Democrat Fundraising Scam Unravels - Act Blue Fraud

Summary

Ruthless Podcast Episode Summary

Episode: Democrat Fundraising Scam Unravels – ActBlue Fraud
Date: July 24, 2026
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook
Guest: Zach Lane (GOP candidate for Governor of Iowa)

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Overview

This episode of the Ruthless Podcast takes a characteristically irreverent, but incisive, look at alleged fundraising fraud on the Democratic side, focusing especially on the ActBlue online donation platform. The hosts dig into new reporting on suspicious small-donor activity, alleged straw donors, and broader issues of election integrity and NGO involvement in campaign finance. They then pivot to a lighter animal segment and conclude with an extended, thoughtful interview with Iowa Republican gubernatorial nominee Zach Lane, highlighting themes of authenticity, rural life, and political transformation in the Midwest.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. ActBlue Fundraising Fraud Allegations

• Elizabeth Waffle Case (00:05–09:59, 05:32–09:56)

  • Charlie LeDuff’s investigative reporting spotlighted an 88-year-old woman from Michigan, Elizabeth Waffle, supposedly a "super-donor" who donated $150,000 and made 15,000 donations over five years—despite living in a trailer with no computer or internet access.

  • The hosts play audio from the investigation and react with both humor and outrage.

    • Notable Quote (Elizabeth Waffle, via LeDuff) [06:34]:
      “$150,000? Hell no. I don't have that kind of money.”
    • Notable Host Reaction (Josh Holmes) [09:09]:
      “Maybe we should run one of these things to ground. Mrs. Waffle, where do you live? I live in a trailer next to a burned-out house. I've never had $150,000 in my entire life, let alone to give it away.”

  • The incident is described as symptomatic of a "machine" exploiting small-donor data for potential straw donations or money laundering.

• Theory of the “Donation Machine” (00:37, 11:20–13:25)

  • Hosts argue a network of liberal NGOs and third-party groups, possibly including Soros and other foundations, is abusing online donor records—repeatedly attributing foreign or laundered funds to ordinary Americans to skirt campaign finance laws.

• Legal and Regulatory Gray Areas (12:04–13:41)

  • They explain how donor lists are publicly accessible, and posit that some campaigns or NGOs may be bulk-uploading fraudulent donations linked to genuine but unaware small donors.

2. Broader Election Integrity Issues

• Voter Fraud and Software “Glitches” (14:12–22:29)

  • The hosts discuss recent revelations that New Jersey allowed non-citizens to register and vote due to what officials describe as a “software glitch.” The software vendor disputes this, saying inadequate state verification was the real problem.

    • Notable Quote (John Ashbrook) [16:06]: “If a Democrat exists within the reality that we all share for more than 10 seconds, they need a neuralyzer on themselves. …They can't bring themselves to even say, 'Thank God illegal aliens aren't voting.'”

  • The panel lampoons Democratic responses (“it was just a glitch”) and ties this to broader themes—open borders, opposition to voter ID, and concerns about election security.

• How to Change the Conversation (22:29–24:56)

  • Holmes argues that real change won’t come from intra-GOP debate, but by forcing Democrats at every level to answer tough questions on voter ID, campaign finance, and illegal voting.

    • Notable Quote (Josh Holmes) [24:37]: “[Republicans] have to stop talking to each other about this and have to start playing offense against these Democrats who are ruining our country. …Does anybody make them answer?”

3. Political Culture and Mockery as a Weapon

• Hosts’ Tone and Strategy (08:09–08:58, recurring)

  • The Ruthless crew repeatedly suggests that mockery and public attention are potent tools for exposing and combating corruption.

    • Notable Quote (John Ashbrook) [08:09]: “The way to combat this kind of nonsense…is you have to make fun of it. …When you make people laugh, they pay attention.”

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Segment Highlights & Memorable Moments

Jazzy Jazz/Jasmine Crockett Congressional Clip (29:05–31:54)

• The hosts break down Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s muddled comments about racism and the World Cup, satirizing the tendency to blame any outcome or controversy on racism, even without evidence.

Brandon Gill Congressional 'Politeness' Question (32:16–33:49)

• Brandon Gill confronts a witness about an “anti-white supremacy” toolkit that includes “politeness” as a trait of white supremacy.
  • Gill [32:19]: "Is it important to be polite?"
  • Host Discussion: They relish how the witness is unable to defend the absurdity of the claim.

Killer Whales/Orca Menace Segment (34:01–38:56)

• An extended, comedic examination of orcas (“killer whales”) as “perfect killing machines,” riffing on viral footage of orcas hunting for fun, pop culture references (Free Willy, Blackfish), and speculative discussion about eating orca meat.

  • Notable Quote (Michael Duncan) [35:41]: “We should be thinking more of the velociraptor, because…they hunt in packs…That is killer whales. They're very smart.”

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Interview: Zach Lane (Iowa GOP Gubernatorial Nominee)

[41:31–76:19]

Background & Motivation

• Lane details his family roots in Iowa, reclaiming his ancestral farm, work starting micro-schools, and motivation for entering the governor’s race as an outsider.
  • Quote [42:49]: “We changed the narrative in the whole race, and not only the race, but in the state where we're talking about some of these deep issues…”

Key Issues

• Family Farms:
  Lane laments the loss of 10,000 family farms in 20 years, points to agricultural consolidation, and argues for more local food procurement.
  • Quote [46:35]: “They're realizing that their ideas don't sell. So what do they have to do? They have to pretend to be somebody they're not.”
• Education & Youth Migration:
  Lane proposes initiatives to keep Iowa’s youth in-state and attract them back, including tax abatement for returning graduates and focus on home-grown businesses.
• Healthcare:
  Emphasizes prevention and tailoring education/lifestyle to support well-being.
• Authenticity vs. Caricature:
  Sharp contrast drawn between Lane’s authenticity and his opponent’s performative politics:
  • Quote [61:09]: “…Rob Sand in Iowa is like an East Coast elitist’s view of an Iowan.”

Personal Reflections & 'Ruthless Three Questions'

• Last Meal: Steak n’ Shake burger, tallow fries, big iced tea. (67:52)
• Alternate Life: Would have liked to be a fighter pilot—loves aviation and passing on that passion to his son. (69:48–72:05)
• Motivation: Motivated by the thrill of victory and making a real difference for family, community, and state—not afraid of losing, prioritizes making a positive impact. (73:15)
  • Quote [74:04–75:41]: “At the end of the day, the thing that really matters is that [my family] know I love them and that we have a tight-knit, close family. …That's where my motivation comes from.”

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User Comments & Question of the Day (77:24–80:10)

• Hosts read listener responses to the question, “What’s the real number of fraudulent votes in New Jersey and nationwide?” inviting continued engagement and speculation.

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Episode Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |------------|----------------------------------------------------| | 00:05 | Elizabeth Waffle/ActBlue fraud segment starts | | 05:32 | LeDuff reporting on Waffle plays on-air | | 09:09 | Hosts mock the idea of $150k donations from trailer| | 11:20 | Discussion of money laundering via ActBlue | | 14:12 | Voter fraud & NJ software “glitch” | | 22:29 | Changing the conversation: making Dems answer | | 29:05 | Jazzy Jazz World Cup racism clip | | 32:16 | Brandon Gill “politeness” white supremacy hearing | | 34:01 | Killer whale/orca menace segment | | 41:31 | Zach Lane interview begins | | 67:52 | Ruthless “three questions” with Zach Lane | | 77:24 | Audience comments/questions segment |

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Final Thoughts

The episode blends sharp political satire, genuine investigative curiosity, and Midwestern authenticity, underscoring Ruthless’s role as both a conservative infotainment powerhouse and a forum for deeper discussion of election integrity, political authenticity, and the future of rural America. The mix of outrage and humor, plus an insightful interview with a promising political figure, makes this installment especially rich for listeners concerned about U.S. politics and campaign finance.

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Notable Quotes Recap

• "This is a scam. This is something that should be mocked because when you make people laugh, they pay attention to it." — John Ashbrook [08:25]
• "If she had $150,000 … she might have rebuilt her house." — Josh Holmes [10:07]
• “If a Democrat exists within the reality that we all share for more than 10 seconds, they need a neuralyzer on themselves.” — Michael Duncan [16:06]
• "Republicans have to stop talking to each other about this and have to start playing offense against these Democrats who are ruining our country." — Josh Holmes [24:37]
• “At the end of the day, the thing that really matters is that [my family] know I love them…and we have the tight-knit, close family. That's where my motivation comes from.” — Zach Lane [75:41]

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For listeners who missed the show:
This summary covers all the key arguments, comic exchanges, memorable clips, major interview insights, and audience-engagement moments essential to understanding the breadth and tone of the episode.

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

Actblue fundraising chicaners.

[Michael Duncan]

It's a trailer.

[John Ashberg]

She moved into a trailer two years ago after her house burned down. And the ActBlue records say she's donated $150,000.

[Unidentified Male Host]

We're gonna launder all of this Somali money or foreign money or whatever the hell they're doing at ActBlue. We're going to Elizabeth Waffle's house. You know, El Sayed can't raise money. Well, we've got him smothered and covered with every little dollar coming through Somalia. And who. This is a scam.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

A absolutely corrupt process.

[Michael Duncan]

There's some machine out there. Whether it's liberal NGOs, Soros network, Singham, all of these well capitalized third party groups just cull the list of a small time donor in a lot of these races. And then either through gift cards or some sort of basically a money laundering operation, just use that person's information over and over and over. Straw, you know, a straw donor.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Guys, is there any 80 year old Democrats won't take advantage of?

[Michael Duncan]

Earlier this month, the House Ways and Means Committee took an important step in addressing the abuse of the 340B program, which was designed to help low income patients access affordable health care by allowing certain hospitals to purchase prescription drugs at heavily discounted prices. But recent scrutiny by lawmakers has revealed widespread abuse of the program. For example, hospitals, clinics and their for profit partners pocketed over $100 billion in profits from 340B medicine markups in 2024 alone. With no rules requiring that money be used to help patients afford medicine. Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith said tax exempt hospital empires look less like hospitals and more like hedge funds making stock investments, purchasing stadium naming rights, and even participating in political activism. That's why the Ways and Means Committee passed Congressman Greg Murphy's Tax Exempt Hospital Transparency act, which will increase transparency into hospitals and help rein in waste, fraud and abuse. Visit americansforopengoverment.com to learn more.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. This program has become one of the

[Zach Lane]

most influential podcasts in America.

[John Ashberg]

I love the personality. You guys are killing it.

[Michael Duncan]

I just saw your number one, so congratulations.

[John Ashberg]

Thank you.

[Josh Holmes]

It's an honor and a pleasure to welcome the great Sean Hannity. Guys, I love you. Congratulations on all your success.

[John Ashberg]

This is why you listen to the Ruthless Podcast, because nobody else would ask that question. The only political podcast worth listening to

[Zach Lane]

is the Ruthless Podcast.

[John Ashberg]

It's time for our main event, the Ruthless Podcast.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, we're gonna have a fun here. Fun time. Friday in the Ruthless Variety Program. I'm Josh Holmes, along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashberg. Left to right, across your radio dial. A lot has hit the cutting room floor in the first two episodes of the week. And so we've compiled some things here that we think you're going to enjoy and laugh at. Now we're talking about sad topics in that, like, voter fraud is a real thing, but the extent to which the libs are running the fraud, it's kind of funny in some ways just how brazen some of this stuff.

[Michael Duncan]

It's incredibly funny. Holmes and I would say, like, we may have trimmed from the other episodes, but we did not trim fat.

[John Ashberg]

No.

[Michael Duncan]

Like this Fun Time Friday. This is Filet. This is Tenderloin. This is fantastic content. And especially when it comes to, like, the voter fraud and stuff, we still got some weighty issues in here today, but all of them are hilarious.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, you're going to laugh. You're going to laugh. No question about it. And then we also have the next governor of the great state of Iowa, Zach Lane, on the program at the end, who, by the way, if you haven't met this guy yet, haven't heard him yet, you're going to be impressed.

[John Ashberg]

We were.

[Josh Holmes]

We're fortunate enough to spend a few minutes with him and you don't get a lot of authenticity that is more pure and uncut than why it is that this guy's running for governor of Iowa. And so look forward to that down the stretch. We got some lightning variety. We're not tons of laughs. Start with a lightly reported issue that this gentleman, Charlie Leduff, uncovered for the Michigan enjoyer. Right. So one of the things we like to do on the Ruthless Variety Program is delve deeply beyond what it is that the media is focused on and get like, what some independent journalism is reporting throughout this country. And one of these things hits like in the thing that we've been talking about on the Ruthless Variety Program for years, and that's like the whole Act Blue fundraising chicanery.

[Michael Duncan]

There are two things, well, three things now that John Ashbrook cares about fighting age Uzbeks coming across the southern border.

[Unidentified Male Host]

It's a problem.

[Michael Duncan]

It is Act Blue in parts.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, in parts. In parts.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Let's be honest. That's what built this country.

[Josh Holmes]

Also, you may have to have add Olive Garden after Tuesdays.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Without a doubt. Delicious.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

But all of that, that is to say that Charlie the Duff did some reporting. I want you to see Clip 1A. We'll use it as a jumping off point. Go well, here we are out in the deep thick country of Michigan looking for One Elizabeth Waffle, 88 years old, donated nearly $150,000 in the last five years to Democratic causes. This is one of El Sayed micro donors.

[Zach Lane]

Hi, madam. Okay.

[John Ashberg]

Pleasure.

[Zach Lane]

My name's Charlie.

[Josh Holmes]

Are you Elizabeth Waffle?

[Zach Lane]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

It says here that you've donated $150,000 in the last five years to various campaigns and that you've made nearly 15,000 donations. I doubt it. You want to see it?

[John Ashberg]

Fifteen thousand?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, 15,000 separate donations on the computer. Did you make 15,000 donations in five years? $150,000.

[Zach Lane]

One hundred and fifty? Hell no.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't have that kind of money. Do you have Internet? Sometimes. Sometimes, yeah. Do you have a computer?

[Unidentified Male Host]

No.

[Zach Lane]

No.

[Josh Holmes]

So how could you make all these donations? I don't know. Are these all mine? Yes, this is. Now there's 900 pages, I ran out of paper.

[Unidentified Male Host]

900 pages, all of these same guys. Is there any 80 year old Democrats won't take advantage of? I mean, think about it, what they did to the President of the United States, putting him out there when he was incapable of delivering what they said he could deliver on. And now they're going out to places all over the country to take advantage of 80 year olds. This poor woman, like she, okay, she believes in something, maybe she contributes something and then their system latches onto it and they're like, you know what? We're going to take advantage of her. We're going to launder all of this Somali money or foreign money or whatever the hell they're doing at ActBlue. We're going to Elizabeth Waffle's house. You know, El Sayed can't raise money while we've got him smothered and covered with every little dollar coming through Somalia and who like this is a fucking scam.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Male Host]

And I hope to God the Republicans in Congress are getting to the bottom of it because there are regular people who taken advantage of Ash Brooks standing

[John Ashberg]

up for his fellow 80 year olds is just like something that's.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Somebody has to, somebody has to look, 15,000 donations. Her Internet doesn't even work.

[John Ashberg]

That's the thing. And I think this is important.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a fun time.

[John Ashberg]

That's the thing. Is the way to combat this kind of nonsense the most effective in my opinion and why it's barrel on the bat for this show is you have to make fun of it. You have to be like, you go up to this house and it's a woman. It says here she Moved into.

[Michael Duncan]

It's a trailer.

[John Ashberg]

She moved into a trailer two years ago after her house burned. Burned down. And the ActBlue records say she's donated $150,000. It's a joke. And it exposes the entire system that the Dems have for their cash for what it is. It's a scam. This is something that should be mocked because when you make people laugh, they pay attention to it. That's a mockery of what's happening in this country. They're funding all their left wing scam causes by doing this shit. And when it's a woman who's like $150,000, hell no, I don't have that kind of money.

[Michael Duncan]

You know what I love about this is like we've talked about this, you know, as more of an esoteric issue getting in the weeds here on the

[Josh Holmes]

show about how it's just fundamentally not possible. Uninspiring white bread like they couldn't captivate a Rotary Club on a day to day basis that somehow have captivated tens of thousands of donors to the tune of twenties of millions of dollars. And all of a sudd will have you believe.

[Michael Duncan]

But, but now Charlie L. Duff has done like the shoe leather reporting on this thing and that's why I appreciate about this story so much. Because of the color that picture the woman's in a trailer. Like she doesn't have $150,000 to be donating to Democrats. Also some great color from the article was that they had donations on record of her making two in the same day. One from the address of the burned down house and one from the trailer.

[Josh Holmes]

Two separate addresses. One which was uninhab habitable.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And the other is the trailer that she lives in. And it, you know, look, I, I'm not a forensic accountant.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

But I would suggest that if she had $150,000 of pay, she might have rebuilt her house.

[Michael Duncan]

She doesn't even have a computer.

[Josh Holmes]

And this is, this is what's happening time and time again. You look at like these uninspiring, incredibly dumb, dim witted. They have you believe that there is a communist movement in this country that is entirely solidified in behind these people who are like basically Hamas. And they're like no, this is the direction we need to go as evidenced by the tens of thousands of people that are outpouring small dollar donations around the country to get people like Talarico or Graham Platner or the rest of these bozos elected. And you're like wow, that is a kind of a big number like that's hard. Like Republicans can't compete on a dollar for dollar, small dollar donation like that. That's, that's impressive. And then you're like, well, maybe we should run one of these things to ground.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, here's the.

[Josh Holmes]

Mrs. Waffle. Mrs. Waffle, where do you live? I live in a trailer next to a burned out house. I've never had $150,000 in my entire

[John Ashberg]

life, let alone to give it away.

[Josh Holmes]

To give it away.

[Michael Duncan]

In our working theory of this, I think for a while here on the show, and all this is conjecture because we haven't really. I mean, we played the clip a few weeks ago of the head of Act Blue, their lawyer taking the fifth in front of Congress.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

On her own name on every single question. But our theory of this would be basically there's some machine out there, whether it's liberal NGOs, Soros network, Singham, all of these well capitalized third party groups, just cull the list of a small time donor in a lot of these races. And then either through gift cards or some sort of basically a money laundering operation, just use that person's information over and over and over. Straw, you know, a straw donor situation.

[Josh Holmes]

So just, just to explain, for those of you who are not involved in the nuts and bolts of the business, it is illegal to go and take lists of donors from candidate to candidate, just taking it. They have list rentals, there's financial agreements that can adhere to the letter of the law between nonprofits, between campaign committees, and all of this kind of thing. But the FEC also requires that you disclose all of these donations on a centralized database that if you just wanted to download an Excel file from the FEC itself, you could do that. And so you have access to all of the donors that have been purported to all of these different campaigns in perpetuity. What nefarious actors may be doing is taking that download and then bum rushing in campaign contributions that, that then tack on to the names that have already been established as donors, whether they're $5 or $10, and they don't give the donation at all, but they're reporting it as a donation from that person. That is clearly happening. Waffle didn't give $150,000.

[John Ashberg]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Like Heidi Heitkamp didn't raise $25 million in the middle of North Dakota. She just happened to be the most vulnerable senator when she was up in 2016 or whatever. And the machine went that way.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Mary Peltola, running for Senate as a Democrat in Alaska. She's been a politician for 40 years, and now all of a sudden she's raising $9 million a quarter. We're supposed to believe that that's legitimate.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Male Host]

When at the same time we're seeing guys like Charlie laduff going to places when he's talking to Elizabeth Waffle, a woman who's being taken advantage of by these vultures who are Democrat consultants like this. Somebody needs to blow this shit wide open.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, there's no question about it. But it's not just reserved to the whole Act Blue component we covered on Thursday's episode, the Whole New Jersey Register of Illegal Aliens. And the governor, of course, Mickey Sherrill, thought, well, it's a software error.

[John Ashberg]

Just a software glitch, guys.

[Josh Holmes]

Just a software glitch. We've figured all of this out, and I don't think it's made a meaningful difference in the vote count whatsoever. Clip two is Molly John, fast reaction, reacting to all of those that news.

[Zach Lane]

And this was Governor Mikey Sherrill, Democrat,

[Josh Holmes]

just voted into office there, went through the voter rolls and did find 400 instances where non citizens were able to cast a ballot. How concerned are you about that?

[John Ashberg]

I mean, again, good for her for

[Josh Holmes]

transparency and talking about it.

[John Ashberg]

And those people are no longer on the rolls. And look, that is good. The question is like, does Trump now,

[Josh Holmes]

and we're seeing this already, use it to prove a point that doesn't exist?

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, this is the Norm MacDonald. It's the Norm MacDonald joke.

[John Ashberg]

They can't stand on what it is because it's wrong and it's illegal. They have to be like, so here's the thing is like, step one, this isn't happening. Step two, okay, maybe it happened. It was a software glitch. Step three, I don't want Trump to use this as an example for something that isn't happening. Like, to your face, they're lying to you. And being like, this should be used as an example because it never happened. We just did. You forget 10 seconds ago when we just talked about how this happened. And for her to be like. And they were removed from the roles. And I guess that's a good thing. It's like, are you. You can't even bring yourself to be like, thank God illegal aliens aren't voting. The thing that Trump has said exists, you now have proof of. And you're trying to say, boy, I hope he doesn't make an example. We don't use that.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. If a Democrat exists within the reality that we all share for more than 10 seconds. They need a neuralyzer on themselves, Right?

[Unidentified Male Host]

No, it's, it's, it's true. She's got two tones in her hair, one for each side of her mouth.

[Josh Holmes]

But what's so fantastic about it is because we talked about this on Thursday, it was a software glitch. Because then if it's a software glitch, there's no culpability in trying to get illegal aliens to vote.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. No ill, intent, pain.

[Josh Holmes]

There's no ill. And because of the software glitch.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Not our fault they were enrolled. We thought they were voters. Turns out they weren't. A software glitch or there's no culpability in the illegal aliens who actually cast a ballot, which is illegal and you can be sent to prison for that, but you can't possibly prosecute an illegal immigrant if you're a Democrat in a Democrat state. But a software glitch kind of alleviates all that. They were reliably told they were registered and then they were told that they should vote. So they, you know, there's no intent.

[Michael Duncan]

And when you know it, we send them a ballot too.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it turns out that the software vendor has something to say about all of that. And the software vendor says the New Jersey government and its vendor now publicly dispute, and this is according to just the news, now publicly dispute, who was supposed to catch the error that allowed thousands of non citizens to register to vote, raising direct questions about the integrity and safeguards the voters are told they can trust. Just hours after New Jersey Democratic governor Mickey Sherrill blamed the software glitch for thousands of non citizens being registered to vote, the SOFTW company involved issued a statement disputing the claim.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

So the software company, this Edemia, is idmia, don't know it, but they've got thoughts. And they say the software vendor for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission issued a statement saying that it was responsible, it was a responsibility of the state government, which is completely controlled by Democrats, to verify the eligibility to vote. Ademia works for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission and has for more than 40 years to support the process through which eligible individuals may indicate their interest in registering to vote. When applying and renewing a driver's license or a state issued identification card. Edemia's role is to transmit that information through the motor vehicle system.

[John Ashberg]

That's it.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And the voter registration information is transmitted to the New Jersey Department of State Divisions of elections, which is ultimately responsible for verifying the eligibility to vote information submitted by Ademia must still be validated and adjudicated by the Division of Elections. In short, we did what they told us to do. They just didn't do the thing that is required by black letter law in the state of New Jersey and the United States of America.

[John Ashberg]

And that's it. That's the culpability right there that Mikey Sherrell was trying to hide from when she was like, it was a glitch, straight up. It's not a glitch. They were told this software company, get these names and transmit it here and then the board of elections is going to verify it. Well, if it's a Democrat run board of Elections, what are they verifying? Some voters. For us to go out there and send ballots.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

The software is just transmitting the information provided on the document. It make as much sense to like have a paper form and blame Hammermill

[Unidentified Male Host]

and guys like Josh. This story is the first time I've heard of this company Ademia, but I know a little bit of something about the state of New Jersey. It is run by Democrats for Democrats. Okay. Republicans try to win, but Democrats always win. So that means Democrats make the decisions about the state, including decisions about which software companies are contracting with elections and everything going on in the state. So I don't think it's a stretch to assume that Ademia has a handful of Democrats working for them or they wouldn't have had the relationship with a state that's run by Democrats.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, of course.

[Unidentified Male Host]

So you could.

[Josh Holmes]

You don't get a contract in a state like New Jersey, as evidenced by all of the waste management that they've done there over the years.

[Michael Duncan]

They're pretty good at wiring things up.

[Unidentified Male Host]

What I'm suggesting is it's not the RNC running elections in New Jersey. This is Democrats attacking Democrats attacking Democrats.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Male Host]

And I don't think there's any more credibility to what we're witnessing than that.

[Michael Duncan]

Demception.

[Josh Holmes]

Mmm. Well, it's interesting because I don't think they're alone. I don't think New Jersey is just a amorphous concept that just happened in a vacuum. Like, of course this is going on everywhere. And this is part and parcel of the whole plan that they had about open borders, about the awarding of federal dollars based on population that, by the way, doesn't include American citizens representation on top of that, that doesn't include American citizens and their vehement daily opposition to showing a simple fucking photo ID at the polls. Ask the question. Ask the question. Like don't. Don't spend all of your time trying to figure out the legislative process and everything. Like, just hold them accountable. Everyone should have this conversation. We are 100 days from an election. Why is it not a daily conversation in every place around this country about why it is that one party is perfectly comfortable with registering illegal immigrants, making sure that nobody has to show photo ID at the polls, ensuring that these campaigns are funded with donors that don't exist? Why is that? Why is that? They can't defend it. You saw Mark Warner on a Sunday show last week for the first time because Republicans weren't fighting Republicans. It was a Democrat anchor asking a Democrat politician for an answer. And they were like, my state does it. And they were like, they don't, though.

[Michael Duncan]

They don't even know the voting laws.

[Josh Holmes]

Doesn't even know his own fucking voting laws. And that's the point that we've been trying to drive home here. Like, if you want change on this front, what you need to do is make it absolutely impossible for anybody seeking elected office to ignore what is a clear and present danger to the integrity of their elections. And right now, there isn't a single Democrat that fears it. They're more than. More than happy to roll out and be like, yeah, I oppose the same act. And they're like, why Donald Trump and stolen elections? And then they walk off the stage and that's it. Okay, well, can we talk just a minute about voter ID? Like, I don't know, 85% of African Americans who you say are disenfranchised by this think that's a good idea to do it. Can you explain the discrepancy in who you say is being discriminated and where the support comes from?

[Unidentified Male Host]

Nope.

[Josh Holmes]

Never been asked a question. They don't have to because we're just selling this Internet legislative machination conversation, which is so fucking stupid it's unbelievable. If you want change on this front, you have to make sure that everybody from the county clerk and the precinct captain that you're dealing with in your little community is concerned about it and has to provide an answer to you and your neighbors about why it works. That's when things start to change. You're like, well, I don't think it's tenable. I don't think I can get elected by saying, I don't care who votes. I don't think I can do that. That's when things like it. I hate to do like a 101 on this thing. It should. It should be obvious, but online it doesn't seem like it is.

[Michael Duncan]

No.

[Zach Lane]

And.

[Josh Holmes]

And this is I think what you're beginning to see over the Next, I hope 60 to 90 days is a real awakening to what is a absolutely corrupt process that they are seeking to open the aperture on. Trump did a great job of closing down the NGO complex as it funded by your tax dollars with Doge. Great job of that.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

But there is more.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah, dude.

[Unidentified Male Host]

What you're saying, I think is so important because at some point, Republicans have to stop talking to each other about this and have to start playing offense against these Democrats who are ruining our country. This is what Trump so effectively when he came down the golden escalator. Offense, offense, offense. We need to play offense against Democrats and stop, like, hand wringing about tactics like fucking put it on the field. Does anybody make them answer, look, this

[Josh Holmes]

is going to be controversial. Some of you are going to disagree. Does anybody really think that John TH is your impediment? He would do this overnight if he could, but he can't wave a magic wand. Turns out the founding Fathers came up with a legislative body that precludes certain things from happening. And either you can destroy the legislative body to deal with this one issue, or you have to ensure that the people who are the culprits, the actual criminals in this discussion are held accountable. And that's what's so frustrating about this entire debate, is that, like, for years we would do this show and you couldn't talk about voter fraud because it was like, wow, Jan6. And people were like, oh, my God. They're, they're, they're doing, like, Jan6 stuff. We're like, no, actually there. Look, there's real problems here, both in the financing and the, and the votes. But then you get. Now we're into a situation where this is all coming out and we're getting, like, evidence in very specific ways, whether it's funding by foreign partners through nonprofits, or whether it's NGOs that unbelievably have been funded with your tax dollars, or whether it's these networks that have somehow produced the waffle, the Mrs. Waffles of the world. You're getting evidence of the claim, and the question is whether the people who are doing the thing are ever held accountable by that. And it is not Donald Trump, John Thune, Speaker Johnson, or anyone else that's doing that. It is a corrupt Democratic leadership that has presided over this thing for a long period of time. And either they're held accountable by you, the voter, or they're not. And that's your choice.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Right? Charlie Laduff has done a hell of a lot to move this ball forward this week because he is focusing on the corruption that Democrats are getting away with with on a daily basis. The more time we spend fighting each other about this stuff, the more time Democrats are like, oh, another quarter, we raised another $9 million into this no name campaign. You know, like the focus has to be on them because they're the problem.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's 100% true. So our question of the day, when you like and subscribe to the ruthless Variety program, we read all of your answers to the question and get back to you the very next episode. What's the real number of fraudulent votes in New Jersey? And I would expand that to say everywhere.

[John Ashberg]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

What's the real number they've copped? You heard like the left wingers on msnbc, like, oh, maybe a couple hundred people, you know, whatever, 6,600 registrations that they have said, and then one state that they're willing to open the kimono on a little bit. It's going to be a hell of a lot higher than that. It's going to be hell of a lot higher nationwide. So give us your answer to all of that when we come back. Jazzy Jazz back in the news. We can't do an episode or at least a fun Friday without her. She's fantastic. And some variety right after this.

[Unidentified Male Host]

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[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so it wouldn't be a fun time Friday unless Jazzy made an appearance and she, she had a worthy performance this week. We're not stretching this one boggles the mind in so many different ways. Clip 5, the World cup that, that

[John Ashberg]

captured the imaginations of the entire world when they saw all of these people of color that was playing for all these teams.

[Josh Holmes]

And ultimately, if you recall the last

[John Ashberg]

two teams, it was Argentina and Spain. And it seemed like the vast majority of the world was rooting for Argentina or actually against Argentina.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Right.

[John Ashberg]

And why was that?

[Josh Holmes]

Just give me an explanation if you

[John Ashberg]

could Guess if you'll just let them finish the answer.

[Michael Duncan]

Spain had the best team.

[Zach Lane]

Maybe that's why they were rooting for them.

[Josh Holmes]

There's also a racist history Mr. Bayer, you recognize.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Thank you. Thank you.

[John Ashberg]

Dude.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Oh, my goodness.

[Josh Holmes]

First of all, they were playing. They wasn't. Was playing.

[John Ashberg]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

But all that aside, I couldn't figure out from that clip whether it was Argentina that had the racist history, Spain that had the racist history, whether the people who were rooting for or against Spain or Argentina were the racist history.

[Michael Duncan]

I'm not quite sure. She knows.

[John Ashberg]

That's the thing is she was like, somebody was racist. They were. They're rooting for somebody. Was. Was it for Argentina first? So she doesn't know what point she's trying to make, but she knows racism is behind it, which is like, yeah, I guess racism's a real thing. If you can't. If you're like, so what's the point of it? I mean, I think it's racism here, guys. It's like, how.

[Zach Lane]

And.

[John Ashberg]

And. And whoever she's got in front of that panel right there is like, I think maybe they're rooting for him because they're the top ranked team.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah, yeah.

[John Ashberg]

Wild idea. Is, like, actually racism insane.

[Michael Duncan]

Also, like, the first rule in being a lawyer, don't ask a question you don't know what the answer to is gonna be.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, it's just such. It's so indicative of Jazzy and like, that, all of that, isn't it?

[Unidentified Male Host]

It is. And can we pop that picture up just one more time? Because I did notice something, because when it comes to Jasmine Crockett, it seems like every day is New Year's Eve. For her sequence and all that, it

[Josh Holmes]

is a sequence, but every day for

[Unidentified Male Host]

her staff, if you can see them behind her, it's a funeral.

[John Ashberg]

I'll notice there's no people of color on that staff behind her.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, there's racism to blame. We just don't know if it's Argentina or Spain that is behind it.

[John Ashberg]

And can I say, the one instance of actual racism that she's never willing to bring up is why do you think Chuck Schumer picked Talarika over you? Oh, because you wanted a white guy in a fake pickup truck. Well, but you're not going to call

[Josh Holmes]

that out, Are you not going to talk about that?

[John Ashberg]

No, he loves that.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Nope.

[Josh Holmes]

He does. He loves it. All right, so one of our absolute favorites here on the program, and he gives us almost weekly installments that we have to highlight, is Brandon Gill. Going after a wide variety of officials on just seemingly totally obvious points, but making them look horrible in the process. Clip six.

[Zach Lane]

Excuse me, sir. Is it important to be polite?

[Josh Holmes]

Yes, sir.

[Zach Lane]

It's also interesting because the same Mass Action toolkit that your organization has been promoting references politeness as a defining characteristic of white supremacy culture. Ma', am, are you a white supremacist? No, sir. You're not? Can you help me square why your organization says that being polite is part of being a white supremacist?

[Josh Holmes]

I'm not exactly familiar with that passage of the Mass Action toolkit, which is not.

[Zach Lane]

I can show you the passage.

[Unidentified Male Host]

That guy is the best.

[John Ashberg]

He is. And that's the thing is because the theater and absurdity of the left is indefensible.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally.

[John Ashberg]

All he does is he's like, you said something really dumb here. Feel free to defend it. And they never can't.

[Michael Duncan]

What I love about him is it always puts the lead on the target. And that was a hearing about the Smithsonian. Apparently this was a toolkit that was on one of their websites. And he's asking a question, Jermaine, to the organization. The Smithsonian. Dude, that jazzy clip is from the same hearing.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Oh, is it really?

[Michael Duncan]

She's talking about the World Cup.

[Zach Lane]

Do.

[Michael Duncan]

Do a guy from the Smithsonian.

[Josh Holmes]

And about a racist. Either Argentina. Argentina or Spain. Or we are for rooting for one of the two. I don't know what that was, but like, that's pretty clear answer.

[Michael Duncan]

And doesn't that just distill it down?

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Michael Duncan]

She's a rising star in the Democrat Party. He's a rising star in the Republican Party. And look what they're bringing to the table.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Yes, that's it.

[Josh Holmes]

Well said. Well said. You guys want a little animal news while we're at it?

[Zach Lane]

Always.

[Josh Holmes]

This one caught our eye. We've had a problem for quite some time on the variety program with the orca.

[John Ashberg]

I think humanity has.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a killer whale.

[John Ashberg]

They're a menace.

[Unidentified Male Host]

It is a killer whale.

[Josh Holmes]

Remember, it was like indiscriminately attacking ships.

[Michael Duncan]

I feel like the name orca is disinformation.

[John Ashberg]

It is. Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

It is.

[Michael Duncan]

Killer whale.

[John Ashberg]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Okay. I'm gonna put a peg in that and come back to it.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, well, let's watch the clip. Clip three. There's a.

[John Ashberg]

For folks at home, we're about to watch a fish explode. There it is. What these orcas are doing for our audio only listeners is they're boxing a large fish in. That's what happened is they box In a fish. So the only place that it can swim is where one is laying in wait to hit it so hard it detonates. You're looking at. That's not a lot of fish. That's like a school of fish.

[Zach Lane]

Can we play, folks?

[Josh Holmes]

Walk in, talk over it.

[Unidentified Male Host]

It.

[Josh Holmes]

Because I gotta see. I gotta see this.

[John Ashberg]

You see, you see the one hiding in the back?

[Zach Lane]

Yeah.

[John Ashberg]

There's an orca hiding in the back.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Boom.

[John Ashberg]

And then it hit it and it detonated that fish. It hit it so hard. They're having a great time. The other orcas are laughing. This is what they wanted. And here's the thing, is this is tied to a study which came out about this incident and many more where it's been determined that if you notice from that video, the orcas aren't like, hey, here's the buffet. Everyone eat. They're not eat. They did that for kicks. They're like, let's just kill for fun.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Love of the game.

[John Ashberg]

That's it. Yeah. They just enjoy the act of murder.

[Unidentified Male Host]

And it's in. A sunfish is an easy target. It's gigantic. It moves slowly through the water. And they see it and they attack.

[Michael Duncan]

People think of killer whales.

[Josh Holmes]

Shamu.

[Michael Duncan]

And they think. Shamu. They think, Free Willy. We should be thinking more of the velociraptor, because if you remember from JP3, they hunt in packs, right? And they triangulate around their prey. And, you know, remember the guy's got the gun and he goes, clever girl. Right there. Next. That is killer whales. They're very smart.

[Unidentified Male Host]

I'm just so glad that Michael Duncan has come around to this point of view, because I remember on our first

[Michael Duncan]

or second year, we were waiting.

[John Ashberg]

He's like, this is something that happened five years ago.

[Unidentified Male Host]

I get to Variety program. Michael Duncan was like, ah. Their fins curve over when you mistreat them. These killer.

[Michael Duncan]

He did.

[Unidentified Male Host]

And I pointed out to him that there was a documentary made about these killer fish called blackfish. And he was like, no, that documentary is about how these. These animals are mistreated. These animals will eat you if you're swimming in the water and they have.

[John Ashberg]

They attacked.

[Unidentified Male Host]

They kill everything. They are genetically perfect killing machine.

[Michael Duncan]

Absolutely are.

[John Ashberg]

They're the pit bulls of the seas. Where it's like, this is not something that should be taken lightly. It's not a fun little thing. It's not like a. Oh, it's a black and white dolphin. This is something that we need to hunt down. And there was, I think in that movie they talked about they're trying to make villains out of the Japanese fishermen who bag these bastards.

[Unidentified Male Host]

But they.

[John Ashberg]

I bet they're delicious.

[Unidentified Male Host]

I bet they are.

[John Ashberg]

I bet orcas are. I bet. Killer whales. I bet it's the best.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Want us to think they don't taste good? Imagine the back strap on that thing, okay? It would feed an entire town in this country.

[Josh Holmes]

It tastes good. There's no way that thing tastes good.

[John Ashberg]

I think we should go to SeaWorld and people should demand action. Cook the damn thing. You can't risk any more human lives with these things. They're food. They're not friends.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you think? All right, so smash. This is it goes to our animal menace situation. And we have frequently discussed the best way to take out some kind of a mammal in the sea is to plug the blowhole.

[Unidentified Male Host]

You gotta do it.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that. Is that. Plugging the blowhole is the way to take these things down.

[Unidentified Male Host]

It's a little bit more difficult with a killer whale than it is with, like, a right whale because they have teeth, because they hunt in packs, just like. Just like you guys are saying. But that's the only option. That's really your only option? You plug the bolt, plug the blowhole, or you domesticate them for a time, let people watch them jump, then plug the ball, then do it. Right?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

I think you just put on I Believe I Can Fly Free Willy, and you lull them into a false sense of confidence. And then.

[Josh Holmes]

Blowhole.

[Michael Duncan]

Blowhole, yeah. Right in the blowhole.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, because they.

[Unidentified Male Host]

But, but listen, listen. Do not. Do not mourn for these animals. It's a renewable resource. These animals, they make more of them at sea on a daily basis.

[John Ashberg]

I want to try killer whale. You're saying it's not going to be as delicious?

[Unidentified Male Host]

Imagine the 10.

[John Ashberg]

That's the best sushi of your life. I guarantee it is.

[Josh Holmes]

You romanticize with the whale, it allows you access to the blowhole.

[John Ashberg]

To the bullhole.

[Unidentified Male Host]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

And then you plug the blow.

[Unidentified Male Host]

No need. No need.

[Michael Duncan]

You go.

[Unidentified Male Host]

You go straight at it.

[Michael Duncan]

I like my method. You gotta romance them.

[Josh Holmes]

You got her romance with old Michael Jackson, no less, which is, I think.

[John Ashberg]

Isn't he the same as R. Kelly? Right, as R. Kelly.

[Michael Duncan]

R. Kelly, yeah. From Free Willy.

[John Ashberg]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Was it R. Kelly or was it Michael Jackson?

[John Ashberg]

That was R. Kelly.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Oh, well, I believe I can fly

[Josh Holmes]

Six of one, half dozen of another.

[Unidentified Male Host]

I believe I can fly as R. Kelly. The song from Free Willy is Michael Jackson.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, okay.

[Josh Holmes]

So they maybe were trying to give us a lesson, like subliminally about how you go about eliminating this menace.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Well, they were trying to like lull us into thinking that we were subservient to these animals so we should give

[Michael Duncan]

it right back to them.

[Josh Holmes]

Full blowhole building. I love it. Well, if you're going to do something like that, you're going to want to drink first. And if you do, you're going to want Zbiotics. It's a game changing product that we use before a big night out here on the Ruthless variety program. And there has been a few lately, haven't their fellows.

[John Ashberg]

Yeah. And the reason we laugh it is because it works right there. It's on your screen. So what Zbiotics does is you have it before you go out, have a few drinks, you have a good time for so long. People were told that like, oh, you know, the day after you have drinks you feel terrible because you're dehydrated and they tell you, you go home and you chug a Gatorade or you have like four glasses of water before you go to sleep, but you wake up and you still feel terrible because it's not dehydration. What happens is when you drink some alcohol, it breaks down your stomach and there's toxic byproducts that make you feel terrible the next day. Hey, Zbiotics knocks all that right out.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, and it's summertime and that means vacation time. Lord knows we need one. But when you spend a lot of time at the beach and you want to have a good time, take a Zbiotics first so you can have a good tomorrow. Because when you're on vacation, you know you're scheduled, you got things going on. You can't have a hangover day.

[Josh Holmes]

That's right.

[Unidentified Male Host]

That's right, pal. That's why we always say there is no tomorrow without Zbiotics today.

[Josh Holmes]

Exactly right. Smash Masher 10. So if you go to ZBiotics.com Ruthless you can learn more and get 15% off off of your first order. When you use Ruthless at the checkout. Zebiotics is backed by 100 money back guarantee. So if you're unsatisfied for any reason at all, they will refund your money, no questions asked. You head to zbiotics.com ruthless and use the code ruthless at the checkout for 15% off. All right fellas, we got a big interview here. This is the first time he met this guy and I'm very, very impressed. I'm confident you will be too. He is the candidate for governor in the great state of Iowa.

[John Ashberg]

Zach Lake.

[Josh Holmes]

Want to welcome to the program an incredibly interesting guy. Kind of shocked the world a month or two ago. He's going to be the next governor of the great state of Iowa. Zach Lane. How are you, sir?

[Zach Lane]

I'm doing great.

[Josh Holmes]

Very fun to have you here.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah, this is going to be interesting.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. You've beaten the odds a number of times, and I think at the beginning of your candidacy, an awful lot of people thought, what a fun little adventure for Zach.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah, I wasn't thinking that.

[Josh Holmes]

We can tell.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah, I was. Well, I was thinking a couple different things, but, you know, I was the last person in the race we got in November. Field was pretty well set, knew who the players were. I've been a complete outsider in all of this. Didn't know the people running for office. I was like, I had a message and I had something I wanted to get out there and, you know, really advocate for. So that's why I got in. You know, my son actually was telling me, you know, about a month before the primary is over, he said, do you think you're going to win, dad? And I just said, hudson, you have to understand there's more than one way to win this thing. And one of the things we did is we changed the narrative in the whole race, and not only the race, but in the state where we're talking about some of these deep issues that politicians have really been avoiding.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Yeah.

[Zach Lane]

So I think we won in both ways on the primary night.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, I think that's probably right. Give us a little flavor for your background in Iowa, how you got interested in politics, how you ultimately took a leap that most people don't to run yourself, put your name on a ballot against sort of like, you know, established names in politics, and then overcome all of that.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah, I. Born and raised in Iowa, grew up there, graduated from high school in Sioux City, played sports, went to college for the first semester, played football, end up out in Boulder, Colorado. I was invited to walk on out there. Didn't work out. Turns out, you know, it's a bit more competitive than you think. When you get into this, it turns out. It turns out. Yeah. But so. And then I actually, when I was in college there, I went to a debate on healthcare. Like, I was not involved in politics. You know, I grew up in western Iowa, which is pretty darn conservative, but I went through this debate on health care between Governor Bill Ritter at the time and a state senator named Sean Mitchell. He's a Republican. And I just. It was like I was bit like, I Was by the bug. I was like, oh, this is like contact sports for ideas. And so I went right up to the guy afterwards. I said, how do I get involved? And he said, well, come down to the Capitol. So I literally, I think I took the bus down a few days later, got an internship at the state capitol and I just got immersed in the whole thing. And so I went on to help with some races. Cory Gardner in Colorado. I ran Steve Dane's first race for Congress in 2012. And then I just wanted to come home. I always wanted to come home. And so 2013, moved back home and 2014, the farm that my great great grandpa had built, that was in our family till 2005, it was sold in 2005. And then 2014, I bought it back. I thought, this is it. I'm going to be here for the remainder. Spent about a decade building that and then went down to Kansas for time to start a school. And then I got involved with a network of innovative micro schools that are. We now have about 300 across the country. Hands on learning by doing versus memorizing. Starting apprenticeships at age 11. Really cool stuff. And then I came back home and I'd been working to build our farm and help restore our local community. We bought the small town single screen theater and it's been in operation since 1930. Reopened it for the community. Played movies every Friday, Saturday. And then, you know, Governor Reynolds said she was stepping down. And my wife sent me a message about it because she knows how much I care about these things. And I just kind of like laughed like, yeah, I'm not. There's a plan in place. Somebody's gonna be doing something. And then quickly you realize, you know, the attorney general didn't run, there wasn't a plan. And so I just decided after I ran out of excuses, I'm going to do this, I'm going to jump in. And I had four key issues. Running on keep Iowa's kids in Iowa, save our family farms, make education number one in the nation again, and stop the cancer crisis. And I just ran on those things the entire primary. And we did. We shocked a lot of people.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Yeah. One of the things that's most interesting to me about your background and your motivation for candidacy is the family farm concept. You know, Iowa is built on family farms. We've spent some time in the state. Our audience knows, we've been to the fair and everything. You're running against a guy who's been swept up by this socialist storm. You know, he's got the Elizabeth Warren alliance. He's got every single national Democrat who cares so much more about changing America than they do about actually helping the people who rely on the place they live. And I just, I just wonder if you could talk a little bit more about what's at stake for small time family farms in the state of Iowa that this guy is going to step all over if he gets the job.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah, well, I think if you back up a minute and just talk about the theme that you're discussing, it's happening all over the country. You know, they, they're realizing that their ideas don't sell. So what do they have to do? They have to pretend to be somebody they're not. And, but you can't avoid wanting, you know, getting these national endorsements because that's who they really are. The Elizabeth Warren supporting AOC's Green New Deal, which by the way, would be disastrous for agriculture. That in and of itself, or having Tim Walls as endorsement. People like this. But if they're honest about who they are, they can't win. And so a lot of our campaign, even in the primary, people said, you can't win a Republican primary running on the issues you're running on. And I said, we can, because this is what the people actually care about. I know because I'm with them. I'm one of them. But Iowa has went through a transition transformation over the past two, three decades. Past 20 years, we've lost 10,000 family farms. And you're right, it's been the backbone. And so there's been a lot of reasons for that. But here's one thing I've noticed that my entire life, every politician has said, well, you have to support farming, you have to support farmers. And everything's gotten worse. So part of what I was bringing up is saying, guys, we're looking at this the wrong way, clearly. And so what we're seeing in Iowa is a tremendous amount of extraction. You have a consolidation and big ag companies that have, when I was growing up, 300 seed input, fertilizer companies operating. Now there's three that control 85% of the market. I mean, you're watching farmers be extorted on prices. You see the President talking about it, Brooke Rollins talking about it. And I've just been trying to give a voice to that, to say we can actually do something about this. You know, I'm not asking them for money. I'm not asking them to, you know, even be on my team. As far as these large conglomerates, I want to do what's Right. For the people.

[Unidentified Male Host]

So.

[Zach Lane]

So we have those types of issues. And also we have a tremendous opportunity to create new markets to help small farmers get back in the game. So one of the things I'm pushing for, I actually hope to meet with Brooke Rollins about this soon, is to break down some of the regulations to allow public schools to buy local food. And so if we could start to bring that market to Iowa specifically, then we'll get people off the sidelines. More small farms versus less vibrant rural communities versus hollowed out. And we're seeing it all over the place. So these are the things I'm trying to bring to the table, to just change the narrative completely. And it's resonating.

[Michael Duncan]

As people from the Midwest, I feel responsible a little bit for this part of your platform, but that is. Stop the brain drain.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, we moved out here. We drained, unfortunately, from Indiana, from Minnesota, from Ohio. But we hear that a lot, you know, growing up in the Midwest, where it's like, we need to keep as much homegrown talent in our states as possible to build, you know, the economy of the future. How do you solve for that?

[Zach Lane]

Yeah, well, I think first it's understanding that. I think a lot of us were told the story that, like, there's something way better out there. And after a while, especially after you start having kids, you realize, well, a lot of what I really want is back home. The question is, is there the opportunity for me to go home? And I was fourth highest in the country for net out migration, which is not a stat that we want to be in the top. And so I think, number one, is the opportunities to come back home. But number two, I just think that we have to let people know it's a great place to stay and it's a great place to come back to. I think for a long time, we just haven't been telling that story properly. And if you do that and start putting in place policies like. Like I would like to see a complete income tax abatement to go into account to help somebody buy their first home if they're willing to come back home or committing to stay in the state, so we can help with this affordability a little bit and give them just the message that, we're here for you. We want you back. And a lot of what my opponent has attacked me on so far is time I spent outside of the state, which I'm saying the number one piece of my platform is bringing Iowa's kids back. If he wants to be the person that's Saying, we don't want you back. Look, I'm happy to say I want you back. It feels like a winning issue. It's a winning issue. But then the other thing is we've had this Iowa first message that we're bringing and people can say, what does that actually mean? Well, we have limited levers we can pull in the government to actually make real change. One of the biggest in Iowa is through economic development incentive dollars. Right now. For decades, they've been going to large multinational companies or now data centers that are coming into the state, maybe opening a branch. But then when times get tough, they close and they were out of jobs. Meanwhile, they're competing against some of Iowa's homegrown businesses that are not getting these incentives. And my point is Iowa's homegrown businesses first. If we're investing in these people, these families that have built companies that want to be here for the next 50 years, that is security for our kids to come home and to stay here. And the best part is when the economy does get bad, which it will, they're the last people to cut jobs. You know, they're going to church with their employees.

[Michael Duncan]

You got to see these people at the grocery store.

[Zach Lane]

You got to see them at the grocery store. And I've actually heard stories about, as I've talked about this, it's really resonating with business owners as they hear me talk about it. And they'll tell me a story about how when something happened and their business went way down and they let nobody go, they reached into their own pocket to weather it because they have a relationship with these people.

[Josh Holmes]

Uniquely Midwestern trait.

[Zach Lane]

But that's what it looks like to build a culture. And that's what a lot of my campaign is about. It's not like, oh, here's a policy I want to pass. I mean, I have those for sure, but it's more. So how do we build the long term culture of the state of Iowa and make us competitive for our kids to stay here and for businesses to move their headquarters to our state?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Talk to me a little bit about the healthcare component because you don't get a lot of Republicans nationwide that want to weigh deeply into it. Obviously, we know with the Maha movement what it meant to the Trump campaign, what RFK has meant to this larger platform that Republicans have embraced. But you still don't get a lot of candidates on a day to day basis that talk about healthcare. You do.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah, well, I do. And I maybe come to it from a different standpoint because the first thing, I think when I think about healthcare is preventative, and it's like, what are we eating? What are we putting in our body? What types of medications are we taking? Are we raising healthy kids? I mean, I spend. Spent the better part of a decade building schools, and people often ask, why did I do that? And, you know, when it came time to understand how I was going to educate my own kids, I just remembered I just didn't fit. You know, I had maybe too much energy or whatever it might be. And for decades now, what's been the answer to that? Oh, medicate them rather than find a different model of schooling that serves their needs better. And we can do that in the state. But, you know, I think Iowa has the chance to lead on. Being the real food capital of the country. We have some of the best farmland in existence. We have people who've been doing it for generations and now reprioritizing to create markets to grow some of this, especially when you're talking about protein, animals and things like that, we have the opportunity to really lead on this. We do in some ways. But growing food to serve in our own communities in a sustainable way that has a market with it is, I think, a huge win for the state.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. Yeah. As people who went to the Iowa State fair not once but twice and ate probably the best pork chop I've ever had.

[John Ashberg]

There you go.

[Michael Duncan]

I can attest to the quality of food out of Iowa. My only complaint was I ate so much of it, I got the meat sweats because it was about 110 degrees.

[Zach Lane]

Oh, for sure.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah, that was tough.

[Michael Duncan]

And the bacon. Remember the fanny pack of bacon?

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, my God. Yeah, the fanny pack of bacon. That was. Was a nice touch.

[Unidentified Male Host]

But you know what? The beer was cold.

[Josh Holmes]

The beer. Well, was What?

[Michael Duncan]

Super cold? 30.

[Unidentified Male Host]

30.

[Josh Holmes]

They 28 degree beer.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Just above freezing.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, super, super chilled. Yeah, they like spin it or something. I mean, that hits when you're walking around.

[Zach Lane]

You probably put on like, this is so great.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, I probably put on like five, six miles on my apple watch. That day when that beer hit, it was like, I was in heaven.

[Zach Lane]

It's all worth it. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

We walked by and it was a degree. I think it was 28, but it was. It was degrees below freezing. And it just said 28 degree beer. And we were like, huh, Whatever that is. I need a lot. And I think Burgum was with us.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, we rattlesnake nachos.

[Zach Lane]

You got to be careful because you'll be so thirsty that before you Know it. I mean, you'll lose track of what you've. I remember we lost track of a lot of things. Yeah, but you still remember the key parts. Pork chops and the cold. I remember Last year is 95 degrees at the state fair. I had all seven kids with me and, and I probably drank, I don't know, 15 iced teas and I still lost weight. I just go back to the booth, I'm like, I'm here again. I'm losing it. I need more.

[Josh Holmes]

But I think the point. Look, you are, I think, a perfect encapsulation of a lot of what we've seen out of Republicans in Iowa over a period of years. And that you're just part of the community, you're part of the fixture of Iowa. And what has happened to the Democratic Party over the last 20 years in particular in states like George is that they just no longer resonate culturally. They're completely divorced from what it is that families are dealing with on a day to day basis. They're following this sort of national narrative of leftward lurch of the Democratic Party. I think your opponent is a perfect example of that.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah. No, well, again, it's authenticity and I think Iowans really like authenticity because they meet their candidates. There's a joke saying, what did you think of such and such presidential candidate? Well, I don't know. If only met him twice in Iowa. That's kind of how it goes. Right. And so, you know, but there is this leftward move or this left move that's been going on for decades really. And you know, with my opponent, all the receipts are there. I mean, going back to Brown University, calling himself an extreme liberal, supporting, you know, like I said, the green New Deal, gun control, amnesty, all of these things are there, but for the past couple years just hasn't talked about it. Instead is know holding town halls, singing America the Beautiful before it. Yeah, it's like, you know, I think people are, will start and are starting to see through this.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes.

[Zach Lane]

Where they want authentic answers and part of the way, you know, you're getting authentic answer is if somebody is willing to go against an established interest and that's not what he's willing to do. It's like what's the polling say where in our primary, you know, people were saying you can't talk about big Ag. I'm like, we're going to talk about this.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Yeah.

[Zach Lane]

Because the people understand what's going on here. And so I think it's really going to cut through. But let's just say this. Do you know how hard it'd be to run against an actual JFK Democrat? You know what I mean? Actual. Well, they'd be Republicans. Yeah, exactly. Right. That's what I mean. But if there actually was that, I think even so many members of the rank and file voters of the Democrat Party be like, breathe a sigh of relief. It was like, oh, my gosh, we can actually just talk about the economy and how we take care of each other and these things.

[Michael Duncan]

Finally, a normal one.

[Zach Lane]

Yes. Yeah. It's not like who's using what bathroom, and then like, or, Or. Or as my opponent was on video last week, I think maybe two weeks ago with an author of some banned books talking about transgenderism and reading these two kids in the classroom. So, guys, voters are just wanting something they should be able to count on.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Zach Lane]

Safe, safe communities, good schools, clean water. These things with the right motivations.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes, Right. You're there to. To try to do a job, try to make things better for the people that you're representing. And like, these guys, it's across the country. We've talked about this. It's like basically two modes of today's Democratic Party. And I think your opponent fits into

[Zach Lane]

the Abigail Spamberger bucket was on fundraising emails with her two weeks ago.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's the bucket that says, like, oh, well, I'm a normal person. I got a family, I do stuff, and I talk to Republicans all the time. There was a Republican in my house a couple of weeks ago, you know, like that kind of thing. And then you elect them and they're indistinguishable from Zoran Mamdani in terms of their policy. The second bucket is the Zoran Mamdani. But in terms of. In practice, what it means for people, it's the same thing.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah, it's really difficult because I think it's natural that people want change over time. Right. And in Iowa, there has, you know, we've had times over the past 10 years ago that Democrats were governors. We've had, you know, Republicans in control for a number of years. But, you know, when you're looking at what you're actually getting, it's just a caricature. It's a theatrical performance. That's what it is. That's a good way to put it. And so. But the veil will be lifted on that. And, you know, with Spanberger, it didn't happen soon enough, but now I think she's the least popular governor in the history of Virginia, is what I was just told. And so that will happen. Very quickly. I just want to make sure it's happening while voters still have a chance to make sure they're making the right decision.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Zach Lane]

So, you know, I would love to just go out and talk about my message in the primary. We talked about our opponents, the least of probably any campaign. The issue is that, you know, my opponent, Rob sand, has spent eight years. And we know this, we know this. People run for offices they don't actually care about to get to something that they do to have power. And you can look at the track record there. That's what's happened. He didn't care about being auditor. He let some of the largest financial issues go by the wayside, spent hundreds of days out of the office, all these things, and then held town halls with the purpose of building his name recognition, building favorables. Anybody that's in politics understands exactly what's been going on.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, he's there with a video camera, so he gets all that footage for social media.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah, that's it.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, that's the one thing I would say I kind of credit to his team. But they're. They've been good at creating the facade of. Of him as a candidate.

[Josh Holmes]

Look, I own guns.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, but you see this.

[Josh Holmes]

You see this everywhere in that. You know, we've talked about Graham Platner on the Senate side, where he's like a rich person's idea of a poor person. Right. And this is what Democrats are doing everywhere. Like, Talarico is like a. A heathen's view of a religious person. Yeah, right.

[Unidentified Male Host]

And.

[Josh Holmes]

And like, it' all these sort of things. And like, Rob sand in Iowa is like a East coast elitist's view of an Iowa.

[Zach Lane]

Bingo.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Zach Lane]

I mean, by the way, Brown University, like, it's not actually even a joke, it just is. And, you know, wear a vest around, you know, drive an F150. It is a caricature.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Zach Lane]

And, you know, but I do believe, because Iowans are so politically savvy, like, eventually this will be seen for what it is.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Oh, yeah, you're right. They'll see through it.

[Zach Lane]

They'll see through it. Because when you have to start taking the hard questions, much of his platform right now is just repackaging things I've been saying since the very beginning of the campaign and putting them out there. But the difference is, I've been running on from the beginning, and I genuinely believe these things. I stay up at night thinking about, okay, how could I change this? How could I fix this issue we're having in agriculture? Help revolution, revive rural community in this way.

[Josh Holmes]

You mean you're actually thinking about how to improve the lives of Iowa?

[John Ashberg]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

That's like, what a novel concept for somebody who's running for office.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah. And I'll just be very clear. I don't want to go anywhere else but this seat. Like, I want to be the governor. I want to help make Iowa the best place to raise a family, start businesses, all of these things. And I think we've got a good foundation right now. But this is what I want to do. You know, the New York Times has my opponent, I think, two days ago, as a very likely person to jump right into a presidential campaign, literally already measuring the drapes.

[Josh Holmes]

It's unbelievable.

[Michael Duncan]

Imagine him behind the Resolute.

[Zach Lane]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

Very well appointed.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, he watched the books. He was the auditor.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. He'll even bring a corn stock with him.

[Zach Lane]

This is great. I need to have you guys on the trail with me.

[John Ashberg]

Now you see why we're a hot ticket. And I. There you go. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Be careful what you ask for, by the way. You might see us. And that cuts two ways. We can be controversial at times, but I. Look, it's the authenticity component to what you've brought from the very beginning that I think was the secret to your success in the primary. And despite the millions of dollars that are being spent against you, try to malign you and make you into something that you're not. I agree with you.

[Unidentified Male Host]

I.

[Josh Holmes]

Wins are different in this regard.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, they've had a lot of practice evaluating candidates up close.

[Josh Holmes]

They get every bullshit story there is.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. It's. It's not the bullshit TV ad that sand puts out where they're like, oh, I know that guy. They're going to want to shake his hand five or six times. And that's where I think the facade of all that falls apart.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally.

[Zach Lane]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, it's just. It's one of the things that you did the best during the primary that I assume is amongst your favorite things, because it looks like it is just going out and meeting people.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah. You know, what's interesting is that we won the primary, and after you win, you're basically broke. Right. Because you went all in. And so, you know, and Rob, I've said very clearly it's not a campaign. He's running an auction. It's like, Iowa's on the block here. It's like, who are the highest bidders in this? And, you know, his family's given him $12 million. Might be the wealthiest person running for office. In America today. And so. But what happens to me is that, you know, we have a number of weeks of unanswered attacks, and so what am I doing? It's like, hey, I have got to start building the resources to build this campaign. And all the while they. They're saying things about me and saying, like, oh, he's not out. Like, if you looked at the primary, I probably did 50 town halls in the last two months because I love doing that stuff and I'm willing to talk to anyone. And even if I disagree with them, it's like, we'll probably find something we can agree on, but I'm going to hold my ground and say, like, this is what I believe. And so now we're gearing up to launch off to start doing this all again. And I'm saying to their team, it's like, be careful what you wish for, because we are not going to stop on this. We'll go to every town we possibly can, we'll talk to everybody we possibly can in just like we did in the primary. And they'll see there's an authenticity, there's a. I'm not afraid to challenge the establishment on what. On what they're saying and even upset some industries that other people aren't willing to. It's like, look, when you have the fastest rate of new cancer of anywhere in the world, it's sort of, you know, we've lost the ability to ignore certain things. And it's just now we got to go in, there's no. Start asking questions 100% and there's nothing off the table because, you know, know we're losing our kids and, you know, we have. We're going to funerals. Just two weeks ago, I had one of these for people that are dying at 65, whose parents live to be 80. And so, look, I'm all for building industry and all of these things, but, you know, we have to also understand that there is such thing as corporate capture and that agencies, both in D.C. and in states have been captured by industry. And, you know, oftentimes we're not getting the truth.

[Josh Holmes]

Truth.

[Zach Lane]

And so people are just looking for somebody to say, look, I'm not asking them for their money. You know, I actually saw this clip with Donald Trump just the other day when he was in the 2016 presidential debates. You guys all remember this? And he was at this debate and the debate was made up of donors. And all these people that were in the studio audience remember this?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, they're booing.

[Zach Lane]

They're booing him. And he said, that's okay because I don't want your money like it is. And I think that's a lot of what resonated with Donald Trump is that people saw, you know what? I think it was Michael Moore that said there's a Molotov cocktail running for president or something like that. It's like people want the system to be upended and just have their lives become better. So that's what we're trying to do.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just, it's really well said, and there's an authenticity. Reminds me a lot of the people we grew up with.

[Unidentified Male Host]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, it's that kind of thing. It's a common sense, Midwestern thing. You know, jobs are incredibly important. Economic development incredibly important. If you have a job for 30 years and you die at 65, wouldn't matter, what does it matter?

[Zach Lane]

You know, I, I got some controversy for saying this because, look, I'm a conservative. I want low taxes, I want low regulations, but, you know, you can have really low tax rates. And if your kids are leaving and your people are dying early than other states, you're just not winning. Like, that's a, that's not a winning because. Because remember, on the state level, we're here to build a home and a culture. It's not an economic zone. The free market is a means, not the end. We are here to make life better for the people around us, and we use the free market to do that. But even since our founders, we put limitations on there to support our way of life. I think at some point, this market fundamentalism took over. It's like whatever the free market says is the best thing to do. And, and like, I love the free market. You know, I love businesses, you know, making profit and supporting communities. But the same regard, we have to remember that, like, our ancestors didn't come here to become capitalists. They came here to grow a family, build a community, build a church, and we can do them both.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, really well said. I got three big questions for you.

[Zach Lane]

All right?

[Josh Holmes]

Every time somebody is here for the first time, and I got a feeling you're going to be coming back as the governor of Iowa, we asked three questions, and these are things that people pay attention to here in the Ruthless Variety program. We've done it for five years. And the first question is, if you can plan your last meal on Earth, what would it be?

[Zach Lane]

Well, folks, I'd like you to take a stop at your local. At your local Steak and Shake, where you can get Tallow fries, grass fed beef.

[Michael Duncan]

So, yeah, I like that.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like filming an ad direct to camera, ladies and gentlemen.

[Zach Lane]

I'm glad you brought that up.

[Michael Duncan]

This segment brought to you by Steak N Shake.

[Zach Lane]

No, I got to tell you what I love about steak and Shake. Just be honest with you. They have done a great job with marketing to the point where it's like, you know, the average family, when they're going to soccer practice, they're doing all this stuff and they don't have time to find food. They now have a place where they can go and be like, hey, at least they're trying to be healthier. Right. And so you can get towel fries and tater tots and grass fed beef and. And it's like, okay, it still, like, you know, fast food isn't the healthiest meal, but at least it's better.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Zach Lane]

And so it's definitely hard to beat their burger.

[Unidentified Male Host]

I mean, it tastes so good.

[Zach Lane]

It does.

[Michael Duncan]

The burger's great. The milkshakes are great, and it tastes real.

[Zach Lane]

It does. And they have giant iced teas, which is like, I usually judge where I'm eating by how big is the iced tea cup. I can get big iced tea guy.

[Unidentified Male Host]

This guy.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah, I am, for sure. So, you know, I'll go with that. Why not? Just for fun. All right. All right.

[Josh Holmes]

It sounds good. All right. So most people who have achieved the things that you have in life, building schools, running campaigns, having success at a individual level, family level, community level, now running for higher office, you encounter all kinds of different things. People, industries, whatever. And usually there is one or two things that pop up in life where you're like, you know, I was really good at that. That, or I really was interested in that. In a different life. If I had two lives to live, I would have done this.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you have that?

[Unidentified Male Host]

Ted Cruz said he would be in the NBA, so.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Male Host]

It doesn't have to be realistic here.

[Zach Lane]

Well, this guy really is.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's the limit, right?

[John Ashberg]

You know.

[Zach Lane]

Well, you know, growing up, I always want to play football, for sure. But, you know, it's like when you're in Iowa, Iowa especially 20 to 30 years ago, other states had these sort of farm leagues for young kids to build all these skills, and we didn't really have all that. I just love playing sports and being competitive. But I think that here's the interesting thing about some of the journey I've been on is that I've tried to say yes to a lot of things. And if you think about some of the things that I have just loved doing. I'm rebuilding my great great grandpa's farm. I'm literally walking the same places he walked, working the same ground he worked. My great grandpa worked. My grandpa worked. My dad helped on. I mean, that's pretty. Pretty darn special. And you think about education, like when you have a bunch of kids, being able to spend time with them where they can run into your office and be like, look what I just did. There's very few things that would beat those experiences. I mean that sincerely.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. It's tough to think of a better job than that.

[Zach Lane]

Yes. But if I had to pick one, I gotta say, say fighter pilot. That's it. I mean, I. I grew up with, like, an obsession about fighter planes and all these things. Now, my.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, Top Gun did it, of course.

[Zach Lane]

Right. The Top Gun, too, by the way, awesome. Very few sequels are as good as the first one, and, man. So, you know, I. I would. I grew up with my parents taking me out to, you know, the local base and watching the F16 take off with afterburner.

[Josh Holmes]

Absolutely mesmerizing.

[Zach Lane]

It is. And you. You cannot. Not, like when you see one of those airplanes going through the sky and it goes over. My son and I were just landing in Des Moines. I'm a pilot, not a fighter pilot, but I am a pilot. And there's two F18 Super Hornets. I don't know what a super horn is, but he did, because he's obsessed with it now. And we watch them take off, and it was just rumbling the whole earth. You're just like, there's no way. You cannot think. That's cool.

[Michael Duncan]

You see the climb rate on those things.

[Zach Lane]

So if I could. If I. You know, my. My son Hudson, he is, like, all in. This is something he wants to do now. And so it's kind of fun for me to be able, like, tell him, like, okay, here's some tips I would go through. Here's ways that you can get into this in a. In a really competitive way. And then, you know, introducing him to people who have done it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Zach Lane]

So it's really neat. So that's what it'd be.

[Josh Holmes]

That's cool. That's a good answer. That's a really good answer. All right, so our last question. Question, our view is that most successful people in life are motivated by one of two things, either the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat. And it is not that anybody doesn't like to win or that anybody loves to lose. It's what motivates you to dig deep, to take your game to the next level to work a little bit harder. And our prototypical agony of defeat person is always Michael Jordan.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah, for sure.

[Josh Holmes]

Invented slice. Right. And it had to. He had to invent things around him to create the facade in his own head that like people didn't think he could do it in order to get his game to the next level. And then the other side of the coin is like, I think I can do this, so I'm going to do it. Yeah, right. It's the 250 over water with a four iron because you've hit that shot one time when it takes to lay up and you'd win the tournament, but you're still going to hit that check.

[Zach Lane]

If you think you can do it,

[Josh Holmes]

it's a tick up. Right. Those are kind of our, the way that we game plan. If you look at your life on a spectrum and what motivates you, where do you think you find yourself?

[Zach Lane]

Yeah, I think on the winning side. Meaning that. And here's the reason why. Because like for instance, in this campaign, I want to win solely so I can try to actually make a difference in what I'm doing. But even in the primary where I got into something where it was a much higher likelihood I would lo. I was never afraid of losing. I was never even nervous about losing. You know, I remember the day of the primary when we were going into it, I could see the momentum. But look, we won by 0.8%. Right. It's not like I had confidence. We got this one.

[Josh Holmes]

Put down what you're doing, folks.

[Zach Lane]

This one's in the bag. If you see the poly market, 95% for my opponent, 5% for me. On the election day, the first results came in, it flipped.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Zach Lane]

Which by the way, that's a whole nother story. I'm going to get into how those markets can be just, you know, how it goes.

[Josh Holmes]

But next interview we should talk about.

[Zach Lane]

Oh my gosh, talk about that for a while. But I would say, but here's the difference. So I spent all that time building these Socratic schools, right. And so it was very inquiry based. In elementary, we say our goal is to love learning and learn to get along with other people. Then in middle school it's learn the habits of hard work. Can you work in flow for three hours a day and then in high schools have a tested, vetted idea of what you want to do with your next great adventure? We say and in that we do different quests and one of them is a life and death quest. And we have the students, they'll go to a birthing unit, they'll go to a palliative care area. They're contemplating death and appreciating life. One of the things they do is they go interview people that are at the end stages of life. And then over years, they've compiled this information in many of our schools as far as what did these people say really mattered? And it was three things. It was, was I a good person, did I make a difference? And who did I love and who loved me? Those are the three things. And so I think, when I think about what's motivating, it's like, well, right now what I'm trying to do is make a difference, but you can't lose sight that actually the most important things are the seven kids and my wife and, and like, making sure that they know, like, hey, I'm on this mission, we're on this together to make a real difference. But at the end of the day, the thing that really matters is that they know I love them and that, like, we have, you know, the tight knit, close family. And so that's. That's where my motivation comes from.

[Josh Holmes]

Guy's got a pretty good stump right there.

[Michael Duncan]

That's pretty good.

[Josh Holmes]

That's pretty good.

[Zach Lane]

Just so you know, I've never actually said that anywhere.

[Josh Holmes]

That is. Listen, it's very motivating. And he's a total thriller guy. By the way, it breaks down 50, 50, everybody that we've had on here, it's about a 50, 50 break.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

But you can tell when there's an authentic answer and when somebody is like, yeah, I'm a total, you know, it's all victory to me.

[Michael Duncan]

I love high fiving. Yeah.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Really?

[Josh Holmes]

Because you, like, spent four hours reading about your opponent. That's an authentic answer.

[Zach Lane]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Where do people go to help you out?

[Zach Lane]

It's Zach Lane. Z A C H L A H N dot com. You can sign up to donate, volunteer, get a yard, say whatever it might be. If, you know, people in Iowa, tell them this is an extremely consequential race. Not just for ours, but we have an open U.S. senate seat, highly contested. We have three contested congressional races. Attorney, General, secretary, they're all up. And so our campaign, I believe, is driving a lot of energy. And I think other candidates see that too. We're bringing together this economic populism with this Maha type of populism in an authentic way. So the better we do, I truly believe the better the down ballots are going to do.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep. Listen, you make a compelling pitch. I was up for grabs this year and you're going to be leading the way on that. Thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.

[Zach Lane]

Great. Thank you.

[Unidentified Male Host]

I mean, I loved everything that guy had to say. I particularly love his background. I think it fits that state in a way that, that, that voters are interested in. And I really, really hope for the best for him.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, No, I agree. Great interview. Help him out if you can. And watch him. He's a real rising star. If he catches fire, he could be a big deal in Republican politics. No question about it. Let's get to some comments. We asked you on Thursday, what was the promise that Mamdani will break next? Recall that he said he was going to jail. Benjamin Netanyahu. And then he came out with a two camera video where he said I actually don't have the jurisdiction, but I. It is not diminished my results.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

On all that, which is of course everything about socialism all in one bunch of promises. None of it actually comes to fruition. And then you move on to your comments. We always start with a voice.

[Unidentified Male Host]

Okay, first One from Albert K. 61. Albert K. Writes Universal daycare. A few centers will open to make photo ops. It's the Lennon playbook. Peace, land and bread. Alongside the transfer of state power to workers councils. These slogans targeted the core grievances of war weary soldiers, land hungry peasants and starving urban workers. And within a few years all were failures, subverted and resulted in mass starvation and political executions. Quite the picture from Albert Kay.

[Josh Holmes]

Well said historically. On the nose. Dunks, runks.

[Michael Duncan]

Comment 2 is a good one. This is from Dave Tarter. And Dave Tarter is bringing the sauce. Mamdani next act will be banning all utensils from restaurants. So you have to eat rice with your hands unless you order pizza, in which case to demean the Italians further must be eaten with a fork and knife.

[John Ashberg]

I still can't believe he tried to erase Little Italy.

[Michael Duncan]

Hilarious.

[John Ashberg]

From the map. Incredible. Incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, next comment smuggles.

[John Ashberg]

Comment 3 is from Dwayne Swab. Dwayne writes question of the day. Mamdani will not be able to fulfill his promise of free and faster city bus travel. That is going to be a nightmare because if he takes a crack at it, you're going to see what's happened in the subways on steroids, where it's going to become a haven. He's not gonna violent, he's not gonna

[Unidentified Male Host]

take a crack at it.

[Michael Duncan]

He's gonna take a stab at it.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, and there's gonna be.

[John Ashberg]

That's what's gonna happen.

[Josh Holmes]

Reciprocated throughout.

[John Ashberg]

That's what's gonna happen.

[Josh Holmes]

Bus, transit system, a lot of stabby.

[John Ashberg]

It's just like murder on wheels, dude.

[Zach Lane]

Murder on wheel.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, thank you for your comments. Remember our question of the day when you like and subscribe. Today's question is, what's the real number of fraudulent votes in New Jersey and nationwide? We're interested in what you think about all of that when you like and subscribe. We read all of them. We get back to the very next episode. It's been a hell of a week, fellows. Tons of content. We got some stuff already lined up here for next week, and you're gonna love every second of it. With that, fellas, I think we did it.

[John Ashberg]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much to Zach Lane and thank you to the listeners. Remember, if you have not yet, go to the YouTube and hit that subscribe because it's more fun in videos. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs. We'll see you Tuesday. Stay ruthless.