Welcome back to a Numbers Game with Ryan Grodowski. I want to thank you all for joining me yet again. I have some big news to share. Because of your support, many of you have subscribed or you're planning to after you hear this episode and giving me a five star review on Apple or Spotify, or you're planning to after this episode, I can announce that beginning next week, this podcast will go to two days a week instead of just once. I'm very excited. It's a lot of work, but I'm here because I want to bring you all the numbers behind the narratives, and I want you to be able to form a different opinion than what you're just hearing on the news or social media. So I hope, I hope that beginning next week, you'll join me twice a week beginning in April, and once again, please like and subscribe this podcast. It really really means a lot to get us out there, and hopefully you will never miss an episode twice a week starting the April. The April episodes. Speaking of episodes, let's let's get to this one. In nineteen seventy two, Alice Cooper sang the lyrics of his most famous and iconic song schools out for the summer, Schools out forever. And on March twentieth, twenty twenty five, President Donald Trump signed an executive order saying the Department of Education is out forever. Yes, President Donald Trump's on the executive order directing the Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the Department of Education. Now, I was walking in the park with my best friend, who's a school teacher and a pretty conservative Republican and a Trump supporter, and he said that he's nervous over what happens when the department ends, What happens when it starts dismantling, what happens to the federal money and what's supposed to go to districts for things like special education. Who's going to be handling student loan debt? And then I have older relatives who are very conservative, and they're like, this will end far left wocism in our schools and we won't be behind other countries in math and reading anymore. And I think that it's important in a time of big change to take us step back and evaluate the data. Where are we, what are we doing, and where are we going? I want to remind listeners that in the last four years, I founded the nation's largest super pac dedicated to electing conservatives to school boards, the seventeen seventy six Project Pack. We supported hundreds of people across the country. So this is a very important issue that I'm actually decently informed on on America's education, and I hate the fact that people bring it down to talking points because I think that there's a lot that we could do to improve education if we just really worked on it, and I think the first step is to understanding it. So first, what is the state of America's education? This is an important part of the equation because both people on the left and the right of the political ais'll say that education and I'm talking about like K through twelve, I'm not talking about college, but that K through twelve education is just blatantly failing our kids, and that we spend the most money in the world, and that we're way behind everybody else. Are we that's the question, are we actually behind the rest of the world. This narrative that America is behind the rest of the globe comes from an international study called the Program for International Student Assessment or PISA. It's run by an intergovernmental organization, the Organization for Economic Co Cooperation and Development. If you don't need to know that, if you need to know about PISA. PISA evaluate six hundred and ninety fifteen year olds on their scholastic ability from different participating countries in a two hour long test and engages their skills in math, science and reading. Now, the important part of that sentence is participating countries, because all countries do not participate in the PISA and the international studies that sit there and say who's up and who's down. For instance, India, the second largest nation in the world, does not participate. The last time they did was in two thousand and nine and they scored second to last. So they chose not to do it ever again. And I think it was actually just two of their most educated providences the tests, and they still scored second to last, I think, behind Kazakhstan. Aside from India, almost all of China, I think, except for one or two provinces, do not take the exam. Russia, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Bangladesh, Syria, almost the entire continent of Africa, and a lot of South and Central America. Pockets of South and Central America also do not participate in the test, so when we say it's a global test, it's missing most of the world's population. Only eighty one of one hundred and ninety five countries in the last twenty twenty two tests participated. So according to the twenty twenty two PISA numbers, the United States ranked ninth in the world on reading, just behind Canada and ahead of New Zealand. We rank sixteenth in science, ahead of Poland and right behind Great Britain. And our worst score was a math where we're actually behind international averages for thirty fourth, behind Malta and ahead of Slovakia in every category. All top ten countries are either from East Asia, Europe, or North America, with Singapore coming in first in every category. From twenty to twenty twenty two. The best years the US scored internationally in reading and science was in twenty twenty two. Like, we's gotten better over this time, but we have fallen behind in math pretty significantly. Now, what I'm going to say next is extremely politically incorrect and very sensitive, but it is a reason, it is a very very very important reason why our test scores look different than other developed countries, and that is the racial gap in outcomes and the racial gap in testing. From two thousand and three to twenty fifteen, white and Asian students basically scored close to the same number in math around five hundred points. Hispanic students scored four forty, and black students were close to four fifteen. In reading, once again, whites and Asians were close to the same around five hundred and thirty points, depending on the year. From two thousand and three to twenty fifteen, Hispanics were four sixty and climbing. I mean, his span numbers have been getting up in that, but they still lag, and so do Blacks with around four hundred and forty. The same is also true for science. So in the PISA score in twenty twenty two, split the races up Americans races and compare them to other countries. Asian Americans outperform all other Asian majority nations outside Singapore. White Americans did better than every white majority country. Hispanic Americans outperformed all Latin Americans, all Latin countries Latino majority countries. Black Americans outperformed all Black and Caribbean majority countries. Our diversity brings us down though in overall testing when you parse through the data. But Americans are not at the bottom of the barrel, not by close. Asian Americans score the second highest in the world, as I said, only behind Singapore, and white Americans are seventh in the world, and one of the six ahead of them are Asian am Just Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and the one province in China really score ahead of them. I think it's important to highlight when discussing the United States, how the United States States competes globally. It's not that our education system is perfect in any stretch of the imagination, but we are not ranking low globally as some people suggest. It's just not true. But let's get to the states. When it comes to ranking how individual states performed, We're going to look at something called the National Assessment for Educational Progress otherwise known as the neap IT test kids in fourth and eighth grade reading, and it just came out in January their annual review. Our best states were reading a math and both fourth and eighth grade is Massachusetts, with Florida, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Utah, New Jersey, Colorado, Connecticut, and Minnesota all making the top five in either fourth or eighth grade reading, which states performed the worst though, and that is New Mexico. Mexico is in dead last in every category, with other states like West Virginia, Alaska, Oregon, Arkansas, Alabama, Delaware, and Oklahoma also making the top five worst performing academic states in either fourth or eighth grade either reading or math. I mentioned Massachusetts was number one in all categories, but what does that look like? It means that in the fourth grade, forty one percent of Massachusetts fourth graders were reading at or above proficiency level, with fifteen percent being advanced. Fifty nine percent, though, were behind, with thirty two percent being severely behind. That's our best state is where one in three are severely behind. And the eighth grade math, thirteen percent of students were advanced, but over sixty percent of students were either behind or severely behind proficiency. Once again, that's our best state. The twenty twenty four NEAP scores show us that the COVID lockdowns devastated students. The percentage of students base below basic reading levels grew two thirty three percent, the highest in thirty years. And while some students who are top achievers are still top achieving. Remember when they do the math Olympics, the math Olympiads, whatever it's called. I was never invited to it. But the math Olympics, America is always competing and we're winning a lot. So it's not like we don't have high performing students. We still do. They're still doing well. It's that kids that were on the cusp have fallen behind, and those that were already failing are now way behind. They're at historic lows. Basically, the median has declined because those on the bottom have fallen further from the bottom, while those at the top end are still performing. While they're still they're still getting the grades. In fourth grade reading, students who score below basic and AEP levels proficiency levels cannot sequence events from a story or describe the effects of a character's actions. In eighth grade, students who score below basic can basic comprehension, cannot to determine a main idea of a text or identifying differing sides of arguments. And while there are some improvements in math, it wasn't enough to offset what was lost in reading. Part of what's fueling this crisis is the percentage of kids chronically missing school has skyrocketed, with nearly a third of kids missing at least three days in the last month, and that brings me to my original premise with kids falling behind. Not in the rest of the world, not as bad as people sit there and say, but they are falling behind in America, especially since COVID. What does it mean for education? As President Trump is preparing to close the Department of Education, many parents are worthy that these services that provided by the government will be cut and that states won't be able to do States will be able to do whatever they want, so like blue states will be hardcore left wing socialism and red states will teach you that dinosaurs and humans walk the earth two thousand years ago. I think that in order to take a breath and have a break from that kind of rhetoric, it's important to realize what the Education Department Education does and doesn't do. The doees primary function is to provide financial aid to students, collect data on American schools, make recommendations on educational form, and enforce anti discrimination laws. The Department of Education does not set curricula, it doesn't set national standards, and it doesn't make academic standards. Anyone telling you that all woke ideologies coming out of this bureaucracy in Washington, DC is not telling you the truth. There have been suggestions it's made, there's been recommendations that it's made, it's attached to some aid. But everything that is primarily happening in your kid's school, including standardized testing, is at the discretion of the states, the school board, the administrators, and the individual teachers. So what's going to happen with its shutting down? Secretary McMahon did an interview with Face the Nation where she said the department's going to move its primary functions to other departments. She said that the oversight over special needs education moved to the Department of Health and Human Services. Small Business Administration will take over federal student loans, she said she believes will actually cut red tape and make and make it so schools and needy students will get money faster than they had the Department of Education. For those who can't imagine a country without a Department of Education, I think it's important to remember that we didn't have one until nineteen seventy nine, when President Carter created it as a gift to the teachers union for backing him in the last election. The nineteen seventy six election. In certain parts of the federal government's functions on education predates the creation of the Department of Education. Like Title I, Title nine, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, data collection, all that happened way before Carter created the Department nineteen seventy nine. While I imagine there could be some disruption the immediate change, with federal departments shifting gears and different departments taking over new roles that were part of the DIE, I don't think there's going to be fundamental change that people think someone will dole out money for Title I, some department will protect Title nine. Most of this issue of education will remain local. In all of my experience of the seventeen seventy six project packs speaking to literally hundreds of school board members and parents and educators and everybody, there's a lot to do on education that's essential. We need to tackle the accreditation system. We need to have alternative associations for school board members. We need to review the technology that comes into classrooms and sells your kids data. We need to address the safety concerns, and we need to focus on the science of reading and math and not about teaching that American history is something to be ashamed of. That's what's essential. That's not coming out of the Department. That's going to be your local swamp, not the swamp in Washington, DC. You're listening to It's a numbers game with Ryan Grodowsky. We'll be right back with me this week. Is my friend and colleague Aidan Bazzetti. He runs the nonprofit that I sit on the board of, the seventeen seventy sixth Foundation. Aidan, thank you.

Welcome back to a Numbers Game with Ryan Grodowski. I want to thank you all for joining me yet again. I have some big news to share. Because of your support, many of you have subscribed or you're planning to after you hear this episode and giving me a five star review on Apple or Spotify, or you're planning to after this episode, I can announce that beginning next week, this podcast will go to two days a week instead of just once. I'm very excited. It's a lot of work, but I'm here because I want to bring you all the numbers behind the narratives, and I want you to be able to form a different opinion than what you're just hearing on the news or social media. So I hope, I hope that beginning next week, you'll join me twice a week beginning in April, and once again, please like and subscribe this podcast. It really really means a lot to get us out there, and hopefully you will never miss an episode twice a week starting the April. The April episodes. Speaking of episodes, let's let's get to this one. In nineteen seventy two, Alice Cooper sang the lyrics of his most famous and iconic song schools out for the summer, Schools out forever. And on March twentieth, twenty twenty five, President Donald Trump signed an executive order saying the Department of Education is out forever. Yes, President Donald Trump's on the executive order directing the Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the Department of Education. Now, I was walking in the park with my best friend, who's a school teacher and a pretty conservative Republican and a Trump supporter, and he said that he's nervous over what happens when the department ends, What happens when it starts dismantling, what happens to the federal money and what's supposed to go to districts for things like special education. Who's going to be handling student loan debt? And then I have older relatives who are very conservative, and they're like, this will end far left wocism in our schools and we won't be behind other countries in math and reading anymore. And I think that it's important in a time of big change to take us step back and evaluate the data. Where are we, what are we doing, and where are we going? I want to remind listeners that in the last four years, I founded the nation's largest super pac dedicated to electing conservatives to school boards, the seventeen seventy six Project Pack. We supported hundreds of people across the country. So this is a very important issue that I'm actually decently informed on on America's education, and I hate the fact that people bring it down to talking points because I think that there's a lot that we could do to improve education if we just really worked on it, and I think the first step is to understanding it. So first, what is the state of America's education? This is an important part of the equation because both people on the left and the right of the political ais'll say that education and I'm talking about like K through twelve, I'm not talking about college, but that K through twelve education is just blatantly failing our kids, and that we spend the most money in the world, and that we're way behind everybody else. Are we that's the question, are we actually behind the rest of the world. This narrative that America is behind the rest of the globe comes from an international study called the Program for International Student Assessment or PISA. It's run by an intergovernmental organization, the Organization for Economic Co Cooperation and Development. If you don't need to know that, if you need to know about PISA. PISA evaluate six hundred and ninety fifteen year olds on their scholastic ability from different participating countries in a two hour long test and engages their skills in math, science and reading. Now, the important part of that sentence is participating countries, because all countries do not participate in the PISA and the international studies that sit there and say who's up and who's down. For instance, India, the second largest nation in the world, does not participate. The last time they did was in two thousand and nine and they scored second to last. So they chose not to do it ever again. And I think it was actually just two of their most educated providences the tests, and they still scored second to last, I think, behind Kazakhstan. Aside from India, almost all of China, I think, except for one or two provinces, do not take the exam. Russia, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Bangladesh, Syria, almost the entire continent of Africa, and a lot of South and Central America. Pockets of South and Central America also do not participate in the test, so when we say it's a global test, it's missing most of the world's population. Only eighty one of one hundred and ninety five countries in the last twenty twenty two tests participated. So according to the twenty twenty two PISA numbers, the United States ranked ninth in the world on reading, just behind Canada and ahead of New Zealand. We rank sixteenth in science, ahead of Poland and right behind Great Britain. And our worst score was a math where we're actually behind international averages for thirty fourth, behind Malta and ahead of Slovakia in every category. All top ten countries are either from East Asia, Europe, or North America, with Singapore coming in first in every category. From twenty to twenty twenty two. The best years the US scored internationally in reading and science was in twenty twenty two. Like, we's gotten better over this time, but we have fallen behind in math pretty significantly. Now, what I'm going to say next is extremely politically incorrect and very sensitive, but it is a reason, it is a very very very important reason why our test scores look different than other developed countries, and that is the racial gap in outcomes and the racial gap in testing. From two thousand and three to twenty fifteen, white and Asian students basically scored close to the same number in math around five hundred points. Hispanic students scored four forty, and black students were close to four fifteen. In reading, once again, whites and Asians were close to the same around five hundred and thirty points, depending on the year. From two thousand and three to twenty fifteen, Hispanics were four sixty and climbing. I mean, his span numbers have been getting up in that, but they still lag, and so do Blacks with around four hundred and forty. The same is also true for science. So in the PISA score in twenty twenty two, split the races up Americans races and compare them to other countries. Asian Americans outperform all other Asian majority nations outside Singapore. White Americans did better than every white majority country. Hispanic Americans outperformed all Latin Americans, all Latin countries Latino majority countries. Black Americans outperformed all Black and Caribbean majority countries. Our diversity brings us down though in overall testing when you parse through the data. But Americans are not at the bottom of the barrel, not by close. Asian Americans score the second highest in the world, as I said, only behind Singapore, and white Americans are seventh in the world, and one of the six ahead of them are Asian am Just Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and the one province in China really score ahead of them. I think it's important to highlight when discussing the United States, how the United States States competes globally. It's not that our education system is perfect in any stretch of the imagination, but we are not ranking low globally as some people suggest. It's just not true. But let's get to the states. When it comes to ranking how individual states performed, We're going to look at something called the National Assessment for Educational Progress otherwise known as the neap IT test kids in fourth and eighth grade reading, and it just came out in January their annual review. Our best states were reading a math and both fourth and eighth grade is Massachusetts, with Florida, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Utah, New Jersey, Colorado, Connecticut, and Minnesota all making the top five in either fourth or eighth grade reading, which states performed the worst though, and that is New Mexico. Mexico is in dead last in every category, with other states like West Virginia, Alaska, Oregon, Arkansas, Alabama, Delaware, and Oklahoma also making the top five worst performing academic states in either fourth or eighth grade either reading or math. I mentioned Massachusetts was number one in all categories, but what does that look like? It means that in the fourth grade, forty one percent of Massachusetts fourth graders were reading at or above proficiency level, with fifteen percent being advanced. Fifty nine percent, though, were behind, with thirty two percent being severely behind. That's our best state is where one in three are severely behind. And the eighth grade math, thirteen percent of students were advanced, but over sixty percent of students were either behind or severely behind proficiency. Once again, that's our best state. The twenty twenty four NEAP scores show us that the COVID lockdowns devastated students. The percentage of students base below basic reading levels grew two thirty three percent, the highest in thirty years. And while some students who are top achievers are still top achieving. Remember when they do the math Olympics, the math Olympiads, whatever it's called. I was never invited to it. But the math Olympics, America is always competing and we're winning a lot. So it's not like we don't have high performing students. We still do. They're still doing well. It's that kids that were on the cusp have fallen behind, and those that were already failing are now way behind. They're at historic lows. Basically, the median has declined because those on the bottom have fallen further from the bottom, while those at the top end are still performing. While they're still they're still getting the grades. In fourth grade reading, students who score below basic and AEP levels proficiency levels cannot sequence events from a story or describe the effects of a character's actions. In eighth grade, students who score below basic can basic comprehension, cannot to determine a main idea of a text or identifying differing sides of arguments. And while there are some improvements in math, it wasn't enough to offset what was lost in reading. Part of what's fueling this crisis is the percentage of kids chronically missing school has skyrocketed, with nearly a third of kids missing at least three days in the last month, and that brings me to my original premise with kids falling behind. Not in the rest of the world, not as bad as people sit there and say, but they are falling behind in America, especially since COVID. What does it mean for education? As President Trump is preparing to close the Department of Education, many parents are worthy that these services that provided by the government will be cut and that states won't be able to do States will be able to do whatever they want, so like blue states will be hardcore left wing socialism and red states will teach you that dinosaurs and humans walk the earth two thousand years ago. I think that in order to take a breath and have a break from that kind of rhetoric, it's important to realize what the Education Department Education does and doesn't do. The doees primary function is to provide financial aid to students, collect data on American schools, make recommendations on educational form, and enforce anti discrimination laws. The Department of Education does not set curricula, it doesn't set national standards, and it doesn't make academic standards. Anyone telling you that all woke ideologies coming out of this bureaucracy in Washington, DC is not telling you the truth. There have been suggestions it's made, there's been recommendations that it's made, it's attached to some aid. But everything that is primarily happening in your kid's school, including standardized testing, is at the discretion of the states, the school board, the administrators, and the individual teachers. So what's going to happen with its shutting down? Secretary McMahon did an interview with Face the Nation where she said the department's going to move its primary functions to other departments. She said that the oversight over special needs education moved to the Department of Health and Human Services. Small Business Administration will take over federal student loans, she said she believes will actually cut red tape and make and make it so schools and needy students will get money faster than they had the Department of Education. For those who can't imagine a country without a Department of Education, I think it's important to remember that we didn't have one until nineteen seventy nine, when President Carter created it as a gift to the teachers union for backing him in the last election. The nineteen seventy six election. In certain parts of the federal government's functions on education predates the creation of the Department of Education. Like Title I, Title nine, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, data collection, all that happened way before Carter created the Department nineteen seventy nine. While I imagine there could be some disruption the immediate change, with federal departments shifting gears and different departments taking over new roles that were part of the DIE, I don't think there's going to be fundamental change that people think someone will dole out money for Title I, some department will protect Title nine. Most of this issue of education will remain local. In all of my experience of the seventeen seventy six project packs speaking to literally hundreds of school board members and parents and educators and everybody, there's a lot to do on education that's essential. We need to tackle the accreditation system. We need to have alternative associations for school board members. We need to review the technology that comes into classrooms and sells your kids data. We need to address the safety concerns, and we need to focus on the science of reading and math and not about teaching that American history is something to be ashamed of. That's what's essential. That's not coming out of the Department. That's going to be your local swamp, not the swamp in Washington, DC. You're listening to It's a numbers game with Ryan Grodowsky. We'll be right back with me this week. Is my friend and colleague Aidan Bazzetti. He runs the nonprofit that I sit on the board of, the seventeen seventy sixth Foundation. Aidan, thank you.

For being here, thank you for having me on run of course.

For being here, thank you for having me on run of course.

So Aiden, let's start with the Department of Education. It's ending or it's closing stores. Trump can't end it by executive order, but he's dismantling it. What do you think the biggest impact, if any, will have on the local school districts.

So Aiden, let's start with the Department of Education. It's ending or it's closing stores. Trump can't end it by executive order, but he's dismantling it. What do you think the biggest impact, if any, will have on the local school districts.

I think the majority of the impact on school districts in particular will be fairly limited to the grants, with a lot of these DEI initiatives attached to them. In the first place, a lot of the department's activities focused on loans and a state in local funding accounts for the vast majority, over eighty percent of funding.

I think the majority of the impact on school districts in particular will be fairly limited to the grants, with a lot of these DEI initiatives attached to them. In the first place, a lot of the department's activities focused on loans and a state in local funding accounts for the vast majority, over eighty percent of funding.

For school districts.

For school districts.

So I think as they start winding down certain programs in the Department, that we'll see less of an incentive for school districts to pursue equity policies and resort of justice policies that were tied to federal grants.

So I think as they start winding down certain programs in the Department, that we'll see less of an incentive for school districts to pursue equity policies and resort of justice policies that were tied to federal grants.

But that's about it.

But that's about it.

What like, can you and if you don't know any top of your head, then that's fine, but do you know of any equity policies that the government spends on?

What like, can you and if you don't know any top of your head, then that's fine, but do you know of any equity policies that the government spends on?

Well?

Well?

Federal prior administration, they listed equity as one of the broader requirements for all federal grants coming out of the Department and then and some of them had more specific initiatives. I wouldn't be able to name all of them, but it is not uncommon for the federal fundings to have grants focused on equity or reviewing disciplinary practices with a focus on resort of justice.

Federal prior administration, they listed equity as one of the broader requirements for all federal grants coming out of the Department and then and some of them had more specific initiatives. I wouldn't be able to name all of them, but it is not uncommon for the federal fundings to have grants focused on equity or reviewing disciplinary practices with a focus on resort of justice.

And things like that. But those are mostly holdovers from the Bible.

And things like that. But those are mostly holdovers from the Bible.

That's what happened under Obama, right.

That's what happened under Obama, right.

And a lot of it did begin under the Obama administration and then continued with the Biden administration.

And a lot of it did begin under the Obama administration and then continued with the Biden administration.

Well, specifically with the restorative justice. There was this old liberal notion that there was a pipeline prison to school pipeline that basically, you know, like the liberal reddick was like a black kid got detention once and now he's spending life in jail for smoking marijuana. Like this was like the overall all ridiculous narrative they were putting out. It wasn't exactly true, but the restorative justice thing that you're talking about was they were saying, if a student is Hispanic or black, because there's a higher percentage of them to their overall population and in prison, to be more leanient on them. And this is like the famous case now is the was it Sandy Hook shooting? Great, No, it wasn't Sandy Hook. It was the one in Florida, the Stone Stone Douglas Yes Memorial, whatever it was that was in Brower County shooting. That was the case where the student had multiple, multiple, multiple infractures, including bringing dead pets to school, talking about abusing animals, talking about you know, attacking other kids, and it was never They had no disciplinary records. So when he went to go buy a gun, there was no there was nothing for cops. Is that they're in flag and say, oh, this kid could be a problem because there was all brushed on the rug. So that way, if he went on to be arrested for something lighter later on, there would be no record or that he had a history of problematic behavior or anything.

Well, specifically with the restorative justice. There was this old liberal notion that there was a pipeline prison to school pipeline that basically, you know, like the liberal reddick was like a black kid got detention once and now he's spending life in jail for smoking marijuana. Like this was like the overall all ridiculous narrative they were putting out. It wasn't exactly true, but the restorative justice thing that you're talking about was they were saying, if a student is Hispanic or black, because there's a higher percentage of them to their overall population and in prison, to be more leanient on them. And this is like the famous case now is the was it Sandy Hook shooting? Great, No, it wasn't Sandy Hook. It was the one in Florida, the Stone Stone Douglas Yes Memorial, whatever it was that was in Brower County shooting. That was the case where the student had multiple, multiple, multiple infractures, including bringing dead pets to school, talking about abusing animals, talking about you know, attacking other kids, and it was never They had no disciplinary records. So when he went to go buy a gun, there was no there was nothing for cops. Is that they're in flag and say, oh, this kid could be a problem because there was all brushed on the rug. So that way, if he went on to be arrested for something lighter later on, there would be no record or that he had a history of problematic behavior or anything.

And that philosophy, unfortunately happens across hundreds, hopefully not thousands, but potentially thousands of school districts where they intentionally decide not to punish students oftentimes or due to their ethnicity, because they're worried about some kind of disparate impact or suspensions leading to a lifetime of them in prison for whatever particular reason. And that's one of the problems that schools are dealing with now, just these massive disciplinary issues with their students. It's something that we found everybody cares about, whether they're a parent or a teacher or a student, the disciplinary situation, and a lot of schools across the US School.

And that philosophy, unfortunately happens across hundreds, hopefully not thousands, but potentially thousands of school districts where they intentionally decide not to punish students oftentimes or due to their ethnicity, because they're worried about some kind of disparate impact or suspensions leading to a lifetime of them in prison for whatever particular reason. And that's one of the problems that schools are dealing with now, just these massive disciplinary issues with their students. It's something that we found everybody cares about, whether they're a parent or a teacher or a student, the disciplinary situation, and a lot of schools across the US School.

Of War right now.

Of War right now.

You know, we before Aiden ran the seventeen seventies foundation, he worked for me at the seventeen seventy six Project Pack and we would Aiden was in charge of like meeting all the people who wanted to run for office. So he has talked to thousands of people about local education, which is he was a godsend for me for taking that on for me. But what what what would shock us often is how many red states and red districts had this problem. There was one in Florida, Super Republican County. Now I'm thinking of it Red Red Rivers, Red River or something like that River County. I forget Indian River, Indian River, Indian River, Florida. Yes, Aiden is also got the only part of a brain that's working because mind doesn't anymore. Indian River, Florida. They had this. They had a desperate, intersperate impact on on students based on the race. It wasn't it wasn't that the case, right, Aiden, It was it.

You know, we before Aiden ran the seventeen seventies foundation, he worked for me at the seventeen seventy six Project Pack and we would Aiden was in charge of like meeting all the people who wanted to run for office. So he has talked to thousands of people about local education, which is he was a godsend for me for taking that on for me. But what what what would shock us often is how many red states and red districts had this problem. There was one in Florida, Super Republican County. Now I'm thinking of it Red Red Rivers, Red River or something like that River County. I forget Indian River, Indian River, Indian River, Florida. Yes, Aiden is also got the only part of a brain that's working because mind doesn't anymore. Indian River, Florida. They had this. They had a desperate, intersperate impact on on students based on the race. It wasn't it wasn't that the case, right, Aiden, It was it.

Was racially based.

Was racially based.

They wanted so if you were, they wanted to do a one to one ratio on disciplinary infractions based on the race of the students. So and I think that that district had a had a higher proportion of minority students, so functionally it would mean that they would punish the non non minority students more or the minority populations less.

They wanted so if you were, they wanted to do a one to one ratio on disciplinary infractions based on the race of the students. So and I think that that district had a had a higher proportion of minority students, so functionally it would mean that they would punish the non non minority students more or the minority populations less.

Overall, it's an Asian specifically more than blacks and Hispanics. It was. It was crazy, but it happens in red districts too. You know, you talked to I said before you talked to thousands of people who running for school board to care local education. What's in your opinion, the biggest misunderstanding in terms of rhetoric coming from talking heads both liberal and conservative, to what actually frustrates teachers and princes, bulls and parents at school boards.

Overall, it's an Asian specifically more than blacks and Hispanics. It was. It was crazy, but it happens in red districts too. You know, you talked to I said before you talked to thousands of people who running for school board to care local education. What's in your opinion, the biggest misunderstanding in terms of rhetoric coming from talking heads both liberal and conservative, to what actually frustrates teachers and princes, bulls and parents at school boards.

Yeah. I think on the conservative side, especially because of what a lot of parents saw during the pandemic, they have a large scaled mistrust or distrust in teachers and administrators. And what we found is that especially in states like Louisiana, who I think it was the only state really that defied the general decline in education in the United States, they actually gave more flexibility to teachers in the classroom.

Yeah. I think on the conservative side, especially because of what a lot of parents saw during the pandemic, they have a large scaled mistrust or distrust in teachers and administrators. And what we found is that especially in states like Louisiana, who I think it was the only state really that defied the general decline in education in the United States, they actually gave more flexibility to teachers in the classroom.

So they had they.

So they had they.

Overhauled their curriculum, but they also allowed the teachers to be a little more flexible and how they taught that curriculum in addition to providing other services. But a lot of teachers rebel on very strict rules, which is fine, and a lot of parents don't understand that. But I also think that in general, people don't understand just how much the school board and the individual member and the administrators run the day to day operations and set those policies. Just because, for example, President Trump is doing all of this action and setting out all these executive orders regarding the Department of Education does not mean that the issue has gone away. It has always been a local problem, and people need to understand that it's going to take local solutions to root out a lot of these devisive issues.

Overhauled their curriculum, but they also allowed the teachers to be a little more flexible and how they taught that curriculum in addition to providing other services. But a lot of teachers rebel on very strict rules, which is fine, and a lot of parents don't understand that. But I also think that in general, people don't understand just how much the school board and the individual member and the administrators run the day to day operations and set those policies. Just because, for example, President Trump is doing all of this action and setting out all these executive orders regarding the Department of Education does not mean that the issue has gone away. It has always been a local problem, and people need to understand that it's going to take local solutions to root out a lot of these devisive issues.

Right, And I think that that's you mentioned it before, mentioned it in your answer. Administrators and the frustration around administrators is what I would always hear the most often about people who are unelected, hired by hired by superintendents to sit there and make broad decision that really impacts teachers' ability to teach in the classroom, and that would seem overwhelmingly frustrating that no one really ever talked about. People think it's always like the teachers being like the super progressive ones when act is I would say nine times out of ten administrators making teachers do things they don't really want to do.

Right, And I think that that's you mentioned it before, mentioned it in your answer. Administrators and the frustration around administrators is what I would always hear the most often about people who are unelected, hired by hired by superintendents to sit there and make broad decision that really impacts teachers' ability to teach in the classroom, and that would seem overwhelmingly frustrating that no one really ever talked about. People think it's always like the teachers being like the super progressive ones when act is I would say nine times out of ten administrators making teachers do things they don't really want to do.

That's why having school members who know how to oversee the superintendent and the administrators is so important, because the superintendent is basically the CEO of a school district. They're doing most of the day to day work school members in their current form do oversight. They're basically the board of directors, right, so they can set the policies and make sure the school district is going in the right direction. But the superintendent has a lot of flexibility and if you have the wrong person then they can lead to a lot of damage, all the trickling all the way.

That's why having school members who know how to oversee the superintendent and the administrators is so important, because the superintendent is basically the CEO of a school district. They're doing most of the day to day work school members in their current form do oversight. They're basically the board of directors, right, so they can set the policies and make sure the school district is going in the right direction. But the superintendent has a lot of flexibility and if you have the wrong person then they can lead to a lot of damage, all the trickling all the way.

Through the system.

Through the system.

I like the way you put that. Yeah, in school districts, school boards hire the superintendents or renew their contracts. What is from talking to parents, what is the biggest concerns in local education today?

I like the way you put that. Yeah, in school districts, school boards hire the superintendents or renew their contracts. What is from talking to parents, what is the biggest concerns in local education today?

I think the number one The biggest concern that we've seen is concern over school safety, not just from outside threats but inside threats as well, but also generally students can't read, and I think more parents are waking up to the fact that their children can't read, and that's concerning.

I think the number one The biggest concern that we've seen is concern over school safety, not just from outside threats but inside threats as well, but also generally students can't read, and I think more parents are waking up to the fact that their children can't read, and that's concerning.

I mean, we have to be able to read.

I mean, we have to be able to read.

We're very society and talking earlier about the school to prison pipeline. If your kids can't read, they're more likely to commit crime and end up in jail. So I think there's a broader awareness now with parents that one, schools aren't as safe as they used to be.

We're very society and talking earlier about the school to prison pipeline. If your kids can't read, they're more likely to commit crime and end up in jail. So I think there's a broader awareness now with parents that one, schools aren't as safe as they used to be.

Or should be.

Or should be.

And two that schools by and large are starting to fail, that we have had and poor performance.

And two that schools by and large are starting to fail, that we have had and poor performance.

And we're not even in a situation where the kids are too big to get inside the school. Well, like, what is this a school for ants? How can the children learn to read if they can't inside the building? That's from Zoolander If anyone's under the age of twenty five and has never seen the movie anyway, But yeah, I can really agree with that. But what are what are the obstacles to innovation for most Let's say you have a great person who's that wants to run for school board, they get elected, what are the biggest obstacles in the hurdles that we always see that you're hearing now from running the foundation, that that school board members, well intentioned ones who want to do the right thing, are are dealing with.

And we're not even in a situation where the kids are too big to get inside the school. Well, like, what is this a school for ants? How can the children learn to read if they can't inside the building? That's from Zoolander If anyone's under the age of twenty five and has never seen the movie anyway, But yeah, I can really agree with that. But what are what are the obstacles to innovation for most Let's say you have a great person who's that wants to run for school board, they get elected, what are the biggest obstacles in the hurdles that we always see that you're hearing now from running the foundation, that that school board members, well intentioned ones who want to do the right thing, are are dealing with.

Yeah, that's that's an interesting question. I think I would say from a structural standpoint, the education community has dealt with a lot of fads over the last couple of decades, fads that haven't.

Yeah, that's that's an interesting question. I think I would say from a structural standpoint, the education community has dealt with a lot of fads over the last couple of decades, fads that haven't.

Necessarily talk about some of these fads.

Necessarily talk about some of these fads.

I mean, well, we used to teach site learning.

I mean, well, we used to teach site learning.

Yeah, we used to teach teachers, you know, three queuing where they would point out, you know, the word on the page and connected with a picture, and we know that doesn't work. It was the subject of a lot of debates several decades ago, but a lot of teachers still use it. So there are parts of the education system and teachers colleges that are still using outdated methods. But because because those stuff around so long and we're so damaging, there's also some resistance in the community or the communities that are focused on education reform to looking at new opportunities as well.

Yeah, we used to teach teachers, you know, three queuing where they would point out, you know, the word on the page and connected with a picture, and we know that doesn't work. It was the subject of a lot of debates several decades ago, but a lot of teachers still use it. So there are parts of the education system and teachers colleges that are still using outdated methods. But because because those stuff around so long and we're so damaging, there's also some resistance in the community or the communities that are focused on education reform to looking at new opportunities as well.

So that's a little bit of a wait.

So that's a little bit of a wait.

So what Aiden, wait? Wait, So what Aiden is talking about right now is in the two thousands we have you said something called phonics and a lot of classrooms back in the eighties and nineties, and then in the two thousands, Bush was all about phonics, and because Bush was evil, you know, to a lot of liberals, a lot of liberals embrace and then called site learning, which is what Aidan mentioned, and that's basically where kids would marize the word and that's how they would apply, but they wouldn't actually learn the building blocks of sentence structure and word structure. It was a terrible form we put it in all the teachers colleges. We've adopted it in most of our states. It set kids back tremendously in reading, and teachers colleges, as Aiden said, still do it. Teachers colleges are the root of so many educational issues, teachers colleges and teachers' unions because the teacher's colleges are the wild progressive places and the unions are what, in my opinion, forward a lot of innovation because unions represent their workers, they don't represent their students.

So what Aiden, wait? Wait, So what Aiden is talking about right now is in the two thousands we have you said something called phonics and a lot of classrooms back in the eighties and nineties, and then in the two thousands, Bush was all about phonics, and because Bush was evil, you know, to a lot of liberals, a lot of liberals embrace and then called site learning, which is what Aidan mentioned, and that's basically where kids would marize the word and that's how they would apply, but they wouldn't actually learn the building blocks of sentence structure and word structure. It was a terrible form we put it in all the teachers colleges. We've adopted it in most of our states. It set kids back tremendously in reading, and teachers colleges, as Aiden said, still do it. Teachers colleges are the root of so many educational issues, teachers colleges and teachers' unions because the teacher's colleges are the wild progressive places and the unions are what, in my opinion, forward a lot of innovation because unions represent their workers, they don't represent their students.

That's true.

That's true.

And you know, Florida's done something interesting that they've started to I think they passed the bill that required teachers unions to recertify, so it gives the individual teachers and the district a little bit more power on whether or not they want to affiliate with the union. And then if they don't hit a certain threshold, then that you and has to dissolve. So that's one way that Florida in particular has been pushing back on right teachers unions, which has been really interesting to see. But yeah, the teachers unions, they defend their interests, which is you know, really the union administrators, not necessarily the teachers, which I think has been problems with the problem with a lot of these.

And you know, Florida's done something interesting that they've started to I think they passed the bill that required teachers unions to recertify, so it gives the individual teachers and the district a little bit more power on whether or not they want to affiliate with the union. And then if they don't hit a certain threshold, then that you and has to dissolve. So that's one way that Florida in particular has been pushing back on right teachers unions, which has been really interesting to see. But yeah, the teachers unions, they defend their interests, which is you know, really the union administrators, not necessarily the teachers, which I think has been problems with the problem with a lot of these.

Public secuity unions. In the first place.

Public secuity unions. In the first place.

They have they haven't really pushed for substantive reform. They want to make sure that teachers are protected in their jobs. So when conservatives try to fix the system by introducing a little bit more personal accountability for teachers, they start screaming and fight really hard against it.

They have they haven't really pushed for substantive reform. They want to make sure that teachers are protected in their jobs. So when conservatives try to fix the system by introducing a little bit more personal accountability for teachers, they start screaming and fight really hard against it.

If you were advising a school board, let's say all five members were or seven members, whatever the member is, were elected and came to you and said, hey, we want you to help us change. What are three things a local government could do a local school board could do to make their education better. And I know everything's personalized and different, but an overall thing.

If you were advising a school board, let's say all five members were or seven members, whatever the member is, were elected and came to you and said, hey, we want you to help us change. What are three things a local government could do a local school board could do to make their education better. And I know everything's personalized and different, but an overall thing.

Yeah, that's a good question.

Yeah, that's a good question.

I think the first thing that we're actually starting to see now is I would tell them to do a comprehensive overview on what exactly is in their curriculum and how much are they paying people to pull it together. A lot of these school boards have massive budgets, sometimes in billions and billions of dollars, so making sure that they know where the money is going and what exactly they're paying for is very important.

I think the first thing that we're actually starting to see now is I would tell them to do a comprehensive overview on what exactly is in their curriculum and how much are they paying people to pull it together. A lot of these school boards have massive budgets, sometimes in billions and billions of dollars, so making sure that they know where the money is going and what exactly they're paying for is very important.

When you're looking at the progress of the school district.

When you're looking at the progress of the school district.

I would also inform them to set up a way to track progress with the superintendent and introduce a little bit more administrative accountability. Like I said before, the superintendent really is the CEO and the board is just there to make sure that everything stays on track. But I think that they can really introduce a culture of accountability and progress that.

I would also inform them to set up a way to track progress with the superintendent and introduce a little bit more administrative accountability. Like I said before, the superintendent really is the CEO and the board is just there to make sure that everything stays on track. But I think that they can really introduce a culture of accountability and progress that.

A lot of school districts don't have.

A lot of school districts don't have.

And the third thing is I would make sure that the school board actually engages parents on a regular basis. That's not necessarily strictly a policy change, but having printal input in the school board is extremely important, especially now because so many people don't trust public schools. And if you're able to engage parents and see how certain policies affect the day to day lives of those families and their kids, then you'll be able to get a really good handle on what exactly is and isn't working district.

And the third thing is I would make sure that the school board actually engages parents on a regular basis. That's not necessarily strictly a policy change, but having printal input in the school board is extremely important, especially now because so many people don't trust public schools. And if you're able to engage parents and see how certain policies affect the day to day lives of those families and their kids, then you'll be able to get a really good handle on what exactly is and isn't working district.

So what does the seventeen seventy six Foundation do? What is your goal from the non.

So what does the seventeen seventy six Foundation do? What is your goal from the non.

Yeah, so our goal on a nonprofit is to really form a foundation for the turning school districts around in a positive way.

Yeah, so our goal on a nonprofit is to really form a foundation for the turning school districts around in a positive way.

We have.

We have.

When I was working with the seventeen seventy six Project Pack and I was talking with parents and school board candidates from coast to coast across the country, we found that basically everybody is dealing with the same problems. It differs, of course from state to state depending on the laws there, but broadly speaking, everyone is dealing with the same issues. And so our goal is to get school board members from across the country connected. We want to get them mentorship and start providing them resources to actually turn their school districts around and take that successful model and make sure other people.

When I was working with the seventeen seventy six Project Pack and I was talking with parents and school board candidates from coast to coast across the country, we found that basically everybody is dealing with the same problems. It differs, of course from state to state depending on the laws there, but broadly speaking, everyone is dealing with the same issues. And so our goal is to get school board members from across the country connected. We want to get them mentorship and start providing them resources to actually turn their school districts around and take that successful model and make sure other people.

Can adopt it as well.

Can adopt it as well.

Aiden, that's great. Where can people go to read more about what your stuff and the foundation?

Aiden, that's great. Where can people go to read more about what your stuff and the foundation?

Yeah, so I would visit the Foundation's website Foundation seventeen seventy six dot org and you can follow me on Twitter at Aiden Ai d E N.

Yeah, so I would visit the Foundation's website Foundation seventeen seventy six dot org and you can follow me on Twitter at Aiden Ai d E N.

Bizzetti b u z z e t T.

Bizzetti b u z z e t T.

The great Aiden BEAZETI one of my favorite people I've ever worked with. Aiden, Thank you for being on this week's podcast. Hey, we'll be right back after this. Now it's time for the Ask Me Anything segment of the show, where I take questions from my audience about literally Anything, and if you want to be part of the Ask Me Anything segment, you can email Ryan at Numbers Game Podcast dot com. That's Ryan at Numbers Plural Numbers Numbers gamepodcast dot com And maybe next week I'll be reading your question. Our question this week comes from Julie is Hi.

The great Aiden BEAZETI one of my favorite people I've ever worked with. Aiden, Thank you for being on this week's podcast. Hey, we'll be right back after this. Now it's time for the Ask Me Anything segment of the show, where I take questions from my audience about literally Anything, and if you want to be part of the Ask Me Anything segment, you can email Ryan at Numbers Game Podcast dot com. That's Ryan at Numbers Plural Numbers Numbers gamepodcast dot com And maybe next week I'll be reading your question. Our question this week comes from Julie is Hi.

Ryan.

Ryan.

I found out about you through your appearances with the Buck Sexton Show, which was great leading up to the election. Thank you, Julie. I read your article, your article and the Spectator about the distantass failed presidential run. My question is whether you think he has another shot in twenty twenty eight, What would need to change and do you think he can rebound? So what? First of all, Julie, thank you for listening to podcast. Thank you for reading my articles. What I would say what Julie's talking about was in twenty twenty three, I was invited to a meeting with or beginning twenty twenty you know give me twenty twenty twenty three, I was invited to a meeting in Tallahassee with quote unquote influencers who were thinking about supporting disantas. This was in I think March of twenty twenty three March or early early April, but it was one of the two and she was. I was invited along with like a dozen or so quote unquote. I hate the term influencers. I don't call myself an influencer, but they did, so I'll use the term. I was invited to Tallahassee with a bunch of influencers to meet the governor and meet the team and talk about what running for president was like. And it was supposed to be a completely off the record meeting. And I went there and I was a loud mouth like I always am. I can't help myself. I do this for a living, running elections and campaigns, and what I have learned from being a consultant for the last two decades is that you have to be bluntly honest with people. And I don't mince words, and I don't have time. And if you want someone who will just be a yes man and kiss your r end, there's allion people you could hire, but I'm not one of them. I would be much further along in my career had I done that, but I just don't do it. I don't have the time or the energy. So anyway, we go to this meeting, I meet the team, they sell me on their big bag of nonsense. And then we go to meet the governor and I was like this second. I told all the influencers when we walked in the room, listen, the Governor's not where he was in November when he was leading in the polls against Trump. You have to be very honest with him that things are not going well and that he either needs to run like officially run and run hard, or not run like. I told him that he looks. I used the word pussy. I said, you look like a pussy is Trump attacks you and you don't say anything back to him. I told him that his book was not good because it was not aspirational, and I told him that he needed to connect more with working class people by talking about his background as a working class person. I think I specifically said to him, as smart as you are and as good at playing baseball as you were when you were younger, you would probably not get into an Ivy League school today because you're a white trade man, and they are discriminated against white straight men at these universities. And you should address that by speaking with your own experience. This is pre Harvard case. And anyway, we had the meeting. Then we had a dinner afterwards with the team the governor. The governor was lovely, by the way, his wife was lovely. I have nothing bad to say about them. He's a great governor. But that was the meeting, and then we went to the meeting with the team afterwards. I was very unimpressed by what the team was saying. And the general consultant said to me, like during the dinner, was like, so, what do you think, And I said, I think we're at an Irish funeral waiting for the body to drop. Like I was not optimistic about what was going on. I was like, this is not like I have no dey. Anyone's like celebrating right now. So and then I had one more call. I never worked for the Santus campaign. By the way, I think it's important to say, like people have accused me of working for DeSantis, and I never did that. I never took a check, I never I went to two meetings and I just gave them my best advice. That's the only thing I ever done, and that's what I think people. And I gave them the profession advice I would give anybody. The meeting ends, and then I get a call from the reporter several months later, basically repeating what I had said during this meeting. It was an off the record meeting, and I had told by the way, I told all these quote unquote influencers who loved as Santas, Hey, you need to be harsh, you need to tell them the truth. And the minute after I was speaking, I was the second person to speak. The minute after I was done speaking, everyone was like, You're so great, You're so wonderful. You're so great, You're so wonderful. No one was telling the truth, and no one was having an honest conversation. One of the influencers were like, we need to talk about trans children. I'm like, what the f are you all talking about? Like immigration, crime, the economy, like brin cycle, repeat, AnyWho whatever. Deeply frustrated, and the report had called and knew what I had said and wanted me to go on records. So I said, f this. If everyone's leaking about what I said, and I didn't leak anyone's name, I'm going to just tell the story from my perspective what I actually said. And that's why I wrote the Spectator article. That's a very long window way of saying of what happened anyway, we do I think he has a chance to run in twenty twenty eight. No, because people's window to run for president is very, very small. Had Chris Christy not run, had Chris Christi run in twenty twelve, I don't know if he would have been the party's nominee. He would have had a very good shot at being the party's nominee. He had virtually no shot by twenty sixteen, and he had really no shot by twenty twenty four when he ran again. Twenty twenty four, when he ran again, your window to be the new kid in town, to be the shiny new toy, to be the one who has earned it is literally very minimal. You have to know when it happens, and you.

I found out about you through your appearances with the Buck Sexton Show, which was great leading up to the election. Thank you, Julie. I read your article, your article and the Spectator about the distantass failed presidential run. My question is whether you think he has another shot in twenty twenty eight, What would need to change and do you think he can rebound? So what? First of all, Julie, thank you for listening to podcast. Thank you for reading my articles. What I would say what Julie's talking about was in twenty twenty three, I was invited to a meeting with or beginning twenty twenty you know give me twenty twenty twenty three, I was invited to a meeting in Tallahassee with quote unquote influencers who were thinking about supporting disantas. This was in I think March of twenty twenty three March or early early April, but it was one of the two and she was. I was invited along with like a dozen or so quote unquote. I hate the term influencers. I don't call myself an influencer, but they did, so I'll use the term. I was invited to Tallahassee with a bunch of influencers to meet the governor and meet the team and talk about what running for president was like. And it was supposed to be a completely off the record meeting. And I went there and I was a loud mouth like I always am. I can't help myself. I do this for a living, running elections and campaigns, and what I have learned from being a consultant for the last two decades is that you have to be bluntly honest with people. And I don't mince words, and I don't have time. And if you want someone who will just be a yes man and kiss your r end, there's allion people you could hire, but I'm not one of them. I would be much further along in my career had I done that, but I just don't do it. I don't have the time or the energy. So anyway, we go to this meeting, I meet the team, they sell me on their big bag of nonsense. And then we go to meet the governor and I was like this second. I told all the influencers when we walked in the room, listen, the Governor's not where he was in November when he was leading in the polls against Trump. You have to be very honest with him that things are not going well and that he either needs to run like officially run and run hard, or not run like. I told him that he looks. I used the word pussy. I said, you look like a pussy is Trump attacks you and you don't say anything back to him. I told him that his book was not good because it was not aspirational, and I told him that he needed to connect more with working class people by talking about his background as a working class person. I think I specifically said to him, as smart as you are and as good at playing baseball as you were when you were younger, you would probably not get into an Ivy League school today because you're a white trade man, and they are discriminated against white straight men at these universities. And you should address that by speaking with your own experience. This is pre Harvard case. And anyway, we had the meeting. Then we had a dinner afterwards with the team the governor. The governor was lovely, by the way, his wife was lovely. I have nothing bad to say about them. He's a great governor. But that was the meeting, and then we went to the meeting with the team afterwards. I was very unimpressed by what the team was saying. And the general consultant said to me, like during the dinner, was like, so, what do you think, And I said, I think we're at an Irish funeral waiting for the body to drop. Like I was not optimistic about what was going on. I was like, this is not like I have no dey. Anyone's like celebrating right now. So and then I had one more call. I never worked for the Santus campaign. By the way, I think it's important to say, like people have accused me of working for DeSantis, and I never did that. I never took a check, I never I went to two meetings and I just gave them my best advice. That's the only thing I ever done, and that's what I think people. And I gave them the profession advice I would give anybody. The meeting ends, and then I get a call from the reporter several months later, basically repeating what I had said during this meeting. It was an off the record meeting, and I had told by the way, I told all these quote unquote influencers who loved as Santas, Hey, you need to be harsh, you need to tell them the truth. And the minute after I was speaking, I was the second person to speak. The minute after I was done speaking, everyone was like, You're so great, You're so wonderful. You're so great, You're so wonderful. No one was telling the truth, and no one was having an honest conversation. One of the influencers were like, we need to talk about trans children. I'm like, what the f are you all talking about? Like immigration, crime, the economy, like brin cycle, repeat, AnyWho whatever. Deeply frustrated, and the report had called and knew what I had said and wanted me to go on records. So I said, f this. If everyone's leaking about what I said, and I didn't leak anyone's name, I'm going to just tell the story from my perspective what I actually said. And that's why I wrote the Spectator article. That's a very long window way of saying of what happened anyway, we do I think he has a chance to run in twenty twenty eight. No, because people's window to run for president is very, very small. Had Chris Christy not run, had Chris Christi run in twenty twelve, I don't know if he would have been the party's nominee. He would have had a very good shot at being the party's nominee. He had virtually no shot by twenty sixteen, and he had really no shot by twenty twenty four when he ran again. Twenty twenty four, when he ran again, your window to be the new kid in town, to be the shiny new toy, to be the one who has earned it is literally very minimal. You have to know when it happens, and you.

Have to do it.

Have to do it.

Had George W. Bush Way four years or done it four years previous, but during Bill Clinton's time, he likely would have never become president. You know, it's just if it. Had Clinton done it right after he was defeated his first gugnatory second good natorial election, he likely wouldn't have gotten it. So there are just times you have to do it, and you if you don't do it, when it's the time. And I think Desantas's time was twenty twenty four. I don't I think if you wanted to run, that was his only time to run. But he ran, and he didn't do well. And I think he didn't do well because and what I said to his team and what I said to him, was your whole message is about Florida. I don't ever want to live in Florida. I don't like humidity. I really like cold weather. I'm a Northeasterner. I talk fast, I'm aggressive, I'm abrasive. I am a Northeasterner. That's who I am. It's part of my identity. I want to live in the Northeast. What are you going to do for me as someone who lives somewhere like Pennsylvania or Michigan or New York or whatever. You have to sell a national vision for where you're taking this country. It can't only be Flora, the freestate of Florida, over and over and over and over again. And I think that that was missing. And I think that his failure to connect to people in a way that made them feel like they knew him. You know, everyone says, oh, he's so icy, or he's so smart and so he's a little cold. I would have leaned more heavily into that when he there was a time in the campaign trail where he said to a kid like that ice cream is a lot of sugar. People were like, oh, you know, look at him, he's so autistic. No, I would have leaned into it. I think that's great. I think that's actually who he is, and he should have leaned into that. But it was very weird and he just didn't do well. I mean, Nikki Haley performed him, and she her campaign was on just absolutely nowhere in the summer in twenty twenty three when she first ran. So I don't think that he can rebound. I think that history is littered with great men who would have been great presidents, and ron de Santas will be one of them, because he would have been a great president. But I just don't see it that that's possible in the future. And from my knowledge, there's only been one former vice president who sought out his party's nomination and didn't get it, and that was Mike Pence in twenty and twenty four. Every other time a vice president has sought his party's nomination, he's received it and JD Vance. If he pursues his party's nomination, he's most likely going to receive it, So that would push the can back to at least twenty twenty eight or further. And by then, no one's going to remember COVID. No one's going to remember any of these things, or the war unwoke or you know, there's not it's just time has passed. And I wish him well. I wish him the best, and I think he'd be, you know, great and almost anything, because he's such a fabulous governor. But I just don't think being presidents probably in the cards for him, and I don't think that he can rebound from that. But who knows. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't think I am, but that's my best mite. That's my personal take on that anyway. Thank you so much for your email, Julie, and once again, if you want to be part of this segment on this show, please email me ryanat numbers gamepodcast dot com. Thank you again for listening this week, Like and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you to see you guys next week.

Had George W. Bush Way four years or done it four years previous, but during Bill Clinton's time, he likely would have never become president. You know, it's just if it. Had Clinton done it right after he was defeated his first gugnatory second good natorial election, he likely wouldn't have gotten it. So there are just times you have to do it, and you if you don't do it, when it's the time. And I think Desantas's time was twenty twenty four. I don't I think if you wanted to run, that was his only time to run. But he ran, and he didn't do well. And I think he didn't do well because and what I said to his team and what I said to him, was your whole message is about Florida. I don't ever want to live in Florida. I don't like humidity. I really like cold weather. I'm a Northeasterner. I talk fast, I'm aggressive, I'm abrasive. I am a Northeasterner. That's who I am. It's part of my identity. I want to live in the Northeast. What are you going to do for me as someone who lives somewhere like Pennsylvania or Michigan or New York or whatever. You have to sell a national vision for where you're taking this country. It can't only be Flora, the freestate of Florida, over and over and over and over again. And I think that that was missing. And I think that his failure to connect to people in a way that made them feel like they knew him. You know, everyone says, oh, he's so icy, or he's so smart and so he's a little cold. I would have leaned more heavily into that when he there was a time in the campaign trail where he said to a kid like that ice cream is a lot of sugar. People were like, oh, you know, look at him, he's so autistic. No, I would have leaned into it. I think that's great. I think that's actually who he is, and he should have leaned into that. But it was very weird and he just didn't do well. I mean, Nikki Haley performed him, and she her campaign was on just absolutely nowhere in the summer in twenty twenty three when she first ran. So I don't think that he can rebound. I think that history is littered with great men who would have been great presidents, and ron de Santas will be one of them, because he would have been a great president. But I just don't see it that that's possible in the future. And from my knowledge, there's only been one former vice president who sought out his party's nomination and didn't get it, and that was Mike Pence in twenty and twenty four. Every other time a vice president has sought his party's nomination, he's received it and JD Vance. If he pursues his party's nomination, he's most likely going to receive it, So that would push the can back to at least twenty twenty eight or further. And by then, no one's going to remember COVID. No one's going to remember any of these things, or the war unwoke or you know, there's not it's just time has passed. And I wish him well. I wish him the best, and I think he'd be, you know, great and almost anything, because he's such a fabulous governor. But I just don't think being presidents probably in the cards for him, and I don't think that he can rebound from that. But who knows. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't think I am, but that's my best mite. That's my personal take on that anyway. Thank you so much for your email, Julie, and once again, if you want to be part of this segment on this show, please email me ryanat numbers gamepodcast dot com. Thank you again for listening this week, Like and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you to see you guys next week.