Fighting Anti Democracy Propaganda Deep Within Trump Territory

0:04Welcome to iHIP News. Today we have a guest who is a podcaster turned political candidate which is exactly what we need. Let's welcome to iHIP News Midas Touch's Fred Wellman. Fred, how are you? Oh, man, it's so good to see you guys. Good morning. Good to see you ladies again. It's so good to see you. And you have decided to throw your hat in the ring in Missouri, which I believe is Josh Hawley's state. Is that correct? Josh Hawley and Eric Schmidt, two of the greatest senators. We've got quite a crew. Yeah, I'm running against incumbent Ann Wagner, Republican. She's been in office 13 years, has held exactly zero town halls, but she has successfully tripled her net worth.

0:49So she has$26 million. So, yeah, it's interesting. We just haven't had representation. She just doesn't talk to us at all. So we jumped in the race. What is the response you're getting from people, let's say both Democrats and Republican, to your candidacy? You know, it's been interesting. The energy on the Democratic side is everything. I mean, one of the things I say a lot is we have to take the energy of these No King protests. I'll give you an example. Our second No Kings protest here in my county, in my district, we had a thunderstorm. We had huge lightning storms, right? And 7 ,000 people went out in the rain to protest Donald Trump and what's happening.

1:29So again, right outside my opponent's office, ironically. So if we could take that energy, there's this vast energy at the grassroots level for people who want to be led people want to have voices people want to be represented so taking that and funneling it into a campaign is my big goal and just like enough i had conversations the republicans i was at a veterans barbecue last weekend and a guy said to me he goes oh he goes what do you do i said i'm running for congress he goes oh aunt wagner's got to go she's terrible she doesn't do anything for us i'd agree he goes i hope you're a republican i said i am not and he goes well you know i can't vote for a democrat so look tell me let me let me tell it put this way when it comes down to me versus Ant Wagner.

2:04You can go in that booth and just that one time, get rid of Ant Wagner. And the good news about my job, if I win, is that I have to be rehired every two years. So if I suck, you can fire me in two years. I said, but the fact is we all agree we're not being represented at all. And he goes, all right, Fred Wellman, I remember that name. And so I think there is a groundswell of understanding that the United States Congress has become a doormat instead of a Congress, right i mean i always joke here you know harry truman's our son of the son of missouri and he always talked about how he had to do nothing republican congress right if you remember the history of that we've literally got the doormat republican congress i mean they are nothing but a place for trump and his collaborators his cronies to wipe their feet onto doing whatever they want to do from tearing down the east wing to cutting off snap benefits congress is nowhere to be found hell my opponent hasn't even posted on facebook in a week i mean they can't be can't a bar to pretend anymore.

2:59So it's incredibly frustrating. I think a lot of people are ready for change. You just brought up something that's really important that I think we need to talk about. And you said when you were at this barbecue that he said, well, you're a Republican, aren't you? Because there's no way I could vote for a Democrat. And this is something people on the coast don't understand. This is something that Ezra Klein, when he said we need to run pro-life Democrats and red states does not understand. They fundamentally don't understand how effective Republican propaganda with the assist from local churches have been in demonizing the Democratic Party.

3:35That at the end of the day, that decades-long messaging helped Donald Trump win, because even though he's a sinner, even though he is a piece of shit, even though he tweets crazy things. Even though he fucked a porn star, he has R next to his name. And that's better than the demonic Democrat, which brings me to this problem that I think people, political strategists on the coast have with understanding red states. And when I see politicians like James Tallarico or Andy Brashear win in these states, it's really, really important. And I'm curious about what your strategy will be because I think it's important to tell these fine Christian people in Missouri, and we're from a very similar state demographically, Oklahoma, that you've been lied to.

4:29These Republican politicians have been lying to you for decades. Democrats are not the devil, and we are here to fight for the people that Jesus Christ himself said that he would stand for. I think the Democrats have to take the faith, whether you're a Christian or not, I'm not one, but in order to penetrate a deeply religious electorate, they have to use it because the Republicans have been using it for decades with impunity. And I think it has to be used to remind these Christian voters that Jesus Christ was a radical empath and fought for the marginalized. And so I'm curious about what your strategy will be in this, because I think this cycle, we're going to have a lot of canaries in the coal mines.

5:16And if we were ever to switch some of these deeply read R seats to Ds, I think you cannot do it without bringing up faith. So what are your plans to tackle it? And so I'm pro-choice. It's funny, that same conversation, the gentleman said, look, I'm pro-life. I said, great. I was raised Catholic. I respect your opinion. But that's not the issue right now. The issue right now is that we're not being represented. We can argue about the details, but the fact is we all agree that in Washington, D.C. has left us behind. I'm a Missouri Democrat. So I like to say as I'm a Missouri Democrat, Missouri Democrats are going to work to get things done.

5:51You know, my representative has not been present. So one of the ways we're fighting that is like what you said, they haven't been exposed to Democrats. You know, look, the last I had great opponents that ran previous to me, Democrats, all good people. I know all of them, like last six races, but none of them were able to mount a challenge that also enabled them to go out and meet the people. Our best chance was during COVID. and unfortunately we couldn't get out so we are building a campaign focused on just being present you know being out amongst we look i am who i am the challenge of me you know you joke about me being a podcaster but i've been talking on camera for three and a half years i've been on i'm an og twitter guy everything we were laughing we're trying to do my priorities and my policies but they're all out there and we're embracing that to include my mistakes why i lost everything because of 9 11 i lost it all again because the pandemic and that's out there it's public record but what What I do tell you is I'm a leader who's going to lead for you.

6:40And I was asked in an interview from a local political reporter in St. Louis. He said, Fred, if Josh Hawley comes to you with an idea and it's a good idea, will you cross party lines? It's not about crossing party lines at that point. It's about being elected by the people of Missouri to represent the people of Missouri. And if Josh Hawley, blind squirrel gets a nut or a broken clock is right twice the way, I'll give you, I'll say this. Josh Hawley worked very hard on a bill to get radiation. We have a radiation issue. Probably you won't know, but much of the work done for the Manhattan Project was done here in the St.

7:14Louis region, okay? And that included dumping barrels of radioactive material in local creeks. And we've got kids getting sick. And Josh Hawley did work very hard to pass a law to get remediation of that radiation and payment to those people. I'm sorry. That's good work, okay? But if it's good for the people of Missouri, that's why we're elected. And we can make a very clear case that the people in Washington, D.C. right now from the state do not represent us at all, to include our own elected officials. The governor of Missouri said they wanted to redistrict the state because they wanted to get Missouri values.

7:45It's like, I'm sorry, buddy. Matt came from Washington, D.C. So the way we're making our case is that I do talk about my upbringing as a Catholic. It's not something I do now, but I was raised to – something I quote – I was quoted in a piece the other day saying, Matthew 4025, You know, as you do unto my brothers, you do unto me, right? The least of us should be represented. Cutting off food aid to 655 ,000 Missourians is not Christian. It's not decent. And I talk a lot about my value. It's interesting. I had, it's a funny story, you guys. You'll appreciate this. I had a guy actually like threatened me who lives here.

8:19It was ugly. And I blocked him on all my social media. He actually connected me on LinkedIn. And we discovered that we'd served in the 101st Airborne together. As you guys might remember, I'm a 22-year Army vet. Right. for combat tours. This gentleman and I, who lives in the district, by the way, or just outside the district, we serve in the same unit at the same time. We started talking on LinkedIn. He goes, did you hang out at the Black Horse Pub? And Clark's like, dude, that was my hangout. We probably hung out at the same bar. So we decided to meet for a beer. And my family hated it. But I said, let's meet.

8:48And we had it fast before I decided to run. And he said some two really fascinating things. He says, Fred, the one thing about you, I've watched you for years, and I disagree with almost everything you stand for. But the one thing I do respect about you is you've always stood for your values and you've never waved from that and i respect the fact that you'll fight for your values and our values do cross and i thought that was a really insightful thing i stand for certain things treat people with decency killing should be immoral you know it's like these things and by the way representation is in the title the title the job i'm running for is representative and if you're not representing the people who elected you why are you there and and unfortunately my opponent represents the banks she's the number one the majority of her bills she's ever filled had to do with banking.

9:29And so they've gotten rid of the CFPB. That was making help. It's just thing after thing. And then on top of that, you see the challenges. Soybean farmers in my district are struggling now because decisions that Donald Trump has made. Look, the first article of the Constitution is the Congress. They have the power of terrorists, not Donald Trump. So we go on and on. We could pull that thread. But I tell you guys, in the end, I'm running because my own family is the perfect storm for this moment. My oldest son-in-law is a National Guardsman in Virginia who was actually at the United the Right rally and now is in danger of being called to an American city.

10:02My oldest son works in a corporate job, can't get out of his starter home that he got during the pandemic because he just simply can't afford it because we all know the gap between median income and median house costs is the highest it's been in history. My youngest daughter owns a small business that has worse summer in five years, all because of tariffs. She imports products to make soap, bath, and body products. And then my youngest son, who now works in healthcare, of all things. A year ago, he was a bartender in a very popular local restaurant in his town. They didn't give health insurance.

10:32He went to the ACA to get health insurance. He qualified for Medicaid. And so I'm watching on TV last spring as our representatives in Washington say, there's these 27-year-old men laying around on their couches playing video games getting free healthcare. And I'm looking at my son working his ass off at a business that doesn't even offer healthcare and he's being smeared by the people who are supposed to represent him and they're calling him names because he needed help. I'm tired of that. We should all be tired of that. And then back to your question, none of that's Christian. None of that's about helping the poor.

11:04And that's about helping the least of us. We're talking about the following a man who washed the feet of others. We're talking about the man who hung out with prostitutes. And now today we're talking about celebrating the loss of food for people in our need, disability, disabled, elderly. So I come back to Missouri every time. Here in Missouri, we recognize that we can do better, that we should be represented. And a Missouri Democrat needs to go up there and actually do what's right for Missourians and not necessarily for anybody else. Pounce, last question. Okay, I know you are a veteran. You're very vocal about being a veteran and supporting veterans.

11:40In going across your district and at large, what is the response that you were getting regarding how the current Department of Defense, aka the Department of War, what is their response to how it's being handled now with the NDAs going into American cities? What is their response? Just horrified. I was at a standing protest outside my opponent's office every weekend. I went out there. There's about three veterans out there. And every one of them is horrified by the idea that we're ordering our troops to just murder people in the open ocean. There's no question in any of our minds. Anybody who's just serving in combat knows that rules of engagement aren't this thing.

12:21They're handcuffs. No, they're to keep us from committing war crimes. OK, and what's what's being done right now are war crimes. We are ordering our troops to murder people. Okay. And there's no question about that. But I also tell people that the fact is, I do also want my service member friends and all to hold their powder to really order legal shit. I think we're at that point. What we're being ordered to do in the ocean is illegal. There is no war powers at all in this situation. There's no national murder. None of that complies. Trump and Hegseth are spinning their wheels trying to come up with a legal justification for outright murder.

12:56And there's no question in my mind. I had a former, the deputy judge advocate general of the United States Air Force was on my show on Friday. And he just flat out said, Fred, these are murders. And so we are in a very dangerous place and we're asking our service members to do very dangerous things. And I got to tell you guys, the way the law works, those guys pulling the trigger will be responsible for those murders. And Pete Hegseth is going to walk. Okay. So we have to stand up for them. So I want to be a voice for those and say, this is murder. You're ordering our troops to murder people. And that's unright.

13:27And then we go on top of the many just outrageous things Hegg Seth has done from the Christian nationalism, forcing service members to go to his prayer meetings during the duty day, from firing anybody who crosses them to his weird paranoia, like he said, an NDA. We have top secret clearances. The guy flying a predator has a top secret SEI clearance. Okay. He doesn't need an NDA unless you're doing something illegal shit. And it all goes back to that first week when Pete Hexeth came in. We talked about how you fired the Air Force Chief of Staff and others, but the real key, you guys, is you fired all the Air Force's top legal people, the Jags, and has not replaced them with permanent replications.

14:04You only fire the lawyers when you want to do illegal shit. And so as I talk to people in the district, the veterans especially, care. And look, I served for combat tours. I was an aviator. I led Apaches in the Desert Storm. We did a lot of killing. Okay. I'm just, it is what it is. Anybody I met my 22 years in the army, and then my 15 years since I retired, who relished killing, who celebrated killing, who eagerly frothed over the idea of killing others. And I'm talking anybody, enemies, otherwise was never right in the head. So when I see people like Pete Hegseth or Lindsey Graham, or anyone else on TV saying, yeah, we're killing the right people.

14:47If you take pleasure in the murder of any other human being, other than approaching it like it's your duty and something you do to protect your country, you're not right. Okay. So when I look at Pete Hegseth, I see an immoral, broken person leading our troops in very dangerous places, who is clearly not a good person, you know, and he can pretend all he wants about his Christianity and his Bible church. But at the end, when you eagerly and relishly murder other human beings for any reason, you're not right in the head. I'm sorry. You're exactly right. And that's the thing. Look, my friends, some of the people I have, I know, who have the worst PTSD, I mean, and isn't because stuff happened to them.

15:32One of my best friends has lifelong PTSD because he killed somebody in a scuffle at a checkpoint and had to kill this guy, justifiable killing. He was an enemy. But the idea of taking another human's life has affected him for the rest of his life. That's how it should be if you're raised right. Right. So I question those who are celebrating the killing of others. Yeah. And Lindsey Graham, I mean, this is just number one. Everybody knows Lindsey Graham is the biggest closet homosexual in Washington, D.C., period. And so he weaponizes faith against people he fed during the day to people he fetishizes at night.

16:11And this Republican Party weaponizes faith, which is what a lot of people in rural Oklahoma and rural Missouri, that's the only form of culture that they have. It's their only social place where they go. And they've used that. And they very diabolically Christian signal to say, hey, I'm on your team so you can vote for me. And then they do the exact opposite of what their Sunday school teacher is preaching that the savior of that faith recommended they do. And so I just think it's something that Democrats cannot shy away from. We need to talk about these lying Christians that are weaponizing the faith of really good folk in these red states and call it what it is.

16:50And that's why I'm so glad you're running, Fred Wellman. I can't wait. The next time we have you on, I want to call you Congressman. I'll be Helen, thanks. And we'll manifest it. But thank you so much for joining IHIP News. And as the race heats up, you know you can always stop here and we'll just browbeat the shit out of your opponent for you. We'd love to do it. I look forward to it. We're on the path. I mean, I'll just let you know our first month's been spectacular. We've been in it since October 1st. We got a cold start. We've probably announced it today. We already broke$250 ,000, which puts us on the top of the campaigns in the country.

17:23We had an incredible food drive on Friday. we raised 4 ,368 pounds of food in two hours for our local food pantry, partnering with about 13 other candidates and campaigns. So we're trying to show people in our district what it's like to have leaders who step up in the crunch and do it quickly. We did it in four days. And that's what we're trying to do. And look, if you want to find out more, I'd be remiss if I don't say it's Wellman4mo.com. It's W-E-L-L-M-A-N-F-O-R-M-O.com. And look, I could use the support. I'm not going to lie. And here's the thing I got to say before I go. This is a winnable race.

17:55This is not one of those jousting with windmill races. I'm not wanting to move the needle. My opponent is in polls showing her underwater against a Democrat. We know we just had Gallup say it's a D plus nine or eight year. We have never seen a more vulnerable candidate. We just need somebody who could bring together the district, bring together our support, win St. Louis County. So this is not one of those districts, you're throwing your money away onto a losing candidate. We are anything but that. This is a campaign that will win. We've got D triple C support coming in for this one. It's, this is a fight.

18:25So any support I can get, I appreciate it. Wellman4mo.com. Thank you ladies. I appreciate your time as always. Fred Wellman, get out there and F him up and get in that ass and win this race for us. All right. We'll see you later. Bye. Thanks. Bye now.