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David Rutherford
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Albert Eisenberg
What really bugs me is the missed opportunities after November of 2024, when we did all this work to win over these new voters and then we stopped delivering for them. It's like, have y' all been talking to anybody? Do you know who brought you here?
David Rutherford
It seems like the conservative coalition is a little got a little bit of split personality disorder going on.
Albert Eisenberg
I think me and you probably disagree on whether it was America first to be engaged in Iran.
David Rutherford
You think it is America first to go to war with Iran?
Albert Eisenberg
My genuine belief is that it is in our interest to hit that regime very hard. That being said, I think people can be forgiven for not understanding that because there's been no clear message that's America first on why we're doing what we're doing.
David Rutherford
You know, for a GWOT guy who was fed regime change for 20 years, right? I'm like, hey, man, you're not gonna convince me that regime change is a valid answer. And you tell those young people that. And this was. This was actually a way to secure your future of never going to war. That's the message. Not only is there an evolution of Republican voters, but there's also an evolution taking place with political strateg well, too. And I think you're. You're a great representation of what that looks like in, in. In its modern form. Today on the David Rutherford Show, I'm welcoming Albert Eisenberg, and he is, by description, a millennial Republican strategist that knows how to develop great messaging to target minority coalition groups that are conservative. Now, when I saw that Albert, I was. I was fired up, man. I was like, talk about a high hurdle to cross, right? When you have, you know, voting blocks that are 87, 95% going Democratic, man, it seems like you chose to pick the most difficult group to kind of try and. And bring over to the other side, if you will. Let's just give a quick background on why politics, why'd you get involved, and why have you decided to pursue this with your life's work?
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah, thanks for having me, David. It's a pleasure to speak with you. And, you know, for folks out there listening, I mean, my whole thing is, you know, if a group is 9010 Democrat to Republican, they probably really haven't heard from us very often. And that's probably going to be the easiest votes to pick up in the country because you're talking to people who you never have talked to effectively. So my story is, basically grew up in Philly, partly in the city and partly right outside in one of those, you know, kind of nice suburbs that I, you know, I grew up with. I called them the defund the police kids. They were the ones who, like, actually thought that was a policy that might work because they never had to call the police.
David Rutherford
That's right.
Albert Eisenberg
So they were sort of like proto woke when I was in high school. In the late, late 20 aughts, early 2010s, went to college, you know, grew up, you know, very, very privileged sort of surroundings. But for personal reasons, I, family reasons, I always had to work two or three jobs through college. Started my own thing, very entrepreneurial. And when I got into politics, I worked a couple jobs after college in the agency world, marketing, just for products, right? So figuring out in this wild west, new media ecosystem, Facebook, you could like hack the entire Facebook back end and get your product in front of people. There were no guardrails. So I came out of that, moved back to Philly and said, you know, I'd really like to build my own thing, you know, what are the opportunities around. And at this point it was 2015, 2016, election cycle, wild ride. And everybody there's this white working class, we could say white working class realignment happening where all these neighborhoods across Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan have veered to the right. And then meanwhile, all the consultants and all the money, all the energy that's beyond the tip of the iceberg that people don't see in, you know, regular voters don't see the consultants and the money spent. They just hear a bunch of messages and see the candidates. But all the money was chasing the suburbs. So the phrase when I was getting into politics was we need to win back the suburbs. Trump had shocked everybody. All these suburban moms were like appalled. They had voted for Romney. La ya ya. And I'm thinking I grew up in these suburbs. I think the suburbs are actually gone. At least the upper middle class, well educated suburbs. So where are we gonna find our voters? And I was one of the first, certainly the first in Pennsylvania on the east coast to think, you know, I think our next voters might be like Hispanic working parents or like a charter school, like black mom who like might want better opportunities, who like lives the conservative working person's lifestyle but never hears from Republicans. So we could get all into it. But since sort of that realization and the impetus of my business building, my firm, we've really helped put that into action across the country and I'm really proud of that work. I think there's a lot more to do.
David Rutherford
Can you take us through some of what you did the last cycle, 2024, because I really think we saw most likely, probably since, I don't know, you could even go back as far as George Bush Sr. You know, he had a pretty, pretty strong component of those Blue Dog Democrats that he could pull over. He was more conservative than, I think, Reagan in terms of his foreign policy. You Know, the whole thing with no new taxes, that seemed to resonate with people though. He read my lips. No new tax. Right. And, and, and I think, I don't think since then I've ever seen a coalition really come back after the 2020 fiasco for sure and really kind of unify. I mean when you bring in Tulsi, you brought in the Maha movement, you bring in, you know, some of the other kind of maybe libertarian leaning people. But it really, I think what, what your instinct was spot on. It was, it was working class people. Right. It wasn't the soccer moms, the, the edu. The overly educated soccer moms. Right. It was the working class people who were like, no, man, this, this, the opportunities are getting smaller from us. You've been promising us something for so long that you haven't delivered. And now this guy over here, you know, he's saying he's, he's going to kickstart, he's going to re industrialize America, he's going to bring back manufacturing, he's going to onshore all these companies that are overseas. You know, this is the opportunity. So walk us through some of those campaigns that you really fixated and focused on in this last go around and what you did.
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah. So basically, I mean, the statistics are the statistics, we all saw it in 2024, Republicans won under $50,000 a year voters. For the first time in our lifetimes, we have a more diverse and more working class and more ideologically moderate coalition than we've ever had. Like literally in Philly, Trump won over a fifth of the vote. So over 20% of the vote for the first time in generations ever.
David Rutherford
Right. And wasn't.
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah. I mean, I think maybe 1950s, 1960s lifetimes ago, let's say. Yeah.
David Rutherford
Was the. Can I ask you real quick, Albert? It is the is because you here, it's that, that, that number is if, if a Republican can get over 17 to 18%. Yeah. Of, of any part of a Hispanic or black or minority or whatever, you know, gay vote or whatever it is, then they, you can't beat them because it's depleted enough of the Democratic coalition where it, it crosses that, that, that, that close threshold like we saw. I mean, in 2020. I mean, you look at Georgia, what.
Albert Eisenberg
And yes.
David Rutherford
You know, and Pennsylvania was, it was, it was what, it was pretty close, like 100 and some odd.
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah. And the Senate race was about 16,000.
David Rutherford
That's right. That's right.
Albert Eisenberg
The U.S. senate race was the only U.S. senate race to flip and my team did all the Hispanic voter outreach in Pennsylvania.
David Rutherford
Oh, that's cool.
Albert Eisenberg
We raised the money. We ran it ourselves on the ground and on the airwaves. We did Spanish language translation, we did mail. Spanish AM radio is the cheapest Republican translator in the country. So we did a lot of that type of work. That's where we come in. We do a lot of the hard work where the way that it, it works in politics. A lot of times you have one consultant kind of running the show that's a general consultant on a race. They might be spending $250 million on a Senate race, right? That person's controlling the purse strings. And yet they might end up spending $0 on urban radio for tailored black voter outreach. They might spend zero dol likely than not on Spanish language mail or radio. So we come in and we kind of pinch hit and do the hard work to, I would say block and tackle, I guess mixing metaphors here to get in front of those voters with a compelling message, which Trump Vance did very well for the first time in our lifetime. There's a reason we got over 20% of the vote in Philly. There's a reason younger black men veered so quickly Republican. And we got more Hispanic voters since George Bush Jr. S reelection. That was like, this is all historic and you can't lose when you get, when you hit those notes. Because at the top of the ticket they were doing explicit outreach. And my whole thing is we can and should be doing a lot more. And what pisses me off, like primary motivating factor is when we miss opportunities on our side. Because I actually really believe in America and I think like, we could have solid governing majorities to like fix our horrible health care system or bring down the cost of living. What really bugs me, which I think having listened to you and knowing what some of your approach is, the missed opportunities after November of 2024, when we did all this work to win over these new voters and then we stopped delivering for them pretty much immediately. And then everyone woke up after November of 2025 when we got our asses handed us in Virginia, New Jersey, said, oh, affordability. It's like, have you all been talking to anybody? Do you know who brought you here?
David Rutherford
I, I, that was the thing that just was, I was dumbfounded, you know, I, because when, when that I did this, you know, the first 100 days report, you know, I, on border security, you know, rebuilding military, you know, initiating doge, getting rid of usaid, you know, I, I was like, okay, but in terms of like, the deliverable of getting people excited about really looking at those workers. Right. Looking at the no tips on waitresses or waiters or no tax on your Social Security for those people, all those boomers who were in the factories for the 50s, 60s and 70s who are living, scraping by on their pensions now. How do you re. Engage them and get them back in the fold? And I just didn't see it either. It's pretty remarkable. Do you, are you, are you seeing the message? Obviously that was a big one. It seems to be shifting a little bit. But like now we've got these bizarre internal squabbling, these internal fights. I mean, $35 million in the congressional seat in, in Kentucky. I just, it, I, I was blown away by what is, what is this and what's happening like, because in my mind, as, as, as a traditional republic. I don't know traditional. I'm probably more, I don't know, a liberal conservative probably. But, but seeing that, that expenditure in a primary, it was almost like what is happening right now. And, and obviously there, you know, you can go to the other side too, because I think there was a different sense of, of out, you know, getting rid of Corrin in Texas and getting Paxton in there. So it's almost like they were inverted, but they're the same. I'm just so confused.
Albert Eisenberg
Trump endorsed in one and put his weight on the other side. So it's not necessarily ideological on that one at all.
David Rutherford
And so I, you know, in my mind what I'm seeing because obviously I trying to understand this at a systemic level. Right. Where are the things happening? So messaging is definitely one, that's, that's not great right now. And then two, it seems almost to me. And I, I did a show about Ballard Partners, the largest lobbying firm in D.C. and they're, you know, they're their influence at the center of, of the Trump world, you know, starting with Susie Wiles. You know, she ran Florida for Trump in 16. She was, prior to that she was with Ballard Partners. You know, Pam Bondi is a Ballard Partners. Marco Rubio is about part. So now it's like this shift more towards the support of Rubio in 28 as opposed to Vance. And it's like, it seems like the system, the conservative coalition is a little, got a little bit of split personality disorder going on. Is that what you're, you're, you're seeing as well too?
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah, I mean, I like, I think we can separate out what politicos and what people who are plugged in like you and me. Are following, which is the horse race, the personalities, the money spent, and what a regular working person who votes cares about. So on that first point, I think we can cover both what's going on on the personalities and the endorsements and the palace intrigue and then. But really, like, I don't live inside the Beltway, so there's a reason for that. Yeah, I'm trying to talk to regular, like, I'm trying to preserve our country for another 250 years by delivering solid wins for people who are suffering. And what you mentioned, just the no tax on tips, first of all, brilliant marketing. And we did it there. There should have been national messaging campaigns on that around tax day, around April 15. Closing, securing the border and showcasing that. That is the humane policy, preferably with Hispanic voices speaking in Spanish and English. These are things that are not that complicated, that don't get done on our side.
David Rutherford
That matters in particular, after the fiasco in Minneapolis, you would think, all right, let's redo this messaging. Because, you know, you see that.
Albert Eisenberg
And man and Kristi Noem, I mean, total embarrassment should never have been there in the first place. And now we have someone serious. So. So that's the one thing, like, everyone's talking about, like, the personalities in the horse race. And, yeah, that matters. But we always have to keep in mind, like, what's a regular person going through. And what I believe is that we have a mixed record of accomplishments some things. Have we lowered costs overall? Not as much as we should have. Have we secured the border and enforced and created a sane immigration policy? Absolutely, I think we have. As far as the border security?
David Rutherford
Well, I think borders shut down for sure, but deportation is. Is ground too. You know, I mean, what. It's somewhere around 340 or 400,000 total people out of potentially 10 million. That's.
Albert Eisenberg
I think they lost their appetite for doing more because it turned into a political loser because of the bad messaging.
David Rutherford
A hunt. Well, also, you know, you get. You get guys that have limited amount of training, you know, pulling out and executing people on the. On the streets, you know, regardless if he hit, if that dude got hit with the car from the. The woman, you know.
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
David Rutherford
The other guy. The other guy obviously was an activist bringing a gun to, you know, to a protest. But, you know, certainly when you break all that down, those were not powerful moments for the coalition and the people that just won you the election to reinforce them in the midterm. So you're not a complete. Not a lame duck. I just don't get it? Like, where do you see the shortfalls taking place in the messaging? Why is it not, is it that Trump is not running again and there's no focal point of midterms in specific seats? Where are you seeing the gaps in, in their strategies?
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah, I don't think it's the President's fault. I mean, I think the President is who he is and he's gonna. Everyone know. It's all baked in the cake. We've seen it since 2015. He's gonna go after his opponents, he's going to be ferocious, he's going to say a bunch of shit. Some of it's going to be bluster, some of it's going to be real. Everyone's going to try and sift through which is which. There's a whole infrastructure behind him that is in charge of getting political capital, raising our political capital from our wins and diminishing our political capital from our losses, trying to play defense and trying to play offense, or rather offensive defense. And what is missing among that class of people is vision to realize who our voters are, what they might care about, and I think some execution. So it is basically free to do Spanish media surrogates and go on and make sure somebody like Marco Rubio or somebody more domestic who's in the admin or who's in Congress is going regularly on Spanish language media to explain what's going on to people. And like, obviously the most important issue that's happened this year is the Iran war. Like, I, I think me and you probably disagree on whether it was America first to be engaged in Iran. Just based on, you know, looking at some of your clips and my own perspective, I think it is.
David Rutherford
But you, you think it is America first to go to war with Iran?
Albert Eisenberg
I think, yeah, I think that. I think the, I think they wake up every morning and say, death to America. I mean, I don't want to throw a bunch of talking points at you, but my genuine belief is that it is in our interest to hit that regime very hard. That being said, I think people can be forgiven for not understanding that because there's been no clear message that's America first on why we're doing what we're doing. And that to me is a missed opportunity.
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David Rutherford
Yeah, I, I, you know, obviously coming out of the gate, they, they, they, they stumbled a little bit on the rationale and the reason we've gone from, we've gone from no nuclear development or enrichment, which last summer they basically said, it's demolished, it's finished, they won't ever. Well, now they reuse. We got to get rid of it again. That was struggle for people. I think the other is just the constant, whether it's Ruby or whoever comes out and saying, well, it's illegal for them to close the Straits of Hormuz and they shouldn't be doing this. And then you're like, and we want to get back to the way it was before. And you're like, wait, that doesn't make any sense. Sense. And so again, the messaging isn't succinct. There was this strategy for a little bit of time where it was regime change. And, you know, for a G Wat guy who was fed regime change for 20 years, right? I'm like, hey man, you're not going to convince me that regime change is a valid answer, right? You know, I get the nuclear development or nuclear material or nuclear whatever. You know, I can kind of buy that, but not to the point of where we're going to put boots on the ground of an impossible victory. Right? Even if we were to go in and engage for 10 years and, you know, go grab all the uranium and pull that out, like people want us to do, or go and take over Tehran or, you know, whatever it is, democracy building. Like, we have not been successful at that at all whatsoever since World War II. And so, like, I'm like, okay, but you keep saying things that aren't making sense in particular to your generation. And then the. The zoomers below you, like, they're looking at this going, what are you doing? And based on what we saw with turnout, with massing some of the others, it's like, you know, you still have this hardcore voting block of the boomers, but how long does that last? And are they going to get us through for the midterms? That's where I'm really. Because you have people like Nick Fuentes and all these other people that are basically saying, vote Democrat now. Vote against this system. They lied to you. And I'm like, what the hell is going on? Much less you get involved with the streamers who are as nonsensical as anything I've ever seen before. But again, it's not whether I think they're nonsensical, it's whether they're. The people. The millions of people that are tuning in think they're nonsensical. And like you have so strategically acknowledged, just a little cut from what traditionally doesn't vote for you makes the difference because races have gotten so close nationally.
Albert Eisenberg
Right.
David Rutherford
That was a long tirade. Sorry about that.
Albert Eisenberg
No, it's not at all. It's. It's so interesting to see how people interpret this. And I think we probably need to have a little bit more yield with each other where it's like, I know that you don't think Iran is our friend and you can disagree with our. With my statement, and I can, you know, argue that it's in America's interest. And we could both agree that, like, Iran is, like, really evil, the regime. Right. That the admin should be explaining clearly to the American people. The average person who, frankly, is not listening to political content. They're just trying to fill their gas tank up. That's right. And I'll be curious. There's, I guess, what happens in Washington. I don't know. There must be a business word for this. But the amount of energy and focus that is spent on personalities versus things that substantially change things for regular people who are living quiet lives. Like, what do you think about this housing bill that just passed? Because you probably know more about it than me, but that strikes me as something that can impact a zoomer.
David Rutherford
I think the greatest challenge is you've got, I mean, obviously too much private equity in single family homes, right? You look at Atlanta, really high dense African American population, right? Has, is still kind of Fulton county, still kind of that purple area, if you will. I mean, mostly I think they're demo, they're the voting Democrat. But if you can reach them and you can say, hey, listen, we're going to kick out Blackstone. We're going to kick out. There's, I guess there was like five companies that owned 87 or 88% of the single family homes that were on Airbnb or up for rent, right? We're going to kick them out, get that back on the market, open up greater zoning for low income housing, but also, also make regular homes more affordable, right? And then try and bring in some type of industrialization back into Atlanta. I mean, Coca Cola built that city and they haven't been there, you know, doing anything significant for years. And so, you know, I agree with you. Like, you want to get the younger voters on board, you reintegrate the American dream, which is home ownership. I think it all, it always, you know, post, probably post Korean War, you know, certainly, certainly post Vietnam is like, all right, if I can own a home, I can, right? I can, I can incur some wealth and I can, I can develop something that gives me a platform to grow or develop entrepreneurially or my business or have a family. Have a family. That's the biggest thing. The numbers on family for young people are staggeringly low right now. And like Elon Musk says, we're not in a population growth crisis, we're in a population collapse. I mean, all you gotta do is look at Italy, look at Japan, look at China. In a hundred years, China's gonna be, what, under 400 million people or something like that. Even Iran. That's right, even Iran is collapsing. That's right, yeah. So what, what do you, what do you. If. If you. I mean, obviously I would. Are, are people coming to you for the midterm strateg? What are you coaching them up on?
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah, I mean, it's so interesting because I'm so. I'm equal parts frustration with the lack of opportunity or execution and vision for what we could be doing. And I'll add something on that housing bill. The Trump admin has been working on getting illegal immigrants out of public housing. If you want a message tailored for low income voters in places like Atlanta, there have been migrants housed in hotels Fancy hotels, while y' all have been absolutely left out to dry by the establishment. So, like, all it takes is packaging some of that and sharing it and caring to get in front of people. So, yeah, I mean, we're, we're engaged in races from Pennsylvania to Michigan. Really interesting opportunities to go after voters that just like, don't really hear from our side that much. But we have a lot of stuff we could say to them them especially if you have a candidate that's bothered to show up or willing to do things a little bit differently. So we consult directly on races and come up with strategies to reach and persuade, you know, a portion. You're not going to get everyone. You're not going to win over 50% of black voters in a given district in one cycle, but you can win over 15 or 18% instead of 10 or 12. That's going to flip races. We'd have more Senate seats in Wisconsin and Michigan from 2024, Nevada. We'd have won a lot of those races if we took a more tactical approach.
David Rutherford
I completely agree. One of the things when I went on to the site of your redbridge.com and that's your organization, Craig. Yeah, yeah, Red Bridge. I thought it was brilliantly done. Like, all right, we're going to help you get to that messaging. And one of the campaigns you had was the mayoral race down in Miami that recently took place. And the guy you were back and I really thought he had an opportunity, but nobody showed up to vote. It was probably the lowest voter turnout, Republican voter turnout in what? When you look at the Cuban coalition down there, they've been voting Republican since they left Cuba in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, what happened there. Because that's something that you were specifically looking at that, that you were able to now have time after and analyze what, what specifically went wrong.
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah, that's a tough one, man. And Emilio Gonzalez, you could not have asked for a classier guy with a great military record.
David Rutherford
I'll give you a side, a real side Kind of funny thing. I I'm under the the Buck and Clay Trav Clay Travis Buck Sexton Network. And they let me fill in down on Manny Munoz radio show to get my some test runs before I did the national show. And you know, I reached out to him and to bring him on the show to talk and they said yes. And then they never got back to us and it never came on. And so I was like, all right, that's a campaign that's struggling right now. Free airtime 250,000 listeners and he just passed up a free 10 minutes to come out and pitch, you know, a couple weeks before the election. I thought that was fascinating.
Albert Eisenberg
Well, no comment on the many operational failures that happen on a given campaign. You definitely have to do the big things. Right. I mean, I thought the message was good, the candidate quality was clearly good. You're facing real headwinds in a, in a off off year election like the year after presidential. And the way that the demographics have shifted. The Democrats just have a huge advantage in special and off year elections because they're more upmarket, they're more upper educated. A lot of older Cubans vote solid Republican, as everybody knows. Those voters showed up to some extent. The younger Cubans are not as loyal at all, which is interesting because other ethnic groups within. Hispanic voters are more Republican when they're younger.
David Rutherford
Yeah, yeah.
Albert Eisenberg
Cubans and Venezuelans are probably less.
David Rutherford
Yeah, yeah.
Albert Eisenberg
And yeah, it was just really, it was like this. The current was too strong.
David Rutherford
Wow, it's so fascinating. Do you like. I always, I always kind of. Because my, my, A friend of mine ran the Trump campaign in 2016 in Palm beach county where I live, and I always found it fascinating, like they didn't have a ground game at all. Like they really. I mean, Trump's campaign in 16 was, was. Oh, yeah, it was, it was one of the most remarkable things I've ever seen. But obviously 2020, he had the machine behind him in some capacity. Although I can argue maybe it wasn't quite behind him, but certainly 2024, everything was firing, everything was, was going hard. What I never understood is how after you get through those things, the machine, they allow the machine to disperse. They allow the functionality of the outreach to, to, to go away. Yeah. And then the next thing you know, I'm getting bombarded with texts or how are you pulling. What do you think about this? You know, and it's like, man, you're, you're a month away or two months away or six months away. Like, where have you been for two years? You know, And I just find it fascinating that they build all this infrastructure and then it kind of disappears and then, yeah, like run around with their heads cut off trying to reassemble it quickly.
Albert Eisenberg
And fascinating is a very generous word for how you find it because I find it frustrating and a couple other F words. The basic situation is we're digging ourselves out of a hole now.
David Rutherford
Yeah.
Albert Eisenberg
Because we have things that we have done. We have a record of accomplishments. I'll just show you. Not that this was set up, but My team did this ad in Spanish that says, the Republican Party stands with the people of Venezuela. We stand for security abroad and rights for workers at home. And we did the only outreach that cost about $1,200 in the largest Spanish language publication in Pennsylvania. That's nothing. But, like, we can. There's so many things we can talk to people about and set the narrative. And that's why I say it's not President Trump's fault. It's all of the people that are in the Republican INC infrastructure. And I don't think they're bad people. I know a lot of them and they know. What I think about this is that we have. Need to have more vision and more execution to go after people that brought us here. Not our base, but the people that are the extras. And for me, I'm thinking every single thing from November 2024 onwards should have been about the newest voters and getting in front of them and delivering wins and explaining stuff. If it doesn't feel like a win, then we have to at least share why we're doing. Because this is all built on trust. It's a psychological connection. It's a brand that you have. You are a D or an R, and you have an association with those things. And if somebody comes to you for the first time ever and says, okay, I'm switching to this one, you have to really hold that person in the palm of your hand, you know, and really support that person. And, you know, one thing I didn't mention, like, yeah, we are. We have a lot of fractures in our coalition, but the Dems also do. So not a foregone conclusion, but I just, I guess I wish things had gone a little bit differently. But now, looking ahead, we. We still have time before the midterms. It's. It's late May 2026. I believe we can get in front of people. I think we can rebalance and I think we can still notch some wins.
David Rutherford
I, I hope you're right. I really do. I mean, I would, I would hate to see, you know, such a historic coalition come together and then it just fall on its face and we have, you know, two years. And if you listen to some of, you know, whether you're listening to some of what's her name, Slotkin as a senator, or Mark Kelly or, or whoever. I mean, they're.
Albert Eisenberg
Mark Kelly the moderate.
David Rutherford
Yeah, that's right. Mark Kelly the moderate. Who's saying that? And, you know, they're going full tilt. I mean, it's gonna, you know, they're Gonna try and impeach him for 15 different things. They're gonna try and hold Bondi in contempt. They're gonna, you know, all. I mean, it's just. It's gonna be a free for all. And then what they're saying is, once we regain power in 28, you know, 13 justices, Puerto Rico, D.C. on board, you know, getting rid of the filibuster, and then we're. It's just game on. And imagine, you know, the attacks prior to what it's going to be like now. It's gonna be crazy. So, you know, my whole thing is like, all right, stop fixating on, you know, the war between Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson. Enough already. I'm sick of hearing it. Right. And start telling those young kids, those 80 million Zoomers and millennials and even my gener, Gen X. Tell us how you're going to get people employed.
Albert Eisenberg
How are you, what your housing bill is going to do.
David Rutherford
That's right, tell us. Tell us how you're going to create that, that sense of hope or reassurance financially so people can grow into a space. Like, it's not all for nothing. Like, you know, the $200,000 in college debt and the, you know, the $50,000 in credit card debt. Tell me how I'm getting out of this. Right, And I'll vote for you. But if you. You got to fulfill. You got to follow through. So that's what I'm looking for instead of all this other bickering that's going on.
Albert Eisenberg
Yes. And that's why people bring us on a lot of the time. It's like, okay, let's keep our ear to the ground a little bit more with what a regular kind of working person is thinking about. Let's just, let's start with that, with our campaign outreach and our strategies and talking to you. It's interesting. I think a lot of people are feeling pressed and stressed and they're feeling something in the air. It's America at 250, right? We're so proud of our country. I love being American. I'm so glad to live here. But there is a sense of tension and a sense of sort of spinning out in the last 10, 20 years. I mean, social media, it's. It's both sides and like. Like there. There's this feeling of being in each other's throats. I feel like a lot of what we're doing is we're trying to address the outputs, the natural outputs. There's a. I mean, of course, somebody who's 28 who doesn't trust any of the authorities and seen the health establishment, you know, force everybody inside and mask 4 year olds and has been told to take out a bunch of student debt and their degrees worthless. And you know, academia doesn't make any sense and the political establishments corrupt. Like of course they're conspiracy theorists. Of course they're going to believe whoever pops up. Like we're trying to address this at the tail end and what's really a problem is that our establishment has debased itself in a lot of ways and in some if you care about the institutions that exist, which I do, you have to acknowledge that and actually deliver for people.
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David Rutherford
Oh, I think you're spot on. I mean I think the, you know, had Trump come out and at, at a minimum, at just, at a minimum, you know, held someone accountable even, even if, like, even if it's a, you know, if it's someone within the Fauci administration. Right?
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah.
David Rutherford
You know, show they fundamentally lied about where it originated and up of that and the suppression of information or in Russiagate, like show, you know, how Brennan and Clapper went out and basically forced the intelligence services to concoct, you know, some type of bogus thing or go after Gensler who became the head of the sec who completely went after their opponents. Right. And, and butchered a lot of the infra rules and all that. You know, like show us some, some of that. But they, they haven't done that. Yeah, right. And now you compound it by the, the Epstein debacle, you compound it by the no new wars and now we're going to go to a war with Iran whether you want it or not. You know, you said no new wars. So like you said, they're in a major messaging problem. So like if just like my recommendation is just stop talking about any of that. That and just focus on how you're going to help that next generation find, find credible opportunities to be able to have a family in a, in a
Albert Eisenberg
home and a wife.
David Rutherford
And a wife. Right. I mean that's another. Whatever it is. Yeah. I mean it is what it is. I mean so I mean one thing
Albert Eisenberg
that really, you know, Dr. Rachel Levine from Pennsylvania moved her mother into a high end hotel like the day before, the week before signing the order of sending the COVID positive patients into nursing homes. So that's the difference between like Washington establishment world, D.C. beltway world and like regular people's lives the tens of thousands of families who lost relatives in a lot of just kind of like shitty veterans care home kind of places.
David Rutherford
Right.
Albert Eisenberg
Are still forgotten. And where were the hearings? And that just, that to me exemplifies the divide. That's really all of the stuff, all of the ups and downs and the tension we're feeling and the stress and the lack of trust in our establishment is because we don't have people holding those people to account. And it makes me sad.
David Rutherford
I agree. I, I completely agree with you. All right, if you are going to get a call from the RNC tomorrow, what are the top four things that you lay out for them? Starting which to employ? You got, let's say you got $50 million to work with. What are the top four things? And the top four messages you initiate immediately.
Albert Eisenberg
Okay, this is good. Definitely in no particular order, Spanish language and Hispanic surrogates on the border and how we've, we've stopped the flow of, you know, opium, human trafficking that has had ruined and eviscerated these communities and getting sympathetic humans who are Hispanic. Speaking about that, that's one. Yeah, I think a, a multi channel. And when I say multi channel I mean you know, urban radio, influencer marketing, digital mail, campaign for Black voters under 60 on housing, supporting American workers, reshoring economic opportunity, no tax on tips. That's one and two. Number three, I think we need some sort of Gen Z like hey, we hear you type campaign around the housing bill like do something. And then I think we need to do cleanup. I think, I think the Iran war, whatever might be like the hot war might be coming to a temporary close. But I absolutely think we need to be elevating victims of Iranian terrorism. A lot of gold star wives who have lost family members just to share with younger people who didn't grow up with like, you know, the war on terror and whatever. They've seen the after effects.
David Rutherford
But like it kills me when I see the Lebanon argument, right? You know, is like, oh, they massacred 241 Marines back in Lebanon in 1983. And you've got a gigantic portion of voters are like that's fucking ancient history. That's in the 1900s, dude, I don't know what you're talking about. I completely agree that the 600 plus GWOT guys that got killed by those, those V bids and those shape charges and all that. I mean I remember when, when they started when guys were coming back and like dude, we got lit up by these that were built by the IRGC and By the Kurds force. Right, I got it. I mean that. You know, even Joe Kent, you know, who's a staunch advocate against even he acknowledges the profound impact of them, Hezbollah and Hamas. Right. And so it's like the proxies, he understands. And so I think you're right. That messaging towards, towards the reality, towards, towards the whole thing, hey, listen, we're gonna, we, we're, we're checking Iran, we're taking away abilities, but we're going to be out of there in the next 30 days. Right, right. And this is what the thing is. And I think if they can solve that, if they can get that one off their plate.
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah.
David Rutherford
It changes the, the problem.
Albert Eisenberg
Hey, this was not a forever war.
David Rutherford
Yes, yes.
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah, it might have been massive, a mess, it might have been chaotic, we might not have rolled it out that well, but it was not a forever war.
David Rutherford
Yeah, 100%. I, I think that is. And that should be on loop, man. That should be absolutely on loop for sure.
Albert Eisenberg
I'll tell you one other thing. Iran is smart and they know how to wait people out. They would love nothing more than to ruin that message for the midterms. They want the Democrats to win the midterms.
David Rutherford
Have you seen the Lego videos? Have you seen those? I, at first, like, you know, you see both governments putting out like child like videos. I'm like, where are we descending into this?
Albert Eisenberg
Fair point.
David Rutherford
Then you look at the frickin numbers.
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah.
David Rutherford
On I, it's, I mean there was the first one that came out, crossed 100 million views in the first two days. And I'm just like, listen, you're up against, even if it's not an Iranian that's building that, that's some Russian far bought, you know, Russian guy or Russian propaganda, wherever it's coming from, it's still, you're getting destroyed on this stuff now. And it's like, hey man, like let's figure this thing out, get a more concise approach and more sophisticated and say, hey, this is what's going to come. This is what we're working towards. We're good. And then as soon as that's over, man, like you said, pivot. This was not a forever war. Your sons and daughters are not going to Iran. And you tell those young people that. And this was actually a way to secure your future of never going to war. That's the messaging 100%.
Albert Eisenberg
And I mean, for better or for worse. Yeah, Iran does a lot of cyber, a lot of propaganda. They got their absolute clocks cleaned. I mean, tier one of leadership, tier two of leadership. There is no question that militarily, they got their clocks cleaned. The fact that they have veto power over the Strait of Hormuz is very dangerous. Although I think that they overstepped with their attacks in the Gulf, UAE versus Saudi Arabia. Very interesting dynamics. But the cyber warfare and the psyop that they do so well is something we need to combat and take seriously.
David Rutherford
Oh, I agree. I mean, you look at the way Israel is combating it right now against, you know, the rise of anti Semitism or anti Zionism, whatever you want to call it, is exploding. And, you know, they're now, they're finally getting their legs under them and being able to combat it, I think, a little bit more effectively than they did over the last, what, six to eight months, for sure. And now it's starting to be like, okay, because, you know, when you look at the numbers in support of Israel, you know, for boomers, it's off the charts. For Gen X, a little bit lower. For millennials and for zoomers, it's abysmal right now. And so you look at messaging, and it seems like the powers that be, the ones that are entrenched at the top of that food chain, like you were saying, right. People that are connected to policy, people that are connected to big donors, they live in a different perspective. And now, because of the current media situation and the current mess, the way messaging is delivered, I mean, I obviously, 2020 was determined by podcasters, right? You know, my best friend, Sean Ryan, you know, had Trump, Vance, Pat, Caspitel, Tulsi, you know, everybody on, as did Rogan and all the others. And that was a major shift in messaging to reach those younger generations, to have a little bit more genuineness on who the politician is or the person is instead of the politician. But, man, going into this, like, I don't see that with the midterm candidates. Like, I don't see these people. And I think what I'm gauging is that a lot of the people that had the hardcore coalition folks on are feeling a little let down on what they had promised. And so there's this backlash taking place as well, too. But, man, if I was. If I was in your spot and had that opportunity to kind of coach those, the senior ranking members of the Republican National Committee, man, they need to change and do something fast.
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah, we do a lot of suggesting on behalf of, you know, the people who are putting the campaigns into action. We're creating the messages for voters. So there are definitely opportunities. I really believe It. And you know the thing that I mentioned earlier about the Democratic fractures, like I don't believe the Democrats have resolved their fundamental issues. You look at that autopsy, that fake autopsy they issued last week. I mean just on like the gender and sexuality stuff they have and because I work on this quite a bit from like the right on the gay issues. Like they have, no, they have just decided to gloss over because Trump is Trump and they're going to focus on Trump. But that's regular people are still going to be like, but you actually think gender transition for 16 year olds. Okay. Like you don't have an answer on that. None of them have an answer on that.
David Rutherford
No, they don't even, even. And if you remember the inauguration and or when he's he State of the Union and then they did the follow up, the response and they had, they were dancing on the stage and it was kind of this disjointed message and it wasn't very focused. Like I agree with you. I, I think the only reason it won't be a bloodbath for Republicans is because the Democrat Party probably, which is a shame. Right? Which is.
Albert Eisenberg
You wish you could say more, but at least we can say we're not them.
David Rutherford
That's right. Right. And I just, I like you as like hey man, you know, get focused on that, that next generation of voters because you know, I don't care if I talk to a 25 year old kid that's a Republican, a Democrat, a libertarian and independent, man. They're all saying the same shit. They believe every politician is corrupt. They believe the system's rigged against them and they believe there's no real opportunity for them to go out and do what they've been told to do for the last 20 years. Right, right. And, and now all these, these white collar managerial jobs are now they're saying AI is going to just get rid of all of it. So you know, I keep, every time I talk to them, I tell them what Mike Rose says. I said, dude, there's 7 million jobs that are industrial based or service related jobs from an H Vac, a pipe fitter, a welder. My buddy up in central Florida was telling me he, he knows a welder that in one case during peak seasons of building was making like 400 an hour.
Albert Eisenberg
Oh yeah.
David Rutherford
I mean, I mean, and you run
Albert Eisenberg
one of those, you run an H Vac company or a pest control company. I mean you're making a lot more money than I am and that's fine.
David Rutherford
It's crazy. And so how do you take those types of organizations? And what's interesting to me is there's this big push obviously for all the P and E firms and the hedge fund firms they're buying up, they're pulling up four or five of those in an area, then putting them under a portfolio and then selling the portfolio to even the bigger P and E firms or bigger hedge funds too. So it's almost like, like that hole is being polluted as well, too. So, you know, the kid who dropped out of college, you know, at 20 years old, because he's like, why am I taking, you know, these humanities courses that are completely obsolete or coding courses when I can go make $500,000 a year with two employees fixing, you know, fixing air conditioners down in South Florida? I mean, I know this, like contractors down here, like good contractors are, are man. They're worth their weight in goal. If you find somebody who shows up on time, does the work, they're going to tell you and doesn't try and, you know, overcharge you for material, right?
Albert Eisenberg
Yeah, man. I mean, I, I didn't mention this, but my grandpa was a contractor. Basically survived the Holocaust because he had skills. So his whole family was deported and killed and he basically dragged himself and his little brother along with him. He was from Poland and, you know, came to this country with absolutely nothing and ended up building housing first on the job site and then managing the job site all around Chicago. And for people watching, I have some construction material that I pointed out before we started recording. Like I'm self taught on that because, you know, when I was in my late 20s, I. Before all this hyperinflation, I. I thought, you know, there's this societal divide going on right now. And I think, you know, my grandpa was a contractor. I don't even know how to use a drill. And I went to Georgetown and I just, I bought a house in Kensington, Philadelphia, which, if you know that anything about Philly is a rough area. And while I was, while I was building my business and Covid came about, I was also doing a gut renovation myself. And I think that's really important. That keeps me really grounded. And when I get really fed up and stressed about politics. I was just doing this yesterday. I went into my garage and I refinished a table.
David Rutherford
Yeah, that's awesome.
Albert Eisenberg
This is it, you know.
David Rutherford
That's awesome. Albert. I, you know, I think what I'm seeing, thankfully, is I'm seeing there's a. Not only is there an evolution of Republican. An evolution of Republican voters, but there's also an evolution taking place with political strategists as well, too. And I think you're a great representation of what that looks like in its modern form. I really just wish you the best. I think if anybody's struggling out there, they should give you a call for sure. You got great ideas. Where can people follow you? How can they pay attention to what you're doing, what race you're engaged in and just, just track what you're doing and learn from you.
Albert Eisenberg
Well, thank you so much, David. I appreciate the time to be on and I will say to listeners who care about, you know, Republicans doing as much as we can, conservatives do much as much as we can, the campaign dynamics are changing and people are evolving. You know, I would like it to go faster and that's what I do for work. So my firm is called Redbridge. You can go to your redbridge.com. you can find me on X at Albidelphia and maybe on the Dave David Rutherford program show coming up in the future.
David Rutherford
Oh, I'll definitely have you back on because I would love to get your analysis of, of the pre midterms, what messaging you saw work, what doesn't work, that whole thing. Man, I'd love to have you back on. Awesome. Well, Albert, thank you so much. Just really enjoyed our time together and I wish you all the luck in the world.
Albert Eisenberg
Thank you. Ditto.
Jacob Goldstein
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David Rutherford
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This episode features David Rutherford in conversation with Albert Eisenberg, a millennial Republican strategist known for his outreach to minority coalition groups. The central theme is the Republican Party’s recent gains among working-class and minority voters, the pitfalls of failing to deliver for these new constituencies, and the urgent need to refine messaging and strategy before the midterms. The discussion is candid, practical, and intent on diagnosing real problems within GOP strategy—particularly around messaging, coalition maintenance, and generational voter outreach.
This episode is an essential listen for those interested in the real dynamics shaping 2026 midterm politics, the limits of traditional campaign strategy, and what it will take for Republicans to avoid another defeat. Both host and guest speak with urgency, experience, and a ground-level appreciation for the opportunities—and dangers—ahead.