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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. Welcome to Battleground Podcast, the show where we

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Speaker 1: Never retreat and Never surrender. I'm Sean Parnell, I'm your host.

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Speaker 1: So I want you to imagine something. You're twenty two

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Speaker 1: years old. You're on a European trip with your friends

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Speaker 1: who are also in their twenties. You're on a train,

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Speaker 1: you hear gunshots, you emerge from your cabin, and you

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Speaker 1: see a terrorist holding an AK forty seven. What would

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Speaker 1: you do in that situation? Would you run? Would you hide?

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Speaker 1: Would you fight? Many of us probably aren't quite sure.

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Speaker 1: So this week I've got an amazing guest who can

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Speaker 1: talk about exactly how he reacted in that scenario. And

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Speaker 1: his name is Alex Scarlatos. He's an amazing guy.

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Speaker 2: He is the.

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Speaker 1: Paris train attack hero. He and his friend he wrote

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Speaker 1: this incredible book called The fifteen seventeen to Paris. That

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Speaker 1: book was also a movie written and directed by Clint Eastwood.

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Speaker 1: He was the star of that movie. Alex Carlato's also

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Speaker 1: ran for Congress twice and oh, by the way, he's

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Speaker 1: only thirty years old. He's lived a pretty amazing life.

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Speaker 1: Oh and we also talk about his time on Dancing

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Speaker 1: with the Stars where he placed third. So he's done

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Speaker 1: it all, and like I said, he's only thirty years old.

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Speaker 1: But this episode is one of my favorites because the

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Speaker 1: guy has lived just an extraordinary life and so I

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Speaker 1: hope you enjoy it. Without further ado, here's my conversation

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Speaker 1: with Alec. Hey, Alec, welcome to the show man. It's

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Speaker 1: great to have you. It's great to catch up. Just

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Speaker 1: for people who are watching and listen. I've known Alec

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Speaker 1: since twenty twenty. We both ran congressional races together in

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Speaker 1: swing districts. Alec ran in Oregon, obviously I ran in

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Speaker 1: western Pennsylvania. But it's great to see you, man.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, good to see it again.

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Speaker 1: It's been a while, it has it has so just

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Speaker 1: so everybody's tracking, like you're out there on the West coast,

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Speaker 1: So I'm not sure if a lot of people on

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Speaker 1: the East coast are tracking your story, although you have

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Speaker 1: kind of a national story, so I'm pretty sure that

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Speaker 1: they are. But so you're you're a National Guard guy, right,

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Speaker 1: you deployed as part of the National Guard. You come home,

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Speaker 1: you stop a terrorist attack on a train. You wrote

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Speaker 1: the book fifteen seventeen to Paris, Right, you filmed a

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Speaker 1: movie with Clint Eastwood, and really, I mean Alec, like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I always feel sheepish and stupid when people say this

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Speaker 1: to me, But you really are a hero man. You

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Speaker 1: saved a ton of innocent lives out there, and yeah,

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Speaker 1: I got all all sorts of shit. It's true. It's true.

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Speaker 1: If you weren't there to stop that guy with the gun,

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Speaker 1: how many people you think would have died on that train.

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Speaker 2: I don't know, at least a handful. I mean, he

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Speaker 2: was having some issues with the gun. But I always

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Speaker 2: tell people I feel like I would qualify as a

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Speaker 2: hero if we were in like a cafe or something

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Speaker 2: and I had the option to run away, but we didn't.

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Speaker 2: But we didn't have that option. We were in the

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Speaker 2: front of a train going on like one hundred and

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Speaker 2: fifty miles an hour, and he was behind us, so

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Speaker 2: we had no exits. We couldn't jump off, we couldn't

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Speaker 2: even hide really, so our only option was to get

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Speaker 2: after the guy, and luckily it all worked out. I mean,

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Speaker 2: there's a lot of things that went into it, which

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Speaker 2: I can get into later if you want, but I

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Speaker 2: mean we were just happy to survive. We were just

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Speaker 2: doing it. To save ourselves and to save each other.

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Speaker 1: I mean, now, like you know, all cards on the table.

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Speaker 1: I didn't intend to get into that conversation as fast

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Speaker 1: as we did. But since we're there, I mean, the

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Speaker 1: story garnered glowention, you know, and I remember watching it

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Speaker 1: unfold on the news, thinking like, that's freaking amazing. You know,

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Speaker 1: two Americans. I think you had a It wasn't just

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Speaker 1: you two Americans in a brit right.

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Speaker 2: It was so it was me my best friend from childhood, Spencer,

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Speaker 2: since I've known since I was five, who was in

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Speaker 2: the Air Force. And then our other friend Anthony, who

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Speaker 2: was a college student. He joined us for the trip

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Speaker 2: as well. And then yeah, a French American dual citizen

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Speaker 2: was one of the guys that initially tried to stop

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Speaker 2: him and got shot in the neck. And then the

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Speaker 2: other guy, a British gentleman, helped us tie him up

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Speaker 2: at the end of it.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's crazy, and obviously you're super humble about it,

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Speaker 1: but you got a it was a global story. You

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Speaker 1: want all sorts of awards, I mean, And then and

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Speaker 1: then we got to talk about this. You get invited

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Speaker 1: to be on Dancing with the Stars, where you placed third,

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Speaker 1: which I got to hear all about that, but like,

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Speaker 1: putt put me in in your shoes, Like, how did

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Speaker 1: you even know or when did it become apparent to

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Speaker 1: you that this guy was a threat? I mean, obviously,

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Speaker 1: if the guy's toting around at AK forty seven, it's

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Speaker 1: pretty obvious. But he didn't walk onto the train with

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Speaker 1: that right.

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Speaker 2: Now, So what had happened was? I mean, we were

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Speaker 2: just sitting there. Spencer was on the aisle seat next

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Speaker 2: to me. We now call the aisle seat the combat seat.

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Speaker 2: He was on the aisle seat. I was on the

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Speaker 2: window seat, and he was asleep, and I was just

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Speaker 2: playing on my phone, and I, uh, I just hear

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Speaker 2: what sounds like a gunshot and breaking glass come from

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Speaker 2: behind us. And I really didn't know what to think

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Speaker 2: of it at the time, to be honest, Like I

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Speaker 2: put my head up and I was like, huh, that's weird.

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Speaker 2: And then I see a train employee running away from

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Speaker 2: the noise of a full sprint, which is also unusual

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Speaker 2: to see on a train, running to the front of

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Speaker 2: the train, and so I turned back to see what

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Speaker 2: he's running away from, and I see a shirtless guy

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Speaker 2: with an AK forty seven, I mean, very very stereotypical

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Speaker 2: terrorist vibe, and I turn around Duck behind the seats.

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Speaker 2: Spencer woke up at that point, turned around to see

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Speaker 2: what I was looking at with such a scared look

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Speaker 2: in my eye, and Duck down next to me, and

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Speaker 2: pretty much before we could even think of anything, I

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Speaker 2: hit him on the shoulder and I say something like

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Speaker 2: let's go, or go get him or.

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Speaker 1: Something like that, and god, man, that's awesome.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, without hesitation, he got up and tackled the guy

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Speaker 2: and went.

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Speaker 1: From there without hesitation. So Spencer gets up out of

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Speaker 1: a dead sleep and goes and tackles this dude. Pretty much,

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Speaker 1: so it was did he sleep through the gunshot or

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Speaker 1: did you wake him up?

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Speaker 2: No, he slept through the gunshot. He had like a

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Speaker 2: bo's headphones on, you know, with noise canceling and all that,

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Speaker 2: and so I think what probably stirred him out of

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Speaker 2: his sleep was the train employee running by the full

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Speaker 2: sprint and then and you know, he woke up, realized

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Speaker 2: something was going on, turned around to see what I

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Speaker 2: was looking at, saw what I saw, and again I

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Speaker 2: just hit him on the shoulder and said let's go,

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Speaker 2: and he immediately took off after the guy tackled him.

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Speaker 2: I made it all the way to him, tackled him.

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Speaker 2: I honestly didn't even know that he had left it first.

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Speaker 2: It was like I'm duck down in between like these

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Speaker 2: two seats, like looking back, and so I'm like peeking

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Speaker 2: between these two seats and like, Spencer, let's go. And

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Speaker 2: then like before I know it, I see him cross

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Speaker 2: like my path of the vision towards the terrace. I'm like, oh, shoot,

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Speaker 2: he left.

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Speaker 1: I was like I met, like, you know, let's go.

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Speaker 2: In a second, after he kills a few people, has

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Speaker 2: to reload, maybe gets a little bit closer, but he

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Speaker 2: just full on runs at the guy probably I don't know,

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Speaker 2: ten twelve yards away, makes it all the way to him,

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Speaker 2: tackles him. I follow him. You know, Spencer was working

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Speaker 2: on getting him in a choke hold, and so I

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Speaker 2: pick up the AK forty seven that's on the ground.

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Speaker 2: I try to shoot the terrace with it, but it's

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Speaker 2: on safety Before I can figure out what to do

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Speaker 2: with it. The terrace then has a handgun out and

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Speaker 2: he's trying to line it up with Spencer's head, who's

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Speaker 2: behind him choking him and so I dropped the ak,

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Speaker 2: probably the handgun out of his hands, hit him in

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Speaker 2: the face a few times with that, and then Spencer's yells,

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Speaker 2: he's got a knife, He's got a knife, get him

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Speaker 2: off me. And he'd pulled out a six inch extendable

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Speaker 2: breakable box cutter and was cutting Spencer on the back

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Speaker 2: of the neck, trying to get his carot it and

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Speaker 2: actually came pretty close, so Spencer kicked him off of him.

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Speaker 2: At that point, Anthony had joined us, and all three

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Speaker 2: of us were just kind of punching him, kicking him,

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Speaker 2: doing whatever we could do to survive and not get injured.

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Speaker 2: And then finally I still have the handgun, so Spencer

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Speaker 2: and I kind of get control of him and I

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Speaker 2: put the handgun to the back of his head and

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Speaker 2: I say stop resisting, stop resisting. And you know, it's

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Speaker 2: a single action Browning high power, so I see the

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Speaker 2: hammers cocked back, I take it off safety and I

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Speaker 2: pull the trigger. Nothing happens. Cycle it realized that magazine

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Speaker 2: was not even in the gun. It was empty. And

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Speaker 2: what had actually happened was before we got involved, a

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Speaker 2: French American dual citizen and another Frenchman were waiting to

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Speaker 2: use the restroom, and the terrorist was in the restroom

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Speaker 2: for so long that you know, they thought something was

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Speaker 2: going on or maybe there was something wrong with him.

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Speaker 2: And finally he comes out of the restroom after being

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Speaker 2: in there for like fifteen minutes, and these two guys

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Speaker 2: see the terrorists with the AK forty seven across the

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Speaker 2: front of his body and all that, and so the

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Speaker 2: frenchman grabs the terrorist by the neck like this, facing him,

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Speaker 2: and then Mark, the French American dual citizen, goes to

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Speaker 2: grab the AK forty seven and they start fighting. And

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Speaker 2: again this is before we knew it was going on. Basically,

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Speaker 2: after a struggle, Mark ends up getting the AK forty

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Speaker 2: seven from the terrace, runs to the front of the train.

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Speaker 2: The terrorist pulls the handgun out of his waistband accidentally

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Speaker 2: drops the magazine when he does so, shoots one round,

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Speaker 2: hitting Mark in the neck, which was the gun shot

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Speaker 2: and breaking glass that we initially heard. And then the

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Speaker 2: train employee running away from that as well, because he

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Speaker 2: the train employee went over there to break them up

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Speaker 2: because he thought it was a regular fight, and that

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Speaker 2: was how the terrorist was able to pull the hand

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Speaker 2: get out, and that was how Mark was able to

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Speaker 2: get away with the AKA. But anyway, so he shot him.

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Speaker 2: Gun cycled like it was loaded because there was no

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Speaker 2: magazine to hold it back, and so by the time

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Speaker 2: I got it, I thought it was loaded. It turns

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Speaker 2: out it wasn't, so we throw the gun. Spencer puts

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Speaker 2: him in another choke hold on the opposite side of

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Speaker 2: the aisle. I picked the AK forty seven back up,

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Speaker 2: hit him in the face a few times with it,

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Speaker 2: and then I watched him going conscious from Spencer's choke hold,

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Speaker 2: and Spencer's pretty upset with him, you know, so he's

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Speaker 2: continuing to choke him even though the terrorist isn't conscious.

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Speaker 2: And then I, you know, I look over and I

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Speaker 2: see Mark, who again we didn't know at the time,

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Speaker 2: didn't know what happened. He's trying to stand up in

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Speaker 2: the middle of the aisle with blood squirting out of

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Speaker 2: his neck, and once again, being the good friend that

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Speaker 2: I am, I say, Spencer, go get that guy. And

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Speaker 2: to be fair, Spencer was an EMT in the Air Force,

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Speaker 2: so I knew that was right up his lane, you know,

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Speaker 2: And so he throws the terrace on the ground, crawls over,

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Speaker 2: puts two fingers in Mark's neck wound and stops the bleeding,

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Speaker 2: and I took the AK forty seven. Chris, the British

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Speaker 2: gentleman that you mentioned, he offered to help us tie

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Speaker 2: him up or to watch the terrorists, so I just say,

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Speaker 2: you know, keep an eye on and make sure he

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Speaker 2: stays unconscious. I take the AK forty seven. I take

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Speaker 2: it off safety and go to cycle it because I

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Speaker 2: think it's not loaded since Nolin got shot with it

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Speaker 2: to my knowledge, and around it. Jacks from the chamber

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Speaker 2: lands on the seat next to me, and I can

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Speaker 2: tell by looking at it that there's a dent in

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Speaker 2: the back of the primer, and I pick it up.

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Speaker 2: Sure enough, there's a solid strike in the back of

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Speaker 2: the primer. So at some point, whether it's Spencer, Mark

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Speaker 2: or someone he had tried to fire the AK forty

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Speaker 2: seven and it just bad ammunition, bad cheap, old Russian ammunition,

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Speaker 2: and so we got incredibly lucky there as well. I

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Speaker 2: took the AK forty seven check to the rest of

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Speaker 2: the train to make sure there was no other terrorists

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Speaker 2: or wounded passengers. I come back and load everything. The

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Speaker 2: British guy had hog tied the terrorist, which was actually

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Speaker 2: pretty convenient for us. And then I walk over and

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Speaker 2: I help Spencer with Mark's medical care, gather up all

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Speaker 2: the weapons and ammunition for the next twenty minutes until

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Speaker 2: we got to the train station. But to be honest,

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Speaker 2: I didn't think Mark was going to survive. He had

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Speaker 2: lost a tremendous amount of blood. But we made it

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Speaker 2: to the train station. He survived. Terrorist was fine. I mean,

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Speaker 2: everything worked out the way it was supposed to.

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Speaker 1: God, Alec. I mean, were you worried at any point

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Speaker 1: that there were other terrorists on the train and he

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Speaker 1: was just the opening attack.

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Speaker 2: Like theoretically I was. That's why I took the AK

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Speaker 2: forty seven and loaded it. I mean that was kind

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Speaker 2: of when our training started to kick in. Was in

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Speaker 2: the aftermath. You know, security is always the first priority

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Speaker 2: of work.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely right.

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Speaker 2: I was like, you know, yes, this guy got shot,

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Speaker 2: that Spencer's handling that this guy's handling terrorist. I'm going

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Speaker 2: to go check the train and make sure nothing else

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Speaker 2: is going on. And I mean I took the AK

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Speaker 2: forty seven because I didn't frankly trust the French to

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Speaker 2: handle it, and I didn't just want to leave it there.

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Speaker 2: I thought that there was the possibility of another terrorist.

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Speaker 2: But you know, I wasn't hearing any gunshots, I wasn't

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Speaker 2: hearing any other screaming or anything. So my main concern

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Speaker 2: was just that he had killed a few people before

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Speaker 2: he got to our train car, and that's really what

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Speaker 2: I was going to check, make sure there was no

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Speaker 2: other people bleeding out that we weren't paying attention to.

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Speaker 1: Today, I want to talk about something that's been on

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Speaker 1: the minds of many Americans lately, energy independence. With rising

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Speaker 1: energy prices and geopolitical tensions, it's more important than ever

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Speaker 1: for our country to be self sufficient when it comes

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Speaker 1: to our energy needs. And that's where Deep Well Services

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Speaker 1: comes in. They're a company that's not only dedicated to

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Speaker 1: delivering top not services to the oil and gas industry,

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Speaker 1: but they're also committed to the goal of American energy independence.

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Speaker 1: How much of your reaction do you attribute to your

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Speaker 1: training in the army or the Air Force. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I know you said it didn't really kick in until after,

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Speaker 1: but you know, Spencer might have charged the guy first,

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Speaker 1: but you weren't far behind him, and so I got

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Speaker 1: to believe that your training took over almost as soon

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Speaker 1: as you heard that gunshot. I mean, Alec, as soon

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Speaker 1: as you heard that gunshot, you're you're you weren't running away,

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Speaker 1: you were looking towards the threat to see what was

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Speaker 1: going on.

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean, to be honest, like, the military doesn't

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Speaker 2: train you for stuff like that. You know, they don't

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Speaker 2: train you to get an engagements when you're unarmed in

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Speaker 2: the other person out of a da K forty seven.

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Speaker 2: So for that, I got to chalk it up to

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Speaker 2: just the fact that I've known Spencer my whole life,

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Speaker 2: like since we were five years old. We were neighbors

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Speaker 2: growing up, like our families are still very close to

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Speaker 2: this day. And our other friend, Anthony, we'd known since

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Speaker 2: we were in middle school. So I think it was

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Speaker 2: just really like growing up in this day and age,

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Speaker 2: Like we joked about stuff like that, like if there

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Speaker 2: was ever a shooter at school, like we'd tackle them,

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Speaker 2: or what would you do? You know, just talking about theoreticals,

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Speaker 2: even though you know, I think none of us really

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Speaker 2: took it seriously. When you just know someone for that long,

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Speaker 2: when the chips are down, you know they're going to

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Speaker 2: have your back. And that's pretty much what happened, you know,

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Speaker 2: Like Spencer ran at the guy. He knew I was

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Speaker 2: going to have his back. I knew that, you know,

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Speaker 2: the terroff wasn't going to be able to kill all

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Speaker 2: three of us, so hopefully one of us would be

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Speaker 2: able to stop them, you know, And I mean, again selfishly,

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Speaker 2: we weren't thinking about the rest of the train. We

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Speaker 2: were just thinking about saving our own lives and saving

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Speaker 2: each other, and it all worked out the way it

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Speaker 2: was supposed to. I mean, like I said, we just

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Speaker 2: we just known each other for so long, we're all

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Speaker 2: on the same page. And then yeah, the military training

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Speaker 2: kicked in, you know, during the fight a little bit. Fortunately,

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Speaker 2: I just bought my first AK forty seven like two

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Speaker 2: or three months prior, so I was familiar with how

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Speaker 2: they worked. I owned nineteen eleven, so I knew how

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Speaker 2: burning high power worked. You know, just a lot of

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Speaker 2: little things that kind of went into not necessarily our reaction,

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Speaker 2: but what happened. You know, Spencer did Brazilian jiu jitsu,

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Speaker 2: so he was able to choke the terror subconscious fairly easily.

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Speaker 2: You know, I had all the weapons that the terrorist

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Speaker 2: had more or less. Spencer was an EMT. He was

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Speaker 2: able to save Mark's life. You know, me being infantry,

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Speaker 2: I knew that security was the first priority at work.

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Speaker 2: Like all these little things in and out of the

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Speaker 2: military that we just kind of grew up doing or

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Speaker 2: knowing or learning just kind of came into play all

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Speaker 2: the right time.

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Speaker 1: What was going through your mind as all of that

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Speaker 1: was unfolding, I mean.

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Speaker 2: Honestly, I didn't really have time to think about anything.

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Speaker 2: We didn't even have time to think or plan our reaction,

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Speaker 2: and it's probably good that we didn't. I mean, we

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Speaker 2: were just trying to stay alive. It was just focused

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Speaker 2: on the task at hand, you know, like get the gun,

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Speaker 2: try to shoot him, get the other gun, hit him

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Speaker 2: with it, like you know. It was just very responsive.

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Speaker 2: I didn't really have time to think about anything until

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Speaker 2: after he was already unconscious, and then I thought, okay,

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Speaker 2: what should we be doing next? And that's when I

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Speaker 2: took the AK forty seven, came back, checked on Mark's

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Speaker 2: medical care. I'm like, he's lost a lot of blood.

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Speaker 2: He's probably not gonna make it. I'm gonna cut his

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Speaker 2: shirt off and look for other injuries. Spencer, of course,

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Speaker 2: was keeping his I think carotid artery shut the whole time,

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Speaker 2: you know, so it would lead to death. But I mean,

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Speaker 2: he had lost so much blood. I frankly didn't think

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Speaker 2: he was going to make it. So it's a good

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Speaker 2: thing Spencer had faith in him. But yeah, I didn't

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Speaker 2: really reflect on anything until after things had calmed down.

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Speaker 2: Anthony actually took a little cell phone video I think,

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Speaker 2: right about the time I came back from checking our

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Speaker 2: rest of the train and was unloading the weapons, and

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Speaker 2: we were joking like immediately just about like I was like, oh, man,

368
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Speaker 2: I tried to shoot him, and Anthony's like he did.

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Speaker 2: Like I was just like, that's crazy, you know, Like

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Speaker 2: we were just talking like friends do about holy crap,

371
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Speaker 2: I can't believe this happened, and joking with one another,

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Speaker 2: frankly being a little bit too cavalier because Spencer is

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Speaker 2: still holding this guy's neck womb shut and we're just,

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Speaker 2: you know, casually joking about it.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's just.

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Speaker 2: Kind of weird the different reactions people have from adrenaline.

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Speaker 2: I mean, Spencer wanted to kill the terrorist, which is understandable.

378
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Speaker 2: Anthony and I were joking about the entire situation immediately afterwards,

379
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Speaker 2: while there's a guy bleeding to death who we didn't

380
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Speaker 2: know if he was going to make it or not.

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Speaker 2: I mean, everyone just kind of reacts differently to the adrenaline.

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Speaker 2: And definitely the biggest adrenaline Russia I've ever felt in

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Speaker 2: my life, that's for sure.

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Speaker 1: Man, Ain't that the truth? I mean, you know, having

385
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Speaker 1: been in combat, like when you find yourself in situations

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Speaker 1: like that where someone's trying to kill you and you

387
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Speaker 1: don't even know them. I found that Alec to be

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Speaker 1: one of the most surreal and I mean, I'll just

389
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Speaker 1: say scary moments of being a young infantry platoon leader

390
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Speaker 1: in afghan you know, just a personal anecdote from me.

391
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Speaker 1: You know, I was Eastern Afghanistan. First day we're there,

392
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Speaker 1: We're getting shot at and I'm thinking, oh my god, like,

393
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Speaker 1: these people want to kill me and they don't even

394
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Speaker 1: know who I am. They don't know anything about me.

395
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Speaker 1: They just want me dead because I'm an American. And

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Speaker 1: you're right, like when that happens, I mean something, I

397
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Speaker 1: feel like something changes in you. Do you feel that way.

398
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Speaker 2: I don't really feel any different, to be honest. It

399
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Speaker 2: just kind of what's the word I'm looking for, almost

400
00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:35,560
Speaker 2: gives you like a sense of confidence, like I've done

401
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Speaker 2: this one really hard thing. I have confidence in the

402
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Speaker 2: rest of my life that I can do other hard things.

403
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Speaker 2: You know, I'm not sure if I would have had

404
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Speaker 2: the balls to run for Congress at twenty seven or

405
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Speaker 2: the first time I ran for Congress had I not

406
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Speaker 2: had that experience. And in a way, it's almost like

407
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Speaker 2: nothing else gets me excited, Like I don't get in.

408
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Speaker 2: I don't want to rush from small things anymore. I

409
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Speaker 2: wouldn't really say it's changed my personality or anything like that,

410
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Speaker 2: but it's definitely given me an appreciation for life, you know,

411
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Speaker 2: knowing we probably should have died that day, you know,

412
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Speaker 2: you appreciate everything else going going forward.

413
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Speaker 1: Do you still think about the attack?

414
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Speaker 2: Not too often anymore. I mean for a while there,

415
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Speaker 2: probably like the first two or three years, I thought

416
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Speaker 2: about it every day and haven't even like a little

417
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Speaker 2: bit of diet PTSD, but kind of wore off, and

418
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Speaker 2: now I really don't think about it anymore.

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Speaker 1: To be honest, when you said he thought about it

420
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Speaker 1: every day, what was that like for you? In what

421
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Speaker 1: way did you think about it?

422
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Speaker 2: Not necessarily negative, but you know, it was such a

423
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Speaker 2: big part of our lives, you know, between doing the

424
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:54,520
Speaker 2: book and the movie and everything, like, we had to

425
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Speaker 2: think about it for a lot of reasons. And you know,

426
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Speaker 2: when it's something that's just like that I don't want

427
00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:03,320
Speaker 2: to say traumatic, but that crazy of a thing that

428
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Speaker 2: happen to you, you do think about it, like, man,

429
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Speaker 2: I shouldn't even you know, you'll just be driving along

430
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Speaker 2: looking at how pretty the view is on the side

431
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:11,760
Speaker 2: of the road, and you're like, man, look at that

432
00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:14,399
Speaker 2: look at that river, Like I shouldn't even be alive

433
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:16,640
Speaker 2: to see this. I appreciate every day. You know. Again,

434
00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:20,399
Speaker 2: it's not all negative stuff necessarily, but yeah, you just

435
00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:24,320
Speaker 2: you just kind of do by default. It's not like

436
00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:27,360
Speaker 2: anything that you can help. I'm sure you've thought about

437
00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:29,240
Speaker 2: a lot of things that happened to you in Afghanistan

438
00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:31,320
Speaker 2: for the first couple of years and then it kind

439
00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:31,920
Speaker 2: of mellows out.

440
00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:34,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's it's interesting you're talking about the

441
00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:40,480
Speaker 1: perspective on life that that experience gave you. It sounds like,

442
00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:45,679
Speaker 1: you know, and and how like one I think you

443
00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:49,159
Speaker 1: understand just how fragile life can be and how quickly

444
00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:51,280
Speaker 1: it can all go away. But it also gives you

445
00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:53,800
Speaker 1: an appreciation for maybe some of the beauty that's around

446
00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:57,959
Speaker 1: you on a day to day basis. And I agree.

447
00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:03,479
Speaker 1: I what you said renates with me, Alec because you know,

448
00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:07,200
Speaker 1: post traumatic stress, of course is it could be really

449
00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:09,639
Speaker 1: tough on people. I mean, I had it for a

450
00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:11,760
Speaker 1: while after I got back from Afghanistan, and what I

451
00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:14,440
Speaker 1: always used to say to people is like I always

452
00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:16,119
Speaker 1: used to worry about as a leader, the guy that

453
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,520
Speaker 1: didn't have it. Like, when you go through something that's

454
00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,760
Speaker 1: life changing where you almost die, you know, whether it's

455
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,719
Speaker 1: a car accident, in combat in your case, a terrorist attack,

456
00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:27,760
Speaker 1: it's almost like if you're not affected by that in

457
00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:30,280
Speaker 1: some way, are you even really human? I mean it's

458
00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,840
Speaker 1: a normal thing for human to be adversely affected by

459
00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:33,840
Speaker 1: stuff like this, you know.

460
00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:37,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, like I said, I think that affects

461
00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:42,920
Speaker 2: everyone differently. I mean, some people, like I think Mark,

462
00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:45,240
Speaker 2: the guy who got shot in the neck, he had

463
00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:49,720
Speaker 2: some pretty bad PTSD from it, understandably. But again, I think,

464
00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:53,520
Speaker 2: just like adrenaline, it affects everyone differently. I mean I

465
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:57,160
Speaker 2: know people who got PTSD from one traumatic event worse

466
00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,520
Speaker 2: than you know other people who are in combat, multiple tsing,

467
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:06,800
Speaker 2: multiple dead people, engagements, friends get killed, whatever, they have

468
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:08,760
Speaker 2: the same amount of PTSD. So you just never know

469
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 2: how it's gonna affect people. But yeah, I mean, like

470
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:15,720
Speaker 2: I said, honestly, like I just we were just happy

471
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:18,879
Speaker 2: to be alive. Like, I don't think it really changed

472
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:22,040
Speaker 2: or affected any of us too deeply. We're all still

473
00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,080
Speaker 2: pretty much the same people, which I'm kind of grateful

474
00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:27,440
Speaker 2: for but yeah, you just you do get a good

475
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:30,240
Speaker 2: appreciation for life. And I think I was only twenty

476
00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:32,240
Speaker 2: two when it happened, so it gave me a good

477
00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:33,439
Speaker 2: perspective pretty early on.

478
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:37,080
Speaker 1: I think, man, it's twenty two years old. And so

479
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:41,280
Speaker 1: you go, so, okay, so you're you're a National Guard

480
00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:47,520
Speaker 1: infantry guy, right, You're you're an E four specialist. You

481
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:53,400
Speaker 1: stop this terrorist attack all of a suddenness. I mean

482
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:56,959
Speaker 1: it sounds like, I mean, it's everything went right, like

483
00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,360
Speaker 1: lots of things could have gone wrong, like even it's

484
00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:05,520
Speaker 1: just God. It seems like it seems like a god

485
00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:06,920
Speaker 1: thing to me. I mean that's where I get. I

486
00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:09,560
Speaker 1: don't know what your faith is, but to me, it's like, Okay,

487
00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:13,119
Speaker 1: you buy an AK forty seven, familiarize yourself with a rifle.

488
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:16,120
Speaker 1: A few months before the attack. The AK forty seven

489
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:19,199
Speaker 1: clearly fired. I mean it sounded like something hit the

490
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:23,480
Speaker 1: primer on that round. It didn't fire. The handgun didn't

491
00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:25,840
Speaker 1: have a magazine, and it only had one round. Right,

492
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:28,400
Speaker 1: If I'm understanding what you tell me correctly, market's shot

493
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:31,280
Speaker 1: in the neck, how he survives and that bullet doesn't

494
00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:33,560
Speaker 1: hit a his artery and he bleeds out on the

495
00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:35,840
Speaker 1: train twenty minutes before you get to the next train

496
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:38,880
Speaker 1: stop is beyond me. I mean, I've seen people bleed

497
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,960
Speaker 1: out in combat a lot faster than twenty minutes after

498
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:44,679
Speaker 1: getting shot in the neck. It seemed like, do you

499
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:48,760
Speaker 1: feel like, oh my God, Like I don't know, I mean,

500
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 1: do you feel like everything went right? Sounds like it?

501
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:53,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I mean I think it was definitely a

502
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,680
Speaker 2: god thing, to be honest, I mean, there's not Statistically,

503
00:25:56,720 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 2: you can't really add up all of those different things

504
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,960
Speaker 2: that happened and just think that that's chance. I mean,

505
00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 2: like you said, just the odds of having a misfire

506
00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:08,160
Speaker 2: on the primer, even with garbage Russian ammunition, is still

507
00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:12,280
Speaker 2: pretty small. And you know, like you said, the fact

508
00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:15,879
Speaker 2: that Spencer was able to keep Mark alive after getting

509
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,240
Speaker 2: shot in the crowded artery, I mean, that's pretty incredible

510
00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:22,040
Speaker 2: because he was legit bleeding out of his neck for

511
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:24,160
Speaker 2: probably two minutes before we even noticed it.

512
00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:25,960
Speaker 1: You know.

513
00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:28,440
Speaker 2: So I mean a lot of little things. I mean, again,

514
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:32,159
Speaker 2: like you said, we had the exact skill set needed

515
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:35,480
Speaker 2: to handle that situation. I mean, almost as if we

516
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,639
Speaker 2: had planned that it was going to happen, but obviously

517
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:43,840
Speaker 2: we didn't. Amazing, and that's again that's just all too

518
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:45,840
Speaker 2: long of odds for it to just be chanced.

519
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,280
Speaker 1: In my opinion, it's amazing. Just the AK forty seven

520
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,800
Speaker 1: missfire alone, to me is a god thing. It's like

521
00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:55,080
Speaker 1: you can bury that rifle well, the full magazine and

522
00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:57,120
Speaker 1: a round chambered in the mud for a year. I've

523
00:26:57,160 --> 00:26:59,320
Speaker 1: seen Afghans do it and pull it out, use it

524
00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:01,600
Speaker 1: and fires. It worked perfectly and so.

525
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:04,720
Speaker 2: Well, and the gun works perfectly. That's the thing. The

526
00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:08,280
Speaker 2: gun did its job. It just bad ammunition. So that's crazy.

527
00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:12,520
Speaker 1: That's crazy. Yeah, man, So you go from you go

528
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:14,960
Speaker 1: from an E Force specialist in the infantry. First of all,

529
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:16,480
Speaker 1: what are you doing on a train in Europe on

530
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:18,560
Speaker 1: your way to Paris? Is it like, as a twenty

531
00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:20,400
Speaker 1: two year old kid, what are you doing over there?

532
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,280
Speaker 2: So we actually I had wanted to do a European

533
00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:30,080
Speaker 2: vacation after Afghanistan regardless, and so I was talking to

534
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:32,840
Speaker 2: a German friend of mine and I mentioned it to

535
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,600
Speaker 2: Spencer because he was stationed in the Azores and Portugal

536
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:37,600
Speaker 2: for the Air Force. And I was like, you know,

537
00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:40,600
Speaker 2: you're basically already in Europe. I want to do this vacation, like,

538
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,040
Speaker 2: let's plan a trip and at least meet up for

539
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:45,399
Speaker 2: part of it. And so I asked a couple of

540
00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:47,359
Speaker 2: my friends in Afghanistan to go with us. None of

541
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:51,000
Speaker 2: them wanted to, so Spencer invited Anthony and he was down.

542
00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:54,920
Speaker 2: So Anthony and Spencer kind of did their own trip

543
00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:57,840
Speaker 2: through the Mediterranean. I hung out with this German girl

544
00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,399
Speaker 2: for a while for about ten days, and then we

545
00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:04,119
Speaker 2: met up in Amsterdam actually, and we were only together

546
00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:06,879
Speaker 2: as a group for about three days in Amsterdam before

547
00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:08,840
Speaker 2: we took the train to Paris when all this happened.

548
00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:13,200
Speaker 1: That's amazing. So but by the way, a quick anecdote,

549
00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:17,000
Speaker 1: A different experience between the Army and the air Force. Right,

550
00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:21,840
Speaker 1: like you are in Afghanistan, Spencer stationed in Portugal, for

551
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: God's sake, you know, a Air Force guy a little

552
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,560
Speaker 1: bit different of a duty assignment there. But so you're okay,

553
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:32,560
Speaker 1: So you're on a European trip. You stop, you stop

554
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,840
Speaker 1: a terrorist attack, and all of a sudden, all of

555
00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:39,920
Speaker 1: a sudden, sorry my little headphone fell out here, but

556
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:42,360
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you're like swept, You're swept up

557
00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:48,640
Speaker 1: into what becomes a global story, Alec and almost overnight

558
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:55,280
Speaker 1: you're like a global hero, definitely a hero in America,

559
00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 1: and you're on every major news outlet in the country.

560
00:28:57,440 --> 00:28:58,480
Speaker 1: What was that like?

561
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,280
Speaker 2: I mean, we were pretty insulated from it at first,

562
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:06,600
Speaker 2: to be honest, because we were still in France the

563
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 2: first day, you know, we stayed the night in the

564
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:12,280
Speaker 2: hotel and couldn't sleep. Spencer was in the hospital getting

565
00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:15,040
Speaker 2: treated for his neck wound as well, because he got

566
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:19,280
Speaker 2: cut pretty bad on the back of his neck, and

567
00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:21,600
Speaker 2: the whole thing just felt surreal for about like the

568
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:25,800
Speaker 2: first forty eight hours really, and so we all met

569
00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:33,120
Speaker 2: up actually at the American Embassy in Paris. They actually

570
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:37,360
Speaker 2: Columbia Sporting Goods flew all of our families out on

571
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:39,560
Speaker 2: their private jet at the drop of a hat to

572
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:41,920
Speaker 2: Paris to see us get in the kitchen of honor.

573
00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:45,280
Speaker 2: That's amazing, that's amazing. They were really cool about it,

574
00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:51,080
Speaker 2: and so we did all that. I went to the

575
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 2: hospital with Spencer in Germany for a few days, and

576
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:57,880
Speaker 2: then I flew home probably five or six days after

577
00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:04,360
Speaker 2: the terrorist attack, and then yeah, came home and honestly,

578
00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:07,680
Speaker 2: we hadn't really realized what a news story. It was

579
00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:10,720
Speaker 2: until we got back to the United States, because I thought, oh,

580
00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:13,080
Speaker 2: this will make some like local French news and that'll

581
00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:16,360
Speaker 2: be it. And then we got home and I realized

582
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:18,920
Speaker 2: that it was still a week later all over Fox News,

583
00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:21,160
Speaker 2: and we were getting I think I did an interview

584
00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:24,400
Speaker 2: with Greta van Susteren from Fox right when I got home.

585
00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:27,520
Speaker 2: All three of us did like a sit down interview

586
00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:30,720
Speaker 2: with Megan Kelly, probably two weeks after the terrorist attack.

587
00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:33,160
Speaker 1: I remember that. I remember that I got the.

588
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:35,920
Speaker 2: Offer to do Dancing with the Stars, which I did.

589
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:41,320
Speaker 2: We got to have dinner with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who kind

590
00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,080
Speaker 2: of just advised us on our newfound fame, if you will.

591
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:50,080
Speaker 2: What a lot of cool experiences, and then of course

592
00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:52,320
Speaker 2: writing the book and doing the movie with Clintie Stwood.

593
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:55,560
Speaker 2: I mean, it's it still doesn't even seem.

594
00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:57,680
Speaker 1: Real, all right, So let's go through some of this

595
00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,360
Speaker 1: stuff one by one, because it's just way too much

596
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,840
Speaker 1: cool stuff to just gloss right over. Where to begin?

597
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:08,120
Speaker 1: So you get off the plane in America. What kind

598
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:10,040
Speaker 1: of welcome did you receive? Do you have people waiting

599
00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 1: for you when you get off the plane, or was

600
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:12,080
Speaker 1: it kind of chill.

601
00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:17,080
Speaker 2: It was the opposite of chill. They had actually closed

602
00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:22,120
Speaker 2: down the entire terminal at Newark Airport, the entire baggage claim,

603
00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:25,920
Speaker 2: and they had about probably two hundred police officers there

604
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:31,000
Speaker 2: lining the terminal to greet me, which was super cool

605
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,120
Speaker 2: of them to do. I honestly did not expect that amazing,

606
00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:35,959
Speaker 2: and so it was the opposite of chill. And then

607
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,680
Speaker 2: I got in some black SUVs from Newark PD and

608
00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:44,800
Speaker 2: they took us to our hotel in New York.

609
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 1: So they took you to New York. Why'd you go

610
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:47,880
Speaker 1: to New York?

611
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:52,720
Speaker 2: Because I had to do the Gretave Ancestorn interview before

612
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:53,600
Speaker 2: it even went home.

613
00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 1: So you mean you were booked on Greta before you

614
00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,280
Speaker 1: even landed state side exactly.

615
00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:03,880
Speaker 2: I think my parents had agreed for me to do

616
00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:05,640
Speaker 2: that in exchange for a plane ticket home.

617
00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:11,760
Speaker 1: Got So how do you handle all this? I mean,

618
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,440
Speaker 1: you're twenty two years old, you're a world hero, a

619
00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:19,000
Speaker 1: global hero, certainly a national hero. You receive a hero's welcome,

620
00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:23,840
Speaker 1: You're doing national media, You've never done it before. How

621
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:25,000
Speaker 1: are you handling all of this?

622
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,680
Speaker 2: I really wasn't. I mean, I was pretty awkward. If

623
00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:31,520
Speaker 2: you watch any of the interviews or any of my

624
00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:34,800
Speaker 2: interactions from Beckley, and I was just like, cool, thanks,

625
00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:36,800
Speaker 2: I appreciate it, like and I just didn't know what

626
00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,320
Speaker 2: to say or what to do. Like we were just again,

627
00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:40,920
Speaker 2: we were just doing what we had to do to survive.

628
00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:44,520
Speaker 2: And I didn't really, like I understood why people would

629
00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:46,560
Speaker 2: make it into a big story, especially you know, three

630
00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:50,240
Speaker 2: Americans on vacation in France stopping a terrorist attack, like

631
00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:53,960
Speaker 2: it is a cool story, but you know, I just

632
00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:57,160
Speaker 2: I just didn't really understand why it was such a

633
00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:00,320
Speaker 2: big deal, and I just didn't definitely I didn't know

634
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:01,640
Speaker 2: how to handle it. And know I was kind of

635
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:04,360
Speaker 2: awkward enough as it was, and then coming off of

636
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:07,680
Speaker 2: a nine month deployment to Afghanistan, we were around the

637
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:10,640
Speaker 2: same people every day, and now I'm meeting new people

638
00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:12,520
Speaker 2: doing interviews and stuff like that. I mean, I did

639
00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:17,000
Speaker 2: not have the social skills to handle it. But again,

640
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:20,640
Speaker 2: it all worked out. And actually I think it was

641
00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:23,000
Speaker 2: while I was in New York, before I even got home,

642
00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:24,880
Speaker 2: that I got the offer from Dancing with the Stars,

643
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:30,000
Speaker 2: and that was actually a great experience too. But I mean, yeah,

644
00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:33,560
Speaker 2: we were just we were just doing it day by day,

645
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:35,800
Speaker 2: Like I didn't. I thought it would be like a

646
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,000
Speaker 2: not a story after like two weeks, and then we

647
00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:40,520
Speaker 2: wrote a book and I thought no one would read

648
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:42,560
Speaker 2: the book, and then I still don't think no one

649
00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:44,280
Speaker 2: read the book. But we got the offer from Cline

650
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,840
Speaker 2: Eastwood to do the movie, and I just kept going

651
00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:49,400
Speaker 2: and going and going, and I just again I thought

652
00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,320
Speaker 2: it would be like a small story on local French media.

653
00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:59,360
Speaker 1: So how did you get the offer from Dancing with

654
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:01,360
Speaker 1: the Stars and you got it? What was going through

655
00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:08,160
Speaker 1: your head? I'm just a specialist in the infantry.

656
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:10,560
Speaker 2: Well, I mean I I did kind of have to

657
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:15,120
Speaker 2: run it by the National Guard. Fortunately, they were pretty

658
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:18,600
Speaker 2: cool with the whole thing. You know. They were like, well,

659
00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:20,840
Speaker 2: if it gets you, if it gets you good PR

660
00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:25,040
Speaker 2: gets us good PR. So they let me do it. Initially,

661
00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:27,960
Speaker 2: I thought the thing was kind of corny, and I

662
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:29,279
Speaker 2: was just like, I don't know if I want to

663
00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:32,000
Speaker 2: do that. But I talked to a actually a guy

664
00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:34,759
Speaker 2: named Noah Galloway who did it the season before me.

665
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:36,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he.

666
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:38,440
Speaker 2: Was actually he was a really cool guy, and he

667
00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:40,640
Speaker 2: basically said, yeah, it's a little corny, but like it's

668
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:42,960
Speaker 2: it'll be good for you, and so I did it,

669
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:46,279
Speaker 2: and honestly, it was a lot of fun. It was

670
00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,080
Speaker 2: really good for me, and I enjoyed it and you know,

671
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:53,239
Speaker 2: no complaints there, and you know, it was it was

672
00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:56,160
Speaker 2: actually just a lot of fun. I mean, a lot

673
00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:58,759
Speaker 2: of good people do that show. Even though it's in

674
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:01,320
Speaker 2: Los Angeles. A lot of the professional dancers are Mormon,

675
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:05,560
Speaker 2: so they lean a little bit conservative. So yeah, it

676
00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:07,200
Speaker 2: was just it was a good time. It was really fun.

677
00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:10,400
Speaker 2: I enjoyed every minute of it. And again it kind

678
00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:14,040
Speaker 2: of set me up for you know, doing the book

679
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:15,799
Speaker 2: in the movie, getting a little bit used to how

680
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:19,120
Speaker 2: La works, and you know, just working on my social

681
00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:22,120
Speaker 2: skills as well. Uh so, yeah, no, it was. It

682
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:22,759
Speaker 2: was a good time.

683
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:25,800
Speaker 1: I mean, you were no slouch man. You got third place, right.

684
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:29,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it was a lot of sympathy votes.

685
00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:32,680
Speaker 1: But you're way too You're way too you don't give

686
00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:34,839
Speaker 1: yourself enough credit. I mean, if you sucked, you would

687
00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:36,440
Speaker 1: have been voted off first, right.

688
00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:41,840
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I suppose, but you know it was People

689
00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:43,759
Speaker 2: ask me if I am I'm a good dancer, and

690
00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:46,360
Speaker 2: I say no, because I still don't know how to dance.

691
00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,400
Speaker 2: I had I've got to learn one dance and then

692
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:51,080
Speaker 2: move on next week. Like it was not like we

693
00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:53,320
Speaker 2: were learning how to dance. We were learning a dance,

694
00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:57,600
Speaker 2: and there is a difference. But yeah, I mean I

695
00:35:57,600 --> 00:35:59,960
Speaker 2: got to meet a lot of cool people. You know.

696
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:04,479
Speaker 2: Paula Dean, the Celebrity chef was on my season. She's

697
00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:08,040
Speaker 2: a super nice lady. Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys

698
00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:11,439
Speaker 2: was on. Bendi Irwin, Steve Irwin's daughter was on. She's

699
00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:14,480
Speaker 2: incredibly nice. She actually won that season. So I got

700
00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:16,319
Speaker 2: to meet a lot of interesting people. I mean, not

701
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:18,000
Speaker 2: just from Dancing with the Stars, but just over the

702
00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:20,600
Speaker 2: course of the whole thing. I mean, we've been very lucky,

703
00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:21,239
Speaker 2: that's for sure.

704
00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:25,680
Speaker 1: I mean it sounds like a kind of unbelievable experience,

705
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:29,200
Speaker 1: you know, And I don't know how the hell I

706
00:36:29,239 --> 00:36:32,120
Speaker 1: would manage something like that. I frankly could never see

707
00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:36,279
Speaker 1: myself doing anything like it. But I mean, you did it.

708
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:38,640
Speaker 1: You got third place. It's pretty damn amazing. And you

709
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:41,760
Speaker 1: find and then you find yourself sitting around at dinner

710
00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:43,360
Speaker 1: table with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

711
00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:46,200
Speaker 2: Yep, he's a cool guy too.

712
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:48,520
Speaker 1: How does that happen? How does that even have? How

713
00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:50,799
Speaker 1: is all this stuff? How are you finding out about

714
00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:52,600
Speaker 1: all this stuff? Did you have like an agent or

715
00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:54,760
Speaker 1: something like that, or were you just getting emails?

716
00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:57,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, we had a I think you'd call them a

717
00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:02,359
Speaker 2: publicist that kind of I think. I'm not sure how

718
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:03,919
Speaker 2: we got in touch with them. I think maybe Arnold

719
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:08,000
Speaker 2: Swarzenegger put us in touch with him, or he put

720
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:10,000
Speaker 2: us in touch with Arnold Swarzenegger. I don't remember which,

721
00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:14,120
Speaker 2: but yeah, we kind of had like a volunteer publicist

722
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:16,920
Speaker 2: who knew someone. I forget how we got in touch

723
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:18,880
Speaker 2: with him, to be honest, but he was kind of,

724
00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:21,440
Speaker 2: you know, putting all this stuff together, and he said, hey,

725
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:23,560
Speaker 2: Arnold Swartzenegger wants to dinner with you, and so we

726
00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:28,160
Speaker 2: were like, for sure, And you know, we grew up

727
00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:30,920
Speaker 2: on Arnold Swartzenegger movies in Clinnie Sweet movies, so it

728
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:34,719
Speaker 2: worked out perfect. And getting to meet him was really

729
00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:36,520
Speaker 2: surreal because, you know, we legit just went to his

730
00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:39,120
Speaker 2: house and had dinner, did a couple reps in his

731
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:42,040
Speaker 2: home gym, just to say we did. You know? He

732
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:46,879
Speaker 2: I just watched Pumping Iron when I was in Afghanistan,

733
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:50,560
Speaker 2: so like, you know, I've watched stuff from this guy's

734
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:52,520
Speaker 2: entire career you know, we grew up all of his

735
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:56,360
Speaker 2: action movies in the nineties, so you know, it was

736
00:37:56,640 --> 00:37:58,839
Speaker 2: it was really cool to I mean, super down to earth.

737
00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:01,759
Speaker 2: These are really nice guy. I know he's maybe not

738
00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:04,879
Speaker 2: the most aligned with us politically nowadays, but he's still

739
00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:05,520
Speaker 2: a great person.

740
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:08,240
Speaker 1: So what kind of advice did he give you? Without

741
00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:10,799
Speaker 1: disclosing anything that he told you personally, but what was

742
00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:11,320
Speaker 1: the gist?

743
00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:16,080
Speaker 2: Oh, just you know, normal stuff like, you know, get

744
00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:21,160
Speaker 2: a good agent, watch what you say, like basically take

745
00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:24,240
Speaker 2: advantage of your fifteen minutes of fame to be totally

746
00:38:24,239 --> 00:38:28,520
Speaker 2: honest more or less what he said. And again, we

747
00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:31,759
Speaker 2: didn't really have any intent of doing that or not

748
00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:34,320
Speaker 2: doing that. Were just kind of along for the ride.

749
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:37,719
Speaker 2: But that same publicist put us in touch with the

750
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:43,280
Speaker 2: book agency and then that's when we wrote the book.

751
00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:46,720
Speaker 2: And we're able also by chance to meet Clint Eastwood

752
00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:49,120
Speaker 2: and heeded the movie, so we didn't.

753
00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:51,960
Speaker 1: How long did it take you to crank out the book?

754
00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:56,200
Speaker 2: Oh, god, like six months. It was pretty short. They

755
00:38:56,239 --> 00:38:58,680
Speaker 2: wanted to get it out immediately. I think the book

756
00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:02,040
Speaker 2: was probably out around the time the one year anniversary

757
00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:04,719
Speaker 2: now actually I think even yeah, I think around the

758
00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:06,719
Speaker 2: one year anniversary because I was in Sniper School I

759
00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:09,759
Speaker 2: think when it came out, and that would have been

760
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:11,560
Speaker 2: summer of sixteen. So yeah, it was.

761
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:16,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, crazy, that's crazy. That's that's an insane turnaround, especially

762
00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:20,120
Speaker 1: like if you're writing a book at that level. I mean,

763
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:22,319
Speaker 1: there's so much that goes into it, like getting it

764
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:26,080
Speaker 1: on the shelves, like talking to distribution networks, like putting

765
00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:29,720
Speaker 1: together a marketing plan, cover design, actually writing the book.

766
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:33,359
Speaker 1: You know, so many things happened behind the scenes. That's

767
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:37,200
Speaker 1: an insanely quick turnaround. And so so the book comes

768
00:39:37,239 --> 00:39:40,560
Speaker 1: out Alec how soon after the book did the movie

769
00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:41,000
Speaker 1: come out?

770
00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:45,399
Speaker 2: Shoot? Almost like a year and a half after the book,

771
00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:47,720
Speaker 2: I think two and a half years after the event,

772
00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:51,000
Speaker 2: So also very quick turnaround. We met Clint Eastwood by

773
00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:56,880
Speaker 2: chance at a like a awards show. We met him

774
00:39:56,880 --> 00:40:00,359
Speaker 2: in the green room and actually he won to meet

775
00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:02,960
Speaker 2: with us, so we went back there, talked to him,

776
00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:06,680
Speaker 2: and we're just kind of bullshitting about you know whatever,

777
00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:08,640
Speaker 2: And you know, I made a joke I, oh, yeah,

778
00:40:08,640 --> 00:40:09,960
Speaker 2: we just came out with the book, you should do

779
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:12,200
Speaker 2: the movie, ha ha ha. And he's like, oh, send

780
00:40:12,239 --> 00:40:14,040
Speaker 2: me a copy. I never know, and we're like ha ha,

781
00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:18,920
Speaker 2: okay whatever. And so Spencer again to his credit, followed

782
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,920
Speaker 2: up and mailed Cline Eastwood a book and basically got

783
00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:25,879
Speaker 2: a phone call three days later from Clinyswood himself saying,

784
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:27,040
Speaker 2: I read it. Let's do it?

785
00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:27,960
Speaker 1: Are you kidding?

786
00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:30,640
Speaker 2: So yeah, And again all this was by chance, like

787
00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:32,799
Speaker 2: we met Clinea stood by chance, we were joking about

788
00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:35,640
Speaker 2: the book. Spencer sent him a copy anyway, just kind

789
00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:39,799
Speaker 2: of like a shot in the dark, and he called

790
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:41,319
Speaker 2: us back and just said, like, let's do it. And

791
00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:45,799
Speaker 2: pretty much Clint Eastwood runs his own studio, mal Passo Productions,

792
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:49,279
Speaker 2: so when he wants to do a movie, that's the word. Like,

793
00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:54,560
Speaker 2: if he wants it, it's done. So the second he

794
00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:57,760
Speaker 2: said that let's do it, we met with them, signed

795
00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:02,640
Speaker 2: a deal, started working on the script, you know, making

796
00:41:02,719 --> 00:41:05,239
Speaker 2: a lot of different little edits, you know what we

797
00:41:05,239 --> 00:41:08,319
Speaker 2: were wearing that day, what exactly everyone did, what kind

798
00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:10,600
Speaker 2: of weapons did the terrorist have, like all these little

799
00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:14,520
Speaker 2: fine details going into our childhood. Even so, that was

800
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:16,319
Speaker 2: a lot of work, more than the book by far.

801
00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:22,200
Speaker 2: And then about ten days before the movie was started

802
00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 2: set to start filming, they flew us down there and

803
00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:28,000
Speaker 2: didn't really tell us why we were going down there.

804
00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:30,239
Speaker 2: So we're like, oh, shoot, movie starts filming in ten days.

805
00:41:30,239 --> 00:41:31,600
Speaker 2: I bet we're going to meet the actors that are

806
00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:34,359
Speaker 2: playing ours, playing us, you know. And so we get

807
00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:37,120
Speaker 2: down there and Clint is just kind of talking about

808
00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:40,760
Speaker 2: random stuff, like he's got this little camera, this small

809
00:41:40,840 --> 00:41:43,480
Speaker 2: sony camera that he wants to shoot the train scenes on,

810
00:41:43,719 --> 00:41:49,520
Speaker 2: and blah blah blah, and he goes, yeah, let's you know,

811
00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:51,680
Speaker 2: let's get you guys on film real quick so we

812
00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:54,480
Speaker 2: can see what you guys look like on camera. And

813
00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:56,759
Speaker 2: we're like, okay, whatever. So he does that, you know,

814
00:41:56,800 --> 00:41:58,359
Speaker 2: because I think they do that a lot of times

815
00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:00,719
Speaker 2: for reference with their actors. And so we get back

816
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:03,399
Speaker 2: inside and he's like, so, how would you guys feel

817
00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:06,160
Speaker 2: about doing it yourselves? And we're like, yeah, you know,

818
00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:09,720
Speaker 2: we we'll kind of reenact it and show everyone what happened,

819
00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:11,239
Speaker 2: and you know, get the actors you know, in the

820
00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:13,040
Speaker 2: right place, and everything's like, no, no, how do you

821
00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:15,680
Speaker 2: feel about you guys doing it? We're like, what do

822
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:17,400
Speaker 2: you mean? He's like, do you want to play yourself

823
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:23,120
Speaker 2: in the movie? Okay, So that was also really unusual,

824
00:42:23,719 --> 00:42:26,440
Speaker 2: but we agreed to play ourselves in the movie. And

825
00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:29,160
Speaker 2: I think on the two year anniversary of the terrorist

826
00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:34,600
Speaker 2: attack August of twenty seventeen, we were in Venice filming

827
00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:38,080
Speaker 2: our movie with Clint Eastwood, and that was probably the

828
00:42:38,160 --> 00:42:40,960
Speaker 2: highlight of my whole life.

829
00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:43,800
Speaker 1: I mean, we were so busy.

830
00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:46,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, we were so busy we forgot it was the

831
00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:49,239
Speaker 2: two year anniversary. And then one of Clint's producers was like,

832
00:42:49,239 --> 00:42:51,239
Speaker 2: you guys know, it's the two year anniversary today, and

833
00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:53,920
Speaker 2: we're like, no kidding, And it was already like six pm.

834
00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:55,480
Speaker 2: Like we had went the whole day and not even

835
00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:58,160
Speaker 2: thought about it, and so then we had this little

836
00:42:58,239 --> 00:43:01,359
Speaker 2: toast and I mean it was just it was such

837
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:03,640
Speaker 2: a fun time getting to work with some of my

838
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:06,000
Speaker 2: Clin Eastwood every day, he's an incredible guy, and just

839
00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:10,239
Speaker 2: the whole crew was super fun and the whole process

840
00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:11,280
Speaker 2: was just a blast.

841
00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:18,359
Speaker 1: So you starred as yourself in a major Hollywood motion

842
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:20,440
Speaker 1: picture with Clein Eastwood.

843
00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:24,560
Speaker 2: Major might be an overstatement, but it was a good,

844
00:43:24,719 --> 00:43:31,279
Speaker 2: solid movie. ONSOD movies all do pretty well, but yeah,

845
00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:33,040
Speaker 2: I mean, it was just it was a great experience

846
00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:35,280
Speaker 2: and all we cared about was the movie being accurate,

847
00:43:35,400 --> 00:43:36,880
Speaker 2: and it was very accurate.

848
00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:39,919
Speaker 1: What kind of guy was Clint Eastwood?

849
00:43:40,600 --> 00:43:44,120
Speaker 2: Super cool? I mean, like to look up to someone

850
00:43:44,200 --> 00:43:45,719
Speaker 2: like that pretty much your whole life and then get

851
00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:47,719
Speaker 2: to meet them is surreal enough. But to get to

852
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,520
Speaker 2: work with them for like three months, four months, almost

853
00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:53,080
Speaker 2: every day and have them like never let down that

854
00:43:53,160 --> 00:43:55,160
Speaker 2: image that you built up in your head once is

855
00:43:55,200 --> 00:43:58,480
Speaker 2: pretty impressive. I mean, we were He's just a really

856
00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:01,000
Speaker 2: funny I mean like he was when we filmed the movie.

857
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:04,400
Speaker 2: He was eighty eight and super sharp, super funny, and

858
00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:06,799
Speaker 2: he was just like he'd hang out just like you

859
00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:10,000
Speaker 2: know we're talking now. I mean, just super laid back,

860
00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:13,719
Speaker 2: super funny, really down to earth. And my favorite Clin

861
00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:16,600
Speaker 2: Eastwood story, and he'll be quick, but my favorite Clin

862
00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:23,040
Speaker 2: Eastwood story is we were in Venice right around the

863
00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:25,680
Speaker 2: time of the two year anniversary filming there, and we

864
00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:27,920
Speaker 2: it was kind of the off season in Venice. So

865
00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:30,000
Speaker 2: we go to this gym in Venice and they had

866
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:33,799
Speaker 2: to open the gym for us and we're all sitting

867
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:38,239
Speaker 2: there working out doing dips, and you know, I'm kind

868
00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:41,040
Speaker 2: of talking shit with Spencer and he's like, I can

869
00:44:41,080 --> 00:44:42,920
Speaker 2: do ten dips. I'm like, oh, that's nothing. I can

870
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:45,560
Speaker 2: do twenty five dips. And then Clint Eastwood overhears us

871
00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:48,719
Speaker 2: and he's like, because again at eighty eight, he's still

872
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:51,239
Speaker 2: working out, of course, which I forgot to mention. So

873
00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:54,439
Speaker 2: he's over there in the gym and he's like, twenty five.

874
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:56,359
Speaker 2: When I was seventy five, I could do twenty five,

875
00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:58,600
Speaker 2: and so I'm like, well, i'll get it there. Let's

876
00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:00,600
Speaker 2: see how many you can do now, and he gets

877
00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:03,399
Speaker 2: up into ten body weight dips at eighty eight years old.

878
00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:05,000
Speaker 2: Dude's incredible.

879
00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:10,040
Speaker 1: That is amazing. That's amazing, and it's amazing to hear that.

880
00:45:10,719 --> 00:45:12,239
Speaker 1: You know, you look up to this guy, you watch

881
00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:16,479
Speaker 1: his movies your whole life growing up, and he didn't

882
00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:19,560
Speaker 1: disappoint you when you met him. You know, I can't

883
00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:22,399
Speaker 1: tell you how many times I've met celebrities or people

884
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:25,200
Speaker 1: that I admire growing up and they are just not

885
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:29,640
Speaker 1: who you thought they were. So it sounds like pretty

886
00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:34,120
Speaker 1: damn awesome that not only was he how you always

887
00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:37,320
Speaker 1: imagined him to be. You're in the gym with the

888
00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:39,840
Speaker 1: guy working out. I mean, that's pretty amazing.

889
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:44,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. I mean he's just very very laid back

890
00:45:44,760 --> 00:45:47,920
Speaker 2: and relaxed about everything. I mean, he doesn't think of

891
00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:50,360
Speaker 2: himself as famous, or maybe he's just gotten used to

892
00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:52,800
Speaker 2: it since he's been famous since he was, you know, eighteen,

893
00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:57,160
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean he's lived a hell of a

894
00:45:57,160 --> 00:45:58,680
Speaker 2: life and he's done a lot of cool things. I mean,

895
00:45:58,719 --> 00:46:02,000
Speaker 2: he was telling us stories about I think he was

896
00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:06,080
Speaker 2: in the I think the Army Reserves or something back

897
00:46:06,080 --> 00:46:09,200
Speaker 2: in the day, and he actually survived a plane crash

898
00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:12,520
Speaker 2: outside of San Francisco and it was just him and

899
00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:14,320
Speaker 2: the pilot in the plane and he had to swim

900
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:16,720
Speaker 2: like two miles to shore, and a lot of people

901
00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:19,080
Speaker 2: don't know that about him, but like he's actually been

902
00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:21,440
Speaker 2: through some interesting stuff in his own personal life as

903
00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:24,360
Speaker 2: well outside of being a famous actor. And just I

904
00:46:24,360 --> 00:46:27,239
Speaker 2: mean again, I mean just really cool guy. Like we

905
00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:30,399
Speaker 2: when we were in France in Paris filming the train

906
00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:34,520
Speaker 2: parts of the movie, we went up to Normandy and

907
00:46:34,680 --> 00:46:37,480
Speaker 2: you know, Clin Eastwood flew a helicopter up there and

908
00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:40,640
Speaker 2: met us. You know, like you can fly helicopters. He

909
00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:43,080
Speaker 2: does all this crazy stuff. And again, the guy was

910
00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:44,799
Speaker 2: eighty eight at the time. I think now he's got

911
00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:49,120
Speaker 2: to be ninety four ninety five now. But the dude's incredible.

912
00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:51,600
Speaker 2: I mean, I can't say enough good things about him.

913
00:46:51,760 --> 00:46:58,520
Speaker 1: Man, I mean, these are these are experiences that people

914
00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:01,400
Speaker 1: just don't have, Alex, you know, I mean not and

915
00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:04,960
Speaker 1: only that, like we totally glossed over your time in Afghanistan,

916
00:47:04,960 --> 00:47:07,480
Speaker 1: which is like, you know, that's a whole nother podcast,

917
00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:08,120
Speaker 1: I think.

918
00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:13,000
Speaker 2: But Afghanistan was pooring, we didn't do anything whatever, we

919
00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:14,200
Speaker 2: were in gay yards.

920
00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:17,600
Speaker 1: Well. I mean, but you've done so much in your

921
00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:20,000
Speaker 1: life and these experiences, whether it's writing a book or

922
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:22,400
Speaker 1: going on Dancing with the Stars or not just having

923
00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:26,240
Speaker 1: Clint Eastwood, you know, make your story into a movie.

924
00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:30,480
Speaker 1: You played yourself and you went to the premieres. You

925
00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:32,920
Speaker 1: had that experience of having to memorize lines and have

926
00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:35,320
Speaker 1: a director say action, and have a producer talk to

927
00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:38,040
Speaker 1: you about like what the plan is with the promotion

928
00:47:38,320 --> 00:47:40,359
Speaker 1: and what you know, how the movie's going to come

929
00:47:40,360 --> 00:47:44,239
Speaker 1: out on DVD or Blu ray or or how it's

930
00:47:44,239 --> 00:47:47,160
Speaker 1: going to stray. I mean, that's all insane, Alec. And

931
00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:50,640
Speaker 1: I mean people just don't have those experiences. I mean,

932
00:47:50,640 --> 00:47:53,319
Speaker 1: it's just what an amazing life. And how old are

933
00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:55,880
Speaker 1: you now? You're probably in your thirties.

934
00:47:55,480 --> 00:47:57,839
Speaker 2: Now, I am thirty on the dot.

935
00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:02,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're thirty. You're thirty on the dot. So you're like,

936
00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:04,680
Speaker 1: you're only thirty years old and you've had all of

937
00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:08,080
Speaker 1: these amazing experiences, and not only that, you've run for

938
00:48:08,160 --> 00:48:13,200
Speaker 1: Congress twice. Now, how do you decide? Yeah, yeah, I

939
00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:17,040
Speaker 1: have to say, you know, having being a guy that

940
00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:19,480
Speaker 1: hass been in the public eye since twenty twelve, have

941
00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:25,080
Speaker 1: five books out myself and doing like national speaking circuit,

942
00:48:25,080 --> 00:48:26,799
Speaker 1: and then turn around and running for Congress, I kind

943
00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:28,480
Speaker 1: of think of it the same. I kind of think

944
00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:30,920
Speaker 1: of it the same way. Even though you get a

945
00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:33,600
Speaker 1: movie deal. Oh yeah, yeah, I didn't have it. I didn't.

946
00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:35,400
Speaker 1: I didn't get to play myself with a movie or

947
00:48:35,400 --> 00:48:38,759
Speaker 1: anything cool like that. But you know, having running for

948
00:48:38,840 --> 00:48:41,759
Speaker 1: Congress and meeting the people and doing the campaigning, all

949
00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:44,800
Speaker 1: that was it was so so fun. I mean, I

950
00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:49,719
Speaker 1: absolutely love to have the opportunity to even be a

951
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:52,560
Speaker 1: servant leader or a leader for the people. But it

952
00:48:52,600 --> 00:48:55,200
Speaker 1: was it was just everything else, like the dirty politics.

953
00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:57,279
Speaker 1: And by the way, that's that that of course is

954
00:48:57,280 --> 00:49:00,560
Speaker 1: not just limited to to the opposition or or in

955
00:49:00,640 --> 00:49:04,040
Speaker 1: our case, democrats. I mean Republicans are just as dirty

956
00:49:04,080 --> 00:49:07,480
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, and I found that just to be

957
00:49:07,600 --> 00:49:14,480
Speaker 1: generally loathsome and dishonorable, but also fundraising. I mean, people

958
00:49:14,520 --> 00:49:17,279
Speaker 1: don't understand how difficult fundraising is, and they think, like,

959
00:49:18,040 --> 00:49:20,400
Speaker 1: you know, even people that are that pay attention to

960
00:49:20,440 --> 00:49:23,319
Speaker 1: politics alec will think that, you know, how much did

961
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:25,319
Speaker 1: the party give you. I'm like, the party doesn't really

962
00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:28,600
Speaker 1: give you anything. You have to do all the fundraising yourself,

963
00:49:29,120 --> 00:49:34,759
Speaker 1: and it's really difficult. It's really a grind, and I

964
00:49:34,760 --> 00:49:37,360
Speaker 1: think it's part of the reason why we have so

965
00:49:37,480 --> 00:49:41,960
Speaker 1: many rich, out of touch people in Congress. I mean,

966
00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:44,479
Speaker 1: because of course you want that success in Washington because

967
00:49:44,520 --> 00:49:49,359
Speaker 1: you want to replicate that success nationwide. But if you're

968
00:49:49,440 --> 00:49:51,560
Speaker 1: super super rich, you don't actually have to do the

969
00:49:51,600 --> 00:49:54,680
Speaker 1: grind of fundraising. You can actually focus more on campaigning.

970
00:49:54,719 --> 00:49:57,200
Speaker 1: But in many cases what happens is is they just

971
00:49:57,880 --> 00:50:00,400
Speaker 1: spend money on TV commercials, don't do any cam painting,

972
00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:01,919
Speaker 1: and because of that there may be out of touch

973
00:50:01,960 --> 00:50:04,520
Speaker 1: with people in their district and state. They find themselves

974
00:50:04,520 --> 00:50:07,880
Speaker 1: representing a constituency in Washington they don't really know or understand,

975
00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:10,200
Speaker 1: and I think that's why there's kind of a divide

976
00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:14,000
Speaker 1: between many, not all, but many of the people in

977
00:50:14,080 --> 00:50:15,560
Speaker 1: Washington or the rest of America.

978
00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:18,279
Speaker 2: And I think part of it too is that once

979
00:50:18,360 --> 00:50:21,880
Speaker 2: you it's one thing to raise money to get into office,

980
00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:25,840
Speaker 2: but especially if you're in a safe seat, once you're

981
00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:28,960
Speaker 2: in Congress for a while, you don't really have to

982
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:32,240
Speaker 2: run for re election exactly. You're just kind of assigned

983
00:50:32,320 --> 00:50:35,520
Speaker 2: up district. So a lot of those people raise a

984
00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:38,960
Speaker 2: lot of money from packs and corporations and give it

985
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:41,400
Speaker 2: to the NRCC or the d Triple C so that

986
00:50:41,400 --> 00:50:43,799
Speaker 2: they can try to get committee appointments so they can

987
00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:46,680
Speaker 2: become a more powerful congress person, which you know, is

988
00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:48,239
Speaker 2: still good for their district at the end of the

989
00:50:48,280 --> 00:50:50,959
Speaker 2: day as well, but they spend all of their time

990
00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:54,440
Speaker 2: and energy, you know, raising money from packs to get

991
00:50:54,480 --> 00:50:57,360
Speaker 2: good committee appointments so they can be more powerful, so

992
00:50:57,360 --> 00:50:59,640
Speaker 2: they can get a better position when they leave Congress.

993
00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:03,000
Speaker 2: I think that's where a lot of career politicians in

994
00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:06,920
Speaker 2: particular kind of get disconnected from their districts and for

995
00:51:07,280 --> 00:51:09,200
Speaker 2: why they ran for Congress in the first place. And

996
00:51:09,239 --> 00:51:13,000
Speaker 2: I think that's unfortunate. I mean, I think that's something

997
00:51:13,040 --> 00:51:14,839
Speaker 2: that I can agree with the Democrats on, is maybe

998
00:51:14,840 --> 00:51:16,359
Speaker 2: we need to get some of that pack money out

999
00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:17,759
Speaker 2: of out of politics.

1000
00:51:18,120 --> 00:51:21,840
Speaker 1: Sure, I mean, I mean I totally agree, and I

1001
00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:23,960
Speaker 1: want to talk about what you're doing now, But tell

1002
00:51:24,000 --> 00:51:26,080
Speaker 1: me about what the like, what was it like for

1003
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:31,200
Speaker 1: you, you know, going from basically a hero and a celebrity

1004
00:51:31,480 --> 00:51:33,960
Speaker 1: and really, I don't want to say that you give

1005
00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:36,479
Speaker 1: it up. But if you're a Republican and you jump

1006
00:51:36,480 --> 00:51:39,759
Speaker 1: into the arena and you're running for office as a Republican,

1007
00:51:39,840 --> 00:51:44,760
Speaker 1: in many ways you do. You do because the doors

1008
00:51:44,760 --> 00:51:47,520
Speaker 1: that were once open in Hollywood might not be anymore.

1009
00:51:47,600 --> 00:51:49,160
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if you've had that case,

1010
00:51:49,239 --> 00:51:54,080
Speaker 1: but everything gets just a little bit more difficult because

1011
00:51:54,760 --> 00:51:59,400
Speaker 1: you know, the left controls Hollywood, the left controls the media,

1012
00:51:59,560 --> 00:52:02,800
Speaker 1: the left controls our education system. Now the left control

1013
00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:06,800
Speaker 1: is big tech. So what was the experience of running

1014
00:52:06,800 --> 00:52:10,160
Speaker 1: for Congress like? And tell me why you decided to

1015
00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:12,520
Speaker 1: even jump into the arena at all.

1016
00:52:12,640 --> 00:52:16,000
Speaker 2: Well. I always joke with people that after the terrorist

1017
00:52:16,040 --> 00:52:18,840
Speaker 2: attack and everything, too many people like me, so I

1018
00:52:18,880 --> 00:52:20,680
Speaker 2: wanted to make sure that at least half the country

1019
00:52:20,680 --> 00:52:25,239
Speaker 2: hated me. So, and I mean it's very true because

1020
00:52:25,239 --> 00:52:29,000
Speaker 2: pretty much by default, I mean, people that otherwise would

1021
00:52:29,040 --> 00:52:31,600
Speaker 2: have been a huge fan of what we did, all

1022
00:52:31,600 --> 00:52:34,480
Speaker 2: of a sudden hated me, And again, the same thing

1023
00:52:34,520 --> 00:52:36,040
Speaker 2: probably would have been true if I had decided to

1024
00:52:36,120 --> 00:52:38,279
Speaker 2: run as a Democrat. You know, I'm sure there have

1025
00:52:38,320 --> 00:52:40,680
Speaker 2: been a lot of Republicans that would have disowned me immediately,

1026
00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:44,360
Speaker 2: But you know, that's just how it is. You know,

1027
00:52:44,400 --> 00:52:47,920
Speaker 2: it's very divisive these days. Even a lot of Republicans

1028
00:52:47,960 --> 00:52:51,080
Speaker 2: aren't publican enough, get a lot of flak from the Republicans,

1029
00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:54,000
Speaker 2: which you know, some of it's justified, some of it's

1030
00:52:54,040 --> 00:52:57,600
Speaker 2: not that regardless, politics has just gotten very divisive lately.

1031
00:52:57,719 --> 00:53:01,399
Speaker 2: And I came home and saw what was going on

1032
00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:05,239
Speaker 2: in my home district. You know, we're very timber reliant,

1033
00:53:05,560 --> 00:53:11,520
Speaker 2: so seeing how mismanaged our natural resources were with these

1034
00:53:11,520 --> 00:53:15,560
Speaker 2: massive forest fires that we see every year, the lack

1035
00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:17,799
Speaker 2: of salvage logging, I mean, it's kind of a niche issue.

1036
00:53:17,840 --> 00:53:19,719
Speaker 2: I don't expect a lot of people to know what

1037
00:53:19,719 --> 00:53:23,120
Speaker 2: I'm talking about here, but pretty much we used to

1038
00:53:23,120 --> 00:53:25,840
Speaker 2: have some of the richest school districts in the country

1039
00:53:26,160 --> 00:53:28,080
Speaker 2: because of all the timber money that was coming in.

1040
00:53:28,120 --> 00:53:30,439
Speaker 2: That was federal money because the timber's on federal land,

1041
00:53:30,960 --> 00:53:33,960
Speaker 2: and they basically stopped logging in the early nineties and

1042
00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:37,160
Speaker 2: since then it's been a pretty staggering decline over the

1043
00:53:37,280 --> 00:53:40,240
Speaker 2: last thirty years for this part of Oregon that's reliant

1044
00:53:40,239 --> 00:53:43,160
Speaker 2: on that timber economy, and so we're trying to get

1045
00:53:43,160 --> 00:53:46,920
Speaker 2: it back. I think we've won some lawsuits here recently,

1046
00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:50,279
Speaker 2: but overall, I mean, that was my main motivation. It's

1047
00:53:50,280 --> 00:53:52,080
Speaker 2: a federal issue, so I had to run for some

1048
00:53:52,120 --> 00:53:55,680
Speaker 2: sort of federal office, and Congress was the most attainable,

1049
00:53:55,920 --> 00:54:01,120
Speaker 2: and unfortunately weren't able to make the Cutually. After redistricting

1050
00:54:01,160 --> 00:54:06,440
Speaker 2: this year, they made my district I think probably five

1051
00:54:06,800 --> 00:54:09,760
Speaker 2: to eight points denmore Democrat when it used to be tied,

1052
00:54:10,280 --> 00:54:13,239
Speaker 2: and so that pretty much meant that we weren't going

1053
00:54:13,280 --> 00:54:16,040
Speaker 2: to win. So it was unfortunate, but that's kind of

1054
00:54:16,080 --> 00:54:18,040
Speaker 2: how it went down. So we'll see what happens in

1055
00:54:18,080 --> 00:54:21,480
Speaker 2: the future. But it's a shame states like Oregon. I

1056
00:54:21,480 --> 00:54:26,040
Speaker 2: mean again, they're not as democrat as you would think,

1057
00:54:26,640 --> 00:54:29,960
Speaker 2: even Washington State, Colorado, Oregon, it's like a lot of

1058
00:54:29,960 --> 00:54:32,520
Speaker 2: these states that have Democrat reputations. I mean, we are

1059
00:54:32,680 --> 00:54:36,719
Speaker 2: narrowly democrat. I mean, especially in such a low population

1060
00:54:36,840 --> 00:54:39,080
Speaker 2: state like Oregon. It wouldn't take a lot of effort

1061
00:54:39,120 --> 00:54:42,480
Speaker 2: for the Republicans to change that or for Republicans to

1062
00:54:42,520 --> 00:54:46,120
Speaker 2: move to the state of Oregon to flip it. But unfortunately,

1063
00:54:46,120 --> 00:54:48,040
Speaker 2: when the Democrats are in power, they do things like

1064
00:54:48,120 --> 00:54:52,640
Speaker 2: gerrymander the congressional maps. So even though we're barely a

1065
00:54:52,680 --> 00:54:56,320
Speaker 2: Democrat state, they get eighty percent of the control because

1066
00:54:56,360 --> 00:54:59,720
Speaker 2: they control the map drawing, they control everything in Oregon.

1067
00:55:00,320 --> 00:55:03,839
Speaker 1: I mean, it's so true, Alec, It's so true. When

1068
00:55:03,880 --> 00:55:06,799
Speaker 1: the Democrats are in power, they wield it without hesitation

1069
00:55:07,400 --> 00:55:11,040
Speaker 1: and they don't take an off season. Alec. You know,

1070
00:55:12,200 --> 00:55:15,279
Speaker 1: we have the same issues in Pennsylvania, and what made

1071
00:55:15,320 --> 00:55:18,000
Speaker 1: the issues more complicated is that the media the moment

1072
00:55:18,040 --> 00:55:21,759
Speaker 1: that the Democrats jerry mandered the state. And by the way,

1073
00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:28,359
Speaker 1: our legislature drew the new congressional maps here, which is

1074
00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:30,880
Speaker 1: how it's supposed to be done as per the Constitution.

1075
00:55:31,440 --> 00:55:34,880
Speaker 1: But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court didn't like the map and

1076
00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:38,520
Speaker 1: picked another one. Who was that map drawn by Mark Elias,

1077
00:55:39,080 --> 00:55:42,360
Speaker 1: who was the Democrats super attorney, you know, And so

1078
00:55:42,880 --> 00:55:45,520
Speaker 1: they took PA seventeen, the district that I ran in

1079
00:55:45,520 --> 00:55:49,239
Speaker 1: in western Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. Beaver County, Butler County, and

1080
00:55:49,480 --> 00:55:53,200
Speaker 1: they subtly jerry mandered it to make it more democratic.

1081
00:55:53,600 --> 00:55:57,400
Speaker 1: But what the media. The media just breathlessly reported that

1082
00:55:57,440 --> 00:56:00,360
Speaker 1: it was fair, it was fair, it was even I'm like,

1083
00:56:00,480 --> 00:56:03,960
Speaker 1: you literally cut out Republican areas of the state and

1084
00:56:04,080 --> 00:56:08,800
Speaker 1: added like basically caller cities or caller towns around the

1085
00:56:08,800 --> 00:56:11,839
Speaker 1: city of Pittsburgh, which were heavily Democratic, so got rid

1086
00:56:11,840 --> 00:56:14,239
Speaker 1: of Republicans, you added three times as many Democrats, and

1087
00:56:14,280 --> 00:56:18,400
Speaker 1: it's like fundamentally unwinnable and people, I think, by and

1088
00:56:18,480 --> 00:56:22,239
Speaker 1: large would not like those kind of tactics, but they

1089
00:56:22,239 --> 00:56:24,600
Speaker 1: don't know about it because the media doesn't report it.

1090
00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:27,640
Speaker 1: And so you end up with candidate's Republican candidates who

1091
00:56:27,640 --> 00:56:29,840
Speaker 1: are running in that district that think it's fair, but

1092
00:56:29,960 --> 00:56:33,359
Speaker 1: it's not. It's far less favorable today than what it

1093
00:56:33,520 --> 00:56:35,200
Speaker 1: was in twenty twenty, and the same is true for

1094
00:56:35,280 --> 00:56:39,480
Speaker 1: your district. And it's just it's just unfair for guys

1095
00:56:39,600 --> 00:56:43,279
Speaker 1: like you, Alec, because you should be in Washington. This

1096
00:56:43,360 --> 00:56:46,440
Speaker 1: country Democrat and Republican would be lucky to have a

1097
00:56:46,480 --> 00:56:48,799
Speaker 1: guy like you in Washington because I've known you for

1098
00:56:48,840 --> 00:56:52,400
Speaker 1: a while now. Yes, you're a conservative you're a Republican,

1099
00:56:52,640 --> 00:56:54,799
Speaker 1: but you're a guy that can work with anyone to

1100
00:56:54,800 --> 00:56:56,920
Speaker 1: get the job done and will work with anyone. You

1101
00:56:57,000 --> 00:57:02,640
Speaker 1: take the title seriously of actually representing the people, and

1102
00:57:04,200 --> 00:57:07,000
Speaker 1: you talked about things being divisive, and I think it's

1103
00:57:07,080 --> 00:57:11,160
Speaker 1: unnecessarily so because and I'll by the way, I'll say

1104
00:57:11,200 --> 00:57:13,920
Speaker 1: this as well, like everywhere I went prior to running

1105
00:57:14,320 --> 00:57:20,040
Speaker 1: for office, alec was I got along amazing with Republicans

1106
00:57:20,040 --> 00:57:24,920
Speaker 1: and Democrats. You know, events we never even talked about politics.

1107
00:57:25,280 --> 00:57:26,800
Speaker 1: We could get on the same page and we can

1108
00:57:26,840 --> 00:57:29,760
Speaker 1: get things done. And the moment that I declared for Congress,

1109
00:57:29,800 --> 00:57:32,000
Speaker 1: it's like fifty percent of the people just you have

1110
00:57:32,040 --> 00:57:34,720
Speaker 1: the R after your name, they hate you. And that

1111
00:57:34,880 --> 00:57:38,360
Speaker 1: was jarring to me. I'm like this, this is crazy.

1112
00:57:38,400 --> 00:57:39,920
Speaker 1: It shouldn't be like this, but it is.

1113
00:57:41,160 --> 00:57:44,280
Speaker 2: Yep, it's unfortunate. And again, the media doesn't do any

1114
00:57:44,280 --> 00:57:48,480
Speaker 2: favors on either side. But the thing about jerry mandering too,

1115
00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:51,880
Speaker 2: that a lot of people don't realize. I mean, Republicans

1116
00:57:51,960 --> 00:57:55,840
Speaker 2: jerry mandered just as bad as Democrats. And it's a

1117
00:57:55,920 --> 00:57:59,160
Speaker 2: state level issue. So every state decides how they do

1118
00:57:59,240 --> 00:58:02,800
Speaker 2: redistricting on their own. And I don't even. I mean,

1119
00:58:02,880 --> 00:58:05,600
Speaker 2: gerrymandering is one thing. If you want a jerrymander, that's fine.

1120
00:58:05,640 --> 00:58:07,880
Speaker 2: You want to put more Republicans or more Democrats in

1121
00:58:07,920 --> 00:58:10,680
Speaker 2: a certain district, like fine, but at least make it

1122
00:58:10,800 --> 00:58:15,280
Speaker 2: make geographic sense. The problem I have with jerymandering is

1123
00:58:15,280 --> 00:58:18,840
Speaker 2: when they have districts that have nothing in common, or

1124
00:58:18,880 --> 00:58:21,240
Speaker 2: they put cities that have nothing in common with the

1125
00:58:21,280 --> 00:58:24,200
Speaker 2: rest of a district just to get the political outcome

1126
00:58:24,200 --> 00:58:27,320
Speaker 2: that they want exactly. I mean, like, for instance.

1127
00:58:26,880 --> 00:58:29,400
Speaker 3: I can't really see it with this matt behind me

1128
00:58:29,640 --> 00:58:33,919
Speaker 3: right here, this is the Cascade Mountain Range. They had

1129
00:58:33,960 --> 00:58:37,200
Speaker 3: this district cross an entire mountain range with no even

1130
00:58:37,360 --> 00:58:40,440
Speaker 3: highways to get there, to pick up one little city

1131
00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:42,880
Speaker 3: that has more Democrats to add to this district to

1132
00:58:42,920 --> 00:58:47,720
Speaker 3: make it democrat. I mean literally no geographic sense whatsoever

1133
00:58:48,160 --> 00:58:49,880
Speaker 3: in making that congressional district.

1134
00:58:49,880 --> 00:58:54,040
Speaker 2: But they did it just so. I mean, follow mountain ranges,

1135
00:58:54,200 --> 00:59:00,200
Speaker 2: follow county boundaries, follow rivers, you know, like it should

1136
00:59:00,200 --> 00:59:02,560
Speaker 2: make geographic sense, should be able to pick buy a

1137
00:59:02,600 --> 00:59:06,680
Speaker 2: neighborhood in order to get the outcome that you want.

1138
00:59:06,720 --> 00:59:10,600
Speaker 2: I mean, we have four congressional districts that all go

1139
00:59:10,680 --> 00:59:15,120
Speaker 2: into Portland. In Oregon. I mean, it's insane. It doesn't

1140
00:59:15,120 --> 00:59:16,640
Speaker 2: make any sense, and that's what I think.

1141
00:59:16,720 --> 00:59:19,840
Speaker 1: It doesn't make any sense obviously. Yeah, I completely agree

1142
00:59:19,840 --> 00:59:22,720
Speaker 1: with you. So you got to tell me. First of all,

1143
00:59:22,840 --> 00:59:24,440
Speaker 1: I got to have you back. There's so much more

1144
00:59:24,480 --> 00:59:26,280
Speaker 1: to talk about, Alec, but you got to tell me

1145
00:59:26,320 --> 00:59:27,200
Speaker 1: what you're up to now.

1146
00:59:28,480 --> 00:59:31,000
Speaker 2: So now I'm working for these guys, the Freedom Foundation

1147
00:59:31,200 --> 00:59:35,760
Speaker 2: up there too. They are an anti public sector union nonprofit,

1148
00:59:35,920 --> 00:59:39,439
Speaker 2: so namely, they go after teachers unions that we all hate,

1149
00:59:39,520 --> 00:59:42,120
Speaker 2: and pretty much the bottom line is, I mean, it's

1150
00:59:42,120 --> 00:59:45,200
Speaker 2: a nonprofit, so they can't be super political. But it's

1151
00:59:45,240 --> 00:59:48,160
Speaker 2: not their fault that teachers unions only give to Democrats

1152
00:59:48,200 --> 00:59:51,760
Speaker 2: and grow government. So go for public sector unions and

1153
00:59:51,880 --> 00:59:54,400
Speaker 2: by doing so, getting people to leave of the union

1154
00:59:54,480 --> 00:59:57,960
Speaker 2: defunds the unions and therefore defunds the Democrat Party. So

1155
00:59:58,080 --> 01:00:01,400
Speaker 2: it gives Republicans where a little bit more of a

1156
01:00:01,520 --> 01:00:04,000
Speaker 2: winning chance when the unions are involved. Because the union's

1157
01:00:04,480 --> 01:00:07,160
Speaker 2: public sectory unions again control the state of Oregon, and

1158
01:00:07,200 --> 01:00:08,920
Speaker 2: I'm sure they have a lot of weight in Pennsylvania

1159
01:00:08,960 --> 01:00:10,800
Speaker 2: because we do a lot of waight in Pennsylvania, we

1160
01:00:11,120 --> 01:00:12,720
Speaker 2: do a lot of work in Pennsylvania as well.

1161
01:00:13,400 --> 01:00:16,960
Speaker 1: Oh they do, they do, and it doesn't matter, you know,

1162
01:00:17,680 --> 01:00:20,040
Speaker 1: Like you know, I was a before I joined the

1163
01:00:20,040 --> 01:00:23,479
Speaker 1: military after nine eleven ROTC. I was an elementary education major,

1164
01:00:23,480 --> 01:00:27,160
Speaker 1: secondary education major. You'd think that would matter, you know,

1165
01:00:27,360 --> 01:00:31,560
Speaker 1: having a pro school choice, pro education platform, pro educational

1166
01:00:31,600 --> 01:00:34,360
Speaker 1: freedom for people in the state of Pennsylvania. Teachers unions

1167
01:00:34,360 --> 01:00:37,160
Speaker 1: oppose it, period, end of story, and they come after you.

1168
01:00:37,200 --> 01:00:40,640
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter. And so I love that you're staying

1169
01:00:40,680 --> 01:00:43,480
Speaker 1: in the fight, man, I really do, because Alec, this

1170
01:00:43,600 --> 01:00:48,760
Speaker 1: country needs people like you, and I hope that you don't.

1171
01:00:48,960 --> 01:00:50,760
Speaker 1: I hope to never see you out of the fight.

1172
01:00:50,760 --> 01:00:53,400
Speaker 1: I hope to see you run again. Third times a charm, right,

1173
01:00:53,600 --> 01:00:56,240
Speaker 1: just don't stop until you get in there. And by

1174
01:00:56,280 --> 01:00:59,080
Speaker 1: the way, you've you've learned so much. I'm sure running

1175
01:00:59,080 --> 01:01:03,440
Speaker 1: two campaigns, nobody better suited to represent Oregon, or at

1176
01:01:03,520 --> 01:01:05,080
Speaker 1: least a district in Oregon than you.

1177
01:01:06,400 --> 01:01:08,400
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, you do learn a lot, and I'm

1178
01:01:08,440 --> 01:01:10,440
Speaker 2: sure you learned a lot your first time running.

1179
01:01:10,200 --> 01:01:13,960
Speaker 1: Too, so lots of licks too. But I could take

1180
01:01:14,000 --> 01:01:15,320
Speaker 1: you the third.

1181
01:01:15,160 --> 01:01:17,040
Speaker 2: Time candidates, I think I have a much better chance

1182
01:01:17,040 --> 01:01:21,120
Speaker 2: of winning. So it's good to not give up, and

1183
01:01:21,160 --> 01:01:24,000
Speaker 2: we'll see what the future holds. But in the meantime,

1184
01:01:24,000 --> 01:01:26,720
Speaker 2: I'm happy taking the cycle off, to be honest, because

1185
01:01:26,800 --> 01:01:29,320
Speaker 2: I like to, you know. I mean, I've been doing

1186
01:01:29,320 --> 01:01:32,320
Speaker 2: politics for quite some time and before that, doing all

1187
01:01:32,360 --> 01:01:34,640
Speaker 2: the things that I've done. It's nice to kind of

1188
01:01:34,640 --> 01:01:38,360
Speaker 2: settle into reality for a little bit, you know, work

1189
01:01:38,400 --> 01:01:40,720
Speaker 2: on my own personal life, which has kind of been neglected.

1190
01:01:41,600 --> 01:01:44,600
Speaker 1: Well, take a knee, drink some water, take a break,

1191
01:01:44,640 --> 01:01:46,840
Speaker 1: and get back in the fight because America needs you.

1192
01:01:46,880 --> 01:01:48,120
Speaker 1: I mean, not that you're out of the fight. You're

1193
01:01:48,120 --> 01:01:50,360
Speaker 1: still in the fight, but you know, hopefully you run

1194
01:01:50,400 --> 01:01:53,120
Speaker 1: again in the future. Where can people find you?

1195
01:01:53,920 --> 01:01:57,000
Speaker 2: Oh shoot, I mean I'm on Twitter, Alex Scarlattos, I'm

1196
01:01:57,040 --> 01:02:01,480
Speaker 2: on Instagram, Alex Scarlatto's. I think I have two Facebook

1197
01:02:01,520 --> 01:02:04,640
Speaker 2: pages a personal line of political, so follow the political.

1198
01:02:06,560 --> 01:02:09,320
Speaker 2: But yeah, if I ever do anything political in the future,

1199
01:02:09,360 --> 01:02:11,280
Speaker 2: I'll definitely let you know and you can have me

1200
01:02:11,360 --> 01:02:12,760
Speaker 2: back on and I'll look forward to it.

1201
01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:15,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, yep. And maybe we'll cross paths on the campaign

1202
01:02:16,080 --> 01:02:17,480
Speaker 1: trails at some point in the future.

1203
01:02:18,800 --> 01:02:20,840
Speaker 2: I almost hope not, But at the same time.

1204
01:02:20,720 --> 01:02:24,600
Speaker 1: It'll be fun, all right, brother, Thanks for coming on

1205
01:02:24,640 --> 01:02:25,960
Speaker 1: and we'll talk to you later. Man.

1206
01:02:26,600 --> 01:02:27,400
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.

1207
01:02:28,160 --> 01:02:30,360
Speaker 1: All right, everybody, that is a wrap. I hope that

1208
01:02:30,400 --> 01:02:34,960
Speaker 1: you enjoy my conversation with Alex Scarlattos. As always, subscribe

1209
01:02:35,040 --> 01:02:37,960
Speaker 1: to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. You can

1210
01:02:38,000 --> 01:02:41,640
Speaker 1: also subscribe to my YouTube channel or my Rumble channel,

1211
01:02:41,640 --> 01:02:45,200
Speaker 1: where you can enjoy exclusive video content of everything that

1212
01:02:45,240 --> 01:02:47,080
Speaker 1: happens on here. You can go to my website Official

1213
01:02:47,080 --> 01:02:50,760
Speaker 1: Sean Parnell dot com where you can buy Battleground apperil.

1214
01:02:51,000 --> 01:02:54,439
Speaker 1: It's brand new prototype stuff that's out there right now,

1215
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Speaker 1: but we're going to be rolling out a lot of

1216
01:02:56,800 --> 01:03:00,480
Speaker 1: other cool design so stay tuned on that. As always,

1217
01:03:00,840 --> 01:03:04,640
Speaker 1: thank you for giving us your time. This show is

1218
01:03:04,800 --> 01:03:09,120
Speaker 1: about telling incredible stories, also about celebrating just the exceptional

1219
01:03:09,200 --> 01:03:12,240
Speaker 1: nation that we get to call home. So thank you

1220
01:03:12,280 --> 01:03:15,080
Speaker 1: all again for watching. God bless you all, God bless

1221
01:03:15,160 --> 01:03:18,439
Speaker 1: this amazing country that we live in. Take care