WEBVTT - Part Two: Amway: The Gravedigger of Democracy 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:08.360 What's Truth and the Squad. I'm Robert Evans. This is 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:12.040 part two of our Amia episode and by popular acclaim 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:14.840 Sophie Jack. And they're going to start this by digging 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:17.880 into the fact that when he decided am we needed 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:21.000 it's an internal police force to make sure people weren't 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:26.160 making illegal, fraudulent claims about the products, he what did 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:28.800 you call it? The truth Squad? And he was profiting 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:33.040 off of That made me think of all the you know, 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:38.120 the fact that everything that uh, modern mega companies are 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:43.080 profiting from are are the things that like get the 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:47.480 most most attention and scrutiny from the media, like Facebook 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:52.440 and lies and you know, misinformation, And so they're like, yeah, 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:55.840 we're gonna invest in like squad, like these groups that 0:00:55.880 --> 0:01:00.640 are this like entire branch of our company that's going 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:03.600 to be the Truth Squad or the Facebook equivalent of that, 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:06.280 and then like they just have their knees cut out 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.479 from under them, like the second that nobody's looking, Yeah, 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:13.640 I should just named it the narc squad. And then squad. Yeah, 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:16.720 it's just so COULTI the name. It's just like it's 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:21.200 like triggering. I'm like, yeah, thank you, Jack, Jack, your 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:25.640 kids used the TikTok? Are they talking? Are not old enough? 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:32.160 Because I'm just across a letter. Kevin Barron posted it. 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:35.080 Who's some some guy on Twitter? I don't know that 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:37.280 he got an email from his public school system that 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:39.720 I just want to talk about now. Uh, And it's 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:42.680 about like kids have. There's like a series of escalatingly 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.920 criminal TikTok challenges that kids are putting on each other 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:50.320 in public schools apparently, or at least in schools. Yes, yes, 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.720 September's vandalized school bathrooms that I can confirm from friends 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:56.360 who are teachers that all their school bathrooms have been 0:01:56.400 --> 0:02:00.520 like massively vandalized at a problematic scale, like several of 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:06.240 them are non functional. October is apparently smack a staff member. Um, 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:08.639 I have no idea how accurate the rest of these are. 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.320 But a bunch of kids did vandalize their school bathrooms 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:14.240 for TikTok in September. So there Rember, there was a 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:16.200 there was a thing where they were supposed to be 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:19.639 like stealing the biggest item in the room from schools, 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:21.799 like people, and they would like take like they would 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.320 take like an entire like sink set up from a 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:28.800 bathroom from a school and take it home talk about it, 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:32.079 and it's like, ums, crime, Yeah, that's a crime. Yeah, 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:35.200 a bunch of these are crimes. Januaries apparently, jab abreast 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:40.120 December's deck the halls and show your balls. Um, Februaries 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:44.200 mess up school signs. Um. Yeah, I don't know. It 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:47.640 seems like signs and grab a very different like I 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.519 don't know whose children, I don't know who's decided these 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:52.680 are like the things that are going to be done 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:55.960 that I did walk in on my five year old 0:02:56.000 --> 0:03:00.160 and three year old planning this entire thing out so 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:03.680 that we found the origin point. Yeah, they are the bread, 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:08.040 the nerve center of this entire plot. Um. It feels 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:14.280 suspiciously similar to like, uh, you know, you combine anything 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.040 that's like a new fangled thing that parents don't understand 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:20.280 and you know, maybe a seed of truth of like 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:24.119 some misbehavior, and like it just seems like catnip for 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:28.640 the local news and parents, um yeah and educators. But 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:32.960 you're you're saying that they're actually destroying bathrooms, which I 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:36.240 can confirm that some kids for TikTok challenges have destroyed 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:38.920 bathrooms in a couple of different schools at least where 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:42.080 I am. So there's an extent to which something that 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:44.680 I think, this may just be that like that happened, 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:47.000 there was a TikTok scam or a TikTok not scam, 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.480 but there was like a TikTok thing that like vandaliser 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:51.760 school bathroom for the likes and a bunch of kids 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:55.080 did it, and then school instructors like flip the funk 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.560 out and somebody convinced them that there was a whole 0:03:57.560 --> 0:03:59.520 list of things for the next year. Because I can't 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.880 imagine I can't imagine that a bunch of kids like 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:05.400 planned the next eleven months of TikTok, Like who would 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:09.680 even do that? Right? Too much planning? Too much? Yeah, 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:15.680 jab a breast day, a breast today, created by a 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:20.039 like guidance counselor like I will believe in deck the hall, 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.400 show your balls that that I will believe it that 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:28.159 sprung from the mind of a eight year old. Yeah, yeah, 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:31.000 so I don't know, We'll see it could just be, uh, 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:33.279 it could be a real interesting in the next couple 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:36.960 of months on the talks. So yeah, I have your 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:40.160 teachers alone, I do. I don't mind stealing the biggest 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:42.919 thing in the room and then like returning that is fun. 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:45.120 Like I'm trying to think of the biggest thing, as 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:48.960 always most of I guess it would either be the 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:55.680 teacher's desk or like the whiteboard. Yeah, if you could 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:58.760 steal your teacher's desk, like, props to you, that's impressive. 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:02.560 That is Um, but but it does I mean, destroying 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.880 school bathrooms is not cool, especially during a pandemic. Kind 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:10.800 of a bad idea. That sucks a teacher. That's like 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.839 one less hand washing station that people get. Anything that 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:19.160 violates someone's personal space or like bodily autonomy, like at 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:21.720 the funk out of here. Also, you probably shouldn't be 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:25.240 showing your balls to anyone. But yeah, that's that's problematic 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:28.640 for a number of reasons. Um, if it was I 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.919 don't know, deck the hall steal the school resource officers, 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:38.520 car should probably move on to the episode. Um, okay, 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:43.640 so Jack Robert Toberfest, october Fest. That's the only holiday 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:47.000 I celebrate Jack. Yeah, it's all October for me. I'm 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:50.880 just just I don't know what I'm doing. I never 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:54.159 really stopped to figure out how to celebrate Jacktoberfest. I 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:58.400 just told in my heart just Apple strudles. It's just 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:03.520 strut piles of strudal So Jack. After Gerald Ford got 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.479 Jimmy Carter nineteen seventy six, you know, he was the 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:09.240 big in that van Andel and rich Divos had that 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:11.760 am ways, like political in was when he gets you know, 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:17.120 it's not not president anymore. Um. They didn't give up 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.000 on influencing the government. They just got better at it. 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:23.200 They got into increasingly overt political fundraising. So they moved 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:25.839 from you know, they had started kind of supporting free 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:28.960 enterprise think tanks and putting up propaganda booklets to try 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:32.360 to you know, change hearts and minds. Um. And they 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.440 moved on to just making direct ten thousand dollar donations 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.200 per year to the Republican National Committee. This earned them 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:41.719 the rank of Eagle. If you're curious what that gets you, um, 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:46.800 Richard Divos as usual. Yeah, yeah, it kind of is. Um. Well, 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.719 you know the Republicans love them eagles. Yeah, big, big, 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.200 big on eagles. So ten thousand a year doesn't sound 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:58.280 like that much. Well this is yeah, that's like, I 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:00.280 don't know, a hundred grand. It's a lot of money 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:02.919 more than it is now. Um. And they're also giving 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:04.960 more money, right, this is what they're giving to the party. 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:08.320 But this is like emblematic of the money they're shot 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:12.480 gutting to different conservative causes. Richard DeVos started putting a 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:14.920 lot of money into pushing for more right to work 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:18.800 laws UM, which despite their name, are actually make it 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:22.280 easier for corporations to fire people without cause. Um they're 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:26.280 kind of skirt through like different union uh restrictions and whatnot. 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:29.200 UM divoce pumped a fortune into the Council on a 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:33.360 Union Free Environment, which was an organization dedicated to stopping 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:36.440 making it harder for people to unionize UM. It had 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.280 been founded in nineteen seventy seven, the year he started 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:41.960 giving it money, and he was almost immediately made a director. 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:44.640 We saw this earlier with one of the other groups 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:46.920 that like, this group will start, he'll give them a 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:50.080 bunch of money and then he'll be in charge of them. UM. 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:52.560 So he's technically donating money. I'm sure there's a tax 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:54.760 thing there right where like he pays less taxes because 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:56.920 he's giving these money. But also these are groups that 0:07:56.960 --> 0:08:00.120 he effectively runs and solicits donations from other people, and 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:03.120 they're just all of these different organizations are effectively like 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:08.200 instruments of Richard Divoce's political whims um which he hates 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:11.920 unions um, which because what do you even care about unions? 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:14.760 Richard Divas and weight Like none of them are your employees. 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:17.120 How could you? Like I've been thinking about that, Like 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:23.480 because they go from this uh you know, uh triangularly 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:29.880 shaped financial model uh thing company to like going really 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:34.920 hard in the direction of like being almost like legendarily 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:39.920 uh you know, big influencers in the in the realm 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:44.320 of like conservative politics, in like all these different ways. 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:48.360 And I I feel like there's like, when you look 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:53.840 at the central lie that their family is trying to perpetuate, 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:58.080 it's that they like deserve more than their fair share 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:04.680 rather than less, because they've like who they've morally, they're 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:08.120 like fucked so many people over, Like the amount of 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.480 damage caused by this company where everyone who works for 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:16.400 them loses all their money is like absolutely incalculable, and 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:22.640 so they have to convince themselves that not only that 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:25.600 that's not bad, but that they are worth like billions 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.719 times as much as other people. And I think one 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:32.280 of the ways they do that is by believing that 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:36.680 everyone is lazier than them, and so it's unions would 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:40.199 make it easy for people to be lazy and laziness 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:44.120 at scale. Yeah, yeah, And it's just trying to like 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:49.480 perpetuate this lie across generations, like to make it so 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:55.280 that reality like bends to like kind of your warped 0:09:55.640 --> 0:10:00.280 like hope. And this is how he beens reality too, 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:02.839 because like he believes that his opinion, his beliefs are 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:04.880 worth more than other people's, and he makes that real 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:07.920 because he has all of these different political action organizations 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:10.800 that are lobbying and that are getting donations that he 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:13.760 winds up running either he was the one who orchestrated 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:15.719 them being started, or because he gives so much he 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.560 just winds up in charge. But these are all instruments 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:21.160 of his will that effectively, like he was one of 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:24.199 the earlier, earliest rich people in the country to really 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:28.720 figure out how to make how how to do like 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:30.640 what the Koch brothers do. Right where you have this 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:35.160 sprawling network of think tanks and lobbying groups and influence 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:40.319 operations that all basically exist to make people, to make 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.720 it to the people what you think about the world matters, 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:47.719 and so to keep Charlie Kerk employed. Yeah, and to 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.640 keep Charling the Kirk employed. Now. One of the first 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:54.600 politicians and we went whole hog on electing was Sue Myrick, 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:58.400 who eventually became a congresswoman. She'd initially joined a Way 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:00.719 in nineteen nine two, and by that point she'd been 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:03.720 elected once to the Charlotte, North Carolina City Council. She 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:05.959 lost a bid for mayor in nineteen five, but then 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.200 one in nineteen eighties seven. So she had a history 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:11.240 of trying to get elected, losing and then getting elected 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:13.920 the next election. So she she had a proven ability 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:16.520 to like figure out how to make things work for 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.760 her in in politics. Now, the year she joined am Wish, 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:22.480 she ran for Senate and her campaign did not get 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:24.240 off to a good start because she had a lot 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:27.319 less money than her rival. But once she joined Amway 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.000 as a distributor, the company decided to allow her to 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:33.520 start selling her own motivational tapes at company rallies to 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:35.640 raise money for her campaign, even though she was very 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:39.880 new um am We also donated more than sixteen thousand 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:43.520 dollars to her campaign. Now, she lost this first Senate election, 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:46.120 but am We continued to invest in her, largely because 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.600 she was an effective speaker. They put her on their 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:51.839 national circuit, and she visited hundreds of Amway rallies for 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:54.880 distributors around the world and was able to sell five 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:57.640 and ten dollar audio tapes of her motivational speeches that 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:00.600 went right into her war chest. We've talked about these 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:02.599 tapes a few times, and I should probably provide you 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:06.560 with an example of how they sounded. I have, yeah, 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:09.080 and I don't have any absume my Rick Samway recordings, 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.720 but I did find a video made by her Amway mentor, 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:15.120 Dexter Yeager, who was actually he gave her thirteen thousand 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:17.960 of that sixteen thousand dollars that her campaign got from Amway. 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:20.360 So this is the guy who was like her mentor, 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:23.760 Dexter Yeager. Um, this is a segment from one of 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:26.320 his motivational speeches from I don't know, like thirty something 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:30.880 years ago, Sylvie. I know a guy that was dating 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:34.360 a girl back when he was about sixteen years old. 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.240 And when he dated girls, you always liked to take 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:40.520 them out first class in accordance with his income. And 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:42.720 he had a girl he was dating, but she turned 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:45.000 to him and said, my folks would never allow me 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:48.120 to marry you. You're nothing but a spendthrift and you'll 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:52.240 have nothing ever. And I was that guy. I was 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:54.840 that guy. I don't know where that girl is, but 0:12:54.880 --> 0:13:03.640 I know where this guy is. I can I can 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:09.720 tell you about Dexter and Birdie living on the alley broke. 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.760 Anybody can go down on Courtland av and roam New 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:16.520 York and they can see how we lived. And it 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:19.320 was in a sloppy section. It was a poor section 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:22.240 of town. Don't tell me how bad you got it. 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:25.960 Tell me how good you're gonna get it. Don't tell 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.840 me about your problems, tell me about your dreams. Yeah, 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:34.360 hell yeah, yeah, that's a that's hot ship jack. That 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:38.360 is good American ng can you'll notice again part of 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.839 how like what keeps them safe from getting charged with 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:42.280 the ship they got charged in the past. He's not 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:45.760 like and often generally isn't like making specific promises about 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:47.960 am Way. He's making promises about like the way they 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:51.200 it started out. When these distributors started putting out these 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:53.120 motivate they'll be like they would be saying, like the 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:54.680 am Way. You know, if you sell the way I 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:56.280 tell you to sell, you're gonna be a millionaire in 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:58.520 six months. You'll get rich you'll get and that's illegal. 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.440 What he's doing is very general, and he's getting people. 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:05.480 It makes people believe, yeah, I can become a millionaire too. 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:07.600 It's all on me. It's totally on me to do 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:11.040 the work necessary. But he's also he's very says very 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.480 little about Amway like that's that's a general thing with 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:16.160 a lot of these folks. They're they're making these very 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:19.960 general motivational claims about what you're capable of, which is 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:25.280 not a crime. Um. Yeah, uh so that's cool, um, 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:28.840 but also knows like believing in yourself and not accepting 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:32.440 no for an answer and working the system, and yeah, 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:38.160 it could be a speech at literally any capitalist institution 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.920 about any job. And you say it could be a 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:45.200 speech like literally any capitalist institution. Part of what has 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:47.440 made the kind of speeches that I'm sure a lot 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:49.040 of people listening. You've gone to some sort of like 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:52.200 corporate event where somebody saying ship like that came up 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:55.000 just to motivate you, not necessarily for a scam, just 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:56.920 because like your company was like, well, let's hire a 0:14:56.960 --> 0:15:00.920 motivational speaker. Right. The reason they all sound like Dexter 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:04.520 Yeager is because they're all copying. Guys like Dexter Yeager 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:07.080 and other people at Amway right like it. They helped 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:10.440 invent the concept of these kinds of motivational speeches that 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:13.480 are now everywhere you know, and there's other people too. 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.000 I don't want to pretend like this all came from 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:18.480 his mind, but this is really when this ship starts 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.880 happening the seventies and eighties, and by the nineties it's 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:26.440 it's a finely tuned machine. So Sue's doing the Amway circuit. 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:28.960 She's selling tapes, probably a lot like what we just played, 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:31.680 but with you know a lady Um and Dexter Yeager 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.640 who did that would regularly record messages about her and 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.880 he would put them out to Amway distributors via am Vox, 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:40.880 which was a voice messaging line. Am Way members were 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:44.560 encouraged to pay to have access to Richard de Vos, 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.400 an other high ranking Amway Grifters would often use it 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.320 to push members towards political action. We'll talk a little 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:53.120 bit more about that in a second. So when Sue 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.480 Erick runs for send it again in Nur, Yeager sends 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.320 out am Vox messages to everyone in his down line 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:01.920 Um and gets them to donate to her. Now this was, 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:05.560 as mother Jones will argue, very likely a crime. Quote 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.800 those messages may violate campaign laws. The use of corporate 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:12.320 resources on behalf of a federal campaign as illegal, says 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.120 Kenneth Cross, a former head of enforcement at the FEC. 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.640 Gross says that if Yeager used the voicemail system for fundraising, 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.200 the law required either am WE or Yeager to report 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:23.520 it as an in kind contribution that should have been 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.800 reimbursed by the Myrit campaign. If corporate resources are not 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:30.040 properly reimbursed, then it would result in a violation of 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:33.520 federal election laws. Gross says there is no FEC record 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:35.760 of any such contribution from am WE or from Yeager, 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.600 and WE spokesman Robert Loam says that Yeager rinse the 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:42.160 ambox service for per month. What he does with it 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:45.640 is his business. Liam said, Yeager would not Yeah, so 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.280 you get it right like you get and it worked 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:50.800 right like. Yeah, maybe it was illegal, but they didn't 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:54.680 get charged for it because I think that he gave 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.080 them enough of an excuse and they had enough people 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:00.480 in power that were sympathetic to am WE that nobody 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:03.200 went after them for this. And the messages worked. A 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:05.520 review of the FEC filing shows that at least a 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.320 hundred and seventy one am We distributors and family members, 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:10.320 a hundred and forty three of whom did not live 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.560 in my ricks home state, gave my ricks campaign more 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:16.960 than a hundred and seventy eight thousand dollars in that 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:19.560 is election. When you're talking about, like us a Senate 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:24.439 race like that, that's enough to tip a fucking election. Um. Yeah. Also, 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:28.480 just every time you mentioned like a new Amway product 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:33.800 for the distributor is like am vox or the these 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:40.719 motivational tapes. I'm just like seeing a person who like 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:44.600 is like see somebody else using it and is like jealous. 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.040 They're like, Wow, they're hot. Ship they have access to 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:50.600 am vox and then like they you know, sell all 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:54.040 their kids toys so they can like pay for for 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:58.680 access to m vox. It's just like so dark and 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:04.359 so profoundly American. Yeah, dark and profoundly American is the 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:09.000 Amway motto. Now flush with real cash this time, Sue 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:12.399 Myrick won her Senate campaign. Once she was in office, 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:15.040 she wasted no time in co sponsoring a home office 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:18.440 deductibility bill, which offered tax write offs for independent contractors 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:21.160 who used their homes as offices, and was heavily pushed 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:23.680 by Amway. She pushed a bunch of bills that specifically 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:25.920 were in order to reduce the tax burden on people 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:29.479 who worked for Amway. On July, the day before Amway 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:32.159 announced a one point three million dollar donation to the 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:35.920 Republican Convention, Bob Dole announced his support for Sue's bill. 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:39.119 It's all very direct. You know, they fund her. She 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:41.920 pushes this bill, they give up one point three million 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:44.600 to the Republican Party. The next day, Bob Dole announces 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:49.320 he supports the bill like obviously right, Like it's not illegal, 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:54.119 it is corrupt um now uh. And also you know, 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:56.399 I I will admit, like when we're talking about the 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:59.520 scale of crimes and ways committed, a home office deductibility 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:02.199 bill is not the shadiest thing an elected leader has 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:05.000 ever pushed. I'm just laying this path out because it's 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:08.080 illustrative of how the company wields influence for a variety 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:11.479 of purposes, all geared towards protecting the profitability of Amway 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:14.320 for the people at the top. As myrick became and 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:16.320 stopping things from like the f There's a reason the 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:18.960 FEC didn't look into ship, right. There's a reason why 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:22.320 this stuff that might be illegal never gets prosecuted, and 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:26.320 it's because they've get friends in high places. Myrick became 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:30.119 very popular within the GOP. Speaker Newt Gingridge appointed her 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:33.000 as a freshman senator to the Budget Committee, which is 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:37.240 not like that's a very powerful position, like the big 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:41.399 deal and yeah, she's a freshman senator and gets in there. Um. 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:44.520 This was widely seen as Gingridge supplicating what became known 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.879 as the Amway Caucus, which concluded three other senators at 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:51.320 this point. So four senators are all like Amway distributors. 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:54.080 One of these senators, Jack has the best name I've 0:19:54.080 --> 0:20:00.440 ever encountered for a senator. Give it to me. Dick Chrysler. What, Yeah, 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:04.760 Dick Chrysler. There's a senator named Dick Chrysler. Yeah, well, 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:07.600 at least there wasn't the early nineties. Yeah, Dick Chrysler 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:17.119 and his his his Democratic rival Cockford. Dick Chrysler. Chrysler. 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:20.240 What an incredible name for an Amway distributor who becomes 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:22.760 a senator. Chrystler, here to tell you about the most 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.440 incredible opportunity. You never got to have to make a fortune. 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:30.720 Oh my god, is that Dick Chrysler not his actual 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:34.680 like given name. That is one of the great works 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:39.800 of like authorship of all time. Whoever came up with 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:44.000 a named Dick Chrysler. Dick Chrysler, Richard Chrysler, Yeah, that's 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:48.520 his real name. Politician from Michelin, Michigan in Minnesota, but 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:52.840 of course, yeah, Chrysler, so Michigan. Yeah, Dick Chrysler in 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:57.280 office from N. S. Martin. He does look a bit 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:00.200 like Steve Martin. If Steve Martin looked kind of more 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:04.040 like Ship. Yeah, if Steve Martin looked a little bit 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:09.240 more like Ship, he would look like Dick Chrysler, just 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:14.800 like like he looks like Steve Martin got tanned by 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:20.280 just on his forehead though, just a forehead, like haphazardly 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:26.680 had himself like like sprayed with brown face or something. 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:30.480 It's amazing because the way the shading looks in this photo, 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:32.879 he's clearly a white man, but it also looks like 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:35.600 he's wearing white face because of that shade at the head. Hair. 0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:41.600 He's skinning like the scalpist. What is happening? Yeah, nobody 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:44.960 taught him how to correctly blend his makeup. What a 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:49.359 fascinating looking man. Also, the person who succeeded him had 0:21:49.359 --> 0:21:53.920 an incredible name, Debbie stab Now this is just like 0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:58.280 old mine. Yeah, what an incredible Michigan. Something's going on 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:02.800 with people's names and fucking against Shout out to Michigan 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:06.400 for some entertainingly named legislators, at least one of whom 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:10.879 was a corrupt Amway chill um so. And we acknowledged 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:13.159 the existence of the Amway Caucus. In fact, they kind 0:22:13.200 --> 0:22:16.800 of celebrated it. Company lobbyist John Gartland told Mother Jones 0:22:16.800 --> 0:22:19.320 that the caucus would meet with him to discuss legislation 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:22.520 or set up conversations between senators and high level and 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:25.919 weight distributors. Quote, we'll tell them man Way's opinion. We 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:30.520 can't guarantee their votes, but they love Amway. There we go, 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:34.280 And so long as the Amway Caucus voted the right way, 0:22:34.359 --> 0:22:37.320 they could count on a virtually limitless source of funding 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:42.000 from Mother Jones. Karen Karen and Craig Jones, both former distributors, 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:44.840 attended one rally where Sue Myrick spoke. She got up 0:22:44.840 --> 0:22:47.040 with her husband and said you're the kind of people 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:50.600 we like, Karen says after Myrick speech, a Way leaders 0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:53.920 passed around buckets for contributions and asked donors to write 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:56.840 their names and the names of their Amway sponsors or 0:22:56.960 --> 0:23:00.760 upline on the envelope. Karen's husband Craig ads it wasn't 0:23:00.840 --> 0:23:02.720 like you need to do this or else. It was 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:05.440 more like, if you're smart and you want your business 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:08.320 to grow, I'm sure your upline was aware if you 0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:14.320 gave or if you didn't, so that's fucked up, um, 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:19.119 but not leg It's all just social pressure and like 0:23:19.200 --> 0:23:23.480