America UnCanceled: Americans Are Turning to PublicSq. for Their Shopping Needs w/@realmichaelseif

Friend of CPAC, someone who is really at the tip of the spear when it comes to dealing with being an anti-woke corporation and really being a strong voice out there, Michael Siefert, CEO of Public Square. Thank you for joining me, Michael. Glad to be here, Mercedes. Good to see you. So there's a lot going on right now with Public Square. Y'all just went public just a few weeks ago. I want to play a video of when that moment happened at the New York Stock Exchange. Tell me about that moment. Why is this such a crucial moment for Public Square and for the future of Public Square? Well, it was quite a day, a day we'll never forget. What was even more special than that is that obviously our team enjoyed it. We knew that we would enjoy it. But the fact that all the traders on the floor enjoyed it as well. The vice chair of the floor of NYSE actually came up to me afterwards and he said, hey, just so you know, you've got like a 99.9% approval rating in this room. These people are with you. They just haven't felt like their voices have mattered. And that morning they did. People were shouting USA in unison. It was incredible to witness. The only person that didn't like it, the 0.1% was Jim Cramer. And that's OK. Jim Cramer doesn't like what we're doing. That's probably a good thing. And it was an incredible day for a lot of reasons as well, because it signified this milestone for us that now allows us to be a company not only by the people and for the people, but ultimately owned by we, the people. We wanted to go public earlier on in our journey so that we could actually grow with our consumers as owners in the mission. That's always been the heart of this. And so it didn't feel right to be a company that was only owned by a few large private investors. We wanted to actually democratize the capital markets and give people an opportunity to invest their money in a company that does not hate them, that actually appreciates them and their classic traditional American values. So yes, Thursday, July 20th was a day we'll never forget. And it was really felt like the starting line of a new chapter for us. Yeah, I mean, I got to tell you, I've seen so many of these companies try to work in the space of what we call that parallel economy. Really, not many of them have been able to make it as far as what you all have been able to do with Public Square. But you're, you know, you're dealing with so much of this craziness out there. I know we've been, you know, whether it's Target, where they hire a satanic designer. You have now Harry's Razors, which is the latest in this crazy, woke transgender world where literally they are funding child gender mutilation with their profits. I want to play this clip from the CEO of Harry's Razors and get your comment. You know, created a really sort of unbalanced dynamic and made the co-parenting thing really hard to actually live in practice. And so, you know, that experience, you know, was one that led us to this conclusion that, hey, we need not just a general parental leave policy, but an equal parental leave policy that treats birthing and non birthing parents equally. So we've implemented that and give everybody four months, regardless of whether you're the birthing parent or the non birthing parent. Michael, I didn't realize you were a non birthing parent, but your wife is a birthing parent. I mean, seriously, this is a type of stuff that just turns off the consumer. And they are looking for alternatives. What's your response to this? It's news to me as well that I'm a non birthing parent. And I'm sure my wife will be shocked to learn that she is a birthing parent rather than a woman and a mom like we obviously know is accurate. This straying away from basic tenets of truth in biology is incredibly destructive culturally. It's also incredibly destructive economically when there's a CEO of a major household good brand that can't even discern what a man and a woman is. We should be very concerned about the status of the United States economy. If those people are the ones that are housing the keys to our economic success in the world of consumer products, we should all be very concerned. My response is simple. These people have taken their eye off the ball so many times. They're focusing on these petty progressive political issues that have nothing to do with providing quality goods and services. And it's like they're asking to fail. And so I would imagine that what's going to happen from here is that a lot of consumers are going to take their money elsewhere. And when they do, we are very proud to be able to showcase to them dozens of razor companies on the public square platform that know what a woman is. They know what a man is. And they're very proud to say that because we should all feel very confident in speaking the truth. We should never feel like the truth is being silenced or suppressed. And unfortunately moves out of Harry's is just another action toward trying to silence the truth and gaslight the public into believing that we're somehow crazy for believing that a man is a man and a woman is a woman. So we're not having any of it. And we're proud to support the alternatives from Harry's razors to Mary's razors. But let me just say this. I know that people should download the public square app. What are they going to find on the app? What are any of the latest changes that you all have made to that app? Well, we're continuing to make it more and more streamlined, focused on products. So in the early days, we were just a business director. You'd go to the platform and you would just find businesses that align with your values, both locally and online. And that was fantastic because it's a great starting place. It was a digital directory. Now we've moved more into product integration where businesses can actually link their products to the app and display within our user interface. And actually very exciting. The next step this fall, we're launching e-commerce where you're actually able to conduct your entire transaction right there from within the app with a click of a button. So one shopping cart and multiple vendors. That way, if you want to shop for razors and you want to shop for soap and you want to shop for baby gear and you want to buy a new pair of pants, you can do all of that in one transaction with one shopping cart. So it's a very exciting season for us at Public Square as we're seeking to become that one-stop shopping experience for 100 million plus Americans that have felt unheard and antagonized. You talked about babies and you also, on top of everything else, launch Every Life. It's a pro-life baby brand. Why did you decide to do this? What is this company about? Well, as shocking as this may be, albeit not all that surprising, every single one of the major diaper brands in the United States today are vocally or financially pro-abortion. It's shocking. It makes zero economic sense. Of course, it makes no moral sense. But when Pampers, Huggies, Hello Bello, Honest, Coterie, all these brands are going as far as to fund the employees' abortions that work for them. Coterie, which is one of the most premium diapers money can buy, actually came out and said that their employees feel, quote, lost without abortion. So this has all become so upside down and insane. We wanted to offer a hopeful alternative that was high-performing, that had a simple message. No matter where you're from, no matter what you look like, no matter your background, socioeconomic status, race, whatever you, whoever and whatever you are, Every Life is a miracle. And that message we're proud to proclaim at everylife.com. It's a high-performing diaper for every little miracle. We learned that our consumers were wanting it and yet they could not find alternatives out in the market that are values aligned. So we decided to create one. And it's really been tremendous thus far. How do you buy the diapers? Where do you go? You can head to everylife.com. Okay. If you head to everylife.com, you'll see very simple. You can purchase diapers in a bundle. You can do subscription. In fact, the majority of our purchases are subscription. People are loving coming back month after month. And what's also very exciting is that you can find them on Public Square and get an exclusive discount to Public Square for going there. So if you want to go to the Public Square app and search Every Life or search diapers, you'll see our brand. You can use code PSQ10 to get 10% off your first order. Pretty exciting. It sounds crazy to me because you're right. I mean, why would a diaper company give money to Planned Parenthood? Why would they, you know, it makes absolutely no sense. And it just shows how just perverse these companies have become. Where there is, you know, they pretend to be part of this political discussion and part of this higher morality. But it's they themselves who, you know, don't care whether there's, you know, sex changes or money going towards abortions. I mean, the whole thing is just driven by this insane leftist agenda. Is that what you're finding? It is. And it's unfortunate, too, because it's so out of touch with what actual Americans want. So take the baby care industry. The people having children en masse in this country are more conservative and traditionally valued. It's the Christian conservative moms from the Midwest that are having six kids, not the coastal elitist liberals. Like, that's not happening. In fact, to put some numbers around it, conservatives are having about 41% more kids than progressives right now. And so as you look at the market demographic, even if you're just a smart business person, what on earth would you be thinking if you went out and created a diaper brand that alienated that entire market and instead catered your value set to like 5% of the population? It does not make any sense. And what's obviously most sad is that it has really disastrous and deadly effects. I mean, when these companies lining up to financially support abortion, they're contributing to the death of more of their client base. And it would be as if, Mercedes, I said, I'm going to go start a shoe company for men. And in order to really gain traction in the market, I'm going to advocate for the termination of men. It makes no sense. And so we're trying to, more than anything, just restore common sense and normalcy back into the market because I think that's all what we're hungering for. Yeah, I mean, and you really understand with Public Square, just the demand from individuals, not only just conservatives, just even people in the center, people, you know, Americans that are just fed up with the woke corporation. But I do have to say, Michael, it was so funny the other day when we were talking. I mean, we have five girls. I literally said, I was like, Michael, don't you have like three or four kids? You're like, no, no, we just have one right now. I was already adding to you all the kids that you were going to, you know, have in the future. But what I think you realize and what I've learned is that, you know, being a parent is, if that's what God calls you to do, it is such a blessing. And being able to buy products that align with your values, you know, you know your money's being put to good use. And that is something that you all drive as your mission, which we greatly appreciate. I do want to add, you wrote an open letter to the laid off Bud Light workers. We know that Bud Light lost about $395 million during the second quarter sales this year. I don't think they could even give it out for free. We saw Costco's no longer going to distribute Bud Light. It's been ridiculous to watch how Bud Light has handled Dylan Mulvaney and that whole, you know, debacle. And in essence, it was interesting because you said, really the blames on the CEO, which, you know, instead of him getting a pay cut, that he literally, you know, laid off hundreds of employees. What is your open letter to these laid off Bud Light workers? And what have you heard from them? Well, our letter was simple. It was essentially stating that we're unfortunately saddened to hear that those 350 employees that were laid off were caught in the crossfire of poor marketing decisions made by upper management that they had no control over. And so when the CEO, Brandon Whitworth, is still keeping his fat paycheck and is not losing his job and is completely abdicated on responsibility, blaming it on the people below him, we think that it's really unfortunate that nobody is speaking to those workers, the 350 that were laid off to say, hey, we just want you to know that the rest of the world does not like Bud Light. And there are a lot of incredible avenues for employment that love our country, patriotism. They're never going to lecture you about gender ideology when you're just trying to buy a good or a service. And so if they are interested in a new career path, we have this network of over 55,000 small businesses that have these classic American values. We would love to connect you with them. And no guarantees, but let's see if we can get you hired. And so I was thrilled to put that letter out on Twitter. We didn't put any paid promotion like that or anything behind it, but thankfully it went viral, had over 3 million views in the first few days. And thankfully, the most rewarding part of all of it, we actually heard from some of the employees that were laid off. In fact, just within the first six hours, we had already had three of the resumes from laid off Bud Light employees that reached out and said, hey, I'd love to take part and see what you guys would maybe be able to offer. We have more than a few that are currently in interview processes with potential employers. So in less than a week and a half, there are a few folks that are well on their way to hopefully brighter paths forward with a company that would never stoop as low as to do what Bud Light did and then refuse to take responsibility for it. I think that was the most damaging part of this whole experience. On top of everything else that you all have been doing, you just announced that you're teaming up with Roseanne Barr to launch a show on Elon Musk, Rebranded Platform X. I'm still not used to calling it X. And why do this? Also, I know you have another deal with Tucker Carlson as well. I mean, these are huge influencers. Obviously, they play such an important role in the media space. Why the support for Roseanne Barr? Why the support for Tucker Carlson in making sure that their voices are heard? It's exactly that. We want to make sure that their voices are heard because they've been champions of free speech under fire. The fact that they refuse to back down to cancel culture and actually continue to speak up and look for avenues to do so, I think should be really inspiring for all Americans. When you're not able to discuss the truth, do you really live in a free country? And folks like Roseanne and Tucker remind us that there are the few that are brave enough to push back against the status quo and say, you know what? No, the truth is worth being pursued. And comedy is one of the most important avenues to do it. So do I agree with Roseanne Barr on every political or cultural issue? I'm sure not. But do I absolutely support her ability to stand for truth and for freedom? Absolutely, I do. And so we're proud to support those that have been canceled. I think that ultimately America's business community should come behind those creators and make sure they know that they're supported. A deeper point on this, Mercedes, is that sometimes on the right, we always complain about the George Soros's of the world and we lament about the fact that all the money is funneling to these creators or tech gurus that are weaponized against us. And yet, very rarely do we envision what it could be if we kind of fought back on the other side and actually put our capital and resources to the creators that will take a stand and push back against the mainstream narrative. And so that's what we're trying to do here. We're trying to mobilize the business community to be an economic force for good and for truth and for freedom and for capitalism. And I think that Roseanne Barr is a very funny mouthpiece to be able to do. And we totally support her. I'm a big fan. I love it. Let me ask you a final question here. Are you finding other CEOs that will call and be like, I love what you're doing, want to work more closely with you? Are there more of these? I mean, really, truly in the business community, so many of these CEOs just stay either quiet or they don't want to deal with the headaches of some of their staff that are pushing all this woke business. What's your sense of what you're hearing in terms of others in the business community? I sense that it's going to be a fun decade. There are a lot of folks in positions of leadership that are starting to say, look, man, I've had it. I'm done with the ESG. I'm done with the DEI. It's led nowhere strong for our business. We are getting decimated in the court of public opinion because we look like wet fish. This is just not working. And so we've had more than a few CEOs reach out to me directly and ask to lock arms and to kind of wade the waters of this cultural mess together. And we're proud to do it. So we have some amazing partnerships lined up, folks that we're excited to continue to grow closer to. But the important note here is that a lot of these CEOs honestly mean well. They didn't mean for their organizations to kind of fall into a cesspool of progressivism. What ended up happening is that they were incentivized with high ESG scores, that they could receive financial favors. And then they hired a diversity officer to come into their corporate board who hijacked the meetings and is seeking to turn it into a progressive political organization. All this happened gradually and then suddenly. And so I've spoken with many CEOs that are saying, I just woke up and realized what's happening. I'm getting the heck out of this environment. And there's some big businesses that people would be shocked if they knew, that have recognized that they've made some big errors and are ready to change ways. So again, it'll be a fun few years ahead. Well, we're looking forward to it. And thank you for being so brave and really pushing back against the wokeness and really standing up for American values and for so many of us out there who simply want to shop, make it a positive experience without having to deal with all the leftist madness that we're seeing out there. Michael, thank you so much for joining me on America Uncanceled. Thank you, Mercedes. Good to see you. Good to see you too. And remember to make sure you can listen to us on podcast, wherever you get your podcast. And also make sure to keep following us on CPAC.org for more information on what we're up to in the next coming months. So thank you so much for watching. God bless.