? Like it's weird. It's, it's such a.
Speaker 2
Well, I, I think you hit the nail on the head. I mean, when you say it's all about the media and, and it's about like what source that individual is, is willing to take information from. You know, if you look back, before Trump ever ran for president, All the same media that's trashing him these days was, was basically championing him. It goes back to the point of, you know, Donald Trump was the American dream.
I mean, he was on covers of magazines, you know, in, in movies, doing TV, all sorts of stuff. You know, helping, you know, charity causes. Donald Trump was portrayed as this guy that everybody wanted to be. He, he did the right things. He was successful in business. You know, women loved him, you know, the whole bit.
Speaker 1
Yeah. He was very popular. He was very popular in hip hop as well. I mean, Absolutely. All the rappers
Speaker 2
want it, you know, absolutely. There's Donald Trump lyrics all over the place. And, and that's what's so funny to me is You start to put a little politics into things, and the division becomes so real, and it's all about how individual media sources want to portray the man. So, you know, now you say, you know, you said it just very, very good that, you know, it's like 50-50, you know, it's like you either like him or you don't, there's really no in-between with them.
And for one reason or the other, I think that the liberal media, you know, They, they, they have such a pure hatred for him, you know, whereas like the conservative media, obviously we all, we all love him, you know, we want to, you know, support him, but you look at the conservative media, they'll critique him, you know, but there's not from the opposite side, liberal media giving any praise whatsoever when, when he does something that's legitimate.
And, and that's, that's one of the things that's so, I guess, disgusting for me to see. It's like, give the man a little bit of credit. I, I can get that you don't like him, but do give credit where it's due. I mean, you saw the other day, if you were following along with the Jesse Smollett case, very liberal mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, came out and basically said that, you know, the fact that Jesse got off was complete BS, and the conservatives were willing to give him credit for doing so.
You know, whereas normally, you know, he's been viewed as a pretty, pretty bad guy to us. But you don't see that coming from the other side. So, and I think with Donald Trump is just so much more in your face.
Speaker 1
Yeah. What I think with Trump as well is Because the media and his detractors have painted him in this light for literally three years now. Obviously, a lot of the terrible stuff they were saying was going to happen or that he was going to do. I mean, one thing with me is I have a very long memory, right? And so I remember specifically the things people were saying at different time periods.
And I remember they were talking about, oh gosh, he's going to have the nuclear codes. He's going to start a nuclear war. He's going to start a war with North Korea. He's going to deport all the Muslims. He's going to get rid of all... There were all these kind of crazy Predictions, this is going to be the rise of, this is, you know, of course they were trying to compare him to, to Hitler and, you know, this is the rise of the, the Fourth Reich, or, you know, it was so overblown and crazy, but I think because they pushed on with that for so long, that it's like now, even though they've realized, I mean, if they're being genuinely honest, I mean, especially now that the
whole Russia collusion thing has proven, I mean, again, they were running with that for two and a half years, and it looks like that's exploded now. So, you know, they, they've been proven wrong so many times, and I feel like in their heart of hearts, if they were to be honest, they must know Okay. I, my prediction was a little bit off on this guy.
You know what I mean?
Speaker 2
Well, I think I saw something that Rachel Maddow's, you know, just this week, her ratings plummeted by over 500,000 viewers. Oh, wow. Tuesday of this week. That was just out there. It's circulating. I, I can, you know, I don't have the exact number in front of me, but it was somewhere around 500,000 less viewers.
Speaker 1
Yeah. So
Speaker 2
I think that, you know, people that were buying into that, you know, Russian collusion that was being fed to them are waking up. I mean, and it's, it's really, I forget who said it, but it was basically like, you know, you work for two years, you know, only to go collect a paycheck and then the paycheck bounces, you know. You know, who, who wants to do that anymore, right? So I think that, you know, we're seeing a bigger and bigger Leaving of the liberal mindset and the democratic mindset, especially in terms of believing the rush and collusion specifically.
They're, you know, they're moving on, because there's just a losing battle.
Speaker 1
Yeah, it really is. But like I said, I think they've just entrenched themselves so hard in this position that they feel that they just need to maintain it because it's almost like it's too late to do an about face and be like, oh, you know what? Maybe he's not as bad as we thought he was. Or maybe we should say sorry for that lie we put out there.
Or maybe we should retract something. It's like just double down, triple down, quadruple down. And it kind of becomes embarrassing. Like, again, I'm not even in the US, but I look at stuff online. And I'm like, I feel embarrassed for you guys. Like, I'm looking at some of the media stuff. I'm like, this is embarrassing. Like, if I were you, if I were you, I'd probably quit my job and just like go live on an island somewhere because I wouldn't be able
Speaker 2
to
Speaker 1
show my face on the public news after everything I've been saying for the past two years has just been proven completely wrong.
Speaker 2
Yeah. Well, but I think that there's a big problem is that, and I say this on both sides, we have what is an echo chamber now, where basically nobody wants to hear anybody else's Opinion unless it reflects their own beliefs. And that's a big problem, you know, there should be discussion coming from both sides and meeting in the middle, but, you know, especially with the media, and this is both sides, it's just an echo chamber.
They're saying things only that people want to hear and they know that they get clicks for and they know that they can monetize. That's the only way they keep going. Until that changes, I see, you know, I just see this course kind of staying the same, unfortunately.
Speaker 1
Yeah, I mean, I kind of tweeted this the other day, but I find it crazy when people say that Trump divided America or that Trump is the reason why people are politically polarized or all this thing, and I'm just like, you people still don't get it. Like, I'm not in politics, I'm not even in the country, and I'm still like, y'all don't get it.
I mean, I remember specifically, because I In 2015, 2016, I remember having conversations with people I was close to from my girlfriend to my siblings to my parents. And really from early, I was saying, I think Trump has a good chance of winning this. And people were looking at me like I was just a crazy person, right? People, like I literally had conversations where people would just laugh at me because I was saying this before he even won the Republican nomination.
I was like, I think people are massively, massively underestimating this guy
Speaker 2
because
Speaker 1
there was just the simple narrative, like there's this sort of caricature of a Trump supporter, right? So there's just this caricature of this is just some redneck who lives in the middle of America and this person's backwards and they hate minorities and they hate this and they, right? It's all, it's just like a very silly avatar. And then people try to like paint, I don't know how many people voted for him, 60 million? People try to paint all these millions.
And I'm kind of like, right. So you're trying to tell me that I mean, America had a black president for eight years, and now you're trying to tell me that suddenly there's 60 million people who are just like ... You know, cuz you got people who are saying like everyone, literally I've seen people go on the news. I've literally seen people on the news talking heads saying that everyone who voted for Donald Trump is racist.
Firstly, I'm kind of like saying that is probably sounds like it should be some kind of crime cuz you're literally calling half of your you're literally calling half of your literally you're literally slandering half of your entire population and you're just like oh my gosh this is like a three year old's version, a three year old's view of the world.
And then yeah I mean it's weird with my case I mean again being here in the UK like I've had conversations with people even people I'm close to and in 2016 you know I was like man if I was American I might I might vote for Trump and people again would look at me like I'm some kind of alien like you know like I like I'd committed the greatest blasphemy or something.
Now 2020 is coming I can clearly say hands down I'm like look if I was an American I would absolutely vote for Trump next year. Right? Some people are going to be so angry hearing this but I'm like it's not even like Now, after all this garbage that's gone on the last two years, plus how well the country is actually doing and how the policies have worked, I'm like, dude, it's not even, it wouldn't even be debatable to me now.
Like, I'll come out and happily say that. If someone wants to crucify me for it, they can bring it. But I'm just like, look, man. And
Speaker 2
God bless you for saying it, honestly. You're willing to say it, honestly. I mean, because you will be vilified. You will be. I mean, you're going to probably get loads of comments and stuff when people hear you saying it finally. You know, but it's good to say. It feels good
Speaker 1
almost. Yeah. It's also the Democrats have gone so far. Like they've just moved so far away again. Like I've got a long memory. So,
Speaker 2
you
Speaker 1
know, when I don't think that
Speaker 2
the Democratic Party, you know, is going to actually be called the Democratic Party, you know, here probably by 2028, I, I think maybe, because all the old guard is essentially dying off. I mean, figuratively and literally. and what's left is just these radical, you know, socialists and, you know, basic communists. So I don't think that they're going to want to identify as Democrats.
I think that they're legitimately going to have to change the party name.
Speaker 1
Yeah, I know. It's, it's weird. Cause Yeah, I mean, I'm so put off by them. Like, I really, really, I really dislike the modern Democratic Party. That's not like Democrat voters, right? But just the, the party itself, I'm looking at them, and I'm looking at their policies, and I'm looking at the stuff they're saying, and they're taking these really radical positions on, on taxes, on abortion, that one really disturbs me, on, what other stuff, just like, literally
Speaker 2
pushing, literally pushing,
Speaker 1
pushing socialism, and I'm just like, I can't vote. I couldn't vote for that. Again, I don't have a dog in the fight. I'm just being a, I'm trying to be remotely objective here, but I'm just like, this is not the Democratic Party I remember it in, where that first time Obama ran, like 2008, funnily enough, I was in the States at that time.
I would have happily voted for Obama in 2008. 2012, I don't know. But prior to that, it was always like,
Speaker 2
A lot of Trump supporters were Obama voters.
Speaker 1
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2
That's, that's, there's an argument that says the exact same people that elected Obama are the same people that elected Donald Trump. Because they came out for Obama and voted for Obama, and they either came and then finally voted for Trump, or they didn't vote at all, because Hillary Clinton was not convincing enough to them. They just assumed, Hillary assumed that she would just have the black vote because she's a Democrat.
And that just didn't happen, and, and we see what happened because of that.
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah, no, I, I just think they, they keep moving further to these extremes, and I think, I mean, I've talked to, a lot of people who consider themselves more, more liberal or left-leaning on the podcast, on Twitter and everything, and a lot of them are just feeling like, man, like, they're, they're moving so far out here that, you know, you're leaving all these people kind of politically homeless.
And again, it's like they don't seem to, what I always find odd is that they don't seem to learn. Like, I would have thought over the past two and a half years, you know, they would have really spent a lot of time reflecting and, you know, analyzing how, how they let Donald Trump become the US president and what they could do to kind of like, okay, maybe we alienated some of these people with, you know, going socialist and getting hardcore into identity politics and all this kind of stuff.
Like, I would have thought they would have kind of considered that and been like, okay, let's change approach. But it's like they've just gone, they've just gone further into it. Oh, yeah. And I'm, I'm just like, oh my gosh. It's, it's a bit painful for me to watch because I'm, I'm kind of like, how? I'm
Speaker 2
loving the current infighting right now in the Democratic Party. I mean, it's just, it's hilarious. I mean, I don't understand what they're doing. The separation, I mean, you said it yourself, is it's just, there's, you know, some are pushing so far left that they're stealing a massive chunk of the base. But they need to be all together if they even want to have a chance.
Speaker 1
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I'm not a political strategist, but, yeah, it strikes me as, it strikes me as odd. So, so tell us a little bit more about how you, how you got, how you got into all this. So, what is it about, what is it about Trump or Republicans in general that draws your attention and can I, can I even say fandom? I mean,
Speaker 2
like, I'm a big Trump fan, yeah, I don't know, I'm not afraid to say it.
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2
But I guess, to answer your question, so originally I got vocal, I guess you could say, or public in supporting Donald Trump, semi late in the game, you know, at first I was just, you know, on my personal Facebook, you know, being an outspoken supporter to, to friends of mine that I knew and stuff. And I started getting absolutely slammed.
I mean, I lost, I can't even count how many, you know, personal friends on my Facebook, you know, guys and girls from high school that I knew that, you know, I used to, you know, call former friends that, I mean, were speaking bad on me, you know, just because I supported Donald Trump for, for nothing other than that, you know, just throwing dirt, you know how it is.
And I finally got so tired of it that I, and, and the biggest thing was that they were offering no other candidate. Like I would bring logical, you know, debate to these, you know, long Facebook thread arguments that I'm sure everybody that's listening, who's been on Facebook has seen or participated in themselves. And, you know, month after month, I'm just like, man, like, this is just crazy.
Like all these people want to do is just argue and do nothing. So I was like, you know, I'll You know, I want to start, you know, this account and, and, and do something. And so I started USA for Trump 2016 on Twitter, in March of 2016, which, you know, was only about seven, eight months before the election. And it was more originally just posting information that, you know, as a, somebody who was supporting Trump wanted to see, like it was stuff that I couldn't find online very easily unless I went to, you know, a specific place, to look for it, like the campaign website.
So, you know, I was originally posting, you know, just like facts, you know, his stance on, on things, where the rallies were going to be located, you know, things like that, just generic information. And the account kind of just really took off. I mean, I think it was less than a month I had gained like 10,000 followers on Twitter.
Speaker 1
Wow.
Speaker 2
Yeah. So, and it was, you know, it wasn't Any type of commentary from myself, it was literally just putting out information relating to the Trump campaign and what was going on. And people really, you know, liked it. So once I had, you know, a nice chunk of followers and I was getting quite a bit of attention, I reached out to my local, you know, Republican party.
I was like, hey, you know, if you guys have anything upcoming. Where, you know, Trump is going to be around or anything relating to it, where can people pick up Trump signs, you know, at local offices, that kind of thing. And they wanted nothing to do with me at all, because at the time, they were pushing John Kasich down everybody in Ohio's throat.
Speaker 1
okay.
Speaker 2
And yeah, it was, it was actually, it, that turned me off to the, the Republican Party. and that's why I, to this day, I don't necessarily consider myself a Republican. you know, I, I like to say Trump-publican.
Speaker 1
Okay.
Speaker 2
Before Donald Trump. You know, I, and, and what was going on at the time for, for those, you know, I'll back up for people a little bit. They were literally trying to steal the nomination from Trump. You know, they were telling people in Ohio, you know, vote for John Kasich, you know, and, and Florida, vote for Marco Rubio, and in, and in Texas, vote for Ted Cruz so that, you know, Donald Trump didn't get enough delegates to, to get the nomination at the RNC.
They literally, you know, didn't want him, they wanted to have a contested convention. It really turned me off. and finally, I was, I was like, enough with this. You know, I was like, I'm just gonna keep doing stuff on my own. and, and long story short, I ended up getting with the actual Trump campaign. And, and they started, you know, giving me access to the rallies and to, you know, Trump and stuff like that.
So it was, it was really cool. So how,
Speaker 1
how did you, how did you get into that? You said you just got into it. And I'm like, oh, you must have done something.
Speaker 2
So like I said, you know, over, over, you know, the course of starting, this account, I was doing all sorts of things. one of the things that I did that, that went pretty viral, I got a retweet from Trump, was I started this, postcard campaign. And it was, we eventually ended up sending 25,000 postcards, that said, I will only vote for Donald Trump to, the current RNC chair at the time, Reince Priebus.
So I had started that. I launched like this GoFundMe. And I was like, hey, you know, for every, you know, dollar that we raise, you know, we're going to send a, an actual physical postcard, to the chair's office in DC.
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Speaker 2
And I, I sent it out at like, you know, it was one of those like late night ideas. You know, I, I never thought that it was going to really like Take off or anything. I was just like, oh, like this would be good, you know, it's something to do to show my support. And I, it was like within 72 hours, the GoFundMe had raised $5,000.
Speaker 1
Wow. It was
Speaker 2
like, yeah, I mean, it was, it was crazy. And then the fake news picked up on it and like ran, you know, because people were out there claiming that we had sent a million postcards already. And like all of it was like, you know, it was getting, you know, blown out of proportion. And, you know, but Trump retweeted it, right? And, and they, you know, just kept, you know, taking off, taking off.
So eventually, You know, online, you know, he'd sold like 25,000 and then we sent, I mean, I was literally had boxes of, of these postcards from Vistaprint, you know, made. I mean, I was ordering 10,000 at a time. It was, it was just, it got crazy. I mean, I was, I was having, you know, my parents, my family, my 89-year-old grandmother was licking stamps to put on postcards.
It was, you know, it was, but this was the real support that was going on out there. And that's what I mean when it say like, you know, they can call people Russian bots all they want, but they don't understand that, you know, people were out here willing to sacrifice and put in the time and effort, you know, out of their own life to support him and do something that, you know, was completely grassroots.
And that's, that's what the postcard campaign was. And it was, it was cool. I actually got to talk to Trump in person about it at a rally. Because his social media manager at the time, Dan Scavino, me and another friend of mine who was running a pretty large pro-Trump social media account.
Speaker 1
I'm surprised that Trump has a social media manager.
Speaker 2
Dan Scavino is a great guy. He's a genius. If you don't know who Dan Scavino is, you should look him up. He's now at the White House doing all their communications and stuff. And funny enough, he started as Trump's golf caddy. like 30 years ago.
Speaker 1
Oh, that's interesting.
Speaker 2
Yeah, a lot of people don't know. Trump is loyal. Trump is loyal to his people. I mean, if he knows you're a good person and you work, I mean, his golf caddy is now working in the White House as the communications director, as far as social media. So it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1
So in terms of the policies and whatnot, what is it that ... What is it that got, obviously you're very enthusiastic in terms of supporting Donald Trump, so what is it specifically that got you so entrenched in that and so behind him? What was it that you saw in him that made him stand out above all the other candidates, especially at the time when you had, I don't know, 20 or whatever it was?
Speaker 2
Yeah, no, so probably the biggest was his stance on illegal immigration, first and foremost. You know, I, so I worked at a bank while I was in college, and I saw blatant, blatant fraud happening, you know, in terms of, you know, one legal immigrant with an ID would come and cash a, a very large paycheck and go and dole it out to 20 illegals.
I mean, I was seeing this, but there was nothing that we could do, you know, at the bank. To prevent that from happening. We knew exactly what was going on. And the dude would come in every single, every single week and he'd cash a paycheck for just under $10,000 because in, in the US, $10,000 or more cash in or cash out has to be automatically sent to the IRS.
Speaker 1
Okay.
Speaker 2
So, he would come in and he would cash, you know, cash a paycheck for just under 10K every single week. And, he would literally ask for like 20 envelopes because he was going to go pay, you know, a whole, a whole van full of workers. And, and we knew what was going on. And, and that was, you know, I mean, this was years before I started supporting Trump.
Like, that always left a, just a absolute distaste in my mouth because there's just, you know, they're not paying taxes. They're not, they're not being held accountable for the same things that I am, you know. That was just shocking to me, I guess. So Trump's stance on illegal immigration was one of the things that I very first clicked with, but then I always supported, you know, being tougher on trade.
You know, the US is absolutely getting wrecked. I mean, it's getting better, but it's still not, you know, where it needs to be. And then, you know, the Supreme Court, that was another big one for me. If we were going to elect, you know, a Democratic president, the Supreme Court was just, I mean, it was over for us. And in the same sense that it's over for the Democrats now, you know, because Trump got in, I mean, it was just that important of a time in, you know, US politics that the Supreme Court Was at, at this place where it's like, which way are we going to go for the next, you know, 30, 40 years? And I, I, I viewed Donald Trump as the only realistic candidate that
was going to win. I, I, I honestly believe that if any other candidates had gotten the Republican nomination, we'd be, we'd be sitting here right now with President Hillary Clinton.
Speaker 1
Yeah, that's true actually. So, in terms of, so we've now had, well, not we, you have now had, over two years of a Trump presidency. So, what's your kind of report card? How do you think he's doing? What are his, what are your, major praises for him now that he's actually in that role? And what would be your genuine criticisms?
Speaker 2
So, I, honestly, I, I would give him an A. He's done so much so quickly. And I, I like to, you know, when I, when I've talked to other people about this, it's like, Think about how short of a time period two years is, and if you look at all of the hurdles that he's had to jump over, even in his own party. I mean, we had the House and the Senate, you know, for quite a while, and he still couldn't get some things passed because of the obstruction, you know, by Paul Ryan alone.
So, he has done more, I think, in two years than any other president did in at least their first term, potentially even in two terms. I mean, a lot of people skip right over the fact that he's met with North Korea. I mean, it's like, it doesn't even get talked about. And it's like, that was unfathomable just two years ago. And it's like, within, within what? I think it was like six months they were like talking.
Yeah,
Speaker 1
I thought that was impressive.
Speaker 2
Yeah, and, you know, and one of the things that I think, another thing that is, is skipped over is how much he is willing to stand up for the people who, like Brett Kavanaugh. You know, he, like, we can talk about all the, you know, all the wins on, on trade deals and, and getting, you know, companies to come back to the US, you know, getting, you know, he just got a billion dollars, you know, sent from the Pentagon to fund the wall, you know, repealing, you know, parts of Obamacare.
I mean, there's, there's, there's countless, you know, individual wins, but I think where he shines to me is where he has been willing to fight for other people who have been, you know, he'll take all this, you know, heat on himself, but somebody like Brett Kavanaugh standing behind him, I mean, that's just in my eyes is the most, some of the most presidential thing that, you know, that he could do.
Speaker 1
Yeah, because it could have been easy to just kind of throw him under the bus and make the heat right. Yeah, that's true. And also, I mean, Essentially defeating ISIS, that's not small.
Speaker 2
Yeah, the, yeah, the caliphate's gone, you know, how soon I forget, right? It's just, because there's just, there's just so many, I mean, it's really hard to pinpoint individual things.
Speaker 1
Yeah, so what do you think he could,
Speaker 2
there's just been so many.
Speaker 1
Yeah, and what do you think he could be doing better?
Speaker 2
What he could be doing better, I think, It's hard to criticize the man, honestly, but
Speaker 1
other people find it easy, so.
Speaker 2
Yeah, right, yeah,
Speaker 1
sure.
Speaker 2
So one of the things that I personally, so I'm, I, you know, some people view it as socially left-leaning. I think that medical marijuana should be legalized in the states. If not, you know, I'm also pro-recreational, but at a bare minimum, he should come right out and legalize medical marijuana. You know, there's patients here that need access and they don't want to, you know, risk going to prison for it.
He's hinted around it a couple times, but it's one of those things where, you know, the Republican Party You know, he's, he's kind of in that, that old guard, keeping them happy. He should step up and say, this is what be. If I were to critique, you know, critique one thing, you know, personally, you know, a lot of people want to ding him on his tweets.
I love his tweets. I think his tweets, you know, I think his tweets are, you know, the greatest thing ever. He's,
Speaker 1
he's freaking funny. I literally,
Speaker 2
I literally wait for them.
Speaker 1
Dude, Trump, Trump is funny. He's funny, he's funnier than all the stand-up comedians and late night comedians who try to diss him. He's freaking
Speaker 2
funny. Have you seen the Comedy Central roast?
Speaker 1
no, I haven't.
Speaker 2
Oh my gosh, you got to, you got to go watch the Comedy Central roast of Donald Trump. I mean, he's hilarious. He's absolutely hilarious.
Speaker 1
He's a, he's a funny dude. Like even people who don't like him, I'm like, come on, you got to admit he's kind of funny.
Speaker 2
I'm
Speaker 1
like, don't, don't tell me like none of these tweets, none of these statements you haven't chuckled at. I'm like, you can hate the guy all you want, but I'm like, no, some of this stuff is funny.
Speaker 2
Well, like the other day, you know, after, you know, the Mueller report comes out and everything and he's, you know, completely exonerated. He doesn't even tweet for like 24 hours and then the first thing he tweets is good morning, have a great day. Completely, you know, disregards the elephant in the room and just moves on. It was just classic Trump.
Speaker 1
Yeah, it's funny. I mean, one question I do have, though, this is like a wider, deeper concern, though, is because you do have all these people who hate him and, you know, you have got all this polarization and whatnot. And I don't know if it's the musician in me or just my personality type or whatever, but I'm always keen to, I mean, one thing I get criticized for, funnily enough, is talking to everybody, right? I talk to everybody on every side.
I don't care if someone is right-wing, left-wing, progressive, socialist, capitalist. I'll talk to, I will talk to everybody. As long as you're not like a complete moron who just wants to stick their fingers in their ears and scream at me, then I'll talk to anyone. I had a couple of tweets go somewhat viral in the States last year.
Speaker 2
And
Speaker 1
as a result of that, I suddenly ended up with tons of Americans following me on Twitter, which I didn't have prior to 2018.
Speaker 2
I said, that's how I found you was,
Speaker 1
that's
Speaker 2
where Joe Rogan actually, and then I immediately see your account. I mean, I love that video, man, by the way. So kudos to you. That was, that was just awesome.
Speaker 1
Thank you, bro. Well, yeah, I mean, I, cause I had a couple other tweets, last year that I put out, some having to do with the Kanye West situation, other things, but I, I got all these, I got all these American followers and, you know, I got criticism from some people for, literally for talking to Trump supporters. Someone was like, oh, I can't believe you're talking to, you're talking to these Trump.
And I'm like, are you serious? You're, you're here complaining that people are polarized and you're now criticizing me for talking to somebody who voted a different way to you. Like, I'll, I'm like, look, I don't care if you voted Bernie, Hillary, Trump, like, I, I will talk to everyone. In the UK, if you voted Labor or you voted conservative, I, I don't care.
You voted remain, you voted Brexit. I don't care. I'm going to talk to you. I'm not going to suddenly ostracize more than half the population because I disagree with them on one thing. It's like, no, I'd rather talk to people and understand where people are coming from on different angles. If somebody hates Donald Trump, I'm like Okay, why? You know, just like if someone's like, yeah, I love Donald Trump.
I'm like, okay, why? Because, you know, like what's the...
Speaker 2
Yeah, you want to know their understanding and where they're coming from.
Speaker 1
Yeah, exactly. And
Speaker 2
I can appreciate, you know, liberal arguments. I can, you know, I don't necessarily agree with them, but, you know, the ones who just want to, you know, immediately go to the racist, bigot, misogynist, xenophobic, you know, yada, yada, yada, the whole list. I mean, it's, I have to say, I completely disregard anything you say after that, because if that's your first attack and you can't say, here's a principled reason as to why I disagree with his policy, there's no reason to almost have that conversation.
But, you know, like you say, you know, I will hear them to a sense, but it's, yeah, it's kind of obnoxious to think that those are the attacks rather than, you know, Policy stances and, or, or offering a different candidate in their solution, right?
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah, that's true. I mean, it's, it's just very lazy and it's very dishonest,
Speaker 2
just like, just like
Speaker 1
the, just like the media has been being, you know, it's just, it's lazy, it's dishonest, it's greedy. You're just trying to, you know, you're not trying to provide facts and Allow people to make their own decisions after giving them those facts. You're just trying to steer a certain narrative or a certain conspiracy theory or a certain opinion and just kind of ram it down people's throats en masse.
And I'm just kind of like, nah, that's, that's not the way forward. Cuz ultimately, look, the way I look at everything is, like, funnily enough, I'm not like a super hyper political person. I'm interested in politics at quite a high level, right? But not the, I don't know, I don't know the nitty gritty of what's going on with Brexit or what's going on in the Republican Party or the Conservative Party or the Labor Party.
I don't, I don't follow all that and I don't, I don't really care. That's for other people. But what I do, what is important to me is like society and culture. So I care about politics to the degree that it impacts that. And ultimately, America is a country of what, 350 million people. And it's like, all you guys need to be able to get on with each other.
You know what I mean? Whether or not you all have the exact same beliefs or you all like the exact same people, it's like ultimately, you've got to live with each other. I guess my question Would be sort of, how can you, how can that bridge be created? How can that gap come across? You know, I think you've, you've got your red team, you've got your blue team, and it's like Halo.
It's like Halo, right? The red team's trying to kill the blue team, and the blue team, and it's like, it shouldn't really be like that. Do you know what I mean? Like, okay, you might be a little bit disappointed if your guy doesn't win, but it shouldn't be like this is going to be the end of the world. Like, that doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2
No, I, I agree. And, you know, speaking of red team, blue team, you know, I don't know how much you've seen of what has been the walk away movement here in the States. I hate this for all the, you know, Democrats out there listening. I, I, the, the red team is growing. I, you know, I make this analogy a lot that you, you, you don't see Trump supporters leaving Trump and going to the Democratic Party, but you do happen to see quite a, quite a nice chunk of people leaving the Democratic Party and coming Republican.
so. This, this idea that the silent majority, you know, we heard that, you know, going into the 2016 election that Donald Trump had this silent majority, right? I think that people are willing to not be as silent these days, you know, and, and actually having these conversations. They might not be having them out in public, but they're having them with their personal friends in their own lives, who, who might have been, you know, voted, you know, for Hillary in 2016 and, you know, are considering potentially voting for Trump in 2020.
I think the conversations are happening. They're just not happening in the public space. I think that people are willing to have them in private these days. And I know that from my personal life, you know, I, like I said, originally in the beginning of the podcast, I lost a ton of friends from in real life for coming out and being an outspoken Donald Trump supporter.
I can't even tell you how many people have sent me a private message since the election and say, hey, you know, I, Trump isn't that bad. You know, he's not that bad. You know, I was kind of, and it, I mean, it's not just one or two people. I'm talking a nice amount of people have been willing to, you know, eat their pride a little bit and actually reach out and say, hey, you know, I'm sorry.
You know, I was kind of, kind of wrong. And I think To have that shift to the public space now, where we can actually have like open discussion in public, you know, I, I think that Republicans and Trump supporters are willing to do that. They're willing to have that conversation. I don't know how much the, the left is, is willing to actually have that conversation because what's left, in my opinion, of the, you know, the never Trump crowd and the, and the resistance is, is just hatred and, and no wanting to talk at all.
So everybody that was kind of a middle of the road, but still voted for Hillary, they've already had that discussion and they've already, you know, came over and said, you know, Trump is not that bad of a guy. Or, or they're, or they're just completely backing away from it, you know, they're like, I don't want to hear anything from any of you people because there's a big chunk of that here in the States that, you know, They're like, screw everybody.
I don't care about Trump. I don't care about Hillary. I don't care about anything. And to each their own. But yeah, I think that those conversations are going to be important going forward. And I hope that there's a lot of examples of them happening in people's personal lives. I mean, it's not, people don't necessarily come and talk about politics.
You're supposed to talk about politics or religion and things like that and social settings. But I think that, like I said, in private, people are having these conversations with differing opinions.
Speaker 1
Yeah. So you're overall, you're pretty optimistic.
Speaker 2
Absolutely. I mean, this is the greatest country in the world. And if we can't find a way to come together, I just don't see that being a real possibility. I mean,
Speaker 1
Yeah. That's cool, man. So, I don't, I don't know if you're, I don't know if you're a predictions guy, but what do you think for 2020?
Speaker 2
I think Trump wins 2020 in a landslide.
Speaker 1
I don't think it's
Speaker 2
going to be close at all. I mean, so he, he always said, you know, there's a, there's a pathway to, there wasn't a pathway to 270 electoral votes, but there was a pathway to 306. I think that there's a possibility that he, you know, I think he's going to win every single state that he won before.
Speaker 1
And
Speaker 2
then I think there's maybe one or two that he could pick up also. I mean, you know, the California, the Illinois, you know, there's going to be some that he's just never going to win, right? Because, they're just too far blue. And we, you know, there's a lot of reasons why that might be, you know, illegal voting, but we won't get into all that.
I'm just being, as far as a, a prediction for 2020, I think that He's gonna win the electoral college, of course. but I think that, I think that that majority vote that people, you know, on the, on the left like to say, oh, Trump didn't win the popular vote. I think that they're gonna be very shocked
Speaker 1
come
Speaker 2
2020, to see those numbers flip-flop. Yeah, I think it's gonna be a landslide. Are there,
Speaker 1
are there, I think he's gonna get a second term personally.
Speaker 2
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1
So that, that's my, that's Zuby's prediction right there. You, we can come back to this in 2021 or like 2020. That's Vegas's
Speaker 2
prediction too. Vegas has got their, Vegas has got their money on, on Trump last I looked, so. I'm,
Speaker 1
I'm so angry I didn't put money on it in 2016, that would've been a good bet. But, out of the Democrat candidates, out of the Democratic, nominees, runners, are there any of them who you think are, who do you think's the most decent, or who do you think would, give him a bit of a run for his money? What do you think?
Speaker 2
A run for his money is Bernie or Beto, in my opinion. But there again, it goes back to what you said, they're just so far left that, yeah, they, they might seem popular to, you know, the online crowd because they can get, you know, a bunch of retweets and likes and stuff like that from a bunch of, you know, 15-year-olds who think socialism is the coolest thing in the world.
but when it comes down to election day, you know, all of the, it's the, it's the reason that Hillary Clinton had to be the nominee in 2016
Speaker 1
was
Speaker 2
because the Democratic Party know, they know that when they, when, you know, older, you know, level-headed individuals, they know that socialism is, can't, can't happen in this country. and that it's a very bad thing. And, and they needed, you know, They needed somebody that wasn't Bernie Sanders, as popular as he was, and I mean, you know, I think that what they did in stealing the nomination from him with the superdelegates and that whole situation, I mean, was a very bad thing, and that pissed off a lot of his supporters who still turn their back on the Democratic Party.
But they, they've got enthusiasm, you know, for whatever reason it is, you know, especially in with the younger crowd, the millennial crowd.
Speaker 1
I think it's the skateboarding and jumping on tables.
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, right, shouting and, yeah, he's, he's, well, but it's, it's so funny. So I was, I was tweeting about this. I was tweeting about this last night, actually. I
Speaker 1
don't even follow the guy. I'm just like, why is he always on a table?
Speaker 2
Yeah, I know, I know. Well, and, and his hand movements. I mean, that's one of the things that Trump dinged him on. He's like, he's like, that man, dude, moves his hands a lot. but it's, it's funny. So Beto, actually, this weekend, not to, you know, give him a shout out or anything or, you know, but, you know, whatever, he needs it. So Beto has a, a bunch of rallies in Texas this weekend on Saturday.
And, I think it's three cities, and they're going to be held in town, like squares, like on street corners. And it's like, If, if Trump were to show up on a street corner, do you know how ridiculous the scene would be? I mean, the guy fills arenas and stadiums and convention centers with, you know, 10,000 people standing outside, you know.
If he showed up on a street corner, I mean, they'd have to shut the city down. I mean, it would just be insane how many, you know, the kind of response. So, I think that it's a, it's kind of like a false sense of, they try to make Beto and Bernie look bigger than they are, right? And that's just narrative. That's just narrative in the liberal media trying to, you know, keep that, you know, base.
They got to give them something to hope for, right? You know, oh, oh no, look at all the support he's getting, you know. He's up on the bar, you know, you know, hooting and hollering and there's a crowd around him. And it's like, to show that they've got some support. And it's sure, yeah, I'm sure he's got support, but those numbers don't really extrapolate across the country.
Speaker 1
Awesome, man. So, what's next for you, Eric, man? Have you,
Speaker 2
so there's a lot. So recently, like I mentioned earlier, I just got my at that Trump guy account back from Twitter. I was suspended, right after the, State of the Union, Twitter shut me down. They, they banned, and so I, I actually was running some other accounts as well online. I was running Trump's News Daily, We Want Trump 2020. I had an account that was quotes that MAGA that was just Donald Trump quotes.
You know, all these accounts were, you know, quite popular, got a lot of attention. and I had, I had a few other ones too that, won't get into. But anyway, long story short, all of those are still suspended, and I'm trying to get them back. And then, you know, Twitter ... So Twitter has basically said that because they're in the same genre, aka pro-Trump, that, you know, I'm not allowed to have them.
But each account was very specific to what was being put out. You know, Trump's News Daily, all, there was no commentary whatsoever. It was just links to articles for people to read that I would, you know, could share from my, you know, other account, you know, like at that Trump guy, which was more, you know, my personal opinions and, and things like that.
We Want Trump 2020 was about the, the 2020 campaign and, and looking forward. And then, like I said, the, the, the quotes that MAGA account was literally just a collection of Donald Trump quotes from, you know, the last 20, 30 years, you know, good quotes that I thought that I liked and, and, you know, wanted to share with people. But those, those are all still gone.
but that they were in the same genre that, you know, I, because I was the one running them, they're, they're gone. So they basically gave me an ultimatum. They're like, we, you can pick one account, you know, to get back.
Speaker 1
So were they, they communicated this with you directly? They said, yeah, directly,
Speaker 2
yeah, because I appealed the suspension because they, they, they banned them all at first, every single one. and it was, it was just, I mean, it was, it was like a, like a blow, you know what I mean? To just be one day just completely deplatformed. because I've been dealing with the, the shadow banning and, outright censorship for the last couple years.
I mean, I was talking about this, in the Observer. Back in 2016, I was noticing my account that was getting, you know, suppressed. One of the videos that I had sent you, I had walked into a Hillary Clinton office, and it went viral. I mean, it made the judge report, and pretty much every conservative media. I went in there acting like I was going to go door knocking for Hillary Clinton, you know, and I was only in the office for about three or four minutes, and then halfway through, you know, flipped on him and told him that I was a Trump supporter, and, you know, nobody was there to support, and I put this video out.
And the very first tweet that I put out, I was, I mean, it was going viral, and it had, you know, four or five thousand retweets in the first hour, and I was watching the numbers go down. I was literally watching them steal, and I was getting message after message. People were saying, it won't let me retweet this. It won't let me like, I can't share this.
What's going on, you know? It was happening in real time. I was watching it. so I put out another tweet, a second tweet with it. I was like, I was like, if you guys see this video, you know, share it.
Speaker 1
You
Speaker 2
know, Twitter is literally stealing, you know, likes, comments, retweets. And then that one ended up getting, you know, almost, 25,000 retweets,
Speaker 1
you know,
Speaker 2
within a couple hours. So, and then that's when, you know, the news, you know, like, I mean, Rush Limbaugh talked about it, Hannity, you know, all these big names started talking about this video. I mean, you know, out of nowhere. But it was, it was horrifying to think that Twitter was, I was watching in real time Twitter trying to suppress it.
my account has been, so I can't, to this day, I can't post a link or a picture. My account has one of the abusive and offensive content. Oh,
Speaker 1
the filters.
Speaker 2
Yeah, so.
Speaker 1
No matter what you post?
Speaker 2
No matter what I post. So the other day, I, I wanted to prove a point. So. I took a screenshot of Twitter's own trending list, sent that picture out of Twitter's own trending list, and it got dinged.
Speaker 1
Wow.
Speaker 2
As, because, and, and so the problem is, in my opinion, is they're not moderating content, they're moderating accounts.
Speaker 1
Gotcha. Right?
Speaker 2
And, you know, I don't know if you're familiar with Project Veritas, but they've, they've absolutely proven without a doubt that the anti, anti-Trump, anti-conservative bias is alive and well at Twitter. I mean, the stuff is out there. I, I mean, a lot of people have already seen it, but for those of you that haven't seen it, you know, this stuff's out there.
I mean, we see the Devin Nunes lawsuit coming now. I mean, $250 million from, a lawsuit for $250 million from a congressman from the same state that the headquarters of Twitter is in, you know, that's a pretty That's a pretty bold thing to do to a, to a company that's in your own, in your own state, but, you know, he's coming out and saying, you know, you can't shadow ban conservatives.
Speaker 1
Yeah. But yo, Eric, it's been really good talking to you, and, your passion comes across a lot, so, you know, keep fighting for what you, what you believe in. Absolutely. Yeah, where can people follow you?
Speaker 2
So, yeah, for everybody that has listened this far and made it, you know, the full hour, hopefully everybody does, you can follow me on Twitter at that Trump guy, you know, all together, no, under case or anything like that, just at that Trump guy. definitely follow me, check, check out what I got to say, and, stay tuned for more. I've got, a couple cool things lined up here real soon.
Speaker 1
Awesome. Eric Spracklin, thank you for coming on the show. Peace out.
Speaker 3
I do not scam, put some respect on my name. Sick like Obeyne, click and a bang, y'all gon' remember the name. Y'all gon' remember the name.