Ok, I have to admit when I reached out to Matt Shoemaker, I did not realize how much fun our podcast would be! He is a Former Intelligence Officer and Fox News Commentator and is running for US Congress. I saw his LinkedIn post and loved what his campaign manager was putting out. I am putting some of his campaign pictures on the article, and you have to check them out.
Whenever you get an Intelligence Officer running for Congress with a campaign slogan of “Send Intelligence to DC,” I have to visit with him. Throw in some of the funny ads from his staff, and I am all in. I had an absolute blast visiting with Matt, and we need more people looking at America and Americans first.
His endorsements include Governor Huckabee, General Michael Flynn, General Charles Flynn, and many others.
Matt – Thank you for stopping by the podcast, and let us know if you have any announcements or want to come back. Let me know if you have any endorsing leaders who would like to jump on a podcast and talk about energy or solving problems. It would be fantastic to talk with any or all of them with you.
Thanks, Stu
Follow, reach out, and support: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjshoemaker/
Check out his Website HERE: https://www.votemjs.com/
Highlights of the Podcast
01:09 – Introduction of Matt Shoemaker and campaign manager
02:04 – Discussion about the primary elections
02:26 – Mention of campaign ranking
03:25 – Discussion on wealth accumulation in politics
04:18 – Plans to insulate from corruption
05;12 – Authenticity and approachability
06:06 – Energy policy discussion
07:55 – Matt Shoemaker’s background and experience
08:46 – Approach to answering questions
10:22 – stress relief and resilience
11:36 – Generational divide and representation
17:13 – Top platform issues
19:24 – Government shutdown for border security
20:06 – Campaign website and donation information
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Stuart Turley [00:00:07] US is under attack. Most of it’s from actually, it’s our own political leaders. We have to stop our political leaders from taking down our country. We need energy independence. We have to solve our border issues. And I’ll tell you what. The young punks in Congress, that or the squad, need to have somebody with the backbone to stand up to them. I got somebody that may be able to do that, but after this podcast, you might be able to make your own mind up. I’ve got Matthew Shoemaker, and I’ll tell you what. I had to reach out to him after, and we’ll have our team put this out there. His meme for his line is, wouldn’t you love to make me see? Take Alexander Cortez on defund stupidity and send intelligence to DC. All right. He had me there. All right. Welcome, Matthew, to the podcast.
Matt Shoemaker [00:01:09] Thanks so much for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Stuart Turley [00:01:12] All right. So who’s your, campaign manager? Because that’s huge.
Matt Shoemaker [00:01:17] So my campaign manager is, guy by the name of, Luke Hayes. He’s a wonderful individual. He actually, has has been just an absolutely phenomenal individual here with my campaign. And in terms of marketing and branding. Absolutely. You know, we’re head and shoulders above any of the competition. Defund stupidity and send intelligence to DC. I’m a former intelligence officer with the Navy. So it was just, it was an easy fit for me.
Stuart Turley [00:01:42] Holy smokes. Thank you for your service. You know, you always hear the intelligence doesn’t go hand in hand with either the Army or that. So we got to do something about intelligence and political.
Matt Shoemaker [00:01:55] Got to start somewhere. Got to start somewhere. Absolutely.
Stuart Turley [00:01:58] Now, you’re in North Carolina 13, is that right?
Matt Shoemaker [00:02:01] Yes, sir. It’s the Raleigh area of North Carolina.
Stuart Turley [00:02:04] Okay. And do you feel that you’ve got your, primary coming up in five weeks.
Matt Shoemaker [00:02:12] Five weeks, March the 5th, Super Tuesday. It’s coming fast.
Stuart Turley [00:02:15] Holy smokes. We better get, production on this, like, now. So, I’ll tell you what, how do you stand in your rankings right now?
Matt Shoemaker [00:02:26] So there was just some polling released a few weeks ago that currently had me in the lead, which is just absolutely wonderful news. You know, I was actually on active duty orders with the Navy until about 6 or 7 months ago at this point. So, you know, while I don’t have the deepest pockets, my candidacy is certainly resonating like crazy amongst the electorate. We just have the best message, of anyone in in the field. And I have the the most experience, the passion and the energy to take on DC and to take on people like AOC in Congress.
Stuart Turley [00:03:00] You know, I think you got a sense of humor, and I the I don’t know if you’re going to be able this to sustain. I’m going to ask you right now, point blank, why is it that politicians go to, DC broke, and then all of a sudden they go out more time multimillionaires. You got any insight on that bad dog?
Matt Shoemaker [00:03:25] I have theories to it at the moment. You know, not being steeped in in the Washington muck, or anything like that. My, my theory is, there’s probably a couple different, motivations behind it. I think one of the main ones is that DC is just a nest of vipers. These are people that will, you know, smile at you and try and be your friend behind your back. They will they will stab the knife in and they will throw you under the bus as soon as they find it expedient for themselves. So I think what a lot of these people do is, you know, one of the motivating factors being they try to protect themselves in one way you do that is by you amass a lot of wealth when you have a lot of money. Because money in DC talks, it’s a way of protecting yourself and it’s a way of getting influence on top of it. So I think that’s one of the main factors involved in that.
Stuart Turley [00:04:13] How are you going to insulate yourself from that horrible mess? I mean, that’s going to be tough.
Matt Shoemaker [00:04:18] Yeah. Well I’m not there to make friends. And quite honestly, I, I’m there to simply be effective. I don’t necessarily want to hang out with these people. And I think one of the other things is though, too, is that I’m a big supporter of banning any member of Congress or their spouse from trading in stocks. I think that’s one of the main ways that that people are getting, wealthy on the taxpayers. Not exactly their dime, but at the taxpayers expense. Nancy Pelosi for years actually blocked that legislation for understandable reasons, because that was the way that she and her husband made their, you know, vast amounts of wealth because of that.
Stuart Turley [00:04:52] Right. All right. Hey. Okay. We’re going through my checklist here. King. King. All right.
Matt Shoemaker [00:04:59] All I can do is be me. That’s all I can do.
Stuart Turley [00:05:02] I I’m feeling, I’m feeling you’re off. Authentication or authenticity? I can’t even. I’m from Oklahoma and Texas, so, you know, we talk. Oh, you’re totally good.
Matt Shoemaker [00:05:12] Well, I mean, that’s one of the hallmarks of my campaign, to be honest, is that this is just about real Americans and real problems. You know, the funny thing is, you know, my favorite is, is, you know, Ronald Reagan because he had a million different one liners that were certainly memorable. And one that always stuck with me is when he said that the solutions to our problems are often simple, but they’re not easy. In other words, you know, this is not rocket science for a lot of our problems that we have when it comes to things like control the border, we know how to do that. You hire the proper people to, to, patrol the border. You build the wall and you make sure that people who should not be getting through are not getting through. It’s simple, but it’s not easy.
Stuart Turley [00:05:54] Let me, switch over to energy here. You and I just kind of. We were chit chatting before the show, and, energy is kind of important. What are your thoughts on energy?
Matt Shoemaker [00:06:06] Yeah. You know, as you mentioned, energy is not only important, it’s probably the driver of the economy, because the more energy that a country can produce, the cheaper that, they can produce goods, the cheaper that they can produce, cheaper that they can grow, for that matter. Which is one reason why China, for example, has invested so incredibly heavily in its energy sector. It primarily utilizes coal in order to do that, because it’s the cheapest thing that they found that they can do, and that’s the way that they’ve driven their economy when it comes to the United States. As we mentioned before, you know, when we were chitchatting before this, you know, I use the famous phrase from Barack Obama, which is Joe Biden’s been on the wrong side of every foreign policy issue for the past 30 years. And, you know, energy, energy independence, you know, among the litany of problems internationally that we’re currently facing is yet but another one of those problems that the Joe Biden administration just does not care about. So when it comes to energy security, energy independence, we have that under the Trump administration where we just flooded the market with cheap American oil. It practically it almost bankrupt Russia, actually, because 50% of their, government’s budget comes from its oil revenue. You know, what we were doing internationally was just phenomenal under that aspect to it. So to see us walk back and become energy dependent and energy insecure is, quite honestly, a sin in my book.
Stuart Turley [00:07:32] Let me ask a personal, question on here. And that is, I’ve got an old enough that, you know, we can take a look at the, for our podcast listeners. Moses and I were buddies, and they were looking at Matthew, and he looks like he’s, a biscuit older that than just getting out of college. So, you know, I’m sorry, for insulting you, but, you know, you’re good for.
Matt Shoemaker [00:07:55] This is not the first time. You know, I get this a lot. I’m actually 35. Okay. I spent ten years, in the Defense Department as an intelligence officer. And before that, I was doing my PhD work in nuclear war strategy at King’s College in London. So I’ve. I’ve had quite a life. Nowadays, I’m a military and national security commentator for Fox News and Newsmax. So so yeah, I may look younger than I am, but but I certainly have the life experience to go with it.
Stuart Turley [00:08:21] Well, I’m going to have to get you on a podcast with George McMillan. He is a now shoot his information. He and I have been talking about a lot of the geopolitical stuff around there. Now this is going to bring up another question, Matthew, if you’re in politics, let’s say you’re in the Congress. You’re you’re sitting there and you don’t know an answer. You what do you do?
Matt Shoemaker [00:08:46] Well, I there’s certainly no shortage of things that I don’t know. And I love the Socratic phrase of the truly wise man knows that he doesn’t know anything. But when when you don’t know something, the proper answer should be. I’m not sure. Let me get back to you. And at that point, you do the Dell, the digging into whatever the question is. You find the people who know the answer, and you have them as a resource like that. That is one of the, the, primary responsibilities if you if, in one sense, in terms of a member of Congress is to use the resources available to get the job done and to be effective, and people can certainly be a resource for their knowledge and expertise. That’s the entire purpose for for having all of these committee hearings that we always have is that they call before them experts, on whatever said topic it’s supposed to be, and they give their expert opinion so that best legislation can be crafted. But that’s that’s the perspective that I take to it, to that.
Stuart Turley [00:09:41] Boy, it sure seems like that’s a good answer. But, what happens when we have so many hearings and, you know, because I’m, I’m trying to to for me, you know, when you in my three years or four years when you’re running for president, you know, you never know when it’s going to happen. You’re going to have somebody chewing on you here.
Matt Shoemaker [00:09:59] Why would you wish that on me? Gosh. You know, when people ask me why I’m running for Congress, my first answer is usually self-hatred. No. So for to wish me to run for president, gosh, you must really hate me.
Stuart Turley [00:10:13] I’m. I’m enjoying myself right now, and it’s better you than me, because. Yeah.
Matt Shoemaker [00:10:19] Okay, okay. That is one perspective. I appreciate that.
Stuart Turley [00:10:22] You first man Perot. Trump has just been brutalized and you are setting yourself up for a lot of attacks.
Matt Shoemaker [00:10:32] So and it’s it’s been coming actually, you know being at the head of the pack with regards to my race certainly has put a target on my back. And, you know, the funny thing is, is I actually kind of enjoy it. I find it rather humorous, mostly because my perspective is, you know, the people who are attacking me don’t know a thing about me. They they’ve seen what they’ve seen on, on social media. They’ve seen what they’ve seen on, on my on my website. And they just attack me for that. And it’s like, you’ve never even spoken to me. I’m. I’m really impressed that you hate me so viscerally based off of your few lines that you read online. Okay. Have at it.
Stuart Turley [00:11:05] I’ll tell you what. We’re going to have your, your thing for our podcast listeners. We have a picture of AOC versus Mjs. Matthew, what’s your middle name? Joseph. Joseph, I love it. And you’re standing there and you’re looking really dapper on there. Get your arms all flexed out and she’s got a microphone and it’s vote for Matt for Congress. And I’m sorry. No wonder people hate you I love you. I’m sorry if you’re. It’s pretty funny.
Matt Shoemaker [00:11:36] I think Margaret Thatcher had a wonderful phrase of if you’re not getting attacked, you’re not doing it right.
Stuart Turley [00:11:42] I like it. Now, when we sit back and take a look at how are you going to keep your attitudes phenomenal. But I think it’s right before you’re going to have to have the stick to Itiveness for a while. How do you maintain sanity at home? Do you work out? Do you beat the cat? Do you beat your wife? Do you stop beating your wife?
Matt Shoemaker [00:12:07] No, actually, I do enjoy the gym. Actually, the gym is my my my stress relief, if you will. Which is why I call that my Captain America picture, if you will. The one that you’re just referencing. But, you know, I enjoy the gym. That’s how I usually kind of do my my stress relief sort of thing, but but when it comes down to it, of of just putting the head to the grindstone stone and just keeping at it, you know, I’ve been, in a how do I, how do I phrase this the, the, the things that I’ve seen in my career, over the course of the military are, unfortunately, things that people shouldn’t see. And it’s certainly taken an emotional toll. And the sad thing is, is, you know, since most of the stuff that I’ve done is classified, and I really like not being in prison, I have to refrain from going into too much detail about what that actually was. But nonetheless, you know, when it comes down to it, of of getting the job done and being effective, that’s where I derive real satisfaction and real enjoyment. And that’s what keeps me motivated more than anything.
Stuart Turley [00:13:03] I’ll tell you what. You’re a breath of fresh air here. I’m sitting here just sitting there about ready to put my head in the toilet. Because of our political situation going on right now, and I’m thinking the youth are not stepping up. And.
Matt Shoemaker [00:13:16] Well, I mean, so the way that I see it is, is that there is a there is a generational divide in terms of letting go of the reigns and the older generations for, for whatever reason, are having a very difficult time of, of giving up those reins. And I believe the statistic that I read was millennials, for example, make up 25% of the population, but only about 8% of the population in Congress, interestingly enough. So there is underrepresentation there. The thing is, though, is that unfortunately, when it comes to bringing in the youth into the Republican Party, it’s going to take someone from their generation to speak to them about the issues that they care about. And one thing that I think we’ve been severely lacking in the Republican Party is to try and make a concerted effort to reach them. And the way that we do that is talking about things that matter to them and prominent right now. The number one thing that I’ve seen talking to young people is homeownership. And the fact that they have seen the goalposts for home ownership change significantly just in the past three years alone. If you had been saving up for a downpayment of a house, which is roughly about $40,000 up until a few years ago, you know you worked hard for it. You were trying to do it. And then all of a sudden, you know, Covid happens and the housing market stops effectively, and then interest rates climb astronomically. Now that the average price of a home is $416,000, down payment of 20% is roughly 80,000. So to go from 40,000 to 80,000 over a three year period just moves the goalposts and makes homeownership seem impossible for young people. So that is the issue that they are most interested in right now. And that’s what we as Republicans need to speak to about how to give them that slice of the American dream and to be there for them and be their advocate. And that’s that’s what I’m here for, and that’s what I’m going to do.
Stuart Turley [00:15:07] What a way. Cool. I’m over here. I’m like, I’m going to have a little super band shirt on behind you. You’re going to go, Matthew, go, man. Because that’s exactly what we need. Hope all of the millennials that I’ve talked to, fortunately, Michael Tanner, my business partner on the podcast, is a who he’s a millennial. And I absolutely love that young man, but he’s. He’s almost just like you, impervious to bad things. And but the other millennials and I’m talking to are like, Holy smokes, get the Harry Carey knife. This is not good.
Matt Shoemaker [00:15:45] Yeah, I am forever the optimist, if you will. And that doesn’t mean that I don’t see the problems that that we do. The way that I look at it though, is, you know, things are so bad it’s not going to take much to start making improvements. That’s what it comes down to, is that we just need a concerted effort. And that’s what I’m here for, to get elected for. And that’s why I need your your supporters help, in supporting me for it. And as I mentioned, you know, I don’t have the deepest pockets. I don’t have, you know, the name recognition of someone who’s been running again and again sort of thing. So, so any support that they can provide to, to me and my candidacy would be more than welcome him. Absolutely appreciate it.
Stuart Turley [00:16:24] How did people find you and donate draw.
Matt Shoemaker [00:16:27] My website is vote mjs.com. I’m on Twitter at vote MJ’s and Facebook at Matt Shoemaker for Congress. There’s links on the website to it, and it’s absolutely wonderful. We don’t sell anyone’s data. Actually. We don’t use win Red. We don’t sell anyone’s data or share it with anyone. So when you contribute to our campaign, you’re not going to get any of those pesky emails or so from random candidates, because you helped us out.
Stuart Turley [00:16:53] That is very honorable, and I’m very happy to hear that. I’m going to go donate as well too. But we’re going to get the story out here as well. What are some of the biggest platform issues you want to talk about? We got about three more minutes here. But on the other hand, tell us what your vision is for America.
Matt Shoemaker [00:17:13] Yeah, absolutely. So. So the number one issue right now, of course, is border security. It’s not just a national security issue because that issue has been talked to death in a certain sense. Border security being national security, it’s true. But it’s border security is also family security. You know, the rise in crime that we’ve seen, the rise in drug use that we’ve seen, and drug overdoses that are hitting our streets. And people are seeing this when they go to work, when they drop their kids off at school. That is a direct result of the our open border policies, the amount of people and resources that are now being diverted to take care of migrants are those that are not going to the police department, it’s not going to education. It’s not going to anything else other than to take care of people who should not be here. So that’s the number one issue. The second issue, of course, is going to be the economy and inflation. When food prices are up 30% in the past three years alone. Every single person listening to this knows the frustration and the anxiety when they go to the grocery store and look at their receipts. I know it myself. I do it every single time that I go shopping. And so those are the two main issues that I’m seeing. The third one, of course, is going to be election integrity. More than anything, having faith in our system that those who are elected are actually the people’s choice. You know, these are these are big problems. But the solutions to them, they’re simple, but they’re not easy. It’s going to take someone who can get the job done.
Stuart Turley [00:18:38] I’ll tell you what’s also concerning. You mentioned, voter integrity. You mentioned, all of those kind of things. Right now, it seems like the Republican Party is fractured, and we don’t have anybody with kono’s. In, in Texas, we call them, balls. So, you know, if you’re going up against AOC and her balls, we got to get. Can I just say that? She. Never mind. I got I will probably. Anyway, so, when we go through and when you sit there and we talk about, are you willing to shut the government down in order to close the border? If you had to have that vote today, would you shut the government down?
Matt Shoemaker [00:19:24] Yes. Oh.
Stuart Turley [00:19:27] Yes.
Matt Shoemaker [00:19:29] You know, I, I, I’m a big student of history, which is why I keep bringing up all these one liners and quotes. Winston Churchill once said that to waste time is a terrible sin. So I will not waste time and give you a straight answer. Yes, I absolutely would shut down the government to close our border.
Stuart Turley [00:19:44] All right. That was, you hit all my buttons on that one. And I had a, vision there of AOC that I did not need to have, so we’ll just leave that one alone.
Matt Shoemaker [00:19:54] So I’m not going to touch that one.
Stuart Turley [00:19:56] Me neither. Anyway, well, I’ll tell you what. What’s your website again? Because I absolutely just made myself throw up.
Matt Shoemaker [00:20:06] Vote mjs.com.
Stuart Turley [00:20:08] All right. Well, thank you so much for your time.
Matt Shoemaker [00:20:11] We’re absolutely. I had a great time. You know, it passed like a flash. That’s a credit to you.
Stuart Turley [00:20:18] And I’m going to go throw a thing. Okay.
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