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- [00:00]
Kyle Forgeard
All right, guys, we got a great episode today with the future governor of Florida, Byron Donald. Before we get into it, if you guys have not tried out the prize picks app, you gotta download it and try it right now. NHL playoffs is on. I'm firing on every single leaf game. I think NHL playoff hockey is the best sport to watch. Hands down, NBA playoffs is on as well. Baseball's back. You got UFC every single weekend. There's no better time to try out the prize picks app if you have not tried it. What I love about prize picks is instead of choosing teams, you're choosing individual players. Each player has a set projection, and then it's up to you. You either go more or less than that set projection. Put a bunch of picks together. The more you choose, the more it's going to multiply. It's up to you. We also got you guys on a sweet code, Code Nelk. If you plug in that code and put in just $5, you're gonna get $50 for free. So take advantage of that code. That's for you guys. Look out for our stories on Nelk, boys. We're always posting our picks. If you guys want to tail us, download the prize picks app. Give it a try. Use Code Nelk. Take advantage of that code. That's for you, boys. Let's get into the podcast. Very sweet episode today. I'm really excited about this one. Byron Donald's the man. Future governor of Florida. Yeah, we actually met. We met at the UFC fights two weekends ago.
- [01:09]
Byron Donalds
Yeah, it was two weeks, two weekends ago.
- [01:10]
Kyle Forgeard
Are you a UFC fan or was that your first time at a fight?
- [01:13]
Byron Donalds
No, second time at a fight. I'm a fan of sports, so anytime you get me in a room where there's competition, I love it. The crazy part is that I'm starting to learn UFC just because it's just cool to watch. Yeah, but like, I'm a pro wrestling fan. I'm a basketball junkie, so I love. I love pro in college basketball, love football, obviously, playoff baseball, there's nothing like it. Playoff hockey is actually really cool.
- [01:38]
Kyle Forgeard
Playoff hockey is.
- [01:39]
Byron Donalds
Playoff hockey is legit, even though I never played hockey. But playoff hockey is legit. But yeah, I'm a pro wrestling junkie. I love this stuff too. And so, you know, starting to get in the ufc.
- [01:48]
Kyle Forgeard
What was the other card you went to? Do you remember?
- [01:50]
Byron Donalds
I was the Tampa fight, the one they did in Tampa.
- [01:53]
Kyle Forgeard
Kobe Covington.
- [01:54]
Byron Donalds
Yeah, Kobe fought that night.
- [01:55]
Kyle Forgeard
Yeah. Are you tight with Dana at all or what's your guys relationship?
- [01:58]
Byron Donalds
So actually I just. I got a chance to meet Dana, really, through the campaign, you know, with President Trump, first time. I really got a chance to meet me and talk to Dana. I think it was actually. I think it was election night.
- [02:10]
Kyle Forgeard
Oh, wow.
- [02:10]
Byron Donalds
And so I had met Dana, done the handshake, because sometimes you're in rooms and you shake somebody's hand. And so it's election night. I'm at Mar a Lago, and I'm standing next to the president. Elon comes in, and Dana's there. So I was talking to Dana a little bit, and then the President comes in and he goes, you know, all right, let's go to the buffet. He's like, well, come on. And so the president's like, key guy, Walt, Nada. Walt's a good friend, good dude. He just looks at me and just go with them. All right, so it's me, Dana potus. And I think Elon was behind us. And POTUS is walking us around the buffet and, like, showing the good stuff. And the staff is like, do you want this? You want that? And so he's. He's like, this is great stuff. That stuff's good. And he looks at Dana, he looks at me and Dana, and I like, yeah, okay, I guess. And so, you know, we just had fun talking about it. It was a cool time.
- [03:05]
Kyle Forgeard
Now I watched a lot of your stuff leading up to the election, a lot of the interviews. I became a fan of you. One of my favorite moments, though, recently, in the last few months, is when you just fucking tore apart all those sanctuary city mayors. That was. That was crazy. What was that like? And what is the solution to those sanctuary cities?
- [03:23]
Byron Donalds
Well, the real solution is you can't allow them. It's one of those things that if you let people take an inch, they take a mile. And so the truth is how you deal with that is if you're going to be a sanctuary city, you shouldn't get federal money because you're in violation of federal law. And people may not like that stance, but that's just the way it is. How are you going to take my money, then completely go in complete opposition to my rules? That doesn't make any sense. So that's what I think the real solution is. You want to be a sanctuary city? Fine. Don't rely on federal money, because sanctuary status is against federal law.
- [03:54]
Kyle Forgeard
Is that something that President Trump just implemented?
- [03:56]
Byron Donalds
It's something that Congress. Congress, to make its. Congress has to do it. And so typically in the Senate, you're not going to get enough Democrat Senators who are going to agree with that because they have sanctuary cities in their state and they don't want to cut them off from federal money. But I think when you talk about it in those terms, then people are like, yeah, that makes sense. Why are you getting taxpayer money when it's clear not every citizen agrees with sanctuary cities? I think most citizens don't agree with it, especially the people who have to live under these sanctuary cities and see what happened, like in New York, Chicago, et cetera. That's the number one way you deal with it. The other way you really deal with it is politics. I think if you have people who are saying sanctuary status is a good thing and then they start losing elections, well, that just proves where people are. That's really the ultimate way you fix it. What happened in that hearing was actually kind of funny.
- [04:49]
Kyle Forgeard
That shit was crazy, bro.
- [04:50]
Byron Donalds
But I'm going to give you this backstory, so take this out. So, typically in oversight hearings, I'll come in and kind of listen to the dialogue, listen to the EBM and flow, and then decide on the fly. In real time, I'll make a decision. What kind of questions do I want to ask? So I'm sitting there, I'm starting to sketch some stuff out, and I got a text message from my political team, and some stuff was happening on the political side. It's the interpersonal stuff that happens in politics when you're dealing. It's like Republicans against Republicans, that kind of stuff. And so my political team sent me a text message, and I was reading the messages, and it was pissing me off. So I was kind of in a foul mood. And then it just so happened. Those mayors were in front of me. So, like, I was in a foul mood, and those mayors, basically, they took the heat.
- [05:37]
Kyle Forgeard
Yeah.
- [05:37]
Byron Donalds
And. And I just started repping them. Because the thing about it is, if you start asking them, well, what are you? How are you? How much money are you spending?
- [05:43]
Kyle Forgeard
You're like a tiger in the grass, and they're just like a hopeless antelope. That's what it felt like watching that. Like the Boston. The Boston mayor.
- [05:49]
Byron Donalds
Yeah, she.
- [05:50]
Kyle Forgeard
It was just not even fair. Right.
- [05:51]
Byron Donalds
Well, that's her fault. I know. She should have came with an answer. And if you. If you come with an answer and you're professional about it, I don't have any problems with it. I'll disagree with you.
- [05:59]
Kyle Forgeard
Right.
- [05:59]
Byron Donalds
But when you come in, you try to do a bunch of BS and you try to posture like you're the only person that's Good. When anybody, everybody else can see that you're ridiculous and you're a joke and you don't have enough courage to tell the people of Boston how much money you spent on illegal immigration, then I'm done with you. I got no patience with that.
- [06:16]
Kyle Forgeard
To me, it's just common sense, too. Like the sanctuary city thing. Same as men playing in women's sports. Like, it's just dead common sense. What do you. Why do you think they have that stance? Are they doing that to please voters? Do they actually believe in sanctuary cities? What do you think? Or is it correction?
- [06:32]
Byron Donalds
I think part of it is try to please their base. I mean, I think people got to understand. The Democrat party for about 30 years now has been on the side of illegal immigration or rampant open immigration. They don't want rules, they don't want borders. They just want people to come into the country. I think for some, they think it's a good thing to let people come into the United States and be able to build their lives up. I think for other Democrats, their view is. I think their view is that they want just open immigration because they have interest groups in their party, at the base of their party that do voter outreach, voter registration, get voters to the polls, and that's how they build their power base politically. And so I think what's really happened to the Democrats is that the open immigration, illegal immigration wing of their party just became so dominant in terms of activism, messaging, that the Democrats just went down that line and didn't know where to stop. And I think that's really what happened to them. I think you had probably core Democrats, old school Democrats who were like, I believe in open borders, but this thing's a little crazy now. But they couldn't really say anything to the political leadership in the Democrat Party or even radical Democrats who do believe 100% that we should not have borders, that we should just let everybody into the country. But you just simply can't do that. It doesn't work.
- [08:00]
Kyle Forgeard
Where do you think the Democrat Party goes from here? Where are they going to be at in four years? Because I feel like they're going to have to abandon some of the super woke ideology. Right. Do they. Do you think they shift a little back more to the center or what do you think?
- [08:15]
Byron Donalds
I really don't know. I think they're searching right now. Yeah, like, I just did a town sticks. Yeah, I did a town hall last night and man, I got to tell you, it was crazy, but it was fun.
- [08:24]
Kyle Forgeard
So what was up with that? There was a lot of people were booing and talking back.
- [08:29]
Byron Donalds
Well, I think you have a lot of Democrats who are your base, activist Democrats in every part of the country. They're upset that they lost last election. They're upset that Republicans control all three branches of government. And I think that their response is yelling and booing, cursing. You saw the people who were trying to throw Molotov cocktails at Teslas, and the one guy, I think it was down here in Miami who, like, he shit in his hand and smeared it on the side of a cybertruck and stuff like that. And you see this stuff, and I think that's because people are lashing out because they don't like the political results that they see. I think for the Democrat Party overall, they're gonna have to decide which party they're gonna be. And I don't think they know yet. I think it's really all over the place. I think you have some Democrats who are trying to find a way to moderate and say, all right, men and women's sports. That's crazy. We shouldn't be about that stand. Hamas are trying to have this moral equivalency with Israel and Hamas. We got to get away from that and be more pro Israel. And then you have. And then obviously illegal immigration, like, all right, look, maybe we do have to secure the border and not allow for sanctuary status and things of that nature. And then you get other Democrats. These are ones who are louder, they're more radical, who are saying, no, we need to double down and triple down. Yes. You know, they want to allow for men and women's sports. They want to allow for transgender.
- [09:57]
Kyle Forgeard
Who's still pushing that out of, like, the big Democrats?
- [09:59]
Byron Donalds
Oh, man. AOC and Bernie. That's what they're doing right now.
- [10:02]
Kyle Forgeard
Like, Bernie's still saying men and women's sports.
- [10:04]
Byron Donalds
And aoc, as I heard, AOC still doing it. They're still. They're upset about this stuff, in their view.
- [10:09]
Kyle Forgeard
You got to give that one up, at least.
- [10:10]
Byron Donalds
Listen, I did another thing. I was in Orlando. This lady was, like, you know, upset. She would go. I go, what's your problem? I go, what are you. What's the problem? Like, talk to me. I want to know. She was at one of those protests, and she goes, I want you to leave our kids alone. They know who they are. And I'm like, yeah, that's crazy. Crazy. I'm not doing that. Let kids go through puberty. Let them grow up. If, as an adult, if you decide you want to do stuff to your body. I don't agree with you, but you're an adult. Do what you want at that point, that's your business. But we should be protecting kids. And you have a lot of Democrats, radical Democrats, who still don't agree with that. So I think they're going to continue to take that 10% of the issue in terms of what people believe in the country, 10 to 15%. And if they want to die on that hill, I don't know how the Democrat Party comes out of that.
- [10:54]
Kyle Forgeard
I agree. What was the biggest messaging that people were pissed off about at your. Your speech the other night? What made them, like, freak out?
- [11:01]
Byron Donalds
Doge.
- [11:01]
Kyle Forgeard
Doge?
- [11:02]
Byron Donalds
Yeah.
- [11:03]
Kyle Forgeard
Why are people so upset with Doge?
- [11:04]
Byron Donalds
I don't know.
- [11:05]
Kyle Forgeard
It makes perfect sense to me if.
- [11:07]
Byron Donalds
You'Re going to try to quantify it. I think what they're really upset about is they feel like, how can the richest man in the world have the ability to go through the federal agencies? But if you want to have anybody go through and bring efficiencies to the federal government, shouldn't it be people who've done this in the real world come into the government sphere and try to make it more efficient? That just makes sense. And I think in their minds, they're fine with it as long as a Democrat does it. I mean, let's be honest. Last night I was telling them that they were upset that Elon had access to the Social Security database. And then when I told them that during Joe Biden's administration, he allowed 53 students to have access the same access to the same database, they booed. They were like, no, don't talk about Joe Biden. At least Elon's doing it to try to find waste, fraud and abuse and try to find ways to make the system more efficient. Joe Biden let 53 students have the same access. And I don't know what they were doing in there. But at the same time, you can't be upset when it's Elon and not be upset when it's college students. But there's no limiting principle. There's no consistent argument that they're making. I think it's just more lashing out because Trump is president and Elon is running Doge. And I think they're more upset about the fact that terrible government spending programs are being called out as opposed to working, you know, with. With the other side of the aisle, with Republicans and saying, you know what? Donald Trump won. He has a mandate. These crazy things should not be funded in government. Let's get that out. And then let's focus on the things that have to that are going to remain in government spending and move forward.
- [12:45]
Kyle Forgeard
What do you make of, like, all Trump's tariffs and the stuff he's doing right now?
- [12:50]
Byron Donalds
I think what the President is doing is resetting global trade. And the way I always look at it is 60 years ago, the American economy was by far the biggest in the world. We're still the biggest economy today. But the difference is we're not just mammoth compared to the other ones. The other world economies have caught up. They have. I bring the analogy of the Dream team, like in 92, when, when Michael and Larry and Magic were taken and Charles Barkley and Patrick Yuen and guys, when they were taking on these other countries, man, everybody knew they were going to win the gold. It was not close, and we knew it wasn't close. So Angola could hack and foul and do all this stuff, and it really didn't matter because they were going to win by 50. In today's version of the United States basketball team, our guys got to show up to training camp. They got to work hard, they got to do that stuff. The game's got to be called evenly and we got to work. And yeah, we still win gold, but it's not the same like it was. So in trade, we can't have other countries.
- [13:52]
Kyle Forgeard
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- [14:14]
Byron Donalds
Take advantage of America in trade, where they get to tariff us, and we just sit here and act like everything's okay. The other piece is trade enforcement, which most people don't really focus on. We are terrible, the United States, at enforcing our own trade deals. So that's like you cut a deal for Happy dad, right? And let's say your distributor said, all right, we're going to distribute, you know, a thousand cases of Happy dad here. And then when you go in and look, you realize that your distributor you got to deal with only distributed 800 cases, not the thousand that's in your deal.
- [14:48]
Kyle Forgeard
So there's just no oversight, just like.
- [14:50]
Byron Donalds
Oh, yeah, okay, well, no big deal, you know, they're still doing 800 cases. That's good. That's how the United States deals with enforcement. And trade, it's stupid. And so what Donald Trump is doing is saying, look, we're going to reset the balance in trade. This is my opinion of what the President's doing. We're going to reset the balance in global trade. We'll have agreements with nations who want to enter into fair and equitable agreements. And in that environment, you can have free trade. We can't have a current situation continue much more where China, who is the worst offenders, steal ip, violate trade deals, tariff our product coming from the. From America and say, oh, no, everything is okay while you have manufacturing going overseas, while Americans aren't part of the wealth creation process of building and creating things that people buy, whether it's here in America or around the globe.
- [15:39]
Kyle Forgeard
What was it like getting that Trump endorsement?
- [15:41]
Byron Donalds
Crazy. I'll tell you the story. You want to know what happened?
- [15:43]
Kyle Forgeard
Yeah.
- [15:44]
Byron Donalds
So I'm in a event in Naples. I live in Naples. Beautiful place. I'm in an event with one of my colleagues from Kentucky, and my phone is just ringing. And, you know, I got the smartwatch, so my thing is just buzzing, buzzing, buzzing. And I'm ignoring it because I'm in this meeting with a bunch of donors for my. My colleague from. From Congress. And so finally, I'm like, man, what is going on? Like, my wife called me, and I could see it on my. On the face of my watch. And I'm, like, ignoring it because I'm in this meeting. I'm like, all right, I'll call her back. She calls me again, and I'm like, dang, what's going on? So I was like, I'll get to in a second. Let this end. And I'm a call the second I get out of the room. Well, then my phone rings. Now my phone's always on silent except for two people. My comms director, Daniel, in case I'm supposed to be, like, in a media hit or something. And I'm running late, and he'll call me, and I'll be like, oh, shoot, Daniel's calling me. I'm missing something. Or President Trump. So my phone is ringing. I'm thinking, dang, Daniel's calling me now. Like, what's happening? I look at the face of my watch, and it says 40. It says, I could see 47.
- [16:50]
Kyle Forgeard
That's what you got.
- [16:51]
Byron Donalds
It saved us for him. In my phone, he was 45. And when he won and we became 45. 47.
- [16:56]
Kyle Forgeard
Yeah.
- [16:57]
Byron Donalds
So, you know, if anybody saw all about the Benjamins with Mike Epps and Ice Cube, and he was singing the jingle on the lotto, you know, 45, 47. So that's why I have it saved as. And So I see 47 on my watch, and I'm like, oh, shoot. So I look at my phone and I show it to my colleague, and I go, yo, look. He goes, you better answer that. So it's the president. So I called, picked up, went into the corner of the room, and the whole. Everybody that was there is like, he's on the phone with the president. So everybody shuts up while I'm taking the call. President goes, byron, I did something big. I did big stuff. You're gonna love it. You're gonna like what I did. And I'm like, yes, sir. Hey, tell me what happened. He told me about endorsing you to be governor. You're gonna do great. You're a real winner. I put out a great message, you know, he's like, you worked hard for me, and I'm there for you. And I just told him I appreciate it. I'm not gonna let him down. And so I'll hang up the phone, and everybody in the room is like, what did the president want? And I go, the president just endorsing me to be governor of Florida. The whole room goes berserk. I mean, these are donors. It's like a fundraiser. These are donors, and they're screaming and yelling and they're all excited. So that's. That's kind of how. That's how I found out. I found out in the fundraiser.
- [18:12]
Kyle Forgeard
That's dope.
- [18:13]
Byron Donalds
So it was cool.
- [18:13]
Kyle Forgeard
Who do you think will be the other opponent? Will it be Casey DeSantis?
- [18:17]
Byron Donalds
Man, I don't know. We'll see. I think, look, she's got decisions to make. The governor's got decisions to make. I don't really know what they're going to do. As far as I'm concerned, I'm focused on me. President Trump supports me. Rick Scott, our senator, now former governor, he supports me. Most of the congressional delegation supports me. We're picking up support all through the state. We're doing a great job raising money, and I'm not just sitting back saying, oh, well, President Trump endorses me, so I'm a chill at the beach in Naples or just hang out in D.C. and do my job as a member of Congress. We're going everywhere. I was just at a community lunch before I came here. I was at community lunch in Miami, over in Pine Crest doing that. I'm going to be everywhere in our state. I was in Jacksonville last week. I think I'm in Tampa later this week. I'm going all over the place because I think you really got to go earn the support of people. And so whoever decides to run, they're going to have to pick up the pace, because when I campaign, there's no stone left unturned.
- [19:23]
Kyle Forgeard
How do you think desantis has done over his term?
- [19:25]
Byron Donalds
He's done a great job. He really has. The governor of. DeSantis has done a great job. There's no doubt about that. I think for the next governor of Florida, it's about building upon the work he's done, the way he built upon the work that Rick Scott did when Rick Scott was governor. And so when you compare us to other states, we're the best state in the country. Everybody knows it. People keep coming here. They want to be a part of the fabric of Florida. So now it's keeping the stuff that Ron DeSantis has done and then getting into the new fixes on insurance, transportation. My personal goal for Florida is to make it the financial capital of the world. We have every ability to do that.
- [20:02]
Kyle Forgeard
How do you do that?
- [20:03]
Byron Donalds
I think it's attracting more private equity, more private debt, corporate headquarters to Florida. What I want to see in central Florida, around Cape Canaveral is for Florida to really build an aerospace and tech hub that rivals Silicon Valley. Digital assets, crypto, bitcoin, all that stuff has really found a home in Miami Dade. And so in D.C. we're actually about to do market structure. We're doing stablecoin legislation, and we're going to do market structural legislation, this Congress. And so that's going to build the regulatory framework for more capital to be invested in the United States around crypto and digital assets and bitcoin and all that stuff. And. And I want that to be here in Miami, in South Florida. And so the vision is, if you attract high finance, continue to attract it from Chicago and New York, because their governments are terrible, terrible governments. People don't want to be there anymore. You start recruiting a lot of the tech guys out of Palo Alto, having them come to Florida. You really set the stage for Florida to become the financial capital of the world. World where it's not where you're rivaling London, you're rivaling Dubai, you're. You're rivaling Singapore. That's. I think that's the vision.
- [21:19]
Kyle Forgeard
Yeah, we moved here about a year and a half ago from California. Yeah, we were there for about six years. And, yeah, it's just like Florida's just unreal in Every way. I mean the taxes and then just Miami is just such a great city.
- [21:31]
Byron Donalds
Yeah, we got to fix the traffic though. We got something. We got to work through it.
- [21:35]
Kyle Forgeard
Yeah. Trying to get up to Fort Lauderdale or like to go see, go see a game up there or something. It's, it's a bit. How do you fix that though?
- [21:42]
Byron Donalds
I think part, part of it is you have to deal with the. Let me get a little technical for a moment. It's not just about 95, it's about how you get on and off 95. It's all of the interchanges in the local roads and the state roads and the interstate. I know right now we have a tri rail and bright line that run up and down the coast. What also runs on those lines is commercial freight. So people will see it. There'll be the super long CSX trail cars that take forever because when the arms drop, it just takes forever to get there. So I think one of the ways what you do there is you try to move those lines through the center of the state so you alleviate traffic here. That alleviates congestion from people having to stop to wait for the train to pass. And so then traffic moves more smoothly. It's finishing a bunch of the road construction in Miami Dades, just like in Orlando, just like in Tampa or in Jacksonville. I think what we want to do, I think the governor is starting some of it now, now is expand the bonding capacity for the Florida Department of Transportation to move projects in a 10 year window up to get them completed faster. And then working with local governments, counties, cities, metropolitan planning organizations, we call them MPOs in the state, working with them to figure out the little projects that really can go a long way. And then the last piece, and I think the engineering has come a long way. I'm hearing rumblings that people are starting to think about is it possible to really do tunnels in Florida? And you know, you have to look at the engineering on that. I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but I think on that one, does the engineering make sense? Does the cost savings make sense? And if you can do that, you, you can actually really alleviate a lot of traffic, even make the place more desirable.
- [23:30]
Kyle Forgeard
Really, really quick guys. You guys have been asking for this for a while. We just restocked fullsend.com with a bunch of new full send golf stuff. It's been out of stock for a long, long time. You guys have been blowing us up. We need new golf stuff. We need new golf. Here's one of the tees I got on right now. There's a bunch of new ones on the website. I love the quality of this golf. It's super, like dry fit feeling. It's really, really nice. I wear these on the course. A full sender, a happy dad one all the time. Golf season's coming back up in all the winter cities. I know all the Canadians are getting back into golf. If you guys need a new golf fit, go to fullsend.com I love these golf tees. Cop1 let me know what you guys think. Let's get back in the pod. You were a Democrat in 2010, right? Right.
- [24:07]
Byron Donalds
Yeah.
- [24:08]
Kyle Forgeard
What made you transition to being a Republican?
- [24:11]
Byron Donalds
Well, actually, I realized I was a conservative in 08, and I was doing. I'm from Brooklyn, New York, so my family were all registered Democrats. So I did what most people do. When you register to vote, you register as a Democrat. That's what I did. And then in 08, when the financial collapse was happening, I was doing research for my company and I realized through my research and really starting to understand politics that I was actually very conservative. I didn't vote for Barack Obama in 08. I didn't agree with him even though I was a Democrat. I voted for John McCain. I didn't agree with Barack Obama when it came to economic policy and healthcare. I disagreed and I was proven right. History's proven that I'm right.
- [24:51]
Kyle Forgeard
And would you say that publicly at the time or no? Or was it.
- [24:54]
Byron Donalds
I said it to my mom. Right. That was a. That was. She was not happy, man. My mom was like, what are you doing?
- [25:01]
Kyle Forgeard
Yeah.
- [25:02]
Byron Donalds
And I think, and I understand why, I think from my mom and really for the country, I think it was a signal and a culmination that America, in spite of our past, has come to a point where a black man can be President of the United States. But the other part of what my mother always instilled in me never left. And my mother always taught me, don't follow the crowd, don't follow the crowd. Don't just do what people say you should do, because everybody's doing it. You got to think for yourself. And so when I looked at the policies that, that then Senator Obama was campaigning on, I didn't agree. So how can you vote for somebody if you don't agree with what they're saying? And that was really the first step towards me. I mean, changing, changing parties. And as I continued to become more conservative, being involved in the Tea Party movement back in 2009, 2010, I woke up one day, I was just like, you're a conservative. You're a part of the local Tea Party movement, but you're still a registered Democrat. Why are you still a registered Democrat? Just go change your registration. So I did. That was 2010.
- [26:08]
Kyle Forgeard
What was it like in, like, 2010 compared to now being, like, an African American conservative? Do you notice any difference in support like, back then? I'm sure it must have been a lot more crazy as it is now.
- [26:20]
Byron Donalds
Oh, you were definitely stepping out there. There's no doubt about that. I mean, but that time, though, I wasn't, like, even thinking about running for office. That was, like the furthest thing from my mind. So. So it was just more of a personal decision. And then it was also something like with my family, with my mom and stuff, for them to know that I'd changed parties and become a Republican. They pretty much knew that from my Facebook posts. Because if you go back to my old Facebook, which I'm quite sure everybody's people who do that kind of stuff, they go back and research everything you've ever posted and everything you've ever said, they've gone back and looked through my Facebook and all that stuff from back in the day, and I would have these debates about public policy with people, people. Then I found out to be. It was kind of a waste of time, so I stopped doing it. But I did that stuff. So even though you were black and a conservative, in the time when Obama was president, man, it was lonely. And so you had to have the courage of your convictions if you were going to step out and demonstrate that you were a Tea Party conservative in the era of Obama football. So, you know, a lot of times now when I go into town halls and, you know, I'm taking on all comers, the reason why I'm comfortable and doesn't really bother me is because I had to. I was expressing myself politically back when it wasn't like a cool thing to be a black Republican or to be a black conservative. And there was no. There was no Twitter sphere or influencers or. There was none of that. So you're just out there having debates with people you went to college with, went to high school with, and you're having. Having to defend your position, and you're probably losing friends in the process.
- [28:01]
Kyle Forgeard
Definitely.
- [28:01]
Byron Donalds
Right. But you have to be willing to stand on your own two feet and be the man that God's called you to be.
- [28:06]
Kyle Forgeard
Do you believe that America still has, like, a problem with racism, like systemic racism?
- [28:10]
Byron Donalds
No. I think that the country did. I Mean, that's obvious. We definitely did, but I don't think so anymore. I think the country now, where we are, we are as close to a meritocracy, I think, as we've ever been in America. And I think you're starting to see that in all frames of life. You're seeing it in business, you're seeing it in politics, you're seeing it, obviously in sports and entertainment, but really in entertainment, with what you guys are doing, I think podcasting, influencing. If that's not a meritocracy, I don't know what is. I was in Vegas for WrestleMania, and I was there for night one. It was crazy. I had to watch night two on the plane, but I was watching night one. I was there in. At Allegiant. And so, you know, you have. Do you guys talk about other podcasters here? I mean, I don't know. I don't know all the rules, so I'm trying to be respectful. So, you know, Logan Paul is on there. Logan Paul's wrestling. He just broke into wrestling. But even in the wrestling business, which I think they would probably say at the time was you had to, like, come up at the bottom and pay your dues, and it's hard to break into. I think they've come to the point where now it's like, look, if you can wrestle and you're. If you can entertain, come on in. And I think podcasting, the evolution of podcasting from Bill Simmons, when Bill Simmons kind of opened up the genre, that's demonstrated the meritocracy in our country, where if people want to follow you, if you have thoughts that are original, if you're entertaining, whatever, people can find a conduit to come to you. And I think we're seeing that through America, and I think it only gets better from here.
- [29:43]
Kyle Forgeard
I saw DeSantis say that you want. You weren't. What did he say? You weren't part of any of the victories of, like, the conservative movement. What was your, like, reaction to that?
- [29:51]
Byron Donalds
My reaction, honestly, was is that, you know, he's still mad at me that I endorsed Donald Trump. And so that's his way of, you know, kind of lashing out, trying to lash out at me. You know, I think the truth is, the last four years, when the governor was doing his job as a governor, I was doing my job in Congress, and my job in Congress was standing up to Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. And my job also in Congress was doing everything I could to help elect Donald Trump. So, you know, the governor's entitled to his position and his opinion. But, you know, I don't really think it's factual. I think that's more political. I think if you also look at when I was in the state House back the four years before I got to Congress, there was a lot of legislation I passed that became law in Florida that the governor has now used to continue his battles against DEI and WOKE in our institutions. I passed the first bill of its kind in Florida that allowed for parents and community members to be able to look at instructional materials in schools. So before you could fight WOKE in education, you had to actually know what was in the books. I passed that bill. Rick Scott was governor, he signed it into law. So I don't think it's accurate to say that somebody's not a part of all the fights and all the successes. I just think that that's more personal. But, you know, it is what it is. That's politics.
- [31:14]
Kyle Forgeard
He's going to have to back the wife, obviously.
- [31:17]
Byron Donalds
I mean, look, you know, it's your wife, you know, it's what it is. But, you know, well, first we'll see what they do. Let's establish that. But secondly, after that, now it's about qualifications, you know, and I think that if you examine anybody that looks at my voting record or what I've done in my time in the legislature or my time in Congress, there is nobody that has a record as conservative as mine. Those are the facts. And so I think you take my record and what I've done and then you propel that into being able to run the state of Florida. So Florida is going to continue to be a state based upon conservative principles, constitutional principles. And then we're going to be looking to the future about diversifying our economy, dealing with roads, fixing, insurance, fixing the Everglades once and for all, finishing that work. And I commend Governor DeSantis for being committed to Everglades restoration. My job as the next governor is to take the ball, take the baton and finish it, and be done once and for all and then continue to monitor our environment, help make sure that it's clean and vibrant for everybody that wants to come to Florida. And so that's my view. I would joke with some of my Democrat colleagues when I was in the legislature because when they would have disagreements, we would call it dem on dem crime. And what you find in politics a lot is some of the most intense fighting. Fighting is inter. Is intra party fighting. When you have Democrats fighting Democrats or Republicans fighting Republicans, that's some of the most intense battles, but eventually it ends. And I think the best thing going forward is that we remember that once you go through that, that posture of having disagreements or primaries or fighting out who's going to be the nominee, we gotta be focused on conservative principles, focused on making sure that Republicans win and then doing the job of executing on the things that we campaign on.
- [33:11]
Kyle Forgeard
Why is that more intense? The inter party like disputes.
- [33:16]
Byron Donalds
Because, you know, it's kind of like. How old are you? Remember Mad Max Thunderdome? Mad Max beyond the, you know. Oh man, see I just dated myself. Yeah, this is Mel, this is young Mel Gibson.
- [33:26]
Kyle Forgeard
Okay.
- [33:27]
Byron Donalds
Tina Turner.
- [33:28]
Kyle Forgeard
Okay.
- [33:28]
Byron Donalds
Anyway, for everybody out there, go watch Mad Max. The old Mad Max. It's not the new one. Not, not gloriosa, furiosa. Oh, that was a good one. Now. Okay, but go back and watch the old Mad Max is interesting. And politics at the end of the day is competition. And some of the most competitive people on the planet are politicians. Just as, just as competitive as athletes, I bet. And so you want to win. And in politics, which is different from sports, there are rules in sports that everybody can see and you kind of have to follow the rules. In politics there are no rules, there's no referee. You just, you get at it and it can be really intense. And there's the stuff people see on tv, there's the stuff that people see on social media and it is the stuff that people never see that's behind the scenes. And the stuff that's behind the scenes can actually. That's stuff that's the stuff that's most vicious because that's when people will stab you in the back who you think are your friends and they're not. That's when you realize that there aren't really a lot of the old saying in politics is that if you want a friend, bring a dog because there ain't really no, no friends. A lot of frenemies, like we're friendly, but we could potentially be enemies. And then if you find yourself in a heads up contest, then you're just enemies at that point and you just get after it. I said the other day to co people, politics has not left the Roman Coliseum. You know, like we have cars and boats and people can get on PJs and helicopters and all that kind of stuff. You got Elon and Bezos shooting rockets off all over the place. But at the end of the day, politics at its core has not left the Roman Coliseum. And at the end of the day you got to win the crowd.
- [35:14]
Kyle Forgeard
Yeah.
- [35:14]
Byron Donalds
And that's. That's still the case today.
- [35:16]
Kyle Forgeard
Was there a time when you, like, first realized that, like, is there a story. Probably a lot of stories you can't tell, but was there. Was there a time when you realized, like, holy. That person just snaked me, like, said something to your face.
- [35:29]
Byron Donalds
I'll tell this one. I'll tell this one.
- [35:30]
Kyle Forgeard
Because everyone wonders, yeah. What is Paul Politics actually, like, so.
- [35:34]
Byron Donalds
When I first ran for Congress, this is back in 2012, and I ran because people in the Tea Party movement asked me. I'll never forget it. I was at a restaurant called Vergina's in Naples, Florida, and I was a volunteer on Herman Cain's presidential campaign. And Herman Cain had just dropped out. God rest his soul. God rest Herman Cain's soul. The head of the local Herman Cain campaign came up to me, and she was. She's like 5 foot 2. And she walks up to me, and she points her finger at me, and she goes, you need to run for Congress. And I go, I don't know what the hell you're talking about. Like, I'm just a regular guy. I don't even know how you do that. She's like, you need to run. You'll be great. People like you, you know, issues. Da, da, da, da. And I'm like, I'm just a regular guy. And she was like, we'll all help you. First rule in politics, everybody that says they gonna help you, they don't always help you. But that's just. That's not. That's not the big stuff. There was a guy. I used to do a radio. I did a show with him off and on. I would come in and do a hit or two and leave. And I heard through the grapevine that he was telling people that I would have to be crazy if I thought that a black guy could win Collier county, which is Naples, where I live. And I heard it. It came back to me. People say a lot thinking, it doesn't come back to me. It comes back to me. I just file it and keep moving, right? So he's like, man, he'd have to be crazy if he thinks a black man will win Collier County. County. So I just put that in as motivation, and I said, oh, yeah, okay, well, watch this. We ended up winning Collier county in that election. Won it by five points. But I lost Lee county, which is a longer county, the larger county. So I didn't win the congressional seat during that process. We would have debates, and when I really learned that politics is really about the arena at its core. It's still about the arena. It's all about the Coliseum. Was when you get into these debates or these conversations or these arguments, and you're having to compare yourself against the people next to you. And I would go into these debates and nobody would know who I was. And then we would leave the debates and everybody's like, man, who the hell is this guy? That's the guy I like. And I think the other people I was running against, after a while, they started having these conversations behind the scenes, and they would say, you know what? What? We got to stop debating. And I was hard to hear about it. And I'm like, well, how come that person pulled out? How come this person pulled out? And what got back to me after was you kept winning debates. And so the best way to stop your momentum is to not debate you. That's just a snippet of what happens behind the scenes. Nobody knows that out front, people will just be like, oh, that person dropped out. Blah, blah, blah. No, no. Typically what happens is when people start begging off, that's because they know they can't stand toe to toe, so they now they have to go find another way to win. And so you'll get, like the anonymous emails, anonymous text messages. People want to bring up your past and talk about all this other stuff. I mean, look, I got a pass. I don't care. I talk about my past openly because I'm not perfect, made a lot of mistakes, but that's the stuff that happens behind the scenes. And you quickly realize it's not about your ability to be successful and to help people and to be good at the job and to help the state or help the country or. In my. In my vantage point, conservatism be like the standard bearer for how governments operate. It's about you want to be on top, and so you will cut another man's legs out. So you're the tallest person in the room. That's what happens behind the scenes in politics. And I think that's why people get disgusted with it and really don't want to be a part of it. But, you know, Plato famously said, those that are ignorant of their politics are going to be ruled by their inferiors. And so I think it's important for people to be engaged in politics or you'll be ruled by your inferiors.
- [39:26]
Kyle Forgeard
What do you think about the left right now, what they're trying to do with all the illegals that Trump's trying to send out and they're kind of like, trying to put a stop to it and stuff, right? What was the whole situation with the immigrant that was, like, wrongfully sent out and what's going on?
- [39:40]
Byron Donalds
Oh, man, they're just pissed, man. They're pissed about the fact that we're undoing everything that Joe Biden did. You got to understand, the Democrats were all for. For open borders and letting tens of million people into the country. They were all for it. They weren't complaining about when cities were overwhelmed with illegal immigration. The only time they complained is when Governor DeSantis rightly, by the way, put a bunch of illegals on a plane and sent them to Martha's Vineyard. And when he did that, then they got pissed because they're like, how dare you send these illegals to our private enclave? Or we get to drink champagne and wear linen shorts and laugh at the plebs in the rest of the country. They will only get pissed when Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, was sending busloads to New York City and to Chicago. Then they got pissed because they had to be confronted with their own policy. They want open borders. They don't want to deport people. So with this Kilmar guy, Kilmar Garcia. When you have a dummy like Chris Van Hollen fly down to El Salvador to go sit there and have lunch with the dude, I mean, that proves he cares more about illegal immigrants than he does the American people.
- [40:48]
Kyle Forgeard
Why him? Is he, like, a US Citizen or something or.
- [40:51]
Byron Donalds
No, he's not. He's an illegal alien. He's been in the country illegal for a long time. He had a legal deportation order against him. But what happened was, I think it was the ACLU or one of these outside groups sued on the flights to go to El Salvador, and they sued, saying that those illegal aliens didn't have their due process in the country. But the president used the. I think it's the aliens act of 1798 that he used and said, look, trend. Aragua is a national security threat, and I'm moving them out of the country. The president has the power to do that. Judge Bolsberg disagreed. The plane was already in the air. The judge is saying, turn the plane around. And the president's like, you're a judge. You don't run foreign policy. Plane's in the air, and it's going right. You have Democrats who will say, no, bring those. Those illegal gang members back to the United States. That's crazy. But that's their position because they truly believe in illegal immigration. They don't want the rules. They want the doors to be open.
- [41:54]
Kyle Forgeard
Why, like, are they just trying to stop President Trump from having success? So, like, the Democrat Party, like, levels up or, like, why are they. Do they actually believe that they're doing a good thing?
- [42:03]
Byron Donalds
They. I think, one, there's some of them that actually believe they're doing a good thing. Two, you have those who believe that they have to stop Donald Trump at all costs. So if he says the light is green, the light is red. If he says the sky is blue, the sky is black, which.
- [42:17]
Kyle Forgeard
That at least makes sense to me, their motive. But if they're just, you know, you could see why they're doing that.
- [42:21]
Byron Donalds
But. Well, there's a.
- [42:22]
Kyle Forgeard
If they actually believe it, it's fucking crazy.
- [42:24]
Byron Donalds
There's a third piece, and I think one of the things for people who really want to, like, kind of learn some of the details on this stuff, there's a great video series by Milton Friedman called Free to choose. It's on YouTube. People can go and watch it. He wrote a book called Free to Choose. Milton Friedman won the Nobel Prize for economics. He's liberty libertarian, Austrian economic school. He would have, like, a public access show called Free to Choose. And you would have conservative, libertarian and liberal scholars debate public policy. And this is, like, in the 70s. It's really good stuff for people who want to just kind of learn it without modern politics messing it up. There was a lady on there called a Francis Fox Piven. She was a longtime liberal professor. And one of her theories, along with a guy named Cloud, I think is his name, was about, if you want to fundamentally change American government, you must first overwhelm the systems. There are Democrats who believe in this, where they say it is better to overwhelm the systems. So then you'd have to recreate the federal government's operations in the image that they want. Want. I think that's crazy and haphazard. But you do have Democrats who believe that. And so I think it's a combination of the three. You got people who are just thinking, if you're in a third World, it's a tough life, and come to America, it's better. And they might think that out of the goodness of their heart, but it's not orderly. I remember I was in high school, I was talking about illegal immigration. And I asked this high school, these high school students to say, whose mom could cook? And it's. One girl threw her hand up, and I was like, so your mom could cook? She goes, yeah. I go, can she cook? Good. Yes. Great. Can I come for dinner? She goes, of course. I go, can I come back the second night if it's good? She's like, of course. Yeah. Our home's always open. I said, if it's good the second night, can I sleep on the couch? She goes, well, wait a minute, hold up. And I go, wait, why hold up? Like, don't stop. Why hold up? And she goes, because this is our house. You just can't come and stay. And I said, stop right there. I said, if those are the rules for your house, how come they can't be the rules for a nation? And at the end of the day, when it comes to illegal immigration, that's the principle we have to follow. It's okay to have people come over to your house. House. But we all know the rules. You don't get to stay, especially if you start breaking stuff.
- [44:38]
Kyle Forgeard
I gotta show you this prank. This prank on our other channel, we do a lot of, like, pranks. We did a bunch leading up to the election. I gotta show you this. It's exactly what you're talking about. So you would do anything for, like, all the illegals. I think we have to be fair, guys, this is great. I think we found a new home for you guys. So we made her sign a petition first saying, do you support illegal immigration? And this is. This is in Beverly Hills. They're going to move into your house. They are not. What do you mean? You just said you wanted to support everyone, though.
- [45:03]
Byron Donalds
Okay.
- [45:04]
Kyle Forgeard
I don't. No, they're not violent.
- [45:05]
Byron Donalds
They're not violent.
- [45:06]
Kyle Forgeard
They're good, like, just like you guys did before.
- [45:11]
Byron Donalds
That's good.
- [45:12]
Kyle Forgeard
Wait. Well, we have your signature. You guys got to drive back down.
- [45:15]
Byron Donalds
South, back to Home Depot. Oh, my God. Hey, that's good, though.
- [45:19]
Kyle Forgeard
People love that.
- [45:20]
Byron Donalds
That's good, though. But it's true, because, I mean, people have these ideas. The way I like to think about it is a lot of people think about ish. Policy. They think about policy, but they don't think through policy. And if you think about policy, you say, oh, yeah, we want people to get a better life. America is bountiful. But when you think through policy, how are they getting here? Are they being abused? Where are they going to sleep? How are they going to eat? How do they assimilate into American culture? Do you even allow them to assimilate into American culture? That's thinking through the policy issue. And I think you have a lot of Democrats. Democrats who think about illegal immigration or think about open borders or however they want to phrase it, they think about sanctuary cities, they think it sounds good, but they don't think through the actual steps of what it does to their cities or in that video to that lady's house because she's quick to sign a petition. As long as you ain't sleeping on her couch.
- [46:18]
Kyle Forgeard
Yeah. When it doesn't affect them, they don't care.
- [46:20]
Byron Donalds
That's exactly right.
- [46:20]
Kyle Forgeard
What was your favorite interaction with President Trump that you can speak to on?
- [46:24]
Byron Donalds
Oh, man, I'm trying to make sure I get one that I can actually share.
- [46:28]
Kyle Forgeard
Yeah, I'm sure there's a ton that you can't talk about.
- [46:30]
Byron Donalds
There's some I'm not going to share, but I'll share this one. So when we were leaving, it was during the campaign, we were leaving, I think it was North Carolina. We were flying to Wisconsin. And this was right after Joe Biden went on that webcam calling people garbage, calling Trump supporters garbage. And we're on the plane and the staff goes, hey, sir, we got a garbage truck that's going to be out on the tarmac when we land. And I go, well, is the President going to drive it? And the guys go, well, yeah, he wants to drive it. I'm like, of course, because that's the right thing. You should want to drive it. And I guess Secret Service didn't. Wasn't for that. So that didn't happen. So we all deploying like we, like we do when we're with them, we deplane first. And he's like, is doing his thing that he comes out, but he doesn't come out like he normally does, where he has his MAGA hat and he has his jacket and everything is steamed out and looking good and the tie is crisp. He comes out in the sanitation jacket real time. This is the funniest thing. I was like, man, this man has the greatest comedic timing in politics. There's nothing even like this. He comes out in a sanitation vest, and we're just like, we're laughing because this is so good. And it's just going to get the Dems and this thing is going to go viral in the heartbeat. And it did. And he comes down the steps and he's talking to the press. He's in the sanitation jacket and the vest. And then the truck is pulled up. And I'm like, is he going to get in the truck? Because I didn't know what he was going to do. And I'm like, is he going to get in the truck? And the first step of the truck was probably you know, like 18 inches off the ground, something like that. It was pretty high step. And so I'm talking to a guy standing next to me, and I go, hey, can he get in a. You know, I know Trump is the man, but can he take that step? Yeah, it's a high step.
- [48:25]
Kyle Forgeard
Yeah.
- [48:26]
Byron Donalds
And they're like, oh, well, shitty. Better. And everybody's like, I'm looking at it like, you got this, sir. Like, you got it. But he made it. He. He pulled up and did the whole thing. That thing was just funny. So we get to the arena, and we're in the back, and we're talking to Brett Favre and. And Brett's wife and Brett's grandson, and he's still in the vest. So I'm going to my. To do my thing, and I just tell the team. I'm like, he's got to give that speech in the vest. Like, do not take the vest off. You gotta. You gotta do the speech in the vest. That'll be everything. And to his credit, he was just like, all right, I'm gonna own it. And he just goes out there and does it. And it's stuff like that when you're on the road with him that I think people started to see more. You started to see Donald Trump. Not just the caricature or the imagery of Donald J. Trump. People started to see Donald Trump for who he is. And I think the funny thing is, like, he's sarcastic as hell funny, wants everybody to kind of enjoy themselves and have a good time. That's really who he is at his core. But then also, you know, if you mess with him, he's gonna drop an anvil on you. He's not gonna hesitate.
- [49:31]
Kyle Forgeard
Yeah, that was a funny moment. The McDonald's one was big, too.
- [49:34]
Byron Donalds
I wasn't at the McDonald's one, which is why I can't recall.
- [49:36]
Kyle Forgeard
That was crazy. What do you think? There was a turning point in the campaign, because I feel like he just outworked Kamala. I mean, he was doing, like, he did every podcast possible, every big podcast, and then in addition, he'd do, like, two speaking event. He's doing, like, three, four things a day.
- [49:52]
Byron Donalds
Yeah, he outworked.
- [49:53]
Kyle Forgeard
Did you think there was, like, a point in the campaign where it was like, this is over?
- [49:56]
Byron Donalds
In my mind, the campaign was really over when Biden debated in Atlanta, I was there that night, and I was, wow.
- [50:06]
Kyle Forgeard
But when Kamala got announced, when she first got announced and after that first debate, a lot of people said Kamala won.
- [50:12]
Byron Donalds
No, but I Mean, when she came in, she was riding this. This. This fanfare of she's coming in to save the Democrat Party. I think I said once that the way they treated Kamala Harris was as if she was a Hollywood starlet for a movie promotion. And every scene in the trailer on YouTube or on TV looks great, and she looks great, and, oh, my gosh, the script looks amazing, and look at the action. And she took the red carpet, and everybody wants to take a picture of her, and everything is exciting, and then you go watch the movie, and the movie sucks. That was the Kamala Harris campaign. And so I think with President Trump, when she first came in, we saw the rise in the polls, but what we all realized pretty quickly that it wasn't. There was no substance there. It was just a rise in the polls because there was something different to look at. And she was not Joe Biden. But the problem for her is she's Kamala Harris, and she had nothing to say. And the little that she said was terrible. And so I think the decision the campaign made was just to be everywhere and constantly work was the right decision, because at the end of the day, it looked like they were lazy. I think they were more entitled and lazy. And I think the truth is, they couldn't really put her out there. We've been sitting here, what, 35, 40 minutes? I don't know. Yeah, Kamala Harris couldn't sit here with you for 35, 40 minutes. No, she could not do this.
- [51:35]
Kyle Forgeard
And it was evident that she couldn't.
- [51:37]
Byron Donalds
And so I think in America today, especially when. When President Trump and JD started doing podcasts and going out there and sharing ideas and just having real conversation, it demonstrated that, oh, man, these are just. These are two real people that just want to do the right thing by the country.
- [51:55]
Kyle Forgeard
JD's a beast, too.
- [51:56]
Byron Donalds
And then you can't find her. Like, she's nowhere to be seen, or she goes on the View, and then she says, like, the kill shot to me was they're like, what would you do different? And she goes, nothing that comes to mind. Mind. Well, at that point, it's like, girl, you dead. Like. Like, you're dead. This is over. And I think the American people saw that, but you had to go through that phase. They. At. At its core, they just outworked her.
- [52:17]
Kyle Forgeard
Yeah.
- [52:17]
Byron Donalds
And she was lazy and entitled, and they outworked her, and that was it.
- [52:21]
Kyle Forgeard
Who do you think becomes the next nominee for the Republican Party? I know Trump's. Trump says he wants to do a third term. Is there Any validity to that or.
- [52:31]
Byron Donalds
I don't know, man.
- [52:32]
Kyle Forgeard
Like I, that look, that would be all helpful people.
- [52:35]
Byron Donalds
No, seriously, people will lose it. On a serious note, I think that towards the end of the campaign, in 24, I think you can kind of feel the nostalgia because really think about it, this was, Ben Shapiro said, like, this was like season 10 of Trump is kind of how he phrase it. And like, I think he, I think everybody could feel the nostalgia. Like this was the last ride, you know what I mean? Like this was, this is, this was the, the outro in terms of campaigns. And I think that, I think that's, I think that's where it's going to end up. Who comes next? JD? JD, many people, right. But what I will say is JD's the leader in the clubhouse. I guess I would say we're kind of in the first round right now at the Masters.
- [53:17]
Kyle Forgeard
He's got the lead and jd, he's a beast. He's very, he's good going at the media. I love watching him go against the media.
- [53:24]
Byron Donalds
Oh, yeah, no, JD is good. Really good, really good. Incredibly smart. You know, he's been through it in life. I think that that's what makes him apart. Very relatable. Because JD's life is not some silver spooned kid who was positioned to become the next wave of political leadership. A lot of guys, I think in the inner city, like I'm from the inner city, I think a lot of guys in the inner city, when they, some of them, if they take a chance to look at jd, what they realize is jd, although he grew up, you know, as a hillbilly, JD didn't really grow up much. Different than a lot of us. Drugs in your community, drugs in your house. JD's family life was much tougher than my family life. Like, I didn't grow up with my dad, but my mom, you know, she was just a grinder, hard worker, held me accountable. JD had to grow up with a situation with his mom that would have been devastating or destroying to just about anybody. He was able to persevere and overcome that and still love his family and still try to do good things. I'm. That's a success story, man. And I think that's why, you know, it's going to be tough. It's going to be tough for anybody that wants to take him on.
- [54:36]
Kyle Forgeard
Do you ever see yourself running for president one day, man, after you finish your job as governor?
- [54:40]
Byron Donalds
Honestly, I can't see that far right now. I'm focused on doing this and to be honest with you, when I first got, when I first ran and got elected, this is 2016, so I was about 8. I was probably 37. 7. And at the time I looked at it like, man, okay, I'll probably be doing this for maybe 8 years, 10 years tops. And then that's it. And then when I got to Congress, I told my district, you'll get a max 10 years out of me. So five terms, you'll get 10 years max out of me, and then I'm leaving. And now you're running for governor. We're successful, I win, I get sworn in in two years as the state's next governor, I'll be 48. And by the time you leave, I'll be 56. Man, I might just want to just go back to normal life and just enjoy life. I don't think you can plan politics just like I don't really think you can plan life. I think you do the best thing. You can't. You do, you work hard, day in, day out, you stay ready so you don't have to get ready. And. And then if the door, if God opens those doors and you have the ability to walk through it, then you make that decision to walk through it. Seriously, that's. That is a serious non political, non BS answer. I have no idea. Nobody knows.
- [56:01]
Kyle Forgeard
Well, yeah, we don't want to take too much your time. I know you guys got a roll, but you got our full support. I think we got to get you back on closer to the election. We'll catch up. And of course, 2026, November.
- [56:09]
Byron Donalds
My question is, happy dad, is this good? Because I'm not a hard seltzer dude. So I don't even know if this is.
- [56:14]
Kyle Forgeard
I mean, I think it's the best hard seltzer for sure. Are you really drink at all or no? Casually.
- [56:19]
Byron Donalds
I'm a tequila guy.
- [56:20]
Kyle Forgeard
Yeah, yeah. I mean, little shot at tequila. Chase it with a happy dad that can't go wrong.
- [56:24]
Byron Donalds
Now now you causing problems.
- [56:25]
Kyle Forgeard
We'll send now you now you causing problems. Not before a speech. Not before a speech. No. We appreciate you, baby.
- [56:31]
Byron Donalds
Appreciate. Thank.