Hope, Hype, and the Ballot Box: Breaking Out of “Lesser-Evil” Politics with Tyler Todt

Jerremy: 00:00:00

Dave Conley.

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What we chatting about today, my brother.

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Dave: In this week's episode of Solving

America's Problems, we dive into how

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political promises often shatter into

disillusionment, leaving voters picking

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the lesser of two evils, while money

from big donors owns the candidates.

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It's a system where hope turns to

hype and personal responsibility

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becomes the real path forward.

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Joining us is Tyler Tote, a

dedicated husband and father who's

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transformed lives as a health coach

for leaders and high achievers.

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Building a dedicated online

community through uplifting

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guidance on mindset and vitality.

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His own journey from early

political excitement to seeing

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through the corruption mirrors

what so many face today.

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And that's this week on solving

America's problems from Obama.

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Hope to voter dissolution, breaking the

cycle of broken promises with Tyler tote.

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Jerremy: Voting in America right

that's become a frustrating maze

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of gerrymandered districts felony

disenfranchisement, hitting millions,

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and technology vulnerabilities

like deep fakes eroding trust.

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With turnout, lagging, and institutions

facing record low confidence, we're

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left asking how did the ballot

box turn into a battleground?

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And what bold fixes can

turn apathy into action.

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My name is Jerremy Alexander Newsom.

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My co-host Conley, and this.

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Is solving America's problems.

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Joining us is my dog, Tyler Tote, a

dedicated husband and father who's

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transformed lives as a health coach

to leaders and high achievers,

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building a dedicated following of more

than a quarter million on X 66,000

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YouTube subscribers through uplift.

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infused guidance on mindset and vitality.

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His personal arc from Obama

era hope to discontent.

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broken promises and media spin mirrors,

millions of voters showing why personal

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responsibility out shines political hype.

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unpack and elevate.

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Tyler, welcome to the show.

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Tylertyler-todt_1_09-08-2025_060242:

Ah, thanks so much Jerremy and Dave.

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It's an honor to be here, man.

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Can't wait to chop it up with you

guys and it should be a lot of fun.

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So honored to be on man.

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Jerremy: Yeah, absolutely.

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Tyler, what's your earliest memory of

voting or maybe watching someone that

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you love walk into a voting booth?

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Tylertyler-todt_1_09-08-2025_060242:

Yeah, so I can pretty vividly

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remember a couple things.

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One, I was in fifth grade, I

believe, and my grandfather gave

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me a couple of Bill Clinton tags.

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And so I took him to school and I sold

them for a couple bucks and said, if

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you want to be in the Clinton Club with

me, I was always an entrepreneur, right?

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I didn't even know who Bill Clinton

was or who he was running against, but

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that was probably my earliest memory.

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But then if you really

fast forward to college.

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I never followed politics or

anything, and then I bought into the

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whole Obama hope and change thing.

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And I'd been disillusioned up

till that point by seeing that.

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I don't know, a lot of people might come

in and say they're gonna do these things.

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Lot doesn't seem to happen.

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Then there was this new guy that came in

who looked a little different, who spoke

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a little different and who said, yeah,

it's not gonna be business as usual.

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There's not gonna maybe

be as much corruption.

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There's not gonna maybe be as much

as some of these other things.

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And so I was actually

pretty on board for that.

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That was the first time I voted.

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And I really cared.

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And at that time for better

or worse, I was a professional

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poker player in college.

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And I had heard Obama loves poker.

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He's all for freedom, all this stuff too.

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So there was a lot of reasons

pushing me towards that.

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But that was the first time

I was pretty amped about it.

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Jerremy: Yeah.

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Whoa.

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It makes sense.

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It's also an age thing too, right?

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As we get older, we start to.

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Tuning in and checking

in and getting in there.

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go back to the most

recent vote that you had.

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So we had a huge longest

presidential vote not that long ago.

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And when you were stepping into

that polling place, what emotions

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came up for you personally and

have they shifted over time?

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Tylertyler-todt_1_09-08-2025_060242:

Yeah, so you know, again, if I were

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to go back to that 20 years ago or 15

years or whatever, when Obama was in.

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become pretty disillusioned.

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Then after I saw some of the, the guy

wins the Nobel Peace Prize and, but

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he's drone struck and killed more people

than every other president combined.

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So I started seeing some of this.

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Oh, Obama loves poker.

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Poker became illegal during his tender.

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Like you could go play

poker legally in Iraq.

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You could not in the

United States of America.

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And that was because of a very corrupt

called the Port Security Bill, where they

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tack on a gambling thing because one of

his biggest donors, Sheldon Anderson,

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and I could really get into that.

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But then I just became very disillusioned.

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So to be honest, I didn't vote

for a main candidate after that.

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This year, I voted for third party people.

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I was really into man, the two

parties are one and the same.

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I believe since Citizens United, that

was the biggest turning point where

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just money can now, individual people

or corporations can donate a hundred

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million, 200 million, 400 to one

candidate and they just own the candidate.

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So the candidate really has

to do whatever they say.

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I don't know.

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It seemed you're picking, you're

always picking the lesser of two evils.

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Like when is the last time that you went

to the ballot box and you're fired up?

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And you're like, man,

this guy's gonna do it.

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Maybe some people feel

that way about Trump.

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I think most people overreact to Trump.

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They either think he's like

Hitler and Satan, or they think

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he's the second coming of Jesus.

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I tend to think he just

falls somewhere in between.

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He does some good things.

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He does some really dumb things

that, that's most people without

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offending too many people.

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I have testosterone in my body,

so I couldn't vote for the left.

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This time I felt like there's been an

attack on men and masculinity and a

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lot of those things from that side.

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and so I, in good conscience,

just couldn't vote for that.

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But again I felt like I was

picking the lesser two evils when

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I walked in, and made my decision.

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Jerremy: Yeah.

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I've heard that so many times

when it comes to voting for the

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president of the US very frequently.

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I get, or I'll hear

something to the extent of.

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There's not many choices.

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These are the only best two we can get.

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This is it.

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Dave: In their

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Jerremy: all the people out

there, these are the two.

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I hear that often.

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Yeah, it your story rings true, I think

with, I'm sure with so many other people.

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Tylertyler-todt_1_09-08-2025_060242:

I think Jerremy, you and I went

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on a hike with a really cool other

guy, so there was three of us.

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And

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Jerremy: Yep.

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Tylertyler-todt_1_09-08-2025_060242:

I would guess that any one of

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us three you could probably put

in, we'd be more morally sound.

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I just think you could, I don't know

how we get stuck with these candidates,

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man, but maybe that's the point.

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I don't know, because we saw like

a very rigged primary, right?

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Where Trump would've never won,

to be honest, in: 2016

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Sanders was probably gonna

beat him for better or worse.

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And then all of a sudden you just saw the

Hillary Clinton, that machine come in,

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Bernie sells out, gets his third mansion.

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And you just see all

this corruption, right?

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And so I don't know, maybe the whole

thing is corrupt and that disillusions me.

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I think that disillusions a lot of people.

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That's why, big part of my

message is yes, I do vote.

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I think it's important you wanna

honor the people who fought for in the

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past, and that you have the freedom.

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it can feel almost like a, an illusion

of freedom, like no matter who you pick.

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Putin had a pretty famous saying.

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He said, I've been president

through five of your presidents.

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And trust me when I say the men

in suits tell them what to do, no

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matter who they are, the men in

suits come and tell them what to do.

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They campaign on all these promises.

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They don't really get a choice, though.

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the older I get, the more I tend

to think he, there might be a lot

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of truth in that, to be honest.

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Jerremy: That's fascinating, ma'am.

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Yeah, I think what you

said a moment ago about.

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Hey, people fought and died for this.

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This ability this privilege.

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And even though we might not

necessarily be making a choice

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that we know is gonna have a true

impact, the fact that we should vote.

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probably should just try

it, a situation, right?

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So it's like an apathy, almost more

of an excitement where this is an

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opportunity for me to really do something.

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What's your general take,

man on a day-to-day reality?

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So voter ID requirements you big thing.

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Like we should show voter id,

should we be mailing in ballots?

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Is there something better out there?

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Tylertyler-todt_1_09-08-2025_060242: Yeah,

this seems like really easy to me, man.

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It seems really funny that I don't know.

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I go back to have you ever seen that

YouTube clip of like, where that one dude

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goes down in the hood and he asks a bunch

of black people like, do you have an id?

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Because there's this really weird

narrative that it's racist to show an

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ID to vote and all of 150 black people

and are like, yeah, of course I'll

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have an ID man, like I'm a citizen.

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I don't know, like you, you to

fly on an airplane, you need an

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ID to get a driver's license.

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You need an ID to go buy a firearm.

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You need an id.

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It would just make sense that

you would need an ID to vote.

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I've never really understood

any I've never heard one

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good reason why that's not.

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A thing I've I know many black people and

I've yet to meet one that says, man, it's

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just, I go to the DMV and every time they

tell me I'm black, I can't get an id.

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Like I've never heard that in America.

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Until I do, I just think

it's a pretty simple thing.

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We should have fair elections.

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People should have confidence around it.

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I don't think a lot of

people did after: 2020

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and I just, don't understand

why that wouldn't be a thing.

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I think we should have a national

holiday, it should be that Tuesday.

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Everybody should be off the same way we

have Veterans Day, Memorial Day, whatever.

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It should be, a national

holiday, no school.

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Because I do think there

probably are some very nefarious

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things where in certain areas.

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Um, If people work and then they close

the polls at six, maybe you're gonna get

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a certain demographic that might vote a

different way that can't get down there.

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So we should

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Holiday.

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Everybody should have a chance to go vote.

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But yeah, man you need

to show an ID like that.

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That just seems very common

sense and very logical.

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Dave: We've brought this up

now three times, like when

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we first started this and I.

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It does seem like really basic, have an

id and yet the data keeps on coming back.

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Like millions of people don't

have an ID and I'm like, who are

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these people we've come around to?

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So I get the whole disenfranchise thing.

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And I get how some people

might not have an id.

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Maybe they were born someplace where they

don't have some source documentation.

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They don't have, social security cards.

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Maybe they don't, maybe

they're homeless, right?

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And they don't have these regular things.

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And to everybody's point, it's to function

in today's society, you do need an id.

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We've landed on this.

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It's not a voting problem,

it's an ID problem.

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We need to really push, like making sure

everybody has an id, everybody can, get

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a driver's license or something that

says, Hey, like I'm in this this place.

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Because even if things require an, ID

say getting social security benefits

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or getting any kind of help, you

need an id and if you can show that

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you have a utility bill, then okay

that's a step in the right direction.

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Tylertyler-todt_1_09-08-2025_060242:

Yeah, I'd be all for any kind of program

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that if there are millions of people that

cannot get an id, again, I don't know

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how you function in life without one.

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Yeah I'm cool for making that.

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I hate the word free

'cause nothing's free.

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It's gonna be our tax dollars.

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Funding it.

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But I'm okay with our tax dollars funding,

helping and ensuring that every US citizen

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has an ID or some form of documentation.

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That seems, again basic and easy to do.

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I'm just, I've met.

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Tens of thousands of people

in my life and I'm yet to meet

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one who just can't get an id.

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So I don't know where that comes from.

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I'd really, I'd love to interview

those people and learn and understand

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why they can't, and then maybe if we

understood why we could brainstorm

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some solutions on how to, not

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Jerremy: Yeah.

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Tylertyler-todt_1_09-08-2025_060242: that.

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But again, I'm yet to meet anyone

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Dave: It's a lot of young people too.

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So in the data, it's like a bunch

of 18 year olds, a bunch of 19

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year olds, they don't have IDs.

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And I'm like, oh man, I

couldn't wait to start driving.

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So it doesn't jive with me.

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But I hear you.

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It seems pretty basic to me.

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Tylertyler-todt_1_09-08-2025_060242:

and maybe that, I don't know.

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I'd bring up a point on that and say

if you're 19 just too lazy to go get

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one, but you have all the means to get

it, maybe you don't get to vote then.

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Because if you're too lazy to drive

down to the BMV to get an id, then I

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don't really feel like you probably

are contributing a lot to society.

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There's a couple arguments

to be made where.

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If you're not paying taxes, if you're

not a landowner or a homeowner or

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whatever, which I think that goes

too far, but I could almost say if

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you're not paying any taxes and you

don't have any skin in the game,

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should you really get to cast a vote?

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And I don't know.

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When I think about it from that

term, I'm like we're voting because

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look the government takes about

50% of my income every year.

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If you added up income, property, fuel,

inheritance, capital gains, all the taxes,

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Jerremy: lot.

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Tylertyler-todt_1_09-08-2025_060242:

Oh, it's a lot.

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It's a ton, right?

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And I don't think they use all those

necessarily very wisely, as we've seen

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with Doge and some of these things, right?

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But I do think if you're paying nothing

and you have no skin in the game

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at all, then becomes a big problem

where you're just gonna vote for

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whoever promises you the most stuff.

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I'm gonna give you a free cell phone

and free housing and free this, and

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free that, which really isn't free.

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It's coming from the

people that are paying.

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then I think you get into a big

problem where, one side kind of

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promising all this free stuff,

free college, free this, free that.

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then you just have a whole segment

of people who don't really pay into

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the system but are getting a lot out.

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And now they're just basically, they're

always gonna vote this same way 'cause

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they're promised a bunch of free stuff.

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And I think that becomes

a pretty big problem too.

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Jerremy: The two things I love and

I think it's a very fun discussion.

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I think Dave would, it

might have been you,

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Dave: Oh.

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Jerremy: it was okay, but I'm pretty

sure it was you where you're like,

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Hey, national Holiday, love that take

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Dave: Yeah.

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Jerremy: it should be,

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Dave: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Jerremy: That's really fun.

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That's a great idea.

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Seems really easy.

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Yes.

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To that one for sure.

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And I believe.

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The paying taxes let's dive into

that for just a quick hot second.

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'cause that's fun.

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What type of taxes, just off the top

of your head, would you say could

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qualify someone for the ability to vote?

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Tylertyler-todt_1_09-08-2025_060242:

Off the top of my head,

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any kind of income tax.

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But I suppose if you're functioning in

society, you're already paying sales tax.

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You're already paying fuel tax,

you're already paying a lot of

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these taxes, so that probably,

qualifies like 90% of people.

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I guess the problem, and I don't

know maybe this isn't that big of

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: 00:13:59

a problem, but the problem I see

right now is you do have maybe

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: 00:14:04

not even that large of a segment,

but a segment that's just promised

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: 00:14:07

you get to go to college for free.

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: 00:14:09

You get a cell phone for free, we'll

give you free housing, we'll give you

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: 00:14:11

free food, don't ever work or anything.

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: 00:14:14

And like I've personally known.

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: 00:14:16

A couple like single moms who are stuck,

but they're trying so hard to fight and

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: 00:14:19

work and get their way out of this, and

then all of a sudden they learn that if

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: 00:14:24

they do take that second job and work

a little harder, now they don't get the

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: 00:14:28

food benefits and the housing benefits.

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: 00:14:29

So they're dis-incentivized to actually

work harder to improve their situation,

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: 00:14:34

but then they feel like I gotta

vote this certain way, or I do lose

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: 00:14:37

all these quote unquote free things

and I feel like you're just stuck.

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: 00:14:41

I wish we had a better system that

just rewarded people for working hard.

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: 00:14:45

And again I don't, that's probably

way too complex for me to figure out

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: 00:14:49

here, or any of us to figure out in

a 30 minute, segment or whatever.

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: 00:14:53

But it just seems to me like a

lot of people are stuck in that.

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: 00:14:56

Like you almost can't earn above a little

level or you lose all that free stuff,

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: 00:15:00

but then you have to keep voting that

way 'cause you get that free stuff.

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: 00:15:03

Yeah.

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: 00:15:04

Jerremy: yeah, there.

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: 00:15:04

There's something inherently

wrong with handouts.

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: 00:15:09

One of my mentors always said we

should be giving hand ups not handouts.

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: 00:15:13

Tylertyler-todt_1_09-08-2025_060242:

That's

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: 00:15:14

Jerremy: to, to your point, like

some type of level metric, right?

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: 00:15:17

Where it's like, Hey, do this,

accomplish this, have this.

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: 00:15:20

But yeah, you, when you start making

too much money and then you get

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: 00:15:24

punched in the face essentially

where now it's like a negative, like

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: 00:15:27

a net negative to make more, you

have everything taken away from you.

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: 00:15:32

That's the problem for in the beginning.

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: 00:15:34

And so Dave, for us, I think at some

point, one thing we haven't really

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: 00:15:38

gone down yet is like that Medicare,

medicaid, government benefits

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: 00:15:42

essentially discussion on the podcast.

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: 00:15:45

I think that'd be really fun to

just chit chat about that one.

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: 00:15:49

Alex: Next on Solving America's Problems,

Tyler slams the ID debate as manufactured

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: 00:15:53

outrage while Dave pushes for universal

access—their clash exposes raw truth about

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: 00:15:58

millions potentially blocked from voting.

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: 00:16:02

But Tyler's take on how BIG money owns

every candidate cuts even deeper...