wtf happened to America since I left?

What does that mean for you? What makes America sane? So you feel good about what's happening in the last six months or so? What did your pass say? It says, kiss 100 boys in bars. It's a chapel run line. The thing that you should know about me is I run a queer artist residency space. Okay. That's sort of trans-centered and Texas loves drag. Texas loves gender. It just doesn't understand that it loves drag. For example, you will walk around Texas and there will be men wearing cowboy hats and cowboy boots in these big white trucks and they've never been on a horse. They have no cattle. Drag. Right. You know, you'll see women that have high hair and like, deck to the nines, super feminine. Hey y'all! Like, Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. Drag. It's the most femme of femmes. The men are the most men of men. It's like gender being performed to such extent, people believe it's real. Like you feel it's exaggerated. Entirely. Everything's bigger in Texas. What they're not realizing is just drag. If Trump can turn this country around without... A civil war? See, Lincoln had to have a civil war, okay, to change this country, to get rid of what it was doing wrong, okay? That required a civil war. I'm hoping Trump can do it civilly and legally without another civil war. But if it takes another civil war, so be it. I'm so, like, thrilled at the two polar opposite interviews we just did. What an incredible window into America. This is me after interviewing the two men you just saw. I am really fascinated by what's happening right now in the United States. The polarization, the different universes people seem to be living in despite actually living in the same country. And recently I had the chance to go to Texas and speak directly with some Texans on both sides of the political spectrum. about how they feel about things. I got a variety of interviews, but I'm mainly going to cut between these two men that I just showed, who I filmed within the space of an hour, within 500 feet of each other. And I think what both of them have to say is super interesting. I just want to clarify very quickly that I do a lot of verbal agreeing while doing my interviews, not because I agree with any of the ideas that are being said by anybody in this video, but simply because I'm trying to make the interviewee feel comfortable so that they feel like they can share freely. No, you won't out. I'm 72 years old. I've seen change. Okay, so let's start with the idea of freedom. Do you feel like Texas has a special connection with the idea of freedom? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I remember the Alamo and Goliad. Do you feel free here? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm on a motorcycle. Yeah, yeah. There's no greater freedom. Yeah, yeah. Freedom means being able to go where I want to go. do what I want to do so long as it's a good thing and live a good life. I think the way freedom is often used here is freedom to tell other people what they should be doing with their bodies, with their health. It's not let's everyone have freedom to do what feels right for them. So I find it very ironic that the talk about freedom is about restricting other people's freedom. So what's freedom for you? Freedom for me is that people are in charge of their own bodies. People can take care of their own health. People can trust the news that they're getting. Freedom from worry. Freedom to feel like you're being supported by your community. Why do you think people have such different definitions on this word freedom? You know, it's like I'm getting such different answers from people. Why can't we agree on this? I feel like the political right uses words and changes the meaning. Like, uses the words of what the left wants, but they put it in a different context. Like, freedom to not wear a mask, you know, during COVID, rather than freedom from being infected. You know, so I think they're like buzzwords that you can't argue with. The word like freedom becomes so... loaded. And of course people want freedom so they're going to hold on to it, but what that means is completely different. So you can't really communicate using that word. The tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots. So if even the idea of freedom in the land of the free, as so many Americans affectionately call the United States, if even that is not something that we have a unified definition on, that we cannot seem to agree on, What can we agree on? What I find rather astounding is how often people are talking past each other. How do you feel about Elon? Well, he's a businessman. Yeah. You know? And he's going to make a lot of jobs for a lot of people, and that's not bad. That's actually a good thing. I'm asking about Elon because he's been at the head of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, which has been responsible for cutting back government spending wherever and however possible. Elon Musk and Donald Trump teamed up and took a chainsaw to as many government programs as they could. It was highly controversial. Their partnership lasted for only a few months, and now, as most people know, they are, well, they're no longer friends. But still, what they did together made the news constantly and has left reverberations throughout the United States. I'm very proud of Doge. Doge. Good idea? Bad idea? Doge, I think, is the funniest idea, but also, like, I think it was a prank played on the United States. I think it is terrible. Doge is cutting back on insane expenditures. Waste of taxpayer dollars. Absolute waste of billions and trillions of dollars. It's insane. So that my granddaughter can have a good country to live in. Because we weren't headed in the right direction at all. Way far away from it. So I come from research, right? Yeah. Like they have systematically gutted all of the important things that I see that the government does. I think it's really terrifying. Really deeply terrifying. Is any of this laughable? No. It's incredibly serious. Is any of it surprising to me? No. I'm a retired science teacher. Okay. Yeah. Not a history teacher. Did you serve in the military or? No, I did not. Okay. By my son. Gotcha. So in a perfect world? Like the smaller the government, the better is kind of your view? Absolutely. The more the liberty, the smaller the government, the better. How do you feel about tariffs? Do you feel like that's a good move? Well, I think it's a necessary move. Equality of tariffs is what Trump is trying to do. So you think the tariffs are not a good idea? I think, no, I don't think so. Other countries have been taking advantage of us by... not allowing our goods that we make to flow into your country because of a high tariff. But your goods could come into our country with wine, cheese, no tariffs. Wasn't fair. What he's doing is putting fairness back into it. What it needs to happen is, is like both countries have the same tariff, maybe small 10%. 20% and use that money to pay for government instead of taxing the hell out of us. Trump did a crazy thing with all these tariffs and Elon Musk was just like hacking through a bunch of stuff. They nearly tanked the entire world economy in three months. But some of the stuff that Trump has done is deeply reactionary and really like truly maverick and has radicalized our dear allies against us. We have lost their trust. I'm not making this video to take sides, to pick a team, to ridicule anybody. If you think that's what I'm doing here, you're missing the point. I'm making this because I think it's really important to be able to explore ideas freely, openly, and without judgment. To hear what people have to say whether or not you agree with them. It is really easy to fall into echo chambers on the internet that just reflect and amplify what you already believe. But if you are looking to break out of that, may I suggest Straight Arrow News, who are sponsoring this video. What they are doing is really, really cool. It's a great way to get unbiased media coverage or the way I like to see it is more as a way of getting a variety of perspectives. Because I think it's okay to have biases. I think we all have our personal preferences on different things. But it's also important to be aware of the greater conversation of what people with different perspectives have to say. The app is really well designed. You can actually see how much coverage there's been on a particular topic on the left and the right, which allows you to see what each side is maybe missing from the conversation. You can just very clearly see how much Straight Arrow News values transparency and being clear about where they're getting their information. Listen, I absolutely think they're worth checking out. So you can go to san.com slash Nathaniel Drew or check out their website through the link in my description, which is also, by the way, a great way to support my work as well. Thank you, Straight Arrow News, for sponsoring this video. And now, let's dive back in. I'm ready to get rid of the IRS. Entirely? Entirely. So then what happened to no more taxes? Okay. Get money other ways. Tariffs is a way to... You know, this country made it all the way to the 1930s with no IRS taxes. And we had way a lot of money back then. ERS. External Revenue Service. Okay. What the previous presidents have done, and that includes Republicans too, even some Texas Republicans, and it really started with Lyndon Baines Johnson. Lyndon Baines Johnson, who's from this part of Texas, he's the one that came up with all this giveaway programs, mostly to black people, and destroyed the black family. At least three quarters of black families had a father in it. Now it's down to about 2%. That was a... horrible thing to do to a group of people. So what do you think is like the spirit of Texas? It's good hometown people. Yeah. Good hometown people, you know. It was a small town, but this one them blew up, brother. We used to have like two traffic lights. I've seen Texas train to rent us. In a good way? I don't think we're in Austin anymore. Oh, really? It's too bad. Too much traffic. To me, living in a small town, it's a bad way. We're where the country is. They got so bad around here, they're fixing how to put bike lanes. What makes the barbecue so good here? Well, this place has been here almost since the 1800s, bro. Yeah, wow. Careful, don't fall. Thanks, man. You got it, man. Oh, my God. It smells incredible. So smoky. Wow. I grew up on the West Coast, which is a lot of liberal bubbles. And I was aware that they're liberal bubbles, but you're still taught to kind of fear the conservative South. really painted in broad brushstrokes and there's clearly so much more going on people have been super nice here whether i agree with what they're saying or not i just find that like the arrogance the way humans do that that thing of like separating off into different groups and then judging each other It's such a waste of time. Yeah, I mean I definitely have my own kind of politics, right? But that doesn't matter. It's like just human talking to humans. I don't know a single other state that is as proud to be that state as Texas is. So interesting. If you go to HEB, every single thing, even down to the peanut butter, will have the Texas state on it. Really? And it'll be proudly made in Texas. Everything. Really? How do you feel? You want to be in this? Sure. How do I feel? As a non-Texan. And I feel like there was like this wave that the left had for a while that was, they didn't even want you kind of having conversations and talking with like Trump supporters. It's like you're platforming them or whatever, you're validating their worldview. And I just think that was like fundamentally wrong because it was just this idea that like hoping that if we ignore them, it'll just kind of go away. And that obviously didn't happen. Like think about where we are right now. So I do think it's like very important that we just kind of lead with empathy and like start. having these conversations again, you know, and like just kind of trying to understand people's worldview and realizing a lot of the times people's worldview can be pretty contradictory of themselves. Heck, I'm on Social Security. Last month, I got a 35.5% raise. Really? Yes. Republicans put together a bill called the Social Security Fairness Act, made them repay me everything that they hadn't paid, that they took away from me. We went to war to defeat communism in Europe. So you're you're not a big fan of socialism, but Social Security school. Yeah, well Now that we're stuck with it. Yeah, because people weren't saving for their retirement and they wind up destitute when they're old and you know, it was it was a good idea but Then people started meddling with it and got it all screwed up. But you are but you but you are happy with your Social Security. Yeah. Yeah If it hadn't been there, I would have done something else. Right. Okay. I would have had my own. You see, if I'd have taken the money I paid to Social Security and invested it, I would have more now than Social Security's paid. So it's part of this kind of, do you think, Texan idea of independence, fend for yourself, you know, don't sort it out for me kind of thing? Yeah. I don't need the government. I do now. Now that I'm 72, I've lived in this world my whole life. So it is what it is. Okay. But if it hadn't been like that, I would have done something else. I would have taken that money. I think I would. I think I'm smart enough to have, but I should have. I probably not. But anyway, that money, it would be bigger now. I'd have a bigger retirement now if I had used that money. invest it wisely, and let it grow. Right. People just really want to be seen and understood. Like, that's like at the core of everything. People just want to be seen and they want to be understood, you know? And I think we get to the point of total polarization when you feel completely unseen and completely not understood. We want to feel respected. And there's a real lack of that, I feel like, nowadays. You know, it's just ridicule the other side. Yeah. Whoa. Have you felt like Southern hospitality? I think absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it's because I look the way I do, but like being white or what? Yeah. Right. Yeah. Like, you know, yeah, straight white guy. A key aspect of rurality is if you can stand to be out here with us, it's got to be some good in you. So I think something that is often. different in rural places than in urban places is you have to endure some amount of hardship to live in rural places and that becomes a point of connection. Now, one of the key points to that is that you can't go about it head on. You can't wear all your badges on your t-shirt. They become barriers to interaction. Wow. Sons of arthritis. Ibuprofen chapter. We'll just start right here. Gray Knights. Okay, that's a group of people that I ride with and I'm fixing to go get together with them. Good people. One of them's coming from Sao Paulo, Brazil. I'm Sir Hondo. The name of my motorcycle is Hondo. That's Hondo. While Biden was in office, I had this made. Make America sane again. American flag. This pin came from my son, which is servicing me in the Air Force. Denoting I had five years teaching. You can look these up. They're old flags. If you want to come and take what's mine, you'll pay the price. Right. With your life. Sons of Arthritis. There's a television show here in America. I bet it played in Europe, too. Called Sons of Anarchy. Yeah. You've seen it? This is just a play on that. A humorous play on it. You don't ride in the rain? You don't ride. I guess I talk to people and I really try to listen to what they're saying because I myself am trying to make sense of the world that we live in and what is happening. Everybody believes that they are on the path to truth. And everybody believes that they have a better vision for how society should be run. Find the truth. Yeah. That's the thing. If it's not true, it's not good. You will find no good in a lie. As long as you got money, Texas loves you. talks about power, which is power frames itself in the negative. Power is never doing anything right. Oh, we're like fighting against power. But he says if you look at the flip side, every time that you have to look at power in the negative, power is doing exactly what it wants. What he's referring to right now are the ideas of Michel Foucault, who was a French philosopher and political activist, who is often associated with the left, but it's actually not that simple. While he was briefly a part of the French Communist Party, in the 70s. After a couple of years, he left disillusioned and from that point on, never formally affiliated with any political party. And while his ideas have been more commonly associated with the left, they've actually been adopted by a wide range of different political movements, including the libertarians and also some conservative thinkers who focus specifically on his skepticism of centralized control. Foucault saw power not just as something that is held by people and institutions but is something that flows through society shaping knowledge norms and behavior it's actually everywhere and influences everything it literally shapes our desires and it guides what we believe to be true normal and acceptable therefore those who have power also control what is considered to be the truth power works perfectly by telling you that it's not working perfectly so you have something to complain about Truth does not determine power. Power determines truth in every situation. If we look at who's in power and how they get in power through money or the amount of data that they have or whatever, they then control the narrative that everybody gets to follow. The danger is so often when people go from rural places into urban places to tell their story, the only ways that they get access to power is through the filter of urban people saying, we can tell your story, but you have to tell it in this way. It becomes troublesome for those of us from rural places because we see ourselves and our stories being shifted and we hear our stories being told back to us and they're not right. And that, I think, creates this schism of understanding. What would you say to people that are afraid or upset about Trump? Like, what do you think they're misunderstanding or what do you wish they'd understand better? Here's the number one thing about Trump. He loves this country. Okay? Absolutely. Think about what he's doing. He's lost so much money. He's lost over a billion dollars being president. Doesn't even take the presidential salary. The game of the rhetorics, the game of the buffoons, is to distract you from what they're actually doing by getting you mad. And then they're doing this other stuff. They're getting money. They're getting power. They're... addressing structures. And so I think right now the danger is there's been a move in all media to fall into the trap of urgency, to fall into the trap of foolish rhetoric. It's both right-hand media and like right-wing media and left-wing media. We're all doing it because what is happening is in this vying for attention, in this attention media world, the most The loudest, most reactive stories are the ones that give the most clicks. He could be anywhere in the world on a beach, drinking margaritas, having a great time, playing golf all over the world. He could be doing anything he wants to. And look what he's gone through to be back in the White House. And he's willing to sacrifice his own life, and he nearly did, to be there. Trump's losing money. He's not there for himself. He served for me. He nearly took a bullet in the head for me. Now it's personal. I'm MAGA through the core. To frame a situation as us versus them in these idealistic fights is a great way to distract people from what is actually happening. It's a story about money and influence of power. It's not necessarily a story about trans and guns and abortion. That's my hot take. You create a... crisis and then power and wealth consolidate themselves over and over and over again. Like this is like true Marxism and the power keeps getting consolidated and consolidated. That's, that's the danger. And so I think what is beautiful in these things and what is dangerous in it, it's great to manufacture a crisis because it consolidates power and wealth again and again and again. Everybody that I know is all on board with MAGA. If you're not, I've got no use for it. Because you need a checkup from the neck up. I love the passion. Thank you. Quote Dolly Parton to end this. Okay. Welcome to Texas. It takes a lot of money to look this cheap. It is so different from where I grew up. Thank you for watching. If you enjoyed, please consider liking and subscribing. This is actually part of an entire series I'm doing on our changing world. and there is more still to come. I fully suspect the comment section to be a battlefield, but please feel free to contribute your thoughts. And wherever you are, whatever you're doing, don't forget that we're all human beings just trying to make sense of life.

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Episode 1: Making Money in Europe vs. The US → https://youtu.be/G9TnPl2Yq4c
Episode 2: Is Europe or the US headed for disaster first? → https://youtu.be/Tn-IYZBq9io
Episode 3: What do Europeans Think About America in 2025 → https://youtu.be/fLbmr3vp5Gc

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Timestamps:

0:00 – Intro
1:48 – Investigating what is happening in America
2:50 – What is your definition of Freedom?
5:02 – What can we agree on?
5:25 – Keep or cut government programs?
7:06 – How do you feel about tariffs?
8:18 – Finding unbiased coverage
9:42 – Getting rid of the IRS
10:40 – What is the spirit of Texas?
11:26 – Learning to fear the Conservative South
12:20 – Don't talk to MAGA didn't work
13:04 – Social Security
14:57 – People just want to feel seen
15:40 – You can't wear all your badges on your t-shirt
17:15 – Everyone believes they are on the path to truth
17:44 – Michel Foucault's ideas around power
20:02 – What are people misunderstanding about Trump?
20:26 – Falling into the trap of urgency
21:48 – Us vs. Them
22:58 – Concluding thoughts