Bill Walton - Meritocracy, Media, and American Values: A Critical Discussion

Welcome to "Hearts of Oak," where we engage with the titans of thought, the mavericks of media, and the architects of America's future. In today's episode, host Peter welcomes a guest whose life story reads like a blueprint for success in multiple arenas: from the stages of New York to the boardrooms of finance, and now to the forefront of media and political discourse. 

Our guest transitioned from a budding theater enthusiast to a titan in finance, steering a company from $600 million to a colossal $9 billion in assets. But it's his latest venture into the world of media that has us captivated. With a platform dedicated to fostering in-depth, unfiltered conversations with leading thinkers, he's not just another voice in the crowded media landscape; he's a clarion call for a return to meritocratic values and a deeper dive into the issues that shape our society.

In this episode, we'll explore how a background in finance fuels a passion for media, why he believes alternative voices are crucial for democracy, and how he's tackling the elephant in the room—divisiveness in American politics. From the implications of recent books like "The Israel Test" to the very real fears about electoral integrity, this conversation promises to be as enlightening as it is engaging.

Join us as we delve into the mind of a man who not only watches the world turn but actively shapes its discourse, aiming to bridge the gap between the political elite and the everyday American. This is not just an interview; it's a window into understanding the complexities of our times through the lens of one who's been there, done that, and is now determined to change the narrative. 

Tune in for "The Maverick's Microphone," where every dialogue is a journey towards a clearer, more united future for America.

Connect with Bill Walton

 The Bill Walton Show | Money Culture Power
The Bill Walton Show | Substack
The Bill Walton Show Podcast Series – Apple Podcasts
The Bill Walton Show - YouTube

Connect with Hearts of Oak...
𝕏                         x.com/HeartsofOakUK
WEBSITE            heartsofoak.org/
PODCASTS        heartsofoak.podbean.com/
SOCIAL MEDIA  heartsofoak.org/connect/
SHOP                  heartsofoak.org/shop/

 

Transcript

(Hearts of Oak)

And hello, Hearts of Oak.

Thank you so much for joining us with a brand new guest stateside, and that is Bill Walton. Bill, thank you so much for your time today.

Great to be here.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the Bill Walton Show and everything that you've put out over maybe the last six or so years, and we'll delve into that.

But just for a UK audience, I know the war room posse, the US audience will know you well, but delving into your background, you serve as chairman of Allied Capital Corporation, and you built that from 600 million in assets to 9 billion.

And by the time you left in 2009, you founded Rush River Entertainment.

You've been leader and board member of many organizations, including Heritage Foundation, CPAC, CNP.

And you were very involved in the Trump transition team heading up the economic, I think, agenda, the federal economic agencies looking at that.

You've got phenomenal and that doesn't do justice.

But I see you as a media figure, and I think many of your viewers may also, your extensive background in leadership, executive, investor, entrepreneur, and now media. Maybe I can ask you about that step from your background where I guess the world was your oyster.

You could pick anything in those different sectors that you were involved in. But what led you to start the Bill Walton Show?

Well, it's a combination of things you know as you mentioned.

I've got a background in in in theater the arts and film and I not not me people many people know this, but I was I tried to be an actor in New York when I was 22, 23 years old and after about a year of doing that I'd done well on my on my business my business test.

Maybe I guess what they call it, I don't remember what they call it now, but anyway.

I decided that maybe after several auditions where I wasn't quite right for the part, maybe I should try something else.

I went into finance at about age 24 and then ended up on Wall Street and ended up knowing a lot about investments, finance, and ended up leading Allied Capital Corporation, which was, you mentioned, $9, $10 billion of private equity investments and commercial real estate and small business lending.

Along the way, I got to know a lot of people, a lot of smart, interesting people.

As you mentioned, I served on many boards. I thought, gee, wouldn't it be great to create a show where I could just talk with these smart people, bring out things in an extended conversation where people could hear things that they may not hear, and certainly on cable.

Now, since I started out, there are a lot more podcasts that are going for, you know, longer durations.

None of us are quite a Joe Rogan length, but anyway, so anyway, that was the spark, and it's been a boutique effort for a while, and just in this last, I took the summer off, and I'm just back and have hired a PR firm, AJ Rice, who's an amazing young man.

I think you You also work with him as well.

Now we're beginning to get the word out about the show.

This just this past Monday, we put out a show with George Gilder, the famous futurist, economist, and social thinker. And we talked about his book, The Israel Test, which is...

He wrote it 25 years ago, but he extensively updated it, and it bears just uncannily on what's going on with the Middle East now.

And his theory, and I quite agree with it, is it's not just anti-Semitism that's at the heart of the hatred of Israel, but it's the hate of talent, of meritocracy, of high achievement.

And if you look at Jews as a race or a class and you look at Israel as a country, they punch way above their weight.

I mean, something like half of the top 10 market cap companies now were formed by Jews.

And then just pulling the camera back a little bit, looking at a wider lens, there's a war on meritocracy throughout society now, in the West in particular.

And with the obsession with DEI or equity, you know, we're really taking talent.

We're really undervaluing talent in America and in Europe.

And long term, it's the high talent people that make everything happen.

And we ought to be celebrating that rather than denigrating it.

So anyway, Peter, that's kind of my winding path to why I started the show.

But, you know, how often do you get to talk with George Gilter one-on-one about one of his books?

And that's rewarding in and of itself.

And I've gotten a lot of positive feedback about it.

And I think he provides a point of view other people don't get. So, that's why I'm in the podcast business. I don't recommend doing this for money, though.

Okay.

I would have a private conversation with you to say, absolutely, this is not going to fill your bank account.

I've learned.

My wife tells me that regularly.

Yeah.

But can I, I mean, you've got, with such a background in, and varied in finance and business, engaging the political activism, and then in the media, it's, in one way, it's hard to assess who to bring on.

There's so many issues.

Do you see it as issue-based?

Do you see it as individuals that you follow to have on?

I mean, where do you go to decide, I guess, the topics that should be covered?

Because people will look to you as a leader and what they hear you bring, they will take that on board and as a responsibility.

So how do you kind of assess what you cover and who to bring on?

Boy, that is the question.

And you have the same issue in your show, I'm sure.

How do you figure out what's going to be really interesting?

You know, the fact of the matter is we're also an entertainment business.

So you have to come up with, you know, it's great to have a charismatic guest.

It's great to have a topic that's interesting, but also entertaining.

It's great to have somebody on that's talking about you know the big issues we face right now and what we have to do about it.

And I aim the show at whenever I can in a line of action so that we don't just complain about things, but we we think about what we can what we can actually make happen as regular people, and you know, us regular people and all I've had, I guess a career that would put me you know kind of in the the establishment.

I'm a far from it I grew up you know I should say like Kamala I grew up in a middle-class family did

Did you have a nice lawn.

In Indianapolis and we had a very nice lawn but we had a lot of oak trees and acorns and my father was an army captain and he made me pick up the acorns out of the gravel driveway every fall.

So anyway, that's the background.

You know, I'm firmly rooted in sort of middle-class Indiana. And, you know, that's the class of people that seems to be most under attack, both here in America and in the UK and in Europe.

With so many guests on, you get a perspective on a range of issues.

And I want to ask you for your thoughts on the current political climate with only weeks to go.

Three weeks out from the presidential election there stateside, but what do you see as the big threats you get an insight into people's minds on a range of issues that all feed into the the climate and the culture issues that the U.S. and worldwide face.

Kind of how, with talking to different people and assessing the different issues, if you could put your finger on a number of them or a single one that is a threat to the U.S., to the American dream, to the freedoms, what would that be?

Well, I think the first thing is that America has never been more divided since the Civil War, and maybe even it's more toxic than even during the Civil War, because that was almost a single issue conflict.

And what we have now in the United States are two sides, two opposing groups who really hate each other. And it's quite emotional, runs quite deep.

And I guess the biggest concern I have with this election coming up is I think whoever wins, the other side is not going to accept the outcome.

And we've got Jamie Raskin here in Maryland, who's a Democrat congressman.

I think he was on the J6 committee who said, look, if Trump wins the election, we're not going to let him take his seat on Inauguration Day.

And when you've got sitting Democrat congressmen, presumably responsible statesmen, if I can use that word, saying things like that, you know you've got a big problem.

And I think on the other side, most of us have been with Trump for a long time.

I worked for him, as you mentioned, in the 2016 transition team.

I headed up all the financial related agencies, writing the plans for those agencies when he became president.

Just as a sidebar, I'd like to say he used every one of them, but Donald's not really a plan guy, so it didn't exactly happen.

But the point is, those of us who've been with Trump are deeply suspicious.

That's putting it mildly of what happened in 2020.

I mean, what did we have, 15, 20 million more votes that came in? At the time, the whole country was shut down, and 50%, 60% of the ballots were mail-in, and we've discovered massive amounts of issues with those.

And put the voting machines aside, and whether they're hooked up to the internet, there are just plenty, and I know plenty of people that have gone into these individual states, Nevada, Georgia, whatever, to take a look at it.

And they're all convinced that there were, if not fraud, at least manipulation of the outcome.

And so we're looking at that and we're all worried that, gee, even if Donald Trump has 55, 60 percent of American voters, and I think the numbers are that high, we still may not win.

And so we're approaching, what are we, 25 days out from the election?

And so that's big issue, number one.

And, you know, I think the world hinges on the outcome of this election because if Kamala Harris ends up as president, God help what's going on in Israel and the Middle East.

You know, the Ukraine thing has got to resolve itself, I think, through some sort of satisfactory negotiation.

but there's no indication that Biden-Harris would have any inclination to try to bring this thing to an end.

So the election is number one, and people have never felt more hatred towards the other side.

And I don't know quite how we get out of this toxic mess, but nevertheless, we have to.

I mean, you look at, I've had the privilege of being at three Trump rallies and having a picture with a man himself as well.

And my background in politics, I've never seen at a political event like a Trump rally.

The enthusiasm, the passion, there is something there.

It's great.

It is.

But then the media are beginning to wake up.

They're beginning to recognize that Kamala is not the great leader that they all want.

They're mocking her for being a drunk, for her performance in media.

I mean, how does that play, how you see the media?

Because the media on the left, it is Trump derangement syndrome, but they're realizing we don't want Kamala either.

And it's a weird situation they find themselves in.

Well, the more Kamala, remember, she was roundly criticized for not getting out and letting herself be interviewed or being seen by the voters.

Well, she is now getting out, and the more she shows up on a Howard Stern or, you know, the other talk shows, I think it was Colbert was the other night, the worse she does. Her numbers go down the more people see her, and, you know, people notice that she fails in answer any of the questions substantively.

I can't remember, and I try not to watch her too much.

It's too painful, but I can't remember a substantive policy answer that she's given Americans about why she would be any different from Joe Biden, and she can't even explain why what Joe Biden did was successful.

I mean, the thing we need to keep in mind is that the Democrats never had an economic growth agenda.

They started at a day one climate change.

They wanted to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, gasoline.

They loved high gasoline prices because people would drive less.

The regulatory regime has kicked in with all the climate-related regulations.

And then they had a government-wide approach towards diversity, equity, and inclusion.

And I don't think it would be interesting to do an AI search of Joe Biden's speeches of the last three and a half years to see before the election season how often he mentioned economic growth.

I doubt if he did at all.

That's just not where they've been.

Now they're trying to pivot, show that they've been doing something for the American people, and they can't do it.

There's no evidence.

Then the other thing is true is that people still are worried to talk to pollsters about saying there are for Donald Trump.

And one of the polls I find kind of interesting is, I can't remember who does it.

It's probably worth promoting it.

I'll try to come up with that. But he asks people not who they're going to vote for, but he says, well, I know you may not want to tell me how you're going to vote, but how's your neighbor going to vote?

And when people start talking about how their neighbors are voting, Trump is of the overwhelming favorite when people are talking about the sentiment of people around them.

And, you know, I'm in the D.C. area, and you can feel the Democrats getting nervous. And, you know, I have a very interesting insight into this.

My dentist, who's on our side, we talk about politics all the time, is dentist to all of the leading Democrat operatives in Northwest Washington.

And they're all sitting in the dentist chair, and they're talking about having to leave the country if Trump wins.

They're getting very scared, and that's just in the last month or so.

So they're worried.

Both sides are worried, and I can't remember a political time that it was more fraught.

You're very brave talking to your dentist about politics.

I wouldn't even dare go there.

Well, that's, well, yeah, we.

Very dangerous topic for someone with a drill in your mind.

And he's a volatile, he's a volatile Italian.

And he starts talking to me and making these points.

And I say, Vince, Vince, okay.

I'm with you.

Is it that, I mean you look at what policies and you talk about a dearth of economic policies but kamala basically is putting forward that Trump is really dangerous so vote for her it's not that she's anything it's that she's not the other person, but it's the economy and the the border it's mass immigration that's a mass immigration affected the UK in the last election it affected Europe in the parliamentary elections.

European part across Europe and is the number one or number two issue in America for this election and the democrats don't seem to be addressing either of those and to me they can't win if they don't address the two biggest topics that people have.

I completely agree and they're not addressing it because the great replacement theory is the great replacement fact and it's very obvious now that this immigration that's been, I won't even call it immigration, the flood of people that have been allowed to come into the United States.

And we're also seeing a lot of people coming across the Canadian border.

That's up something like 50 times the number that came across just a few years ago.

So it's both borders.

They're wide open.

And we're ending up with towns that have 4,000 people in them pre-invasion.

Now they have 2,000 additional Haitians in the mix.

And whether they're illegal or they've just been imported, it doesn't really matter.

The point is it's a massive cultural change.

They're dependent on government services.

They come here for government services, and they vote for that. And so it's interesting.

They're trying to move a lot of these people into the red states to maybe hope to tip the balance there.

And, you know, you can tell you, you see what's happened in Europe.

I mean, what's happened with the, with the Islamic immigration and the way Brussels is absolutely turned the other, a blind eye to how much it's changing their culture.

You know, forget the economy, but the culture of, of these countries is precious. And, and you degrade your culture at great risk.

And I think we're seeing that we've already seen it in Europe and we're seeing it in the United States, same issue.

And Brussels, 30% Islamic.

Paris, 15%. London, 12%, 13%. So we are seeing massive changes in our major cities.

And a part of it is because Europe doesn't know what it stands for. It's lost sense of national identity and chipped away at the nation state.

America seems to have a unified understanding of what it means to be American, which is under attack.

And you see people when they become an American citizen, there is pride in taking on that new identity, that new role.

And that's been a thread throughout the US history.

It still seems to be there. Is that a fair assessment?

You may not think it's as strong and that's fair enough, but you still do have that understanding of what it means to be an American citizen.

I think it's become even stronger among the people that would be voting for Donald Trump and want to preserve American exceptionalism.

And remember, the exceptionalism isn't based on military might or the size of the economy.

It's based on the fact we're rooted in our constitution and all the rights and protections that it provides.

And, you know, the American idea is alive and well, and I think people have become even more aware of how valuable it is and how we need to save it.

So in one sense, in terms of making people aware of how special America is, it's more true than ever.

We can't take it for granted.

And the other thing, I'm vice chairman of CPAC. Matt Schlapps, our chairman.

And we had Matt on a couple of weeks ago.

Yeah, Matt is – yeah, I had Matt on my show a couple of weeks ago with Mercedes.

And Mercedes and Matt, that's the – I highly recommend you get them both on together.

They're really good.

Anyway, we do – we have our CPAC conferences, not just here in the United States, but we have them in Japan, Brazil, I'm trying to think – Italy. You know, we're trying to think of the number.

We've had Hungary.

And what we're seeing is people are saying, they come up to us and say, you know, it's important that America stays America.

We're counting on America to preserve all the ideals and, and you know, virtues that make life worth living.

And so that you've got, you've got to win in America because we're counting on you.

And so that, you know, brings us back to our conversation about this election.

It's not important just to the United States.

It's important to the free world.

And a CPAC exceptional job over in Mexico as well.

And we talked earlier on about our mutual friend, Robert Malone, and seems to be traveling all over to different CPAC events.

But that's exciting because my fear is that America may withdraw in presenting the freedoms that are the American dream.

And in CPAC, I see that still burning brightly and willing to take it to the world.

And sometimes my concern is America may be inward focused.

But actually, that is an outward evangelism of the truths and dreams and freedoms that America have.

And I think that is vital to continue.

Well, I don't think we'll become inward focused in all those things that matter in terms of exporting or sharing our values and wanting to make that crystal clear about what we stand for.

I do think we'll be more inward focused when it comes to military adventurism.

I mean, I can't think of a war America has successfully executed since World War II.

And then at World War II, we had an awful lot of help even then to win that one.

So we're not very good at this going into countries and trying to bring about regime change. In fact, we've been a catastrophe.

And I think we've got a new modesty among a lot of us that say, well, gee, we want to be engaged in the world, but not that way.

And I think that would be a very good thing and not have us, you know, the defense contract.

The military-industrial complex is real, and it is very much alive and well when you look at the way the Ukraine war has been prosecuted.

And, you know, I think we'll probably see that dialed back when Trump becomes president.

And you talk the military industrial complex the other two big other players in terms of, I guess, lobbying or big pharma and food and of course with the Maha announcement with Bobby Kennedy which was a genius announcement and I kind of think you want a campaign you want to make the public aware, but you don't want to let the cat out the bag with these lobbying groups because they're going to fear that focusing on what they do. I mean, how do you see that?

Because to me, it's phenomenal that Trump is willing to go after those industries that are causing damage to American health and American outlook.

But I wonder if he's, for want of a better word, pissed them off too much.

That's a very tough one.

You know, I think the campaign has been smart to underplay a lot of that there.

And in particular with this idea, I mean, most of the Democrats here are terrified that the Republicans are going to do to them what they did to the Republicans with the lawfare.

You know, I can think of hundreds, if not a couple thousand people who worked in the Trump administration that have been victims of lawfare.

We've got to be careful not to emphasize that.

And I, in fact, don't think Trump will pursue that as president.

But the food industry has created an obesity epidemic in the United States, which is just shameful.

And the pharmaceutical industry, same thing.

I mean, the dependence on pharmaceutical drugs is overwhelming, and I think Kennedy coming in, we might have something that focuses on health instead of expensive drug treatments and get back to a food supply that is stable.

You know, the food system, I don't know if you've had Brooke Miller on your show, American Cattlemen.

Yeah, we've had Brooke,

Brooke's great, yes.

You know, that's a real phenomena.

And there's a cartel of four beef processors in the United States that are controlling this.

And that's alarming.

That's a problem.

And that's something else we need to wear of.

But you're right.

You can't.

I think Trump's already got every single lobbyist in Washington lining up against him because their self-interest depends on him losing.

So he's got that to fight.

But I still think we're going to push through and win.

I believe that there's no alternative but Trump, that patriotism, and wanting the best for Americans, which seems to be a bad issue from the left.

But in terms of media, kind of finishing off on this, that we had 2016, which Fox was the driver with the big name behind Trump.

And then 2020 that changed you know the rise of alternative media and you obviously were in the mix in that very much part of that and then Newsmax away in on tv and 2024 that's just built where the alternative media is this juggernaut.

How do you how do you see that working because for the first time it's not necessarily just cable news it's actually a plethora of many, podcasts and organizations that are putting the information out, which is uncontrollable, I guess, to the left, which scares them so much.

But how do you see that the role of media playing in terms of getting the message out to the voters?

Well, there's still, I mean, the problem we have is that the alternative media that we're part of and many others, we're doing a fantastic job.

And also not just the podcast world, but the print world. Apps like Substack have got very, very interesting writing going on and lots of research and lots of analysis about what is true.

The problem is that I think Rasmussen And one of them, I know one of the pollsters I know said that, you know, the problem is that only 8% of Americans talk about politics in any given week.

And so for getting the word out to the people like us who are passionately engaged in this, you know, it's a war, I think we're doing a fabulous job.

But it's the casual, it's what Rush Limbaugh called the low information voter that we have to, I still think we have to worry about.

And the media, the view, people like that still have a real impact on culture.

Interestingly, the Taylor Swift endorsement didn't seem to help.

The only thing that seemed to hurt was her own sales, which cheered me up a bit.

But I think we still got to fight because the casual voter is still getting information from the usual sources.

I believe.

And I've seen Trump on many small, not smaller podcasts, actually, but podcasts more for the Gen Z, for a different audience.

And it's been, he said it was his son that got him onto a number of podcasts.

And you kind of see an individual in Trump that's willing to go and change.

Did you see him with Patrick Bet David?

No, I haven't seen that one. No, no.

Oh, it's great.

I mean, this is Trump's element.

He's on fire.

I mean, he does great with these guys.

And yeah, I'm really happy he's doing that.

And as I said, for those of us that are engaged and maybe even just people casually, he might be getting the word out that way.

But I think that was a very smart move.

And whoever told him to do it gave him the right advice.

I've enjoyed that.

Bill, I love having you on.

I have huge, respect for the work that you're doing in your name synonymous with, with media now and getting the message out.

So, it is a real honor having you on and appreciate you sharing with our audience your thoughts on a range of issues.

Well, I'm thrilled To be on your show.

I mean, you're doing a very good job getting the truth out.

And so I'm happy to do a, maybe we'll do a home and away.

And when you, I'd love to get you in studio here sometime when you're next in the States and we can get into the other side, because you asked about my podcast.

I've got a lot of curiosity.

I want to find out where you think Europe is going to end up, and I think that bears, it's a tremendous problem, and I'm worried about America going the way of Europe.

I think with many Americans, I've tried to be a warning to certainly the issue of demographics of mass immigration and abandoning the nation state and abandoning Christianity and what that will mean the transition stuff with ketamine?

It goes on and on so, but no, I hope that we can be a warning to the US and change our ways or else we will end up like Europe.

But thank you for your time Bill.

Okay.

Thank you.