I’m Dr Frank Luntz, and welcome to the last latest installment of America speaks right here on straight arrow news this week, Donald Trump’s America, as described by Trump voters. So let’s get right to the conversation.
Give me a word or phrase or sentence, but nothing more to describe where America is at right now.
And Chrissy, I’m going to start with
you looking forward.
I’d say that looking forward. Patrick from Nevada, make it a comeback. United States is back on the rise. Mary from West Virginia,
we’re center stage.
Kathy from Louisiana,
America’s number one.
Louis from North Carolina, sky’s the limit.
Craig from Virginia, good to see America back on the stage where it needs to be
front of everybody getting our work done.
Vlada from Florida, America is back together united.
John from Colorado,
President Trump is reinstilling the spirit of America. David from Ohio, it’s improving.
Joe from Missouri, prosperous. Mike from Pennsylvania, America is back, and the future looks very bright. Serena from New York,
optimistic.
Susan from Florida, President Trump is bringing us back. Pat from Oklahoma, Make America Great Again, again.
Michael from Texas, America’s Golden Age and ready to elect the president Vance in four years.
Y’all so positive.
I know you didn’t feel this way 100 days ago, but you’re so positive.
What is happening in America that makes you this optimistic?
Hope we have an adult in the White House.
Everything you can see it
honestly, with the people like,
yeah, you can see with people like Bill Maher and other folks who are coming around. I We’re not there yet, but they’re coming around. A lot of our friends and family are changing the way they talk about politics and are coming around
Absolutely. Craig from Virginia, why are you so optimistic now?
Well, for the last four years, we saw America just slide off the off the guard rails, right down the hill. It’s probably somebody who’s bringing back America’s values, things that failing first and putting America first, and that’s where our country thrives the most, is when we keep everything in here and we work together, get America make America first, make America great again. Susan, why are you so positive about the country and its direction? Well,
it’s more than just seeing it
like I feel it. A lot of people, you know, in my family, around me, we we feel it. The changes are, I mean, almost daily.
And you know, it’s just
President Trump is giving us results like he promised. Okay, I want to stick to the country rather than the politicians. Mike from Pennsylvania,
how is America different today than it was, let’s say three, four months ago? Well,
we have an adult in the White House, we’re getting things done, and at the end of the day, he’s putting America first, but he’s,
he’s, he’s act. He’s running the country like a business. Serena, what’s different about America today that did not exist 100 days ago.
There was a feeling of oppression with Biden, it was palpable.
The crime was rising. Everything was rising. You had to worry about pronouns. You had to worry about a lot of woke agenda that, look, I don’t care if you identify as a tree, that’s your prerogative, but you don’t have to force it on me and people felt things were being forced on them, and it’s not that doesn’t exist right now. Cathy, how is America different today than it was 100 days ago? I want to piggyback on.
What Serena’s saying is I feel like now I can speak freely. I don’t feel like I am not allowed to say what I feel about where our country is going. I can talk about my pride in my country, and I just feel like prices are getting better. I see the money, I see the gas, what I spend on gas, is getting better. I see groceries are still high, but eggs are less. I’m seeing prices in certain places are going down. I can have conversations with people now and not be afraid that I’m going to call them the wrong gender, and if I do, if they get upset with me, that’s their prerogative. Like you were saying, Sabrina, that’s that’s up to them. That’s not on me. John from Colorado, how is America different today than it was 100 days ago? I think there’s a couple things in there kind of tied together. Um, everybody’s kind of dancing around the the answer, which is, I think there’s a lot less fear. There’s a lot less fear about what to say, a lot less fear about what to think, and so on. But part of that is we’ve all looked at these, what are called the 8020 issues, right? Well, we went through a long time when you had to be on the side of the 20 or you were a bad person. Now everybody is starting to coalesce around the 80% SIDE. LET’S GET men out of women’s sports and all the rest of it, right? And that’s, that’s what’s happening.
Patrick, explain the change American enthusiasm. Um, I can now speak my mind on social media without getting blackballed. It seems like common sense is coming back. I’m you’re talking to somebody who’s been banned from x from when I went after Pelosi. So, I mean, it’s amazing. We can speak our mind. Um, we’re not. We’re not bad for speaking our mind. The American enthusiasm and what’s going on in in the country is incredible, and it seems like common sense is coming back. So the people are happier than they were six months ago. Christy, how do you answer that question? Well, I overall hope, but from somebody who was at j6
I’m not afraid to say I was at j6 anymore, because I could have possibly been pulled in. Now, I wasn’t anywhere near the exact spaces where all that was, but I was there,
so I’m not too scared about saying that I was there anymore.
Is the American dream more alive today than it was 100 days ago? Yes, absolutely,
yes. What is it about the changes of the last 100 days gives you more faith and confidence in achieving the American dream.
This is going to actually happen, because we have finally somebody that is for the American people instead against them.
Mike from Pennsylvania,
I concur with Joe is that
the American spirit is back, the energy, the synergy that President Trump has brought back, the fire in the belly, the fire, you know, I remember, you know, the old Reagan commercial that This the shining city on a hill America’s back, and I think with his resiliency and his vision,
the American Dream is going to be possible. I firmly believe that, John, how can I see or can I feel this American spirit that Mike speaks of?
Well, I think it’s a question of whether you believe it’s possible, right? So for a long time, people didn’t believe it was possible to achieve the American dream. We’ve gone through that now for really more than more than four years. It was actually starting with COVID and so on, and people just thought we were shutting down. And I think that’s President Trump’s greatest gift. It’s, it’s Ronald Reagan’s greatest gift is he made people believe that the American dream was possible, and once people have that belief instilled in them, they have remarkable capacity to go out and achieve it. Mary, focus on the American dream and the American spirit. But how do I see it? How do I feel it? Or how can the American people feel it? Based on your experience,
I am now hopeful. When I was hopeless, this past four years, he’s given us hope. He’s like a candle that has been lit in total darkness, he has given us light, and that is how I feel. I’m very hopeful for this country. I’m very hopeful for the young folks and the younger generations,
because it was a scary time these past four years, and even as the other attendees said, you know.
Went even before that, but I’m just hopeful now, and it’s been a long time since I’ve been hopeful.
Okay, I gotta ask you, I don’t mean to pry, but you’re emotional over this. I am. Why are you so emotional?
I am.
I’ve been on the receiving end of being canceled,
and it is an emotional time. People can rip this wokeness. Can rip people’s livelihood. They could destroy people’s lives. And I’ve, I’ve experienced that, and it’s a very dark place to be in that see the light now, and I’m, for the first time in several years, I’d have hope.
So let’s go to the economy now.
You all voted for Trump,
so I understand you support his policies.
How do we see
and experience a better economy
over the last 100 days? I’m really asking you to illustrate it, rather than just to, rather than just to declare it.
How is it happening out there? Kathy, can you see it and feel it when I go to the gas pump? I experience it lately. It costs a lot less to fill my truck and my car when I go to the grocery a lot of my groceries are a lot less expensive than they were. Not all of them. There’s still a lot more to go.
Utilities are down somewhat. I’d like to know where Susan gets her homeowners insurance. I’m making notes because I am in Louisiana, not far from you, and I’d like mine to go down 1000 $2,000
but I am seeing, I am seeing
a little bit more
flex in the economy, for my personal finances, for my family finances. Louis, how do you see and experience the American economy over the last 100 days, prices are starting to go down, and energy production is going up, which is going to bring prices down even lower. I recently had, I recently had some surveying work done around my house, and I was up talking to the survey, and I was like, how’s business going for you. He goes surprisingly, and since the election is going up, people are more confident. They’re willing to go out and spend a little bit of money now, because they have an idea that economy is going to get better in the future. So they’re going and getting their their property surveyed, or they’re getting ready to sell a house, or they’re getting they’re engaging with a surveyor, and he’s seeing his work actually increase. He’s busier now than he was
now. I need to ask we’re seeing, if I may, we’re seeing foreign investment in the United States, rather than United States, investment in foreign countries building stuff there right Ford is not building their cars in Mexico. Now they’re building them in America. They’re starting to revitalize places. And the other thing is, I, yeah, I’m a former Republican Party Chairman here in Colorado, I will tell you that that Democrats are making a terrible tactical mistake by jumping at every opportunity to criticize the president, oh, the price of eggs and this and that and everything. And it just keeps bringing to light that everything is going in the right direction, and you can see that in the polls. Frank, I presume you’re seeing it in your in your work that you do. I need to ask you an issue that no one’s brought up,
and that has crashed your 401 case, most of you to tariffs.
Stock market is way down.
It needed to a correction. Oh, so you support it? Yes, you bet, yep. And I have to tell you, how many my 401, K wasn’t impacted at all. How many, first off, how many of you did not lose any money over the drop, over the crash of the stock market?
One individual, two people. So
my own administration, I lost more money than the Trump administration by far, 2020, by 2022,
yeah,
for the whole year. No one’s upset over this. No, nope, no. But there’s not a period in the history of the stock market where the stock market hasn’t appreciated at an average rate of about 7%
it’s so yeah, there’s ups and downs and corrections, and sometimes people are foolish and they jump out. You know, buy high, sell low, and.
Um, but if people just get in and stay the course, they’ll be just fine, yeah, and I was about to say, I’m not a day trader. I try not to look at it very often, which is, I think, a good thing. But I also, I also trust that Trump and all of his advisors that are involved with the tariff issue know what they’re doing. So I’m just going to hang on. I know it’ll correct at some point. Yeah, I’m not really worried about it. Thank you. How much more are you willing to pay for products and services that come out of China? How much do prices have to go up before you say, this is not that great. Not buy from China. I’d rather pay more money and buy American saying, and prices only go up if, if demand is inelastic and if there’s no alternative supplies. And they’re doing a brilliant job, they’re surrounding China with countries that want to manufacture stuff as well, and we do need to bring the stuff back, the strategic stuff, for sure, but, but China is going to be in the soup if they don’t knock it off. Every article of clothing I have on is probably made in China, Malaysia or somewhere else.
Okay? Retailers give me something made in America, I’d gladly buy it, but it’s not there. Go to Walmart. You ain’t gonna find Jack pair of socks and underwears Made in America, maybe.
But you know, shoes
Nikes humans, they’re all rated, they’re probably all made overseas.
How many American shoe companies have you seen go capui? There used to be 130 miles down the road. Made stride, right? Made great shoes.
You don’t hear from them. China, Malaysia. We need a correction. We just need a correction. We’re willing to take it out. You know that’s the point. You know, it’s, of course, exactly. It’s been a rough two weeks. But guess what? We got three and a half years to worry Exactly. And if it’s like this, in a year, I’ll have another discussion, maybe, but I don’t think it’s going to be, I tell you what, pay the course, you know, I tell you what I used to run. I used to run a Trump stand, a pop up stand. I sold Trump hat shirts and stickers.
I got a few of them from the campaign, which made in America, but the others I had to buy from China. Customers will come up to me. Is this Made in America? You want American hats? Gonna be 40 bucks. You want this Chinese hat, this Chinese mega hat? 25 bucks
supplying to me, Christie, had your hand up. Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to necessarily have it up. But I know I think the same thing. I think we’re gonna have to ride this out. I mean, if we have to pay more, I mean, right now, my house is worth way beyond what it’s worth. I mean, like, a lot more than it’s worth. I am within a half an hour of DC, so that’s a sort of explainable, but we are really my house is way overpriced. It All this needs to come down, and if it means we lose money, we lose money. America first. So people going to be listening to this and think you guys are crazy, right? Maybe not. You know what’s funny? The left constantly talks about raising minimum wage. You realize all of these major companies are buying or paying people in China $500 a month yet for us to buy their products. Why aren’t we manufacturing stuff here? The deal that we were we were making with NAF, North American Free Trade Agreement, and now the other Trump put together is not helping Americans. You know, the textile industry, we used to manufacture 94% of the textiles in the United States. Bring it back, put those people to work. They’ll get good paying jobs, and we’ll all be happier. We’ll probably be paying the same price for clothes that we paid for the Chinese stuff over time. Greg, I assume your 401, K has gone down. Well, yes, I mean, the stock market has been up 20% the last two years. See that anybody could look at that in any construct and say that’s not going to happen three years in a row. So come January, I sold waiting for all this to happen. Fortunately, I turned I turned 60 this year. I have a longer time horizon. This is fine. Six months from now. You wish you’d be buying this market right now. I mean, that’s right, my wife just rolled her 401 and 403 over, and we’re going to dollar cost average into the rest of this year. Absolutely. And so it’s just a process. You kind of know. You knew this was coming. I even before you mentioned tariffs. Even if you look at the stock market, 20% one year triple, it’s not going to happen three years in a row. If you think it is, well.
Thing might want to talk to your financial advisor. Pull back, psychiatrist,
whatever. Okay, I’m sitting here. I got power to burn. Bring it on pile. Let’s go.
So let me ask you, is what I am seeing is a more divided country?
Is it angrier country? Is people going at each other? Yep. Why is burst off? Is that an accurate assessment? And secondly, why is it happening, right? I think it’s a smaller group of people who are more angry. I think that there’s, I think there’s a much larger group of people who are unified and want to move forward, and then there’s a smaller group of people that can’t break through anymore, and the only way they can do it is to scream at the top of their lungs every day. And how many of them are paid exactly the violence comes from the left. It never came from the right. That’s the that was the that was the falsehood, the true the Anti Fascist are, are really fascist. They’re they’re socialist. I mean, look at, look, just look, listen to
people going down to Coachella. I mean, Bernie. I mean, it’s they want. They want. They don’t get their way. They’re violent. They’re angry. They’re carving up people’s cars. They’re doing exactly what the KK did. KK did back 120 years ago, and they were the Democrats, then they’re back in action exactly so. Point I wanted to make Frank you were asking about, why does it seem more volatile? We just mentioned that
we as conservatives are now speaking. We feel we feel emboldened, we feel impassioned, and we feel safe to speak out. And I think that that’s infuriating those who have been in the who have been so vocal the last four years. So I think that that’s kind of infuriating the other side. And so there’s so much clashing going on with that. That’s just my take. I think, if I might say that, you know, we have, we’ve had protests, we’ve had all of these angry folks, but I have to blame it on mainstream media, because, you know, I have been at rallies, and I’ve been at
events where you can look on CNN, and they’ll say, oh, there was 1000s of protesters. I was literally standing there. It’s all about the camera angle. It’s all about, you know, getting at an angle of the camera that projects that. There’s a lot of people there. I know people are angry, but I think it is a smaller percentage of the population than it would like for us to I agree completely.
Why do you agree?
Because most people and I work in a very diverse firm. I work in a huge building complex,
and nobody is angry,
okay? I mean, and I have some pretty far left people that I’m working with, and they there’s not anger, I think a lot of it is 100%
being fed by the media that they’re highlighting a bunch of lunatics. You know, there’s an old saying there’s 10% of people that ruin it for 90% and I think that the media is giving voice to those 10%
and it’s been proven that a lot of these people going to these town halls are being paid. Okay? They don’t even know what’s going on.
So it, you know, they make this big splash, and the media covers it, and at the end of the day, it’s like asking college students, you know, from the river to the sea. Well, which River, which sea, I don’t know.
You know. I mean, it’s almost like they’re parents and they’re not thinking for themselves.
Louis,
my feeling, Frank, is it’s getting to the point where I think Trump is going to have to act and maybe get the National Guard in the military in some of these places before this really gets out of control,
they’re honoring Luigi.
There we are. It’s
nuts, yeah, but it’s just a few. It’s a small number of people doing that, and that’s the thing, right? They’re getting all the attention. As you mentioned, you got an athlete in Texas who stands a kid he’s raised. They already got $400,000
they say that ridiculous. It’s insanity, yep, and the amount journalism has got to stop. I mean, it’s, it’s unbelievable with their journalism.
ABC, well.
I that, Frank, that’s what I was going to say, Patrick, I was just going to bring that up. Look at what happened to that young, 17 year old kid in Texas, and the GoFundMe was like, four or $500,000
and you see, you know, did he buy a new Escalade? I don’t know what to believe, but you know, they’re enshrining that individual that, I mean, you know you’re innocent until you’re innocent until you’re proven guilty. I don’t know all the merits of the case, but the kid, you know, stab stab them. I mean, for God’s sakes that attract me, and he’s getting more, you know, you know, glamorized, and that’s just wrong. And that’s,
well, not the repeat of Indianapolis. Yeah, exactly. They’re trying to pass another George Floyd, you
okay, we got one last question,
and I want you to put on your strategic and tactical hats.
What does America need to do in the upcoming weeks or months to ensure that the optimism that almost all of you have comes to fruition, becomes reality. What does America need to
achieve that level of hope that you all seem to have? Serena, I’m going to start with you, Congress. Congress has to get its act together and finally, put America first,
I think. And what does it need specifically to do? I think it needs to pass the tax cuts. I think it needs to
look at its own house.
You know, with all the corruption and stuff that goes on,
and the manufacturing is coming back, Rome wasn’t built in a day. So I think in the next, you know, in the next few months, to see ground breaking, to see factories being built, to see the investments coming in over here, and that we start manufacturing, and that will turn the entire economy around people who have jobs. Citizen, what does America need to do right now to have the impact, the positive impact that you’re expecting?
Well, I kind of echo what was said about Congress. I think
we as citizens need to encourage Congress to to support Trump’s agenda, whatever it is that he’s looking to accomplish. I mean, we have a small majority, but we still have a majority. We can’t go three or four years from now and say, Gosh, how do we manage to mess that up, Congress needs to act on everything that Trump is giving them
that dovetails with his agenda. So whatever we can do to encourage Congress to support his agenda, and you know, just
I think would would help us be more of a success. Patrick from Nevada, what does America need to do right now? Well, right now, the Republicans need to stand the ground, stay together and get things done. If they do that, and the success comes, we will all be in a greater, much better position. And I think you’re going to see a segue from the people on the left, realizing, you know what, it’s time to be unified, but the Republicans, for the first time, are showing the country that they are together. And I think you’re going to see more unification, and it will lead to more Democrats coming over. Maybe you’ll see more John federmans out there.
Mike, what is required? And then pat from Oklahoma, I’ll go with you. But Mike, what does America need to do right now to echo on what Patrick said? We’ve got to stay steadfast, and we got to stay village village. It we Congress needs to start acting and passing what Trump’s putting forward so on, in what, in what the tax, tax cuts Trump’s agenda, and if we echo on that and take that forward, I think maybe we can pick up more than our slim majority in the House and you know, and going into the midterms, you know, you know, and advance you know the the Trump agenda even more. But I think to get back to premise your question, we have to stay diligent and steadfast. And don’t you know, you know, full speed ahead
from Oklahoma and then Mary, we need to hold an article five convention, Article Five referring to article five of the United States Constitution, and implement congressional term limits, even if we had congressional.
Term limits of only 30 years, even 30 years, that would be better than what we have now. And we need that, because once a Congress member gets in office, you can’t get rid of them, because they automatically get millions of dollars of donations. And we need to change that. And Congress is never going to vote for that for themselves. They’re never going to implement congressional term limits against himself.
Mary, what does America need to do right now to achieve that level of hope that you spoke of a few minutes ago?
Well, in order to set the rest of his term up to be successful there and to sit vice president Vance up the rhinos that are not going along with Trump’s agenda needs to be put on notice, just like he did with Liz Cheney. Those few, particularly in the Senate, those few, need to be reminded that there are midterms coming up, there are elections coming up, and they can suffer the consequences on it. And you know, I call constantly to all these leaders, not even just from my state, but from Kentucky, from all over, and just tell them to quit thinking about themselves and put America first. We have a president that’s doing that, and we need to have all the senators and all the representatives together, and if you don’t want to, if you can’t play the game, then get out, and they need to be put on notice. This has been a fascinating conversation. It’s the most optimistic I’ve heard Republicans in decades,
and I recognize that a lot of that has to do with your support for Donald Trump, but I do acknowledge that you’re speaking more positively and more hopefully about America than at any time since Ronald Reagan was president. So I hear it and I see it, and I hopefully understand it, and hopefully the people watching understand it as well. This is the purpose of America speaks, is to put Americans like you all in front of the country so they can understand how people who look like them and sound like them and live like them, what they think, and you can only get that here on straight arrow news. So I’m Dr Frank Luntz, and thank you very much for listening. We’ll be back again next week with another installment of America speaks you.
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