Rob Hyde: Continuing to Serve

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

One. What is up, Warrior Soul nation? Welcome to another edition of the Warrior Soul podcast. I am pleased and honored to bring on a marine that I actually served with, mister Robert Hyde. And Rob and I, we go way back a long time.

We're what do you call Connecticut people? Yankees? Connecticut Yankees?

Rob Hyde 00:00:26 (link to this point)

Yankies? Yeah. Constitutionalists. Constitutional.

Chris Albert 00:00:32 (link to this point)

All that stuff. Yeah. So so we're both from the great state of Connecticut. And and Rob Rob is currently running for senate in in the in the great state of Connecticut. We're gonna get a bit into his story.

I wanna talk about his background. He's become very successful both in business, in in his postmilitary life, and now in the political realm. So, Rob, welcome to the Warrior Soul podcast, man.

Rob Hyde 00:00:58 (link to this point)

Thank you, Chris. Thanks for having me.

Chris Albert 00:01:00 (link to this point)

So, dude, you know, I guess the big question is this. You know? Well, let's start let's start with your background first, and then then we'll get into it. So so what made you decide to join the Marine Corps?

Rob Hyde 00:01:13 (link to this point)

Wow. You're going back twenty three years.

Chris Albert 00:01:16 (link to this point)

I'm gonna go back there. Yeah. I wanna know that. Years. Yeah.

Rob Hyde 00:01:20 (link to this point)

So what made me join the Marine Corps? The recruiter with the poster that says, I don't promise you a rose garden on his desk, staff sergeant Warner, Waterbury, Connecticut. I walked into his office. He was like the biggest, baddest person I've ever come across.

Chris Albert 00:01:38 (link to this point)

Mhmm.

Rob Hyde 00:01:38 (link to this point)

And he's like, sign the dotted line or you're a wuss. And I was like, okay.

Chris Albert 00:01:46 (link to this point)

Yeah. That was kinda how it was back then. I the dragon got me, man. Like, freaking that that commercial with the dragon where he slays the slays the dragon, and then all a sudden, like, the the dress blues come on him and all that stuff. That that that shit was awesome.

Rob Hyde 00:02:01 (link to this point)

You're proud.

Chris Albert 00:02:02 (link to this point)

Yeah, man. So so we served together for a while. You know, what would you think of everything back then? A whole deployment, everything like that? What what was your take on everything?

Rob Hyde 00:02:15 (link to this point)

Well, I got a huge take on everything, Chris. Thank you. It's like a little reunion here. So first off, the recruiter wasn't the reason I joined the Marine Corps. I scored in the top 1% of the ASVAB And the Navy was gonna have me go do nuclear biological chemical school in Hawaii. And as I was waiting to sign those papers, all my family were Marines, everybody. So So I've always been wicked proud. And so I took the time and I just went to look at the Marine Corps. And that's when I bumped into that staff sergeant who I met in Waterbury. And they do kind of promise you not a rose garden, but they were like, oh yeah, you could do school.

We'll put you here. We'll put you there. You can have your choice location of where you're gonna be based and all this. And that's kind of why I joined the Marine Corps was my whole family were Marines. And I felt obligated to follow the route.

I felt everything else was substandard compared to the Marine Corps. So I did the Marine Corps.

Chris Albert 00:03:25 (link to this point)

That's cool. That's cool.

Rob Hyde 00:03:26 (link to this point)

Yeah, was pretty cool. Did. I came in first in a bunch of things in the Marine Corps Reserve School of Infantry. And I remember the SEALs flew out to Hartford to try to recruit me for BUD/S school. And it was interesting.

It was probably the only regret I ever had. It was not doing BUD/S school. They flew out to Hartford. I came down, met with them, three SEALs officer and two enlisted. And they offered me $50 fly out to, I think it was like Michigan.

Chris Albert 00:04:04 (link to this point)

Oh yeah. To get new uniforms

Rob Hyde 00:04:06 (link to this point)

And then they were going to fly me to BUD/S school. And I didn't do it. I came this close. They could have probably said I did it because I touched this dotted line with the pad. But I asked them a question.

What happens if I drop out of BUD/S if I break my leg on the whole course? Like, ah, you know, we'll send you away to somewhere and you'll do rehab and we'll bring you back and you can try again. Okay. What happens when I break my leg again? They're like, oh, well you scrub aircraft carriers for eight years.

I'm like, eight years? They're like, yeah. I'm like, ah, I'm going to college. They're Yeah. They're like, your mother trucker.

Chris Albert 00:04:39 (link to this point)

So That's the thing, man. Like, if you fail that, you're you're you're you're on a boat. Yeah. There's not much else you could do. Right?

I mean, you know, at least in the Marine Corps, if you if you, like, fail selection for for MARSOC, you know, you're back in the infantry, but but you fail there. You're on a boat, which isn't the worst thing in the world, I guess. But you know?

Rob Hyde 00:05:04 (link to this point)

Yeah. Eight years.

Chris Albert 00:05:07 (link to this point)

Eight years. Yeah.

Rob Hyde 00:05:08 (link to this point)

We did, like, what, three months?

Chris Albert 00:05:12 (link to this point)

Yeah. Yeah. Well, let me ask you this, dude. So so, you know, you're in the Marine Corps. You're you're a great marine. You had your great shot. You were you were excellent at PT. But you went on, and and you did really well in business.

Right? So so so tell us a little bit about that. What was it like going from the Marine Corps, going into business, and and and kinda making a name for yourself there?

Rob Hyde 00:05:40 (link to this point)

So it's pretty easy to transition, you know, because like you said, we were Top Gun, devil mist launcher, expert everything. We hit the ranges. I don't I don't know what year you came in.

Chris Albert 00:05:53 (link to this point)

I came in '99.

Rob Hyde 00:05:57 (link to this point)

Okay. What what month?

Chris Albert 00:06:00 (link to this point)

June. So I went to boot camp in June 06/01/1999, and I got out I think it was the first week of September of nineteen ninety nine.

Rob Hyde 00:06:09 (link to this point)

So So you came to that unit, like, December?

Chris Albert 00:06:15 (link to this point)

I think my first drill was oh god, man. Like, I think it was September, October, sometime like that.

Rob Hyde 00:06:24 (link to this point)

Yeah. Wow. So you okay. So you came right out of school at mister Tree.

Chris Albert 00:06:30 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Rob Hyde 00:06:30 (link to this point)

Like a week out.

Chris Albert 00:06:31 (link to this point)

Okay.

Rob Hyde 00:06:33 (link to this point)

Yeah. Interesting stuff. So no. That's great. So like you, man, you just put your head down and go.

I mean, was times where I skipped things, did things to make other ends work. That's how we conquer. You adapt. You overcome. Make the best of your situation.

And I did that like the best of them.

Chris Albert 00:07:02 (link to this point)

Yeah, man. So, like yeah. You I mean, you developed, like you had, like, a a multimillion dollar company in Connecticut. You're pretty pretty really successful there. You know?

And and, you know, the big thing I remember about you is is after you got out, you you immediately started trying to help veterans around Connecticut and and, you know, started raising money, started started really trying to help guys who who were dealing with a lot of shit. And, you know, you you you you were a a a big force in getting a lot of things together for veterans in that state. Right?

Rob Hyde 00:07:40 (link to this point)

Yeah. That's a great memory. So I did that corvette raffle for the marine that lost his legs. I did that big charity ball for all the Marines going back to Afghanistan. I donated 130,000 Girl Scout cookies that were donated to me to the VA, both VAs in Connecticut, West Haven and Newington.

Good memories. Yeah, I loved actually putting together those charity raffles and stuff for the Marines that, and it seemed to help. It was odd. I mean, were odd times because you do something like that and your downtime. Right?

I always had like that month of downtime between March and May. And I was like, all right, we're gonna focus on my manpower while waiting for the ground to freeze, unfreeze, or the snow to go away, spring to sprung. And I put a lot of my ground troops just going door to door, knocking, collecting emails, signatures, money. And, that's how we did it. I mean, it was pretty good.

That raffle I did for Greg Karen, I actually wanted to take that national because it was so easy for me to develop. All those things I did in thirty days. Right? I put together everything I ever did in thirty four days was the max. Thirty one days for that Corvette raffle.

And it was pretty cool because we raised $75 in thirty days from idea to pulling the winning ticket. Right. Thirty days. So it was pretty cool. So we came up with it, the VFW in Avon Connecticut by post.

Let me use their 501c3, which was nice of them. And there's rules in Connecticut, a lot of rules. So like you had a raffle machine that was certified by the state. I printed up. And my costs were so cheap on that.

I was going take that Nash because it was so simple. It was so easy to do. Do like a community for heroes kind of thing. So we raised $20 after the cost of that Corvette, which I think the dealer gave to me for like 43 and 53 and change. And I sold seven fifty tickets at $100 apiece.

Right? $75. Yeah. And Greg Karen pulled the winning ticket.

Chris Albert 00:09:59 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Rob Hyde 00:10:00 (link to this point)

Yeah. And it was kind of cool because it was Did you buy a ticket?

Chris Albert 00:10:04 (link to this point)

I believe I did. It was a while ago.

Rob Hyde 00:10:06 (link to this point)

You did too.

Chris Albert 00:10:07 (link to this point)

That's why I asked.

Rob Hyde 00:10:08 (link to this point)

I think you did too. So, it was a while ago. Actually, thanks for bringing that up. I'm actually looking at the I just pulled it up like a couple of weeks ago. I'll pull it up for you in a second.

But, yeah, it was so cool because I raised, we handed him a check for $20. Actually, I forgot. Somebody's like, Rob, don't you got to give him some money or something after he pulled the ticket. So I gave him the check. I'm like, I know it was cool, the check for $20.

Brad Caron, it seemed to make a world of difference. We went golfing, I took him golfing in the morning. Got to learn him a little bit because I didn't know much about him. I just heard about it because I think he got in after I got out of our unit.

Chris Albert 00:10:45 (link to this point)

You for the audience what happened to him?

Rob Hyde 00:10:48 (link to this point)

Sad story. So I don't know the whole thing. I got an article around here somewhere. But as I can recall, so he was leaving to come back home the following week. And it was a Sunday and they requested a team to go recon a house and, forward observe a house.

And Karen's like, you know what? It's my last weekend. I'll go. Took the place of another Marine, his team. They went to this house and forgive me if I have this story wrong, but this is a story I remember.

And they sent in a K-nine. The K-nine cleared the house. Karen went in. Karen was like, yeah, I got this Marines. Went in, even though he was the team leader, went in, stepped on a pressure switch in the floor under a board, blew off his legs.

And he almost rolled over on another one, but saw it just in time, stopped. And that was it. But it was the week he was coming home. And the kid was, the Marine was all New England soccer. Amazing.

Because I had some of my friends and families I've grown up, grew up with, come to me and be like, wow, this is really great. You're doing this. My kids used to play soccer with him back in the day. He was one of the best soccer players in Connecticut. So, I mean, it was just a sad story, but the kids got such a heart.

I mean, you should have them on your podcast. So like looking into them, I just heard about it. So I'm like, I'm going to do this for this Marine without even asking. Right?

Chris Albert 00:12:19 (link to this point)

Right.

Rob Hyde 00:12:20 (link to this point)

Then I asked, he's like, yeah, please do it. So I did it. And he was in Walter Reed recovering, rehabilitating while I was doing this. It's just a story. I took him.

He's like, Yeah, I play golf every day. I'm like, All right, let's play golf that morning. So that morning we went and played golf. The kid was amazing at golf.

Chris Albert 00:12:41 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Rob Hyde 00:12:41 (link to this point)

Right? I remember him in the parking lot swapping legs. Swapping his legs for golf legs, like special made orthopedic golf legs. And I was like, wow, this is interesting. He's like, I got six different pairs of legs.

So Chevy did a big thing for Marines and service members that got service disabled injuries. I mean, think the Tahoe they gave it to for like $20 or something. But, yeah, fully prepared. I guess there's a golf course right on Walter Reed. That's why I was so good at golf.

He literally was playing golf every day.

Chris Albert 00:13:17 (link to this point)

Right. And and and that's kinda like it's what I want the audience to know about you. You know what I mean? Because, like, you've done a lot of stuff that people just don't talk about. You know what I mean? You've helped a lot of people.

And, like, you know, politics are what they are. Right? People could Google you. They'll find find a bunch bunch of BS out there and things like that. But, like, what I want the audience to know is is that this marine has has helped a buttload of people, you know, way before he had any aspirations for any of this stuff.

You know? That's awesome. That's awesome. He's showing up, showing a certificate, win this Corvette tickets a $100 each. And for you to put those resources together that quickly, I mean, like, that's that's pretty insane, man.

Rob Hyde 00:14:06 (link to this point)

No. That was a you know, that's like that was one of our slash banners. I had my ground you know, my workers at the time when they were, you know, getting back into the year for work from snow Mhmm. In Connecticut. They were hanging those posters and businesses up and down 44 in Connecticut.

And that was like another thing I had my workers do for me. We'd call, ask, they'd go hang up these banners. We did well. We sold it. We sold that car that quick.

It was interesting. It was good.

Chris Albert 00:14:38 (link to this point)

So was that the first time Had you ever done any philanthropy before that or anything like that?

Rob Hyde 00:14:45 (link to this point)

That big one. Remember I had that huge party at 03:00? I had five fifty people come for America for our Marines. And I raised like $100 there for the Marines going overseas to Afghanistan to support them with whatever they needed. I just gave them the money. So socks, toiletries, all that kind of stuff. But yeah, no, this felt really good.

And it was so simple because everybody wants a Corvette for $100. Right?

Chris Albert 00:15:10 (link to this point)

Right. Yeah.

Rob Hyde 00:15:11 (link to this point)

And I remember him pulling the ticket and all my You see in the audience, my friends that bought five, ten tickets and like, oh, you son of a gun. I didn't win. Right? But it was cool that he pulled that ticket. What was even cooler was the dealership I made the deal with to do this was selling tickets to.

Right. And not for nothing, but that winning ticket, the dealer actually sold. So I came out of there smelling like an angel because everybody's like, Ah, Rob, rig this. It was pretty funny.

Chris Albert 00:15:44 (link to this point)

So so that's so that's the crazy thing. Like, the the marine you were trying to help was the guy who won the raffle too. Right?

Rob Hyde 00:15:51 (link to this point)

No. No. Oh. Similar. I wish.

I bought him 10 tickets.

Chris Albert 00:15:56 (link to this point)

Gotcha.

Rob Hyde 00:15:56 (link to this point)

So out of my pocket, he didn't know I bought him 10 tickets. I could have even bought him 20 tickets. But no, it was a lady, something stout. It's an article, one that thing. And they came down. I called them cause their numbers on the back of these big raffle tickets I had made.

They came down to the dealership and it was funny because as she pulled in, I ran up to her, because I gave the call and I knew where they lived. I knew how long they were coming. And it was 95 degrees that day and there was a 100 people parking lot. So nobody was pulling in on a Sunday. And yeah, they pulled in, I ran up to her and I'm like, Hey, I'll give you $20 right now for your Corvette. She's like, Nah, she didn't even know who I was. Was perfect. So just in front of the TV cruise, walked up to her while she sat in her Corvette. She had no clue who I was.

And I'm like, Do you know how to drive stick stick? She's like, No, I have no idea. I'm like, Oh, okay. And she's like, Who are you? And it was perfect.

I'm like, Thank you.

Chris Albert 00:17:00 (link to this point)

That's awesome. Oh, God.

Rob Hyde 00:17:02 (link to this point)

So it cool. That was a cool one, Chris, because it was so easy to do. So you could have implemented this into I was gonna do it. And I made up a thing, USMCA, and it was like United States military. Military something association.

And I was going to actually transition into that a five zero one C3, but I didn't take the time to do it. But I've always wanted to do it. It felt so good to give Greg that check for $20. See that lead drive away and her new Corvette she didn't even know how to drive. It was pretty cool.

It was good. And it was nice to bring the community together quickly for that. And it was nice. The dealership had a couple of guys grilling. They threw that in, which was really nice.

We had a DJ from ninety two point five, one of the local big state radio stations, Connecticut volunteered to DJ the event. And it was nice to bring the community together quick because you were able to implement that so easily into any car dealership throughout the world, throughout The United States. You could sell X amount of tickets, give a hometown hero, cop, fireman, teacher, maybe even just somebody that fell off the roof of their house, broke their back, that's supporting a family solo. You're able to help bring a community together real quick to help somebody in need. And it was like a win win because not only are that, but you're supporting the local economy and you're supporting The United States economy with the Corvette. So it really cool, really easy to do. Little liability, no drinking really, unless somebody was doing it in the parking lot or something.

No open bars, none of that stuff. Nobody throwing on suits and tuxes and uniforms. So it worked well. And sold those tickets quick.

Chris Albert 00:19:03 (link to this point)

Yeah. I want to talk to you about that offline too, because I've been running comedy benefits down here trying to raise money. We raise good money for it for the benefit, but if we could implement something like that and include a car raffle in there, that'd be that'd be amazing because we're we're helping out charities too, man. And and, yeah, I really appreciate you for for doing stuff like that, man, because, like, you've done stuff like that for our unit too. You've, you know, you've organized a bunch of balls.

You've you've done a whole bunch of stuff too. But I wanted to ask you, man. So so when did you decide to get into politics? Like like, what was the the triggering moment for you?

Rob Hyde 00:19:51 (link to this point)

It's an ugly world.

Chris Albert 00:19:53 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Rob Hyde 00:19:58 (link to this point)

It's a great question. So there were two. One I'm gonna talk about. One was with their botched Afghanistan withdrawal. The way they left our Marines, 12 Marines to die and twenty six others got severely injured.

That was like when I was like, I got to take this seriously. So I put my health aside, I put all my business aside and I gave it a good shot here running for US Senate. Now I got three other people on my way that started before me. So right now I'm like fourth out of sixth running for US Senate, according to the polls and the convention we just had and stuff like that. So this might lead to a rollover where I go after Senator Murphy's seat in 2024.

But the Blumenthal seat, been itching for it for a long time. But on a real note, I think that Afghanistan withdrawal, even our enemies, that military hardware, giving Ukraine another 56,000,000,000 in funds when we literally a thousand miles south have all that military hardware, we could have supplied them.

Chris Albert 00:21:08 (link to this point)

Right.

Rob Hyde 00:21:08 (link to this point)

It's tough with the school shooting yesterday and you see it with the school resource officers, they could provide it for these schools that senator Murphy actually led the legislation against and the removal of those SROs in 2020. So it's you look at what the Democrats have done to this country, our brothers and sisters, everybody in the military, and it's absurd. And I think that was pretty much why I decided I want everybody to run for office that has an itch. Because none of these politicians are better than anybody else. None of them.

They all put on their pants the same way as you. They all bathe the same as you. Congress, Senate, mayors, teachers, boards of that, sheriffs. They were never meant to be career. Well, sheriffs, maybe teachers definitely, but were never meant to be career positions.

Term limits should have been put in place on a state, federal, and municipal level. Two years, there should be two year term limits like President Of The United States, the governors. There should be a two year term limit for all politicians. Because there's nothing in there but special interests and whatever helps their friends and families. They're not helping Americans.

As you've seen, as you can see, America's last right now. We got a non politician Trump in there for a four year term. Before COVID, so a three year term, things were the best they ever were in this country. You never had a better. Gas was cheap, energy was cheap, jobs were great.

Low inflation numbers, low unemployment numbers across the board. It was beautiful. We had no new conflicts. We didn't lose one military personnel, the enemy in the last eighteen months of Trump's presidency. I mean, there was a lot going for president Trump.

So I wanna bring back America first policies to America, put America first, work on the border energy independence mandates, no mandates, election integrity and security. And I want to get the CRT and transgender stuff out of the classroom. And I want to get the men out of the female sports, but I think there's a lot to do now. Now you're going see school security as a huge thing in The United States.

Chris Albert 00:23:24 (link to this point)

Well, let's let's talk about that issue because, like, you know, I was thinking about it today, man. Like, I I the Tops shooting up in Upstate New York and and and this latest shooting in in in Texas, you know, we've we've got these soft targets out there. Right? And there's a lot of people who immediately jump to accusing the the gun manufacturers, gun store owners, and gun owners themselves of being complicit in all this. I'm a I'm a proud gun owner.

I I own several AR platforms. I carry a pistol with me wherever I go. And the reason I do it is not to intimidate anybody. It is not to hurt anybody. It is to be very vigilant about what's going on around me.

And God forbid a tragedy like that occurs, I wanna have the tool in my hands to be able to do something about it or at least attempt to do something about it. I feel like we're seeing more and more of these school shootings coming from from people with with severe mental illness, people who who the system has, in many ways, failed. And and, you know, I think that that this is not the last, but my fear is that the Washington elite are focusing so hard on the political issue of guns that they're not focusing on the real answer here. What what's your take on that?

Rob Hyde 00:25:08 (link to this point)

I think there's a lot of avenues you gotta approach to this. One, you gotta step up school security, school resource officers, metal detectors. I think I saw a news flash today that the door wasn't locked. It's supposed to be locked, and that's in schools. I think you need to start off with the basics, right, security, and then implement it into guidance counselors.

We're definitely missing missing civics, trades, guidance counselors. You have a lot of this, like, grooming going on in schools. And I'm not sure I mean, you saw the Internet the last day too, maybe thirty six hours with pictures of this kid supposedly, but then they're saying they're false. I'm not sure where that is right now. But you're seeing a lot of definitely areas of mental health awareness that should be taken on anything.

But I'm against pharmaceuticals. So I've seen more damage done with psychotropics than I have with, let's say natural, you know, natural holistic medications. And I mean, like I've seen Marines blow their brains out that have been on psychotropics. And I've seen Marines totally function, maybe not well. And I don't mean not well.

I mean, I've seen Marines totally function every day smoking marijuana and putting their problems on their PTSD and whatever ails they have on the back burner when they smoke marijuana rather than doing psychotropics. I've seen more pros than cons. So when you say you want to tackle this with like mental health and stuff, think there's a huge avenue where we need to get back to the basics and love of God, country, and put religion back in schools, put the Pledge of Allegiance back in school, something for people to be proud of. Maybe start teaching like an NRA course in schools. But the mental health thing is hard for me to say because I've seen a lot of damage done with psychotropic drugs.

When you want to ahead.

Chris Albert 00:27:43 (link to this point)

And I'm sorry to interrupt you here. I don't think I think drugs I I'm with you on that. Right? Like, I I'm more I've worked most a lot of the charities I work with are more about holistic healing. Right?

Helping people to to to heal their brains at the root cause. Right? The Warrior Angels Foundation is is doing amazing work with that. Heroic Hearts, they're they're taking veterans and and and putting them through ritualistic healing and things like that, and I've seen amazing results from that. And I'm with you.

I think that that that, you know, these SSRIs, they're not doing the trick. I think pumping kids full of meds isn't doing the trick. But one of the things you're getting at here is, like, there's a loss of community around our country right now. So a lot of these kids, they're they're growing up without any mentorship, without anybody to to to to lay a hand on their shoulder and and, you know, help them along their way. I feel like kids are probably more lonely now than they have ever been even though we're supposedly so much more connected around social media.

And I think that that in turn also makes people more lonely. So so is there anything like you know, I think and maybe this is a really, really tough thing for us to solve in general, But do you think that that it's bringing back the religion and bringing back the values? Do you think that's a a a an answer to the larger question of of this loss of community that we've had here in the country?

Rob Hyde 00:29:21 (link to this point)

Yes. But I think you need to add on onto that, like sports. Mhmm. Right? Physical fitness, physic physical education.

Chris Albert 00:29:29 (link to this point)

Right.

Rob Hyde 00:29:30 (link to this point)

I think there's a huge divider there for when people stop. They're not they don't have to play sports anymore. There's no activity, like you said, like, camaraderie camaraderie or or, you know, learning what it's like to work as a team, playing with others, interacting with others. So I think we need to bring that back too. I think that would be another positive to bring back to the table.

I think it all stems with like schools and what they're trying to groom these kids nowadays, that it's okay to be bisexual, transgender. They have the books. They have the CRT curriculum. It's pretty hard now to go to school in third grade and they're teaching you, it's okay if you want to be a woman. It's kind of interesting here in Connecticut because I feel like this is the place that all the transgender policies originate from Connecticut.

Blumenthal spearheaded 2019, the two men playing in the female sports in the high school. I feel like from what I've come across in the last month and a half that I've helped parents, it's called Parents Choice. There's a survey that parents are by law supposed to get. It's to opt out. It's an opt out survey.

And then these schools that I helped the parents just secure that form, which is a state and federal law in the town of Bethel was that they were trying to feed the kids 100 and transgender question survey through ADL, which is the American Defamation League, which was funded by Obama. So what they do in Connecticut is that they drafted up legislation to separate the board of education and the mayors and the first selectmen. So now they can just implement this curriculum. If ADL comes to your board event and they go, look, we'll give you $30 if you feed the survey to your students. And they accepted it and it was a four hour closed door survey, no recording devices.

Parents were denied the curriculum for eleventh graders and it was 170 question transgender survey, which is kind of odd. So it's kind of odd that you got this stuff going around screwing with. But to get to the bigger note, what I'm trying to relay here is on the campaign trail. I've come across about several people that have told me like, here's one story for instance, I've heard seven of these now that this young girl, after they were done taking pictures with me with their all the firemen, she was the wife of a fire guy. And she goes, Rob, I really appreciate what you're doing with the parents and for the teachers.

Because right before that, was going down to fight for this nurse that whistle blew on the teachers in Hartford for giving the students hormone blockers behind the parents back. Right? They're giving an eight year old. Yeah. So she's like, I really appreciate what you did.

My sister-in-law, this is her. My sister-in-law brought their eight year old to Washington state to this camp and paid for it to be chemically castrated and this transgender camp. So they brought their kid, their eight year old kid that was going through a tomgirl phase possibly, or a tomboy phase to a camp in Washington and paid for it to be chemically castrated. Now, I don't know about you, but those hormones that they just took that away from that kid. So now he turns 18, 20, he's almost fully developed and he has no clue what it is. Just confused with loss because he's got no hormones.

Chris Albert 00:32:58 (link to this point)

Yeah, man.

Rob Hyde 00:32:58 (link to this point)

You see a lot of this developing now where they're taking this away. And they're leaving these communities impacted for their trade the LGBTQ that they're pushing on to these communities when they should be implementing the basics. Right?

Chris Albert 00:33:20 (link to this point)

Right.

Rob Hyde 00:33:20 (link to this point)

God country.

Chris Albert 00:33:22 (link to this point)

Yeah. And I mean, let me let me see this because, like, so I was raised by a same sex couple. Right? Like, I I had two moms growing up. And, like, you know, I I feel for the LGBT community.

Right? I think that that that, you know, same sex marriage, all I think that that gay, lesbian, trans people, they they they should be afforded the same rights and and privileges as everybody else. At the same time, I being somebody who is raised by a same sex couple, who who, you know, has has many gay friends, who who, you know, has looked at what they've gone through over the last, you know, century, I don't think that teaching kids these things or or or giving anybody under the age of 18 the opportunity to to change their gender before their brain's fully cooked, and you your brain isn't really fully cooked until you're 26, I think that kinda defies logic in in my head. Right? And and, you know, maybe I'm I'm I'm more liberal than you on the on the the whole subject, but I also think that you're you're in the right place with what you're doing.

And and I I fully agree with governor I live in the state of Florida. I agree with governor DeSantis because what the media has essentially done is they've taken a piece of legislation that's trying to protect children, give parents the the the the the right to to have a hand in in teaching their children the way that they wanna be taught. It's trying to protect them from having that right taken away. It got labeled as this thing called don't say gay, where where it doesn't say that at all in the bill. It's it's not it's not, you know, limiting gay people.

It's not limiting trans people or anything like that. It's just saying, we don't want this taught in our elementary schools. You know? And I think that's common sense. It should be common sense.

Right? And and so, you know, again, I think that that, you know, what you're saying, I like I said, I might be a little more liberal with you on the subject, but I think common sense people like me are coming to a point now where there can't be another answer here. Right? You you you if you if you're going to chemically castrate an eight year old, there's no way I can ever get on board with that as a sane a moral human being because I know what the science is on brain health, and I know that your your your brain is not fully developed until you're 26 years old. And and to have that kid go to the age of 18 and and wake up when he's 25 years old and wondering what the hell he did and that that he never really had a choice.

We have and and I I'll let you respond in a second, but we also have this issue with with, student loans. And what a lot of people on the other side are saying is that an 18 year old shouldn't be making decisions financially that'll affect them the rest of your life. Well, why should a six year old be making decisions about their gender that is going to to chemically castrate them for the rest of their lives?

Rob Hyde 00:36:45 (link to this point)

You know? Thousand percent. Good one. Good analogy. I like that with the student loans.

Thank you.

Chris Albert 00:36:52 (link to this point)

Yeah, man. Yeah. So I'm with you on on on so much of this stuff. Why do you think it it got like that? Is it do we get here, I guess, is the answer?

Because, like, so many people are looking at at our society and being like, dude, like like, did I wake up in the twilight zone episode or something like that? Like, how did we get here?

Rob Hyde 00:37:16 (link to this point)

Great question. So I think I think everything just goes back to opportunity. So when you look at, like, governments with BLM, Antifa, and these policies, you'll see that a lot of it just comes back to opportunity and money. What I mean by that is that that famous Chinese proverb, there is chaos, there's opportunity in the art of war. Right?

So what I see is if you wanna step this back quickly is Merrick Garland's our attorney general of The United States. He basically wrote a memo to the FBI that was leaked to the public that basically designated any parent that questioned CRT or anything SEL, which is the transgender stuff to label him as a domestic terrorist. In the meantime, at the same exact time, his son-in-law, the founder of Penguin Publishing supplies the curriculum to twenty four States Department of Education. So, and they raised $73,000,000 at the same exact time last November for CRT curriculum into our public school systems. So what you see is like these politicians, a lifelong career opportunist, take advantage of these chaotic moments and make a ton of money.

So I think like they structured this stuff almost to hit and then have everybody else deal with it. Right? And it's tough because they use our, they weaponized our agencies, the FBI, the CIA, I don't know, 17 different intel agencies. And they basically work at the hand of the governor. And they all come out and get sweetheart deals, dollars 10,000,000 work at this hedge fund and stuff like that.

Director Comey of the FBI was working at BlackRock for $10,000,000 his first year. His brother is the president of Hartford Hospital. And you see a lot of these sweetheart deals, but I think that's what it comes back to is basically opportunities. And we let the liberals take over the board's education and all the school, all the positions within like the towns. And it's hard to combat that.

I mean, you know, cause you do want your kids to be, you know, open minded and everything, but when they're forcing it down their throats. Yeah, no, it's not cool. And I agree with you 100% when you surgically castrate, there's no coming back from that. You're not coming back. Mean, you're done.

I mean, you can never come back and be like, I'm a man. They took that from you. Took that from you without you being fully aware. Like the age of 18, you're a man, you have your freedom, your bill of rights, then I think you have all the rights to do whatever you want with your body. Go ahead.

But to take it from an eight year old that could be going through a tomboy or tomboy phase is definitely, you know, that's pretty sad.

Chris Albert 00:40:21 (link to this point)

Right. Right. And it could potentially lead to things like suicide later in life. I mean, like

Rob Hyde 00:40:26 (link to this point)

Or the school shooting.

Chris Albert 00:40:28 (link to this point)

Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, I wanna wanna talk about foreign policy, obviously, because a lot of our audience is is veterans, and and we're going through this thing with Russia and Ukraine right now. And I think a lot of people believe that, you know, our our rivals in the international realm, like China and Russia, are looking at us right now, and they believe that, you know, this this whole attack on Ukraine is is kind of a result of opportunism.

We're in a mess regardless of how you look at it. Right? Like like, things are absolutely crazy. What do we do to get out of this situation in in in your mind?

Rob Hyde 00:41:15 (link to this point)

That's a tough question.

Chris Albert 00:41:17 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Rob Hyde 00:41:17 (link to this point)

So look, we got to stop Russian aggression.

Chris Albert 00:41:23 (link to this point)

Mhmm.

Rob Hyde 00:41:25 (link to this point)

But without causing World War three. So I believe we're on this basically the right path. I would just provide as much humanitarian aid as possible. I mean, they basically hand them Ukraine to give them a pipeline, the Nord Stream two. Russia's economy is basically 65% of the Russian economy is built off of oil.

They didn't station them. Actually, Blumenthal voted against Senator Cruz's sanctions in November on Nord Stream two. They shut down American energy independence. So we're relying on foreign oil and energy. It's tough to say on an international scale like that.

So and to answer that correctly, I would have to resort experts that I'd surround myself with how to combat that professionally because there's a lot of intel there that you have to take into account. I think it's a total disaster, whatever is going on over there. I mean, we've already given them 56,000,000,000 in aid in the last six months. That's more than we provide for our roads and bridges here in The United States yearly. That's obviously more than we provide for our schools security yearly.

It's tough to say, Chris. So I mean, I believe we should be fulfilling nonstop humanitarian aid, but militarily, it's a tough question. Have to resort to experts on that.

Chris Albert 00:42:54 (link to this point)

Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, I'm with you on that. Definitely definitely, I mean, try to give whatever aid we can, but I I'm the last person who wants World War three happening.

You know? I I don't think it would end well for for any of us. And, you know, one of the things I was like when when all this kinda started, I was looking at people, and and they're calling for us to do something, calling for us to step in. And I'm like, do you even understand what you're saying? You know?

And and it's not that simple. Right? Like, you're playing with people's lives and and, you know, potentially, you know, thousand hundreds of thousands of lives. So, yeah. Let me what about so let's talk about the gas prices.

How how how have we gotten to, you know, the ridiculous prices we're paying right now?

Rob Hyde 00:43:47 (link to this point)

Triple. It's basically triple what I was paying quadruple what I was paying almost quadruple what I was paying two years ago for diesel. I think it's $6.75 a gallon in Connecticut. I mean, we gotta keep drilling. Open up the leases, renew the leases, renew them, and and, sign off on new leases.

I mean, we have more black gold under America than anywhere else in the world. So I say keep producing more energy here at home. You know, I'm sure you got Warren Buffett with some kind of lock on why, you know, our pipelines were shut down, and they're transporting oil and gas throughout The United States. I mean, it's interesting. I know there's a transition to the green energy, it's like they're forcing it down everybody's throat. So there's definitely like a lot of probably energy electric lobbyist to do with with this.

But it's, it's nasty the way they've shut down industry and jobs and energy independence in The United States. So I think we gotta reopen all that, go back to where Zinke at the Department of Interior have you interviewed?

Chris Albert 00:45:04 (link to this point)

No, haven't. No.

Rob Hyde 00:45:06 (link to this point)

I'll forward you his cell phone.

He's a great dude. He's running for Congress. He's going to win again.

Chris Albert 00:45:10 (link to this point)

That's awesome.

Rob Hyde 00:45:12 (link to this point)

Yeah, I think you got to do that because he was Secretary of the Department of Interior.

Chris Albert 00:45:16 (link to this point)

Pretty cool.

Rob Hyde 00:45:16 (link to this point)

And he signed off and made us basically energy independence with President Trump. So it was basically Zinke, his cabinet, and President Trump that helped make America the lowest gas prices we've had in twenty years. So it was nice, right? We didn't think about filling your gas tank, food was cheaper, everything relates to energy prices, fertilizer for farming, farming. So it'd be nice to bring that back

Chris Albert 00:45:48 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Rob Hyde 00:45:48 (link to this point)

To our country and and focus on that higher energy independence for sure.

Chris Albert 00:45:51 (link to this point)

So couple more questions, man. And and these are things that that, you know, I really want to ask to to have, you know, the audience kinda get to know you, what your strategy is gonna be. The first question is this, man. So, typically, the Republican Party has not done well with with black and minority voters. I see that hopefully, you know, changing in some ways.

Right? You know, I'm seeing more and more black influencers who who are who are supporting Republican candidates. I'm I live in Florida where the Latino vote is is largely Republican. How does the Republican Party reach those voters? How do how do they, how do you convince them voters that, you know, the Republican Party is a better choice?

Rob Hyde 00:46:51 (link to this point)

Great question. You probably know that answer to that a lot better than I do at this point of the game just because your community down there is thriving with Latino Latino, blacks, minorities compared to where I'm at in Connecticut. So, but I think what you think that they're smarter than most people and they see and they feel the same thing you and I do. When they go to the gas station, they feel $30 to fill up their cars. Now they're feeling it's 80, Right?

It's more than double to fill up their cars. When they go to the grocery stores, they can barely put together a salad for like $50. Right? So you have a bag of groceries over $50 now. And they're feeling this because they have big families.

Latinos believe in family. They love to Everybody loves to eat. Loves to everybody asks, you have to drive in Florida to get anywhere. Right? So you feel that those policies and they're smarter they're smarter than people believe.

I honestly believe that the Haitians, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Brazilians, Colombians, Venezuelans, everybody that you have, Mexicans flooding to Florida, even the Asians, vote Republican. They see it. And they saw it with president Trump, and they're seeing it now. Right? Because they had, even if they're a newer generation to Florida, like say they came during the Obama era, they're seeing the difference with presence.

Right? It went from $5 a gallon with Obama down to $1.50 for a gallon for gas with president Trump. I mean, everybody was thriving with president Trump. Everybody was happy. Policies were good.

Everybody felt secure. You were sleeping at night. You were you were looking at Twitter hoping for a mean tweet because it made your day. And And they like that. And I think they see that.

I think we're in Florida where you got the blue demographics going the most part is where you go into these blue communities and it's like a it's mostly like your typical New Yorkers that come down for six months in a day from Connecticut. And you have, I think like a huge population of New Yorkers and Northerners that are, you know, used to, but now Florida's leading, I believe they just took the lead, right? Republicans and demographics, right? Republicans outnumber Democrats and demographics. So I think you everybody saw with Trump because there's a lot of first generation Latinos, Cubans, everybody down there that came during the Obama years.

And then they saw Trump America first because they all came from like communist dictatorships. You know, Venezuela, Cuba, right? Haiti. Yeah. So, they all came from these countries even even if you go to like Russia, Croatia, Albania, Turkey that are down there in Miami area, they all came from these communist countries and they know America first.

This is it. Yeah. You can do a capitalist country. You're free to do as you like. You have a bill of rights here.

You have your freedoms, liberties, and you could see how that's being supported. DeSantis supports his almost daily. He's like, I I love what he's doing for the state and helping to secure that against, you know, president Biden's disinformation, you now, the department of homeland security and all this other off agenda kind of stuff they're trying to do to divide the country to try to drive their agenda. So they're smart and they see it. So I think you're gonna see a lot of I don't know your political posturing down there as of the moment because I believe Rubio's got some Does he have any trouble or is he doing well?

Chris Albert 00:50:32 (link to this point)

I think he's doing pretty well. You know, by I think so I I live in Fort Lauderdale, which which is pretty blue. Right? But but one of the things I'm I'm seeing more more and more is I mean, I don't know personally any blue voters. And and, you know, I I talk to a lot of people every day.

Right? You know, like, there there might be one or two, but, like, I just don't. And it's it's not because the way I see it is this. It's not because people are overly, like, right wing. Right?

Like, that I don't think that's the reason. I I don't consider myself, like, extremely right wing. The the the the reason I think we're seeing this is because at the end of the day, the things that make us human, our love of family, alright, the desire to live free and and do what we wanna do, the desire to be able to protect ourselves, the desire to be able to raise our children without the government telling us what we should do or having the government put things in their heads. I think these are all human elements that transcend race and and even sexual orientation. I'll say, you know, a lot of the people I see in the gay community down here who are married, they have kids, they're trying to raise a family, they wanna they they they want their kids to grow up, you know, in a safe place, they want their kids to to to, you know, not suffer.

I think these things are transcending all of those barriers, and that's why I think you're seeing Republicans get more and more traction lately because that is where, you know, and I hate to say this, but and that's where the common sense is these days. You know? It's it's definitely not on the far left. And and I I think one of the problems is that over the past few years, even if you're, like, center left, the left has has said, oh, no. You're a Nazi.

You know? And and and that's the issue. And so you you're you're driving more people to to the right. And and, you know, I think comes down to that, man, and I think that's the secret. If if the Republican Party wants to to to win and and make sustained wins, it's focusing on those things that it it it classically has in the past, which is family.

Alright? Making making sure America is successful, making sure that we're all safe, and and, you know, sticking to common sense elements like that. And, you know, that's that's that's my whole take on it.

Rob Hyde 00:53:04 (link to this point)

You know? Yeah. Bringing its basics for sure. Alright.

Chris Albert 00:53:07 (link to this point)

Let me let me ask you this. You know, you you know a lot of people. Right? I I think when you're looking at a freshman in congress, one of the things that happens, and this is what happens typically in the house of representatives, but it also happens in the senate as well. When you have a freshman come in, that freshman typically has to make connections in order to get anything done.

Right? But but you I know that you know a a good amount of people. What would what would your strategy be to, to get the, the legislation you want implemented done while you're in the senate?

Rob Hyde 00:53:52 (link to this point)

So I think where I would strategize first and foremost, right, I'd probably fire every single person that went to work with me. Every staff member that was related to Blumenthal totally get rid of. And I just hired brand new people. Had my chief of staff. Right?

My chief of staff would definitely that with a few others and align ourselves with a great staff, right? Because I believe the staffs around 200 people for a US Senator. So they're right day one, done. Anything related to a Democrat out of my office. And then I'd go to work with the Freedom Caucus and the House of Representatives, Jim Jordan, Warren Davidson, Ted Yoho is no longer there, but everybody in the Freedom Caucus that want to do things like implement term limits, some other things.

They're for your freedoms, no mandates and stuff like that. And I'd work on stuff like that, securing your rights, freedoms and liberties. I definitely would like to work on some side note stuff too where we I could develop some committees to to do stuff like help colonel Scheller.

Chris Albert 00:55:01 (link to this point)

Stu Scheller. Yep. I've had him on the podcast.

Rob Hyde 00:55:04 (link to this point)

Yeah. I would love to do things like that to try to get these marines that try to hold their leadership accountable for that botched Afghanistan withdrawal. I would definitely love to try to see him get his rank back. And bring him back into the fold somehow and stuff like that. So where I would work on legislation is literally just tackling it as like a business person and firing anybody that's a Democrat around me.

No if and or buts, if I can or can't, right? Because governments made it almost impossible to fire anybody that's a government employee. But I would love to just terminate anyway that's Democrat around me. And then I would just go through the ranks, right? I got to work with McConnell, Graham, Kyde, Poly, Blackburn, Hyde.

I mean, would literally just have to go through the ranks of just trying to get legislation worked on. So you got a old guard there that you'd have to work with for sure. So looks like this year, you're definitely gonna probably get maybe Herschel Walker for US senator. You know, flipping the assigned seats is big. So, I mean, he's going after a first timer Warnock.

We'll see. So I I feel like that that would be my best bet to work on legislation as a boot recruit in office is literally put a new team together that's smart, knowledgeable, knows the terrain, knows the hill. Right? You're gonna have to bring them back into the fold because they probably left. Right?

They've been gone for twelve years. That has been in office.

Chris Albert 00:56:37 (link to this point)

Mhmm.

Rob Hyde 00:56:38 (link to this point)

So you'll have to bring people in from the hill back into the ranks that know what they're doing, know how to move the ball down the field. And then we're gonna have to move the ball down the field. That's what we're gonna have to do. So but I wanna do America first policies. That's it.

I don't wanna function. I don't wanna be a bipartisan partisan senator. I don't wanna be a Mitch, you know, Mitt Romney or Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski. I don't want to, I don't want to be a Republican name only I want to be a for the people Republican only senator that would never, you know, cave to the left. I won't vote for progressive liberal judges.

You know, I'm gonna stay focused and just fight for the American public. And that's it. I mean, literally, I think just play hardball. And I think Cotton Hawley, Cruz, Rubio, they need a guy like me on their team that will be steadfast in what he says and does. Right?

That'll support your rights of freedoms. And you and that's basically what I wanna do in DC and Connecticut.

Chris Albert 00:57:38 (link to this point)

Awesome. Awesome. You know, I guess the last question is this, man. You know, what what would be the first thing that you worked on?

Rob Hyde 00:57:54 (link to this point)

At the moment, I think the first thing that you're gonna see come down the pipeline is something to do with gun rights.

Chris Albert 00:58:00 (link to this point)

Mhmm.

Rob Hyde 00:58:00 (link to this point)

Right? And, your second amendment shall not be infringed. So I mean, basically vote no to any gun measures. I'm against red flag laws and all that other stuff as it is. So I think what you're gonna see coming down the pipe for January next year is anything gun related.

You're gonna see, you might see some more Russia stuff, which might be sad, right? Right. You might, you're definitely gonna probably see who knows where the democrats try to play this monkeypox and the COVID for the midterms. So you might see some more mandates come into effect here, and I'm against medical mandates. So I would be that would probably be one of the first things I worked on also when I get sworn in January twentieth next year is I'd work on mandates, securing your gun rights, and and, working on the CRT stuff to get removed from schools and curriculum.

SEL, CRT, keep the men out of the female sports. Those are probably the first things I work on as your senator. Next would be border security, energy, independence, election integrity.

Chris Albert 00:59:14 (link to this point)

Awesome, man. Well, that's all I got, man. Do you wanna leave the audience with anything?

Rob Hyde 00:59:20 (link to this point)

Yes. Please, please look into my website, hydeforsenate.com, hydeforsenate.com. And I appreciate your time and everything you do for the community, Chris.

Chris Albert 00:59:30 (link to this point)

Absolutely, man. Like I said, I wanna acknowledge you. You've helped a lot of people. You I've known you for god. How long have I known you now?

Since 1999. So god. What is that? Almost like I think we're going on twenty five years. Twenty two no.

Like, twenty two years. Yeah. Yeah. Like, freaking I'm not good at math. I'm a marine.

But yeah, man. So I've known you for a long time. You've always been an honest, straightforward person. Freaking always somebody who's had a lot of passion for what you do, and and I've seen you carry that passion over here to the political realm. And, you know, I think that you're somebody who's gonna be like that entirely through anything you do.

And I'll say, you know, for as somebody who's known you for for this long, Rob Hyde is who he says he is. Right? That's that that's exactly it. You know? He's gonna do everything that he says he's gonna do.

He's gonna he's gonna work to carry out every project that that that comes across his plate and try to execute it properly. And and I think, you know, this the people of the great state of Connecticut will get an honest straight shooter as a senator and somebody who's gonna work to, to to implement exactly everything he promised on. So that's my take on the whole thing.

Rob Hyde 01:00:58 (link to this point)

Awesome, Chris. I wear that Metroplex T shirt like it's my job, buddy.

Chris Albert 01:01:04 (link to this point)

That's awesome, man. Yeah, dude. That was that's What was the what was the slogan? It was squat bar goes here or

Rob Hyde 01:01:13 (link to this point)

That who sheds his blood with me today shall be my brother forever.

Chris Albert 01:01:18 (link to this point)

For he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother. Yeah. At Nice. William Shakespeare. Appreciate it.

Yeah, man. Awesome, brother. Well, to everybody out there, go ahead and, and hit up Hyde for Senate dot com. What's your social media handle? Are you on Instagram or Twitter or anything like that?

Rob Hyde 01:01:37 (link to this point)

Yeah. Hyde for senate.

Chris Albert 01:01:39 (link to this point)

Hyde for senate.

Rob Hyde 01:01:40 (link to this point)

Hyde for senate. @RobertfHydeone, and Hyde for senate dot com.

Chris Albert 01:01:48 (link to this point)

Awesome, man. Awesome.

Rob Hyde 01:01:50 (link to this point)

Thank you so much.

Chris Albert 01:01:50 (link to this point)

Go check that out. And listen. You guys get out there, learn, you know, follow-up on these issues, take a role in your local government. Right? We need more people to do that, more veterans to do that.

And I think the more we do that, the more the world's gonna be a better place. Get out there and live your best lives while you can. This is Chris and Rob, and we are out.