From Trump Voter to Democratic Fighter: Kyle Sweetser Speaks Out

David B. Wheeler: 00:00:05

Welcome to Muck you, the podcast where Mo Davis and I dive head first into the messiest stories, hottest takes and wildest debates with zero filter and maximum grip. Buckle up for a no holds barred ride through the muck and for an intro with our guest today. Over to Mo Davis.

Col Moe Davis: 00:00:22

Well, thanks, David. I appreciate it. And welcome back, everybody. It's good to have you on board again.

You know, we're continuing our trend of having, you know, interesting guests on to talk about current politics. And today, certainly no exception, we've got Kyle Sweetser on.

And you may not recognize the name, but you know, if you're, if you're watching this podcast, there's a good chance you're probably on the progressive side of the political scale and you likely watch the Democratic National Convention. And if you did, on day two, you probably saw Kyle speak. He got up.

He was one of the former Trump voters who showed up at the DN Democratic National Convention to speak up on behalf of, of Kamala Harris. Kyle lives down in Mobile, Alabama. He owns a construction company down there.

And you're probably asking also, what's that got to do with, with the topic today and the reason it's so relevant? Kyle is throwing his hat in a ring to run for Senate against Florida resident Tommy Tuberville, who purports to represent the state of Alabama.

But if you want more information about Kyle, he's got a website. Is Kyle for Alabama? That's F O R spelled out. It's kyleforalabama.com. so, Kyle, thank you so much for joining us today.

Kyle Sweetser: 00:01:36

Thank you all for having me. I really appreciate it.

Col Moe Davis: 00:01:39

Well, listen, I tell you that I got to ask you, I before we started taping, I was telling you that out of my 25 years in the Air Force, I spent seven of those on three different tours at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. So I know Alabama pretty well. And I know the most important question in politics in Alabama, Alabama is are you a War Eagle or Roll Tide?

Kyle Sweetser: 00:02:01

Well, that's a great question. I am for whoever wins from Alabama.

So if it's, if it's Auburn, if they look like they're going to win the national championship, then I would back Auburn. If Alabama looks like they're going to win the national championship, I back Alabama.

And also down where I'm at, we have the University of South Alabama, the Jaguars, and they launched their, their football program, their division one, I don't know in the past 10 years or so, maybe a little longer, but that's a great program. Coming up So I support, you know, everybody from Alabama that, that does well. And, and just in general.

Col Moe Davis: 00:02:41

Yeah.

And I'm up here in the mountains of North Carolina, and I went to Appalachian State, and one of our rivals quite often was Troy State from, uh, down in your neck of the woods as well. Listen, let's, you know, again, I guess my first acquaintance with you was seeing you speak at the Democratic National Convention.

So how did a lifelong Republican end up on the stage at the Democratic big party?

Kyle Sweetser: 00:03:05

Yeah, so after: 2021

By: 2022

So I decided that I would do everything in my power that I could possibly do, and I've never been politically involved before to try to stop that from happening. And one of the biggest concerns, it's not just about Trump, it's about the GOP and the direction that the GOP is going.

The GOP's policies are not good for Alabama. The GOP's political geopolitical chaos that they're causing, you know, by being wishy washy about their foreign policy stances.

It's tied to trade, it's tied to our economy. They just pretty much abandoned rational leadership and American values.

So I started speaking out quite a bit, and I volunteered in every way possible. They put me. I. I was put on billboards all around the RNC with my face. I volunteered for that. I made a ton of videos and.

Yeah, so I guess that caught someone's intention. And I was contacted and they asked me to speak, and I didn't hesitate. I said, sure thing, I'll go.

Col Moe Davis: 00:04:35

Great. Yeah, it's good seeing folks from Alabama at the convention. Another one of my. One of my.

Or not one of my favorite musical artists is Jason Ispel from up in northern part of Alabama, who also was featured at the Democratic National Convention. So, yeah, I saw an interview you did not too long ago where you said that.

I think your quote was, the Republican Party is no longer a conservative party. How would you describe it today?

Kyle Sweetser: 00:05:01

It's a populist party, and it does have. I think it embraces what used to be called, I guess you would say, the radical left in the far right. In certain ways, it's pro authoritarian.

You know, they don't like the Constitution. I think every week I see them wanting to. To at least some people in Trump's orbit wanting to Come after a part of the Constitution and change it.

So this isn't something that Republicans, I don't think that that many people grasp what is happening. They're no longer conservative on foreign policy. They've abandoned Ronald Reagan's foreign policy.

They've abandoned peace through strength and you know, the anti NATO talk and they've abandoned really conservative or Republican at least since Reagan economic policies. And you know, that in mind, you look at the state of Alabama, you look at how our economy is.

We've got all these countries that, I mean all these companies that do have headquarters in other countries but they contribute to our economy. They have manufacturing facilities here. We have Austel which is out of Australia. We have Airbus which is out of France, that's just in Mobile.

We have Nikon Steel which operates AMS Calvert, a part of that. And then we have Mercedes, Toyota, Hyundai, etc So our economy is based on this American global economy that America has built. That is our economy.

The United, in the United States economy, that is Alabama really relies on having that system of trade that we've built over the years and our alliances and trade partners. So you know, the portomobile, we get $100 billion worth of goods come in, coming in and out of Mobile Bay, the port of Mobile, every, every year.

And we're probably going to see a decline in that because of these tariffs which cause, they're going to cause some chaos. But yeah, I can go on forever about the economy and the Republican party and how they've changed and how they're hurting Alabama.

Col Moe Davis: 00:07:14

Yeah, you started out mentioning foreign policy and, and certainly for me that's just hard to, to wrap my head around because you know, when I was in the military, we spent hours and hours, you know, in chemical warfare gear sweating our asses off training to defend against Russia.

And all of a sudden it's, you know, Russia is our best buddy and our allies are our enemies and you know, we hate Canada and it's just hard to, to imagine how we've made that radical transformation from, you know, flipping on our allies and embracing our adversaries.

Kyle Sweetser: 00:07:47

Yeah, absolutely. It's disturbing to say the least.

And that was also one of the wake up calls for me to look at that and into, you know, but putting it together, you know, putting it together with the economic policies, this isolationism, this nativism, this protectionism. They're doing it in tandem with their economic policies to really feels like to isolate us.

Col Moe Davis: 00:08:11

Yeah, and you're, you're right, you know, again being in Mobile, as you mentioned, you're Right there at the heart of it, where, you know, international commerce arrives on our shores. But, you know, to hear Mr. Trump and Peter Navarro talk about it, this is a, they can't understand why people aren't embracing.

This is a good thing, having these, these tariffs that, you know, they claim China is going to pay for it.

Kyle Sweetser: 00:08:35

Right. Well, that's a lie. I think the mistake that, that has been made over the years is, is saying that Trump isn't smart.

Trump is, Trump is a good salesman. Trump is an excellent salesman. That's what he's good at. He's good at selling things. He's, he's selling higher prices to people that.

He knows that the tariffs are paid by Americans. He knows at this point. So we need to acknowledge that he's just lying to people. The Republican Party is, they're lying to people.

They're lying to people about these taxes. And what's important about tariffs is that these tariffs, they aren't going through Congress. They are being carried out by the President.

And if you look back at the beginning of this second term when we had that little spat with Columbia over the deportation flights coming in on military aircraft instead of commercial aircraft, and what wasn't told to Trump, or maybe he didn't care, or, or the people at the White House, the Trump administration, was that the power plant in mobile plant, Barry operates in part off of coal from Columbia.

So what's interesting about that whole thing and not having representation, not having people that understand our, each state, because there's actually no way for the President to know how everybody's economy works, he's going to need to rely on other people to tell them. But, you know, that could have really wrecked us. That could have caused all kinds of problems because it's not just the price increase.

It's the, the shipping issues, the, the supply chain issues that the tariffs cause, you know, and that, that could have really wrecked us down here.

And we don't have, when we have this system of tariffs where there's, there's, it's not going through Congress, it's not going through representation. You, you can run into problems like that. And that's taxation without representation, we aren't represented and we're being taxed.

And that tax now, I think the average now is, is 5,000 per family in the United States.

And you look at Alabama's median income, you look at, we're 48, 49th in income, it's going to, it's like just ultra destructive to our state, to the people of Alabama.

Col Moe Davis: 00:10:47

And it's sometimes hard to wrap your head around, you know, some of the numbers that get tossed about.

But I saw recently where, where President Trump was saying that these, you know, again, touting the tariffs, they're so good that we may do away with, with income tax and replace it with tariffs. And I took a look at it, we took in last fiscal year, we took in $2.4 trillion in income tax and we had 3.3 trillion of imported goods.

So if you did away with income tax, you'd have to slap a 74% tariff on imports to make up for the lost income tax. So again, I think for people it's hard to put that into perspective.

But if you think about it new, you know, folks in Alabama are a lot like folks here in western North Carolina. They like to go down to Walmart and get that big screen TV for $500.

But if you figure that $500 television, when it arrived at the port, you know, Walmart paid $350 for it, slapped a 30% markup and sold it to the consumer for 500.

If you want to get away, do away with income tax and replace it with tariffs, that, that $500 television, by the time you put on a tariff in the markup that goes from 500 to $792. And as you mentioned that, that's, China's not paying that.

That's the hard working folks in Alabama and western North Carolina, they're having to pick up the tab.

Kyle Sweetser: 00:12:08

Yeah, absolutely. I'm not exactly sure what, what their calculus is or what their plan is with, with this.

But you know, we can all rule out that, we can all rule out that, that that's a possibility. It's, that's not possible. You know, it, that's not a possibility, period. There's no way that's going to take over income tax.

With what we've got going on and set up in the United States and our government and all of spending and what we have to spend, there's just, that's just not going to happen.

One of the things that I found interesting over the past year is this push to come after the Fed to, to, to seize the Fed and centralize power or whatever they want to do.

You know, I don't know if crashing our markets intentionally by pushing tariffs while simultaneously criticizing the Fed to, you know, maybe try to gain support through their populist playbook to seize the Fed, I don't know if that's possible. But, but there's something that, that's going on. I I don't, you know, I think the whole tax thing is just, is just smoke for something else.

David B. Wheeler: 00:13:14

Kyle, as a Democrat, folks want to know why they should support you. I think being a former member of the GOP in a GOP state, maybe a bridge too far from some folks.

For some folks convince our listeners, who tend to be, you know, national Democrats that try to support candidates, convince these folks why they should give Kyle a look.

Kyle Sweetser: 00:13:50

Yeah, so I've never been a social conservative. I've been very clear about that my entire life. I supported the Republican Party. One, it's what I, I grew up, grew up as a Republican.

So as far back as I can remember, you know, and, and from that point, really I was just, I thought that their economic policies were better for people and you know, when people have money, they can afford to pay their bills, they can afford to feed their kids, they can afford to, to live. And so I think there's a lot of people that are Republicans for that reason and that had been Republicans for that reason.

And also on foreign policy, I think having a strong foreign policy is good for us, a very clear foreign policy. And I appreciated Reagan's stances and how he was able to overcome the Soviet Union. So that's the part of the Republican Party that I was a part of.

As things move forward, whenever they started to do these things that I just kind of viewed as empty rhetoric, now it looks like they're trying to come after Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Veterans benefits. That's not anything that, that I've ever supported. Cutting, cutting everything is not ever something that I supported.

My mother grew up in public housing. Down here is RV Taylor Plaza. And my grandfather, he was in the military. He died in a car crash.

And, and so after that she grew up in that, that housing. But, and so they, they relied on, on his benefits growing up and she actually at some point they had to eat expired prison food to survive.

So that wasn't enough. So these programs are really important to me and I'm going to stand up for those programs. Also the Republican Party shift to this pro.

This is the most important part and it, it transcends party to this pro authoritarian regime where they're centralizing power and they're putting, you know, someone like J.D. vance who is a clear post liberal. These people don't appreciate freedom. They, they don't like freedom.

They don't want us to have, you know, have as many rights. So that's the biggest thing.

I, I'm anti authoritarian and people need to know that what's going on right now where the president is abusing his power, he's abusing his power with tariffs.

That's not something that many Republicans, once they open their eyes, they're going to support if they're not already, you know, all forward to that. So, you know, I'm for America and American values. The Republican Party abandoned American values. The Republican Party abandoned the Constitution.

And I've went two years straight with putting my face all over the place and saying everything that I can say and doing everything that I can do and putting a target on my back to try to help stop what's going on right now.

David B. Wheeler: 00:16:57

Yeah. And I, and I think that's bona fides in the party.

The fact that you stood up and went to the convention and spoke, at least from my perspective and I'm speaking to our listeners right now, I think that matters, folks. I think Kyle has stuck his neck out in a way that, hell, some Democrats don't. And I really appreciate that. So two other questions on this front.

How do we know you're going to stick with the Democrats once you get into the Senate?

Let's say you get into a tight spot on a social issue or a traditional Democratic issue, let's say labor related and having been owned a construction company or owning a construction company.

Kyle Sweetser: 00:17:42

How do.

David B. Wheeler: 00:17:43

We know you're not going to waiver on us after we help get you there?

Kyle Sweetser: 00:17:50

Well, I'm going there to solve problems. I'm going there to help Alabama.

And when you look at labor and you look at unions in Alabama, that we have the ability, unions have the ability to change the narrative and to, to really do well in Alabama. And I'm, I'm here to help unions do that. And if you look at our numbers, we've got 38, 38 workers per every 100 job openings.

And then we also have the lowest or one of the lowest work, what is it worker participation rates in, in the United States? It's 57%.

So I think there's a lot of room for unions to, to grow here by targeting some of that workforce participation where we're low and trying to bring that up.

And that'll really help change the opinion of unions here because what we're, what you're going to be fighting here on labor is you're going to be fighting this. It's been ingrained in people by the Republican Party.

And so I think that having this, this fresh take, you know, with a fresh face, which is me, if they, they, if they'll have me, I will help them, you know, re, rebrand or do whatever they need here to, to try to one help our state because we are in a crisis or work with, with the amount of workers that we have here available.

David B. Wheeler: 00:19:21

I think that's, I think that's helpful. You know, while unions are great in some places, they're not as great in others.

I, I think expansion of unions in Alabama would probably be a good thing. It would be tough, but probably a good thing.

So the other thing that I think is on Democrats minds these days and, and especially it's a favorite topic of this podcast as Mo will attest to, is winning. I think you would probably agree that Democrats sometimes, you know, snatch victory out of the jaws of loss or whatever that phrase is.

Snatch victory out of the jaws of something. And we want to know how you're going to win this race. Tommy Tuberville obviously is pretends like he's an idiot.

I don't think he's as stupid as he wants everybody to think he is. Or maybe he is. How are you going to win this race against an incumbent that will say and do anything to get reelected?

Kyle Sweetser: 00:20:28

So it's going to be a lot of work, a lot of work on the ground. Run a grassroots campaign.

I'm going to talk to as many people as I can, speak at as many events as I'm invited to and do everything in my power to, to try to get my name out there. As far as, you know, him saying and doing anything that's expected. That's what the Republican Party does.

We're just going to stick to the numbers, we're going to stick to the data, we're going to stick to the economy. I think if we stick to the economy, we don't get lost in the weeds. We win. And that's really going to be helpful to the Democratic Party in Alabama.

These tariffs and these, this, these terrible economic policies and this chaos, you know, where they're hurting everything from people's 401ks, you know, to, to their pocketbook. It's an opportunity in a state like Alabama to, to really, for Democrats to really capitalize on this.

And so yeah, I'm just going to stay as narrow as possible on the economy, focus on the economy.

That affects every person in Alabama and every person in Alabama is going to be paying more right now because of the policies of the Republican Party. And specifically Tommy Tuberville has been ultra pro tariff, which is ultra anti Alabama.

Col Moe Davis: 00:21:53

Listen, you mentioned earlier, you talked about cuts to Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. You know, that's one thing of, I know it's a, an important topic here in western North Carolina.

And again, having lived in Alabama, I know it's an important topic down there as well, where, you know, folks that are on the, you know, the lower end of the economic spectrum. You know, Medicaid is in many cases a lifesaver.

And the recent budget that, you know, the Republicans passed through Congress would call for an $880 billion cut over the next 10 years. So in North Carolina that would result, potentially result in 650,000 people losing their health care.

And in Alabama it would result in a 45% reduction per Medicaid patient. So how is Tupperville supporting a 45% reduction in payments for Medicaid patients in Alabama? How's that good for the state of Alabama?

Kyle Sweetser: 00:22:57

Yeah, that's a great point. And what's also good to note about that is that we have rural hospitals. Most of them are operating in the red.

The majority of them are operating in the red. And they're going to, they rely, you know, on this in order to stay afloat. And so you're, it's going to collapse part of our economy.

And, and not just, not just that, but I think a quarter of the state of Alabama's money that flows here is, is from the federal government. So a quarter of our economy, dollars wise, is based on, you know, federal, federal funding. Basically. It's just, it's, it's wild.

I, I don't know how he's gonna try to get away from that other than the, the bread and butter, which is pretty much all they have here is to talk about social issues constantly. But what's interesting to note about these social issues is we're, we're to the far end of that.

There's, they, they can't go any further without taking something else. So you look at J.D. vance and some of J.D. vance's past comments, and if I can call them out on it, I'm going to call them out on it.

They want to ban no fault divorces.

JD Vance has said that multiple times and I could see them pushing something like that in Alabama because they have no, the, the social conservative movement in Alabama has nowhere else to go there. There's nowhere else for them to go other than to erode the people of Alabama's rights.

And, and another note on, on those no fault divorces, they prevent violent domestic violence by, by a large percentage. I don't remember quite what it is. I think like there's 20% uptick without it or downtick with it, something like that. But that was a.

Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan pushed that in California. He was the first person to push that. You know, those no fault divorces.

So that's also a part of, you know, one of the major icons of the Republican Party, that Ronald Reagan, that was a part of his, his legacy, another piece that could potentially be eroded away.

So, you know, I think that we need to, to get the Republican Party, if they're able to draw us out on these issues, which I don't want to, you know, I don't want that to be what the campaign's about. But if they draw us out on these issues, we need to make them define what they want want.

I think if we are able to get them to define what they want, there is no way they can use that platform anymore.

Col Moe Davis: 00:25:30

And I think, you know, quite often they can't define what they want there.

ran for Congress here back in: 2020

And I'll be quite honest, I think, you know, they've done a really good job of getting people to focus on where people pee.

I think people are more concerned about, you know, their paycheck and, and paying their bills than they are about, you know, which bathroom somebody's going to use.

But another program that the Republicans have put on the chopping block is, is Head Start, which is a program has been around for, for 60 years now and they want to just totally end it. 46% of those head Start child care slots are in rural districts and often it's the only.

In some counties, the only certified child care is, is a, through Head Start and they want to end that. And you know, to me, one of the things that's hard to square is with Medicaid. Again, they want to cut, significantly cut Medicaid.

They also want to impose a work requirement if you're going to get federal benefits and you've got a, an obligation to work. But Head Start enables over a million working class families to work by providing child care.

So we're going to take away child care, we're going to force you to work and if you don't, we're going to take away your health Care. And it's kind of hard to put that together and say that these are, this is a pro life, pro family party.

Kyle Sweetser: 00:27:23

Yeah, you're, you're absolutely right.

And talking back on that, on that point, you know, we have one of the highest infant mortality rates in the United States and Alabama, we have of the lowest life expectancies. And you know, I tie that partially to our, our low income here.

You know, you're not able to get the care you need and when you can't get the care you need, you're not going to be as healthy.

And so that's, you know, just, it's, it's mind boggling and it's turning into this perfect storm all the way across the board from our, from our workplace shortages to the, to the, you know, anti immigrant push while we don't have workers here. At the same time, it doesn't make any sense.

And then, and then you've got that, that where they talk about how they are pro life, but then at the same time their policies.

In Alabama, we have 15 years of one party Republican rule and we have for what, 48, 49th in life expectancy and then, you know, super low on infant mortality. 40% of the people in the state of Alabama live in poverty. And that is why we have some of those issues.

And then when you start taking away the federal, federal aid, it is just a perfect storm of destruction to, to our state and to the people of Alabama, you know, which like I said, it's horrible right now what, what looks like is going to happen to our state. It looks like the Trump administration designed a plan to destroy what their most loyal base. It's just insane.

Col Moe Davis: 00:29:06

Yeah.

You know, I'll tell you, when I ran early on, I talked about people here, Western North Carolina again reminds me a lot of, you know, what I experienced in Alabama where western North Carolina is behind and we keep electing people that seem intent on keeping us behind and cutting programs that help people get ahead. Just, you know, it doesn't make sense. And people, I think you got to give the other side credit.

They've used their money, their wealth effectively to put out propaganda that has convinced people that it's their, either their patriotic duty or their religious duty to vote against their own interests. And you know, they're, they're starting to feel the pain here.

I know in western North Carolina with some of the, the cuts, you know, one that's going to impact your state and ours is this cut in trying to get rid of the Department of Education. And when I Lived in Montgomery. And I know in Alabama, it varies quite a bit.

Like up around Huntsville and some of those areas, the public schools are really solid, but in Montgomery, the public schools were abysmal just because they weren't adequately funded.

And every time it came up on a referendum to increase property tax, you know, to make the schools better, people would say, wait a minute, I'm spending thousands of dollars to send my, my kid to private schools. Why would I want to pay more tax? And that's. That cycle just repeated itself.

So I know for us, my daughter, it was actually a relief when she went to college because it was cheaper for her to go to college to a state school than it was what we were paying for private, you know, K through 12 in Montgomery. So what's your take on this move by the Republicans to, to end the Department of Education and its support to the states?

Kyle Sweetser: 00:30:56

Yeah, another horrible policy.

That's $2,400, I believe, or somewhere around that per student in the state of Alabama that, I mean, it's just detrimental to our state, detrimental to our overall economy.

This stuff is going to affect people's jobs, it's going to affect people's jobs, and, and it's gon affect our ability to, to raise our kids and, you know, just, just another sad situation and another failure of the Republican Party, or I guess in their case, the success of being able to, to lie to people in a way where they vote against their own interest.

David B. Wheeler: 00:31:39

I think you're a good candidate. You know, beautiful family, great history in Alabama. I think a more center, middle of the road Democrat makes more sense in Alabama.

Are you, are you gonna be a typical Democrat and let the Republicans run over you, or are you going to fight back? We'd like you to go listen to Rachel Bitter Coffers podcast with us.

She points out that in the last campaign, 90% of Trump's money was spent on banging the shit out of Harris. And it was the opposite with Harris. She only spent 10% banging on Trump.

I think if, realistically, if you think you're going to win, you're going to have to be tough. You're going to have to spend a lot of money on banging on Tommy. Are you willing to do that?

Kyle Sweetser: 00:32:36

Yeah, absolutely. You know, we saw what, what little platform that I had.

I did everything that I could, received tons and tons of threats, and for whatever reason, I guess they viewed me as a threat. Man, it was crazy. But I'm gonna come after him with everything that I got.

I'm gonna come out swinging and and do do what needs to be done, which is to call him out. And it's not only to call him out, it's to call the Republican Party out and state Alabama for their failures.

If you were to take the same game plan that they did to California and do that in Alabama, it would be devastating. Democrats haven't, you know, we haven't done anything like that.

But, you know, the crime rate in Alabama, I think at some points is higher than in Cal. And so you've got all these people in red states that, that are thinking that these blue states are worse off.

But then you look at the numbers and like in Mississippi, you're twice as likely to get shot, I think, than, than if you're in Haiti. And it's just wild. So these things need to be said. Nobody's saying them. These things need to be said.

And I'm going to do it and, and I'm going to come after all the failures in our state. The Republican Party is the establishment in our state right now.

The Republican Party controls the presidency, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the state House of Representatives, the state Senate and the governorship. And Alabama, they control as much as they can control. They are the establishment. And I'm going to come after the establishment.

David B. Wheeler: 00:34:08

And voters want a fighter, man. I mean, I want somebody that's not just going to roll over and start spouting out about a bunch of policy that everybody knows the Democrats are for.

I, you got to stay laser focused on this son of a and go after him personally now, you know, don't do anything you're not comfortable with.

But when he, you know, you find he spent money on, and you know he has on something he should, shouldn't have, bang away on him on that because that's what resonates with people.

Oh, that guy who spent money on a dinner that he shouldn't have or he was traveling all over the world and charged his mini bar back to the taxpayers.

Don't get hung up on all these issues like Democrats normally do, unlike Mo and me, and just bang, bang, bang, and get a coalition of other people to do it. We'll do it on our part from this podcast and from American Muckrakers.

But I think you've got to commit to going after Tommy 90% of the time and 10% talk about your sweet family and, and how you're connected to Alabama. But again, listen to that podcast which Rachel talks about because she doesn't sling bullshit.

She did the research on the last campaign and 90% of what Trump spent was banging on Harris and 10% of what Harris spent was banging on Trump. So look at that outcome.

So tell us something that nobody knows about you, Kyle, that would, would resonate with Alabamans as well as listeners from across the country. And we've got a great group of folks in Germany that listen to us as well.

Kyle Sweetser: 00:35:58

That's interesting. Well, I may give you a couple things. I, I live, I live out in the woods, so I'm like a true dirt road politician. I live or will be.

I live a mile and a half down a dirt road that sometimes the neighbors help. I maintain. Most of the time the government won't help. So it's interesting.

I have an interesting take on, on roads and like, how important it is that the government funds our roads and funds our infrastructure. I married my, my, my best friend's sister. I met her at Mullet Toss in Alabama. So that's something that's interesting.

I think he didn't, he didn't talk to me for about a year, but he got over after that.

Col Moe Davis: 00:36:46

Is that, was that at the floor of Bama?

Kyle Sweetser: 00:36:48

Yeah, yeah, it's at the floor of Bama.

Col Moe Davis: 00:36:51

I've been there and got the T shirt.

David B. Wheeler: 00:36:55

Take it Mo. Take for one more mo.

Col Moe Davis: 00:36:57

Okay. Yeah.

You know, I, you know, again, I've spent 25 years in the military just totally disgusted with Tommy Tuberville and you know, his, you know, using the military as a pawn, you know, holding up confirmations, you know, even had, you know, like Lindsey Graham, you know, folks that are big Trump supporters and you know, banging on Tuberville for his obstruction that he, that he kept up for a very, very, very long time. But I'm curious, what's your view on, on the military?

And, and you know, there's a really strong military presence there in, in Alabama and what, what can you say to those folks that why you're, you're better for them than, than Tommy Tuberville?

Kyle Sweetser: 00:37:42

Yeah, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna fight for veterans benefits and I've got a ton of friends that, that are in the military still. I have a ton of friends that, you know, are veterans.

And you know, looking at that issue where he held up those military promotions, that was disgusting because he held it up over an issue that he couldn't win. He lost the issue, held up those military promotions, caused chaos, and then lost a space command because of that.

I mean, that, that was just a, a horrible political stunt. That, that hurts, that hurts our military.

But I'm going to do everything in My power to, to serve our military, to respect our veterans, to respect our active duty. They have a soft spot for me. And, you know, that's very important. And that is one of the reasons why I was a Republican in the past.

I felt like the, the Republican Party did, did better for, for the military, but that. That's changed.

Col Moe Davis: 00:38:49

Yeah, it strikes me as, as odd. I'm where I, where I live. I'm about a mile from the VA hospital and that's where my dad was 100% disabled veteran from World War II.

That's where he went and got his health care. And, and now that's where I go and get mine. And this, you know, Elon Musk and Doge and their plan to cut 20% of the VA workforce.

I mean, to me that's. And, you know, they said it's going to make it more effective and more efficient.

But imagine when Tuberville was coaching at Auburn, you know, if reduction makes you more effective and more efficient, and he should have been putting seven players on the field instead of 11. And we'll see how that turns out. So what's your take on.

And let me preface this too by saying I, you know, spent time in the military, and then afterwards I, you know, worked in the, in the federal government for a number of years.

And I'm not going to stand here and say that there's not some inefficiency and they're not some government employees that should have been sent home, but the way they've gone about this, just taking a meat cleaver in, just indiscriminately cutting, whether it's the VA or State Department or just take your pick. What's your take on this effort to just eviscerate the federal government?

Kyle Sweetser: 00:40:07

It, you know, it's, it's hard to say what their goal is or what their plan is, because ultimately people are going to realize that the Republican Party is no longer for the military. The Republican Party is no longer for veterans.

In fact, you know, you can see with a lot of the rhetoric in the past, I don't want to dig too much into that, but you know that they do not. The leader of the Republican Party doesn't respect military service.

Look, you can't go across the board and promise, you promise these people, as part of their service, you promise these people that you take care of them. We promise veterans, we promised military that we would take care of, that our government would take care of them.

And then to then pull the promise back is atrocious.

Col Moe Davis: 00:40:54

You know, listen, it's. To me, it's encouraging, you know, hearing people like you. We've had.

We've had folks on the show, you know, Pam Hemphill was known as the MAGA grandma.

She was one of the ones that was convicted for breaking into the Capitol and after going to prison, you know, did some research and realized that, you know, she bought into the propaganda and had been misled.

We've had Adam Kinzinger, Rick Wilson, David Jolly, you know, a whole bunch of folks that were lifelong Republicans that aren't now, and you're certainly another example. So, I mean, it's hopeful that, that. I mean, I think sometimes on the Democratic side, we just want to throw our hands up and say there's.

There's nothing we can do. But there are people like you that, that are willing to, you know, To. To make the switch and to. And to see, you know, right from wrong.

I mean, I was struck.

s and called Biden a. And the: 2020

How does he get away with that? I mean, there's nothing Christian about cruelty, but it seems like that's kind of the heart of this whole MAGA movement.

Kyle Sweetser: 00:42:10

Yeah. So he gets away with it because a lot of people, they're just. Some people are very busy. They're very busy. They talk back and forth.

And, you know, the things he says on Truth Social, the things on Truth Social are designed for a certain crowd. And, you know, when he goes and says these things, a lot of people that voted for Trump, they're not going to watch him speak.

I think that, you know, in order to break through to people, and this is just reality, they. People have to be negatively impacted by his policies.

And as they're negatively impacted, and even before we have to say, hey, this policy is going to negatively impact you, and then as it negatively impacts them, we have to continue to tell them, hey, this is because of. Of.

Col Moe Davis: 00:42:54

Of him.

Kyle Sweetser: 00:42:55

This is because of the new Republican Party. This is because of what they're doing, I think that now is the time to do that. And in the past, in my case, I worked seven days a week.

I worked, you know, to the point of.

Of, you know, probably not good for my health, that I would work Sundays, I'd work holidays, I'd work every chance I could get any job that I could get. And that's when I was a Republican, you know, and I actually was, was injured at one point. I tore my pec major on a job.

eady personally impacted post: 2018

And I think because people have been negatively impacted and because we started talking about, and Kamala Harris did a great job of talking about Trump's economic policies, I don't think people give her enough credit and how they're going to negatively impact us and getting out there on think that because the Democratic Party started doing that, you know, with something like tariffs, then we can say, hey, look, these policies do not work for you. And I believe that we're going to have the ability, because people are personally impacted, to, to break through to them.

And, and, but that's why when we break through to these people, we need to start on the economy. And so I think that it's important that we can.

We stay on the economy, especially in red states, trying to break through, you know, and turn the tide. Because it's a curve, it's a learning curve for people. It's going to take a while for people to understand some of these issues.

And even, you know, a lot of, I've learned a lot of progressive issues, Republicans, your everyday Republicans you talk to, they think are okay. So we just got to break through this propaganda.

And the way we do that is we start with the economy and we stick to the economy, I think, as best as possible.

David B. Wheeler: 00:44:57

I think that's a terrific way to position yourself, Kyle. You know, hopeful fighter, willing to fight for you as Alabama and willing to take on the, the establishment in the current senator down there.

So listen, I, we're a big fan of courageous people. You're clearly a courageous guy. Jumping parties, getting into this RA under this party, that's new to you.

And I, I just think it says so much about you and your character that you're willing to stick your neck out again. And it's not easy being a Democrat in Alabama. And again, folks, I hope you'll give Kyle a look. Consider donating to him.

Consider supporting him on social media when he puts things out on Blue sky or X or wherever he is. Make sure you retweet it and, and give him a hands up. You know, part of being a candidate is the good, the bad and the ugly.

And we need to encourage more folks like Kyle to run, and then once they get in, we got to support them. So, Kyle, you. You got two big fans on this show for doing what you're doing. We wish you all the best. I hope you come back.

Col Moe Davis: 00:46:15

I'll be a third fan.

David B. Wheeler: 00:46:16

And we have a third fan, Bill, the guy who's working on my house. That's right.

Col Moe Davis: 00:46:22

And, hey, well, listen, you had me with the.

You know, most folks go to the mullet toss, and they come home with a hangover, a T shirt, and a new tattoo, and you came home with a wife, so you've definitely got the potential to be the next Doug Jones.

David B. Wheeler: 00:46:37

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And so we're delighted to have you here, Kyle. Tell us, tell folks where they can donate, where they can learn more about you.

Kyle Sweetser: 00:46:47

Yeah, absolutely. So I'm on pretty much every platform now. Main platforms that I post on are X Blue sky, you know, and we started a Facebook page, too.

You can Visit me at kyle4alabama.com and learn a little bit about me, and as time goes on, we'll put more out. I really, really am very appreciative to y'all putting me on your show, and thank you so much for your support. It means a lot to me. And.

And we're going to take Tommy Tuberville down.

David B. Wheeler: 00:47:21

All right, let's do it, man. We're 100% behind you. And, folks, again, please consider supporting Kyle and his great campaign. And that's a wrap for this issue of Muck you.

Well, Colonel Mo Davis and I wade through the swamp of nonsense with sharp wit and sharper truths. Thanks to our guest today, Kyle Sweetser, for driving into the muck with us and sharing more about his campaign for the Alabama U.S. senate.

Learn more about Kyle's campaign at kyle f o r alabama.com and learn more about us and donate@americanmuckrakers.com or follow us on Blue sky at American Muckrakers. Until next week, keep your boots muddy, your mind clear, and muck you Alrighty.

Jimmy Muckraker: 00:48:11

This has been Muck U co hosted by Colonel Mo Davis in Asheville, North Carolina, and David Wheeler in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. Thanks to our guest today, Kyle Sweetser, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. senate in Alabama.

merican Muckrakers. Copyright: 2025

You can learn more and donate at AmericanMokrakers.com Follow us on Blue sky under AmericanMuckrakers.com and on substack at americanmokrakers.substack.com David and Mo Hope y'all come back soon for a new episode. And remember to never take from anyone, especially Trumpers.