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Language: en
and you look at Russia and Ukraine it's
a test of Wills well the ukrainians this
is their
home this is their home this is their
freedom which I talked about
earlier so how strong is their will
going to be it's going to
be as it's going to be strong it's going
to be as strong as imaginable and then
on the other side you have Russia how
much does
Russia how much does Putin care about
the level of sacrifice that's made we
don't know but we're starting to see I I
would say we kind of know we're more
familiar now that he's not that
concerned so that's what we have we have
a test of Wills because each side
thought their will was going to be a
little bit stronger and and guess how we
find out we find out by fighting and we
find out by killing each other until
it's
over so
again I think that the
ukrainians are their will is
absolute but they also lack the numbers
and unfortunately they're in a war of
attrition because when you ask me what I
think of it or what I think would be the
outcome I was in the beginning of the
war thinking that Ukraine would fight a
Guerilla War
an asymmetric war
and they have entered in more of of a
conventional war and this is this is a a
conventional War for the most part very
quickly turns into a war of attrition
and now it's we have more people than
you we can make our ammunition faster
than you and look America can keep
sending bombs and guns but at a certain
point somebody's got to wield those
bombs and guns
and it's if it becomes a war of
attrition which it is absolutely
morphing into that outcome is not going
to be good for the ukrainians because
they don't have the same number of
soldiers don't have the same number of
people what sucked them into a
traditional
conflict I think it happened
because they they were able to achieve
some some what appeared to be and what
felt like like conventional victories so
I'm sure you saw images of of of
patrols and convoys of Russian Vehicles
going in and being bombed and being and
and it looked as if oh this almost looks
like conventional Warfare It's these
tanks against a smaller number of Tanks
but against conventional type forces
maneuvering against the Russians and
they were
winning which they did but when you
knock out 20 Russian
tanks and you feel like it's a win and
it is a
win until the Russia sends 20 more tanks
or when you
kill 50 Russian soldiers and you lost
Five Guys you think hey that's a win and
it is a win it's a tactical win but then
the Russians send 50 more soldiers and
50 more soldiers and 50 more soldiers
and 50 more soldiers
so War should be the absolute last
option and I I think it got moved up in
the in the in the list of options
unfortunately yeah it does not feel
globally like uh people are waiting
until the last second for war right
about now uh I would have said 10 years
ago probably that maybe we really are at
the end of History that's certainly how
it felt didn't feel there was going to
be any of these sort of conquering
Nation Vibes uh anymore and obviously
that that tweet would have uh aged very
poorly had I sent it so the question
becomes how do we get them to pull back
so again you talk about Detachment so
they're trying a strategy probably not
going to work if you went in to advise
them I assume it would go something like
uh guys play this one out doesn't end
well you're not going to be able to
match them troop for troop so I get it a
lot of reputations on the line that this
was the right play but we just have to
look at the data and say this isn't
going to work then what go go back to
gorilla Warfare would that be their only
shot gorilla Warfare yep gorilla Warfare
and do you think there's just too much
political Machinery in the way for that
to happen or why haven't they figured
that out themselves I mean and don't get
me wrong they are doing some gorilla
type Warfare but they also get drawn
into oh this is our City we're going to
hold
it is that the problem like it's a
raccoon trap that type thing that type
of thing has happened this is our city
we're going to hold it we're going to
fight for it it's like if you fight for
it and you kill a thousand Russians but
you lose a 100
ukrainians okay there's G to come a
thousand more
Russians and I'm sure you've seen
pictures the the young kids that are now
putting their uniforms on in Ukraine and
they're going to go fight this is
this is what happens human capital and
yes if I was there advising them I would
be telling them to fight a Guerilla war
no Guerilla War doesn't feel good if
you're if you're a country like Ukraine
these are proud soldiers in a country
that has a trained military it is it is
the it's almost the antithesis of the
way they would think to fight and the
way they would want to fight they would
want to fight
manto man on the battlefield and
Guerilla Warfare is not manto man on the
battlefield it's roadside bombs it's
snipers that's what it is and if you've
been on the receiving end of roadside
bombs and snipers it's
horrifying
so but you'd have to kind of culturally
change them
to have the attitude that we're going to
fight an asymmetric war against a
numerically
Superior enemy which is what they're
facing who's the greatest gorilla force
in history that you've studied the
greatest Guerilla force in history uh
there's there's there's tons of them I
mean you already mentioned some of the
some of the Native Americans that were
out there on the planes they were they
were outstanding obviously you know the
the the Viet Kong they were outstanding
They Carried train uh tanks over a
mountain range that's insane to me yep
yep
and I mean the history is just filled
with I
mean look look at
Afghanistan that was they didn't that
wasn't a conventional war that
was we left Russia left Russia left
England left so three and0 are they good
at what they're doing yeah they're good
at what they're doing it also shows you
how powerful asymmetric Warfare is
because
uh a force that's untrained that doesn't
have the
technology but they have time you I'm
sure you heard that about the Afghans
like the Afghans were like oh yeah you
guys have bullets you guys have bombs we
have
time this is where we live that's what
the that's what the ukrainians have
that's where they live they have
time and to try and fight the Russians
in that way is bad and then once that
happens the Russians what the Russians
should do is say hey look we don't want
this kind of
beef we don't want because
you try and occupy a country which is
what Russia would have to do or occupy
those those
regions now you've got occupation forces
occupation forces get picked off for a
year three years five years 10 years and
eventually they go all right we don't
want to do this anymore that's what
America said in Vietnam that's what
America said in
Afghanistan look we we don't want to do
this
anymore
so that's the way and and I
actually you ask me how I think this
will play out I think that is how it
will play out it's just going to take a
much larger amount of casualties to get
there because I don't think the
ukrainians are going to surrender or
anything but they're going to get to a
point where they can no longer attempt
to to fight
face to face against the Russians so
they're going to be forced into a into a
Insurgency and then it'll be a long
drawn out process I that was when people
had originally asked me about what was
going to happen I said this is going to
be a 15-year War it's going to be an
Insurgency by the ukrainians in the
occupied zones of the
Russians and that didn't happen it
didn't happen because it turned into a a
conventional War very much a
conventional War not total but a much
more conventional
war that is not as advantageous to the
ukrainians do you have a read on Putin
what do you think are his Ambitions
there's been much debate about um is he
an imperialist who's not going to stop
until he's gobbled up all of Ukraine is
he really just trying to create a border
from uh NATO do you have a sense I could
tell you my sense I don't know I don't I
don't wouldn't put much weight on my
assessment
um so I whether worth even chiming in on
I I don't know I I mean we the West
definitely pushed Putin and cornered him
and Putin is the type of guy that you
can't corner you need to give him a way
out you need to give him a a way to save
face and I don't think we did a good job
of doing that um he's a proud guy and
when you corner someone that's proud
this is why people are worried about him
using nuclear weapons because they know
that much about him he's a proud guy
he's proud of his country and you Corner
a guy like that you don't give him a way
out they do dumb things ego right yes
indeed all right I have to ask because I
actually want to know uh you get elected
president and uh Putin's like all right
I'm gonna beat this guy in Jiu-Jitsu and
then we we can call the whole thing off
can you take him yeah yeah he's he's
he's a j he's a judo practitioner and so
he's going to be very good skilled on
the feet and he's going to have Judo
also has excellent groundwork as well
but how old is Putin right now I think
he's 70 or pushing 70 yeah yeah he's
gonna have real problems with me if
that's what it's going to come down to
um but I think
yeah I I I would take I would take Putin
now somebody uh I asked for uh fans of
yours for things they wanted to ask that
nobody's ever asked and one of them was
how hard do you choke so since we're
talking about uh tapping Putin how hard
do you
choke uh I mean till people
tap yeah I mean it's it's not that big
of a deal that it's weird you know for
you like choking is a big deal but for
people that do Jiu-Jitsu it's just it's
like how hard do you shake someone's
hand it's like that's just the way
things go and that's life and you get
choked and and Putin's an old guy and if
a 70-year-old guy had to fight me it
would be a bummer you know like if I had
to fight a 27-year-old Jiu-Jitsu
Champion it'd be a problem for me right
and and I actually do that pretty
regularly and it's usually a problem
so uh all right so there are two major
conflicts in the world right now um
what's your take on what's going on with
Israel Palestine uh is that going to
play out tactically as um they just keep
bombing from the air have they already
started backing off from that I think I
heard they had um are the tunnels going
to be the problem like how does this one
play out the way it's going to play out
I I think that Israel is very determined
to completely eradicate Hamas do you
think they have a metric by which they
judge that like they obviously don't
have a roll call of who everybody is and
you go find them and when the checklist
is done you're done or do they um I bet
they have pretty good Intel I mean
there's once you start having Intel
sources inside of a country like you can
know a lot about what's going on and I
bet you they have a pretty good roster
you know whether they have a roster
that's down to a man I don't know but
they they know and I think they've
determined that they need to eradicate
Hamas and I think they're going to
eradicate Hamas and I
don't it certainly does not appear
through their current actions that they
are going to relent at all until they've
gotten Hamas eradicated do you think the
international pressure for them to uh
dramatically drop the body count will
force them to go tunnel by tunnel house
by house or do you think they're just
going to be like n [ __ ] it like we're
just going to keep bombing the bomb you
still once you bomb you still have to go
in so they're goingon to have to go in
one way or the other and so I I think
they're going to make the judgment on
that question not based on International
pressure I think they're going to make
that judgment based on when they are
tactically ready they feel like they've
got it to a point where they can go in
and do the street to Street hous to
house tunnel clearance then then then
they'll do it but I don't I think the
inter the international pressure came so
quickly that it didn't like Mount the
international pressure didn't mount it
just it pegged it redlined and it's just
staying there and I think Israel's sort
of saying okay well that's the
international pressure it's redlining
but we're going to keep doing what we're
doing until we get this threat
completely eliminated do you have fears
of that escalating it's going to cause
years and years of strategic problems
for Israel because they're going to have
to you know people are going to seek
revenge on them for the next hundred
years so do I think it's going to be an
issue
yep might it be some short-term thinking
for them
yep is that the mode that they're in
right now after they have their you know
people massacred yep
how close have you looked at that
situation in terms of the historical
context
decently is this intractable on anything
remotely approaching a realistic
timeline like sure maybe over a thousand
years it unwinds but is this something
that can unwind in the next two
generations no not there's zero options
zero options what is the sticking
point um lack of forgiven
foress and
egos so if you and I have a problem and
whatever happened in the past we can't
forgive each other we will not have
resolution and there's been atrocities
on both sides and
there's enough people on each
side that will not forgive that the
people that will not forgive and will
not move forward will continually
drag the rest of those both sides down
will they drag them down or will they
suck them in suck them in drag them down
whatever you want to call it yeah well
it's interesting to me there's a very
big uh Chasm between those two ideas so
idea number one is that hatred is so
powerful and I can rally you around your
hatred and the misery the squalor that
you live in and I can pull that front
and center and I can say they've done
this to you and not only um as as an act
of divine Justice must you strike them
down um but it's the only way forward
for us to finally have what God wants us
to have we have to do this that's
sucking them in um sucking them down
would be uh hey please stop don't don't
strike them again for the love of God
like let us just live our lives and then
they go strike anyway and then you get
bombs and so I I am not close enough to
that problem to understand like whether
the populace is like no we we elected
them this is who we want to lead us and
they are right and this is just and this
what's happening to us now is is merely
more proof of the Injustice of of these
people that have held us down for so
long uh I don't know if that's how they
read it or if it really is like oh my
God like if we could just get leadership
in here that wasn't um constantly
provoking them we could finally achieve
balance of some kind the answer is yes
but both those things are occurring and
there's there's both people that
are wishing that they there's people in
in both Israel and in Gaza that are
wishing that the damn governments would
stop and we could just like carry on
with our normal lives and and Shake
Hands there's people in both those
elements I mean you see protesters you
see protesters in Israel you don't see
them so much in in Gaza right now uh but
there is there is there was like I saw
image and videos of people in Gaza
lashing out at Hamas especially when it
comes time for Aid to get delivered so
there's there's people on both sides
that that that would just assume hey
we've had enough of this let's shake
hands and let's carry on and there's
also people that are
completely so what was that well that
was sucked in or is that sucked down
okay that's sucked down and there's also
people that are sucked in on both sides
that are like nope the only way that
this is what they did the Israelis right
now October 7th and whatever other the
countless other atrocities and then the
the Palestinians and their land and
their atrocities and you take both those
things and they're not going to stop
they're not going to forgive they're not
going to forget and they're going to
fight all right let's say that you were
living in a portion of America that
became qualitatively like Palestine is
right now that feels like warlord
territory for me which you have somewhat
jokingly said if things ever got bad
enough I would just become a benevolent
warlord uh I would take over and you at
one point you said something like I
wouldn't say that I was stoked if we
were at end of days but uh I'm ready for
it um what what would you actually do
like so I you may not know this about my
background but uh I actually came up as
a a writer film guy uh I've written
screenplays comic books all kinds of
stuff like in and I love the quote about
a science fiction author that your job
is not to forecast the automobile it's
to forecast the traffic jam so you're
trying to figure out like okay what I
know about humans how how is this going
to play out so it I get I'm asking you
to imagine a fictional scenario but ins
said fictional scenario knowing what you
know about you and other people and what
it would be like cuz I'm going to assume
you'd be trying to lead people to
something better and more hopeful and um
but that you actually have the ability
to be violent to be dangerous to
um back down the the dogs at the door so
what would that really look
like if there was some sort of an
apocalyptic event that took place where
where legitimately I mean I'm trying not
to say what would if you were in
Palestine what would you do but like if
you were in a situation else like that
where you've got bad Warlords and they
are holding the population Hostage to
some extent uh it's rubbled the [ __ ] out
man I mean this place is just you're
you're literally getting MREs dropped
from the sky and that is the only way
that you guys are subsisting you just
watched however many years of billions
of dollars of Aid pour in and it all
went to military tunnels and stuff like
that there did not go to projects that
make the people's lives better uh
knowing that your um the core thing that
you build up from is freedom um ready go
do you start like being that charismatic
leader that organizes people or do you
find the person that's going to be the
mouthpiece I would say you've got so
much credibility I'd expect it to be I I
hate to um drill down like this but are
you talking about a hypothetical
situation where there's a apocalyptic
event and now there's Mayhem going on or
you talking about if I was a Palestinian
right now in Palestine or sorry in
Gaza what would I do those are like very
different questions then then we'll
start with you're in Gaza right now but
you're you are
Palestinian so that you're you're one of
the people what would you do well the
the other assessment or the other
assumption that we have to make is
that I'm Palestinian I'm in Gaza but I
have an open mind right so I I my mind
is my mind is is free to assess what's
happening so yeah if I was there right
now what I would do is I would start
looking around going okay the situation
that we're in is absolutely horrific and
we cannot continue down this road what
is happening all right do the do the
Palestinian people around me my friends
my family what what what's happening
with them right now what do we need to
do so that we can secure and stabilize
our lives and our like small areas our
building our city block whatever the
case may be I'm going to get that thing
stable and secure and one of the ways
that I'm going to be able to do that is
my family my friends my close friends
we're going to start to secure my area
and then guess what I'm going to go
across the block to the next people over
and say hey what's going on with you
guys where where you at how many people
you got how many how many able humans do
you have here because we got to make
some things happen number one we got to
figure out a way to get the food that's
getting dropped onto the beach I want to
help us get that done and I want to do
it in a in a way that we can help as
many people as we can right now we got
injuries happening cuz people are
fighting each other for that stuff so
let's get some control over that so
that's what I would do I would start
very small with my family and my
immediate friends and getting some kind
of control over a small area once I have
control over that small area now I'm
going to start expanding that and what
we're going to be looking to do is we're
going to be looking to stabilize things
as opposed
to destabilize things and and so what do
I have to do that means the Hamas guys
that are down the street will be like
hey you guys you guys are getting bombed
you're not going to get us bombed so you
don't come over here if you go come over
here we're going to have a problem and
I'm going to go to the border and talk
to the Israelis and say hey you guys are
bombing us don't bomb here this is going
to be a problem if you bomb here so
don't here's where we're at so I would
start to try and Comm communicate and I
would start to try and build
relationships with these two opposing
elements so that I could best support
the people that I'm trying to now take
care of man uh I love that this is the
beginning of something very interesting
so I don't know how far we'll be able to
take the hypothetical but at each of the
things you're describing I'm able to
track how you view the world in a really
interesting way uh so your first safety
right so maso's hierarchy of needs we're
going to just make sure everybody's
sheltered they've got food they've got
water uh then we're going to try to
stabilize access to the resources that
we're going to need then we're building
alliances whether it's with the person
next door or whether it's with the um
the other military and in fact as you
were going to first Hamas and then the
Israeli military I could feel you
reaching out to who are the bodies that
matter like what what swings the needle
here let me identify those things out
and do it it's what's so interesting
about that analysis is that is exactly
what you do in business except nobody's
shooting at
you um but in terms of like okay where
are we at now we need to stabilize we
need to gain access to and business
capital I need the resources I need to
know what my run rate is how far how
long can I either lose money or how much
profit am I making to be able to scale
and grow um keeping an open mind getting
ego out of the way knowing who to talk
to but also there's a little bit of
threat in the [ __ ] that you say which
uh I just come back to is I think a big
part of the reason that people you're an
archetype for people and that they keep
wanting you to run for president because
they hunger for that archetype they
hunger for a strong man with the
Tactical and strategic ability to do
that who has a set of morals which I
think is so important which I think
you've called principles
um yeah that's kneeling before something
which you didn't specifically say in
this but it feels feel like you're
kneeling before the family the people on
your team I'm here to serve you I'm
going to make sure you guys are okay I
have to imagine that would be a lot of
the rhetoric as your Coalition building
like look treat us well don't do
anything [ __ ] stupid we've got your
back you're going to be well taken care
of
um how am I doing so far yeah trying to
get people to think more strategic about
what's happening and and hey this is
where we are right now
we can lash out over here or lash out
over there but where does that get us in
the long run where does that get us
strategically and if it's not going to
help us strategically then we shouldn't
be doing it so that that ties into what
I would be saying to my
people what would you do because here's
the thing I think in reality you would
run into um you have an implicit goal in
that which is I want everyone here to
thrive that's my goal and so that's what
I'm working
towards uh you're going to run run up
against people who their goal is to
punish the enemy what would you do when
it's they understand your goal they just
don't buy into it they have a totally
different goal how would you handle that
yeah what's what's your long-term
strategic goal look like because you're
saying you want to hurt the enemy what
does that do where does that get us
because we can go hurt the enemy
tonight and hey we can go hurt the enemy
on October 7th right that's exactly what
they did they they hurt Israel badly
where's it gotten them so that's what
it's it's getting people to think
strategic instead of think
tactically and getting people to think
with logic instead of think with their
ego and their emotions which is not easy
and you can't just you can't just say
don't get emotional you can't you can't
pull emotion and ego completely out of
the completely out of the calculus of
your decision making but you have to
wait them a lot less because I've got
people the same thing with the Israel
the Israelis can't be like hey they
attacked us so but you know we can't get
emotional we need to have a measured
response like no it's like you have to
put that emotion into the calculus my
wife and daughter and son were just
murdered and we need to do something
about it now like okay we gotta we got
to take this it's real the emotion is
real so you got to put that in the
calculus at the same time you also can't
let emotions be the heaviest weight in
your decision-making process you can't
let your country's ego be that biggest
weight in your decision-making process
do does it have to have weight in there
yeah but it can't be the biggest weight
that's now driving you to do things that
don't make sense in a long-term
strategic way yeah that's why to me this
all comes down to goals uh because if
your goal is simply to hurt and kill as
many people as you can on your enemy
side and that death for you is perfectly
acceptable there is no problem with that
uh in fact it is simply the gateway to
Eternal Paradise that's where it gets
tricky uh and probably part of why this
is so difficult to unwind because in the
emotion of they must be hurt Justice
must be served Divine Justice and if I
die in the service of that Justice
that's fine um you now have a loop
because you you don't have a way to back
them out of that by saying well I have a
better goal for you right look at your
son your daughter because my initial
reaction and I still believe the
following statement is true but it's
probably incomplete and probably a
little naive uh but when I think about
whatever the solution is going to be the
solution is going to involve
Palestinians believing that their kids
have a bright future and the second they
don't believe they have a bright future
all hope is lost now them believing that
their children have a bright future now
that comes down to definition of bright
future uh and if bright future is being
a martyr that becomes more problematic
uh so anyway I fully acknowledge that
I'm thinking through this I'm so early
in my thought process I do not have
enough of the information but I do think
it's valuable uh for people to leave
breadcrumbs about how they think through
a problem um so yeah very very
interesting all right uh I want to go
back to something that you said a minute
ago you were saying I would go over and
ask how many able-bodied people do you
have you didn't say men and I'm assuming
you didn't say men for a reason what are
your thoughts about female leadership in
battle
well in a situation like that where
we've got a limited number of people and
I can take females and put them on
sniper rifles and put them into
positions where they can utilize their
skill sets that they have that's of
course in any when you have an
existential threat you're GNA you're
going to need everybody so I mean that's
one of the reasons Israeli the Israeli
military does have prominent female um
members I mean everyone serves male and
female and Leadership specifically do
you see any difference in um ability at
just a general level well yes all
leaders have various levels of ability
but that's what I mean like on on
averages so average male average female
um certainly there's strength
discrepancies but are there
leadership propensities that differ you
know I work with all kinds of male and
female leaders and the good male leaders
and the good female leaders all have the
same fundamental characteristics and
they follow the same principles and all
the bad leaders that are male and female
all have the same terrible
idiosyncrasies and Egos and emotional
issues and so it's more based on the
individual human being than it is based
on what uh whether they're male or
female uh do you find that guys have a
problem following a female Superior I'm
sure some guys have a problem following
a female Superior and I can also tell
you factually that there are many many
guys that have a problem following male
right superiors so if some if if you're
a guy with a big ego you don't like
listening to anybody and you'll find
whatever thing it is about them oh
freaking Tom's not you know he's he
hasn't been to college or Tom he hasn't
done this job before or Tom he doesn't
even know it's like to whatever I can
find plenty of reasons that I shouldn't
have to listen to you and if I can make
it because you have uh brown hair or
whatever or make it because you're a
female it's all it's all just ego
talking and it's you're going to find
that that person that doesn't want to be
led by a female is going to have
whatever kind of beef with whatever kind
of person is in that
situation if you were would you have a
problem following a female leader no
yeah no I mean I've got so
uh well three of the bigger companies
that I have um Joo fuel which is a
supplement company our our coo is is a
female Echelon front which is a
leadership consulting company our our
coo is a female so and and then origin
USA which is a clothing Manufacturing
Company our coo is a female So In
fairness though you're the CEO of all
those companies so while you clearly
have high Lev leadership that are women
uh if if you and let's put it on the
battlefield if you had a um High
performing very competent female leader
platoon leader sure uh would you have
any problem falling in line and
following her the way that you would
follow any male leader of similar
competence so hold on a second you're
asking me right now if there was a
highly competent leader yep that I had
to work for would I have problem with it
yes if it was female like this is no
Factor this it's it's no Factor yeah I I
agree violently I don't understand why
anybody looks at anything other than
competence so if if a woman if a
anything can lead me to where I'm trying
to get to that is all I care about I
find it very weird that people don't use
as their North star utility efficacy
like is this going to work or not I mean
the discrepancy that you already
mentioned which is the discrepancy in
combat is the is the physical component
that's the discrepancy in in a combat
situation is uh generally speaking
females are smaller and
weaker and so in
combat that depending on your job that
can be significant issue and sometimes
your job isn't what you expect your job
to be because sometimes your job is
picking up your friend that weighs 200
lb and then another 200 another 70
pounds with gear on and that's a problem
so so for for when you're talking about
specifically in combat there's a there's
a physical discrepancy
that that that
causes women to very seldomly have the
physical capability to be in combat
units so why they they're not a ton of
them in combat units I mean there's been
some females have went have gone through
Ranger school um so I think there's been
yeah so obviously there's females have
gone through Airborne school
but there's there's I think there's
there's an infantry
Marine right now female I I
believe but I'm not 100%
sure but that's that that boils down
doesn't boil down to their um cognitive
capacity or anything like that or their
leadership capability it just boils down
to their their
biological uh
structure yeah I mean I partly asked
just so that people can hear you
somebody obviously that they will really
respect at this level um say the the
northstar's
competence yeah I think is very very
wise as we move forward as a country
there is a very big potential that we
could face China as a
a either cold war or flirting with a hot
War if something kicks off in Taiwan is
that something that you think about uh
is it is it something that you think is
plausible would you ever want to see
American boots on the ground in
Taiwan definitely not I definitely
wouldn't want to see that but I don't
think it I don't think
the I think the Chinese will
wait I think the Chinese will wait and
let us
let
us um let us go to war with ourselves
first and when we're going to war with
ourselves even not not even a hot war in
America but just a a cold war in America
a cold Civil War which is like sort of
what we're in the beginning of right now
and you know it's funny now that I think
about it you know I mention that hey
These people aren't willing to sacrifice
in a hot War but we could definitely get
into a cold Civil War here where we
can't progress we can't make decisions
and if China can do wait until we're at
kind of the height of a of a cold Civil
War they could probably get away with
anything and they know that yeah China
is patient uh that is for sure they
think in much longer time Cycles than we
do um yeah it it will be very
interesting given how much technology
comes out of Taiwan it's so critical it
really will become a question I think of
uh if x ever feels like he's got time
pressure on him and he needs to make a
move um I don't I'm not close enough to
that whole thing and how X thinks but um
certainly talking to enough highlevel
people that there's some concern even if
it's not necessarily foot on the gas My
Hope Is that the Chinese economy has
taken a big enough hit uh right now that
they're just not going to be in a
position where now would be the
time we'll see we'll see uh I don't like
kicking the can down the road for
somebody else just to to deal with it
I'd rather figure out a way around the
problem certainly felt a lot better when
we were a far more Global Society uh but
the unwinding of that is very
interesting speaking of that in fact uh
you manufacture in the US so this I is
that in some ways a reaction to the
gutting of American manufacturing as we
globalized or it's 100% it's 100% a
reaction to that we took our
manufacturing and we sent it overseas
and we are bringing it back to
America so it's 100% a reaction that and
is that for uh we need a thriving middle
class what's the what's the on the
ground result you want to
achieve bring manufacturing back to
America because that means you have a
thriving minute uh middle class it means
you have the ability to manufacture it
means you don't have to rely on on
people over
to make things for you which is almost
where we were at so there's a whole
plethora of reasons I mean I grew I grew
up in New England in New England all the
manufacturing jobs were sent overseas
especially in in the clothing industry
they were sent overseas they and we have
literally bought machines from overseas
and brought them back to America so we
are 100% bringing it back so that we as
a nation can become self-sufficient
again not to mention if you care about
look I mentioned Freedom a little bit
during this if you care about Freedom at
all and you're supporting companies that
manufacture in overseas sweat shops
where it's basically slave labor that's
a problem and if you support
environmental causes well when you
manufacture stuff
overseas they don't care about the
environment at all they get done dying a
pair of blue jeans and whatever's left
over they dump it in the river which
goes to the ocean kills everything they
don't care when they have to put
something in the wash to to to break
down some of the material there's
chemicals in that wash what do they do
with that when it's done they dump it in
the ocean they don't care they don't
care at all they don't care about their
workers getting injured they don't care
about anything and so if you care about
Freedom if you care about the
environment if you care about the
economy if you care about America being
self-sufficient if you care about those
things you're goal would be to one of
your one of the primary ways you could
do that is to bring manufacturing back
to this country and that's exactly what
we're doing okay so self-reliance uh is
something I am getting as one of your
drivers I'm imagining you standing
before the people that work at your
company there I have done this at my own
company so I know what this is like and
one of the things I always tried to do
was paint what does it mean to work at
the time Quest right what does it mean
to work there what what is the part of
your identity that I want to breathe
life into what's the galvanizing
identity if you have one that you try to
give your workers and I imagine that the
sort of America American Spirit is part
of that literally everything I just said
and everybody that works for us knows
and understands and believes in what
we're doing and in what they're doing
because they're what make it possible
you you have to have people
ready to work and that's what we have we
have an incredible force of people that
are that have these skills that are
learning these skills and that are going
to take these skills and continue to
grow with us so they
all they all innately understand the
importance of this 100% that's what
we're doing that's that's why we're
doing it and that's what we're doing
that's why we're doing it and those
people are the one
the the people that that that work with
us they are the why we are the
why it's America they all know that they
all understand that there's this is and
and it's actually been awesome to see
because now I'm starting to see a lot
more other companies are trying to bring
manufacturing back I'm supporting as
much as I can but everybody is starting
to look around and say oh yeah we need
to bring manufacturing back to America
and it's happening it's it's absolutely
happening and look Co helped out with
that as well right because all of a
sudden you had the shipping problems you
had the Customs problems all that stuff
made people realize how weak our supply
chain was and good companies looked
around and said that's not a that's too
vulnerable of a position to be in and it
is too vulnerable of a position to be in
not only for a business not only for an
economy but for a nation you can't be
riant on other countries especially
adversarial countries to to allow you to
buy goods from them that's
insanity but
our corporations corporations in this
country
they decided that profit was more
important they decided that if they
could make a pair of blue jeans for $2
less and make $2 more and fire a bunch
of American workers and shut down our
supply chain they decided it was worth
it and they did it and then they lied
cuz they lied they lied to us and have
said we don't have the ability to do
that anymore that's a lie that's a lie
this is
America this is America we can make
anything and we will and we're going to
show the world that's dope man so as
somebody who also manufactured here in
America at the beginning of quest I
can't speak to it now because I left but
um
when I was there all of it in America
and it was awesome now the crazy thing
is I don't know if this is true for you
as well but we were Manufacturing in
Compton city of Industry like places
where people came up hard hard and to be
able to give people a legitimate
business where they had opportunity to
grow and to get health insurance and um
just be a part of something and
especially in the early days when nobody
knew who we were and it was just like
all right we're here to do something
like we're cuz we as a company had a
mission that we were really trying to
turn Health around and that we so my
wife and I uh have said for a long time
it doesn't matter who you are today it
only matters who you want to become and
the price you're willing to pay to get
there and so we were talking and I was
like do we really mean that or is that
just some cool rhetoric and we were like
no we we really do mean that and I was
like okay then if we mean that we should
be willing to consider somebody for
employment even if they have a
conviction and she's like yeah so I was
like went to my partners I'm like what
do you guys think they're like yeah
let's do it so we decided to tell people
hey even if you have felony conviction
we'll consider you for employment we had
people lined up around the building to
interview I had to interview people in
groups there were so many people coming
in we were growing so fast and I
remember telling them at one point I
started what I called quest University
and I said I will teach you anything you
want to know about entrepreneurship and
the reason I'm going to I'll come in
early I'll stay late I'll teach you how
to build a competitive nutrition
and the reason I want to do it is I
really believe that if you understand
that I care more about your future than
your own mother that you're probably
going to stay here and if you if the
more empowered you get the more likely
you are to leave one fine like if you
can go off and do amazing things in this
world I'm here for it but I have a
feeling that I'm going to be able to
retain a ton of you just because you're
like yo this really matters and this
means something to me and thank you and
dude it ended up being exactly that like
seeing that moment where somebody thinks
um cuz I remember one kid came in and
told me cuz I would give them like guys
you have to understand like you see an
after picture of who I am now you don't
know who I used to be and it's just a
set of ideas always comes back to that
for me that took me from when I was
broke and had no idea how to control my
life to now running this billion- dollar
company and I can teach you those ideas
and it will have a similar impact on
your life and this one kid came to me
and he's like but I you know I I just
have a hard time leing in this cuz my
mom told me that people look that look
like me uh the world doesn't want them
to succeed and I was like homie listen
you cannot think like that and Kobe
Bryant has this incredible quote booze
don't block dunks and I was like you can
get so good at something that even if
people want you to fail they can't stop
you and so the goal is just to get that
good get so good that nobody can stop
you from doing this thing and so just so
many of these guys went on to change
their lives and do incredible things and
obviously Quest ends up becoming this
historic uh run and partly because we
just had so many people there bleeding
to make it happen it it really was
extraordinary so from the outside
hopefully people want to bring
manufacturing back to America but when
you're in the middle of it it is
intoxicating of like the sense of Pride
and creating something and being a part
of something it's it's really pretty
incredible I see the exact same thing on
all fronts I mean ashon front our
consulting company we got people
traveling around the country and the
world teaching people these leadership
principles that's going to make their
life and their business so much better
the the supplement company Joo fuel the
the extent that we went through to make
the cleanest possible product was
extraordinary and everybody on the team
knows that the standard is so high
it's unmatched um the the the energy
drink here like this is just to give you
an
indication I didn't want to have
chemical preservatives in it and so the
only way to overcome that was to
pasturize pasteurize the drink which
means heat it up and there was no lines
that had pasteurization
tunnels to make the drink in America at
all at all W so we pushed back our
timeline almost a year and had a line
built that had the pasteurization in it
so we could put the cleanest product out
there that and my standard is like the
the anecdotal standard for me is I want
my kids to have this so my own kids I
want them to be drinking this it I don't
want to make I'm not going to make
anything that I wouldn't be happy that
my kids are drinking or consuming and
that's the standard so everybody knows
it there and then yeah at origin
USA say same thing everybody knows and
know they've got an opportunity
especially you know you go up into well
we got factories in North Carolina we
got factories in Maine those are areas
that were
decimated decimated and now no jobs and
now we've got people that were from that
industry are now coming back and they're
taking that knowledge and passing it on
to the next generation and it's just
phenomenal and you the the the feeling
that you get and we we do the same thing
like hey we we invest as much as we can
into our people and sure they can look
around and [ __ ] I think I could go do
this myself okay I'll invest if you you
want to go try this go but most actually
almost every one of them says no we want
we're we're in we're on the we're on the
train let's go so it's uh it's an
amazing it's an amazing opportunity and
a blessing to be able to have this
opportunity but I think that this
mentality is is is spreading
because people recognize again due to co
due to what's going on in the country I
mean one of it's one of the problems
that we have why are people sitting
around looking at social medias because
they don't even they don't have a career
that they are invested in they don't
have a skill set well if you come and
you learn how to work a loom and you
learn how to weave material all of a
sudden you got a a job and a skill and
value and that's awesome so I I think
these things they're going to have
impact and they're going to continue
continue to have impact not just you
know from an economic perspective but
really from a cultural perspective
inside the
country So speaking to that meaning and
purpose finding that at work one thing
I've heard you say that um we're looking
at the same data and we're seeing
something very different is you say I
hear all the time that young men are
really struggling there's something
unique going on there's nothing unique
going on this always been an age that
people go through whether you're back in
the 40s ' 80s whatever it doesn't matter
you're always going to see it
um I look at the data and the data seem
to suggest that there really is uh
something unusual happening I wrote a
bunch of the statistics down um so uh
according to uh Mission Readiness um 75%
of 17 to 24 year olds uh back in 2009
were ineligible for military service due
to lack of Education obesity and other
physical problems that numbers declined
to 71% but hasn't exactly uh gone to a
great number the former under Secretary
of the army Joe reer said imagine 10
young people walking into a recruiter's
office and seven of them getting turned
away we cannot allow today's Dropout
crisis to become a national security
crisis men are physically weaker than
they were 30 years ago grip strength is
down 26 pounds for men age 25 to 29
obesity rates uh for young men have
Skyrocket for young people have
skyrocketed skyrocketed fewer young men
are having sex that one's a big trigger
for me uh more men are committing
suicide which obviously is terrifying
anxiety and depression rates are off the
charts uh and the military in general
just has a recruiting problem largely
for the thing that I said above but also
there's just a negative sentiment
against the military
um but you look at that and you think
same as it ever was well you know
according to your numbers it's not same
as it ever was so if you think you're a
person that's listening to this right
now and you might be on that list for
one reason or another I got some ideas
for you go to the gym start training
Jiu-Jitsu clean up what you're eating
try and figure out a skill that you want
to learn go learn that skill go be
productive go make money go meet some
girls apparently if you've got some
issues where you're not having sex so I
think these are all things that you can
you can remedy I mean they're clearly
things that you can remedy and as far as
the military goes what they probably
need to do is some kind of a program
where we take people that aren't
physically ready for the military and
put them through a program for four
weeks and you could probably get just
about anyone ready for the military in
four weeks of training maybe six weeks
so yeah that's uh it's sad to hear those
things you know it's probably the reason
that I don't see a lot of it is because
well I own a
gym in San Diego California called
Victory MMA I own a gym and guess what
the Gym's filled with a bunch of people
that are trying to get get better a
bunch of men and women and girls and
boys that are in there training learning
Jiu-Jitsu lifting weights doing pull-ups
like it's that's what I see and it's and
it's a lot of them and then obviously
the supplement company you see people
all the time we sell a lot of product
why are we doing that well because
people want to get better they want to
eat healthier they want to be they want
to have clean fuel in their system so
that indicates to me that people are
shifting in the right direction and
ashon front we do events all over the
country often times when we do those
events the questions that we get asked
are about being being physically in
shape how to manage your health how to
stay on the right path so even though
there's some anecdotal information and
it's not even anecdotal even though
you've got some facts there that paint a
pretty sad picture I would go so far as
to say we might be at some kind of a
bottom of the trough right now and
people have recognized that that's where
we're at and now people have turned the
corner and recognized that we got to get
back into shape get off of your phones
get out into the gym get into the field
get outside go walk go hike go run GO
train jiujitsu and go get after it and I
think that is