When a Bernie Guy and a Never Trumper Agree, You Should Probably Listen
Rick Wilson and I shouldn't agree on much. He's a Never Trump Republican who helped build the Lincoln Project. I'm the guy who helped start Justice Democrats and got AOC elected. But here's the thing - we spent half an hour agreeing on almost everything that's broken in America.
And that should tell you something about where the real divides are in this country.
The Troops in LA Are Just the Beginning
We started with Trump sending federal troops into LA. Nobody asked for them - not the mayors, not the governor, not law enforcement. The LAPD had it handled. This isn't about immigration or crime. It's about normalizing federal troops in American cities.
Rick called it right: "The immigration stuff is like the through line, but that's the excuse, not the reason."
And now Trump's planning a military parade for his birthday. North Korea shit. The message is clear - don't come to DC and protest. Which of course means the opposite.
Democrats Lost the Plot on Immigration
Here's where it got interesting. Rick asked what I'd advise Democrats on immigration. My answer? We fucked up going back to Bill Clinton. We let the vilification happen. We tried to triangulate instead of standing up for people who come here to build better lives.
I'm in Lenoir City, Tennessee. We've got about 13-14% Spanish-speaking immigrant population. They're not just good neighbors who help when your trees fall down - they're running businesses, making things happen. They're vital to this community.
But Democrats got scared and tried to be Republican-lite on immigration. Now we've lost our brand completely.
The Working Class Doesn't Give a Shit About Your 500-Page Plan
Rick brought up focus groups he's done with working-class Democrats. They all say the same thing: "Don't come to me with a 500-page plan. I'm not going to read it. And it's also bullshit."
Trump won because he talked to Latino voters as working-class voters, not as some special demographic category. Meanwhile, Democrats are up at 30,000 feet talking about their 750-page economic plans.
My crews are mostly Latino guys. During the last election, every single one was for Trump. When I asked why, they'd do the little money fingers. They thought because he made money, he'd help them make money. Simple as that.
We Don't Make Shit Anymore
This is where Rick and I really connected. America needs to manufacture things again. Not shuffle money around. Not manage other countries' production. Actually build.
We went from 23 aluminum smelters to three. Apple's putting $50 million a year into training Chinese workers, not American ones. And when people like me say we need to bring manufacturing back, Democrats on Twitter think I'm MAGA.
It's not about nostalgia. It's about national capability. You need to be able to make your own silicon chips, your own industrial materials. Not everything - global supply chains are great. But core functionalities? Yeah, you need those.
The $77 Trillion Healthcare Disaster
Here's where I tested Rick's free-market ideology. I hit him with the CMS report: We're on track to spend $77 trillion on healthcare over the next 10 years. Declining outcomes. More consolidation. More monopolization.
My solution? The only thing powerful enough to compete with these massive healthcare monopolies is the government. Not to own everything - just enough to create real competition. Like Tennessee in the 1960s when about 50% of healthcare infrastructure was publicly owned. It kept the private system in check.
Rick's response surprised me. He agreed the system is completely broken. Rural America is fucked on healthcare - highest prices, lowest service. He thinks government could provide the backstop for new competitors, like when a third cable company enters a duopoly market and prices drop 60% overnight.
Both Parties Are Corrupt as Hell
We ended on the corruption issue. Members of Congress trading stocks based on inside information. Bob Menendez with gold bars in his backyard. The revolving door between Congress and lobbyists.
Rick came at it from the right as "a free market guy who realized about 10 years ago that it was all a lie." Washington has been captured by lobbyists who control the regulatory process to advantage their companies.
AOC's been right about banning stock trading for Congress members. It's so obviously corrupt that 95% of Americans - who don't have portfolios with thousands of NVIDIA shares - would support ending it immediately.
The Real Divide
Here's what this conversation taught me: The divide isn't really left vs right anymore. It's between people who see the system is broken and want to fix it, versus people who benefit from it staying broken.
A Never Trump Republican and a Bernie Democrat can agree on:
Bringing back manufacturing
Breaking up healthcare monopolies
Ending Congressional corruption
Not trusting either party's leadership
Putting working people first
Rick said something that stuck with me: "I came at this from the right as a free market guy who realized about 10 years ago that it was all a lie."
I came at it from the left realizing the Democratic Party would rather manage decline than fight for real change.
Maybe it's time we stop letting them divide us by culture war bullshit and start building coalitions around fixing what's actually broken.
Because when a Lincoln Project founder and a Justice Democrats founder spend 30 minutes agreeing on everything, the problem isn't partisan. It's systemic.
And systems can be changed.
Watch the full conversation if you want to see two people from "opposite sides" realize they're on the same side against a broken system.
What surprised you most about this conversation? Are you seeing similar unlikely agreements in your own life?
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