Moment of Truth

This week on Moment of Truth, Nick sits down with Professor Ilan Wurman of the University of Minnesota Law School for one of the most illuminating legal conversations the show has ever had.

Wurman makes the full originalist case that the conventional wisdom on birthright citizenship rests on two shaky pillars: a misreading of the common law and a misreading of the 14th Amendment. He explains why birth alone was never actually the rule at common law, what "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" really meant to the people who wrote it, and why the social compact theory changes everything. He also gives his honest read on Trump v. Barbara, what he thinks the Supreme Court will do, and what Congress could do right now if it decided to act. This one is for immigration hawks and legal eagles alike.

Follow Ilan: https://x.com/ilan_wurman

Check out his podcast: https://x.com/rationallypod

Find his book: https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/law/constitutional-and-administrative-law/constitution-1789-new-introduction?format=PB&isbn=9781009485692

This episode is brought to you by STAED, the official drink of Moment of Truth.

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American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

Subscribe to our Podcast, "Moment of Truth"

Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-truth/id1555257529

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This week on Moment of Truth, Nick sits down with Will Fry, founder and CEO of American Operator, to dig into one of the most important and least discussed crises facing the American economy: the small business succession problem. Over half of America's 6 million small businesses with employees are owned by someone over 55, most of them have no exit plan.

If nothing changes, millions of them will either be swallowed by private equity or simply shut down.

Will explains how American Operator is building a model to keep these businesses in local hands, why the SBA is actually one of the most effective federal agencies in Washington, and what the ‘Deez Nuts’ grill brush story tells you about the state of American manufacturing. They also get into hiring philosophy, what makes a great operator, and where CAN Main Street go from here.

Small business owners, sound off in the comments.

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American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

Subscribe to our Podcast, "Moment of Truth"

Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-truth/id1555257529

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/5ATl0x7nKDX0vVoGrGNhAj

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This week Moment of Truth is LIVE! Nick Solheim sits down with Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri, with a special introduction by Theo Wold.

This one covers a lot of ground fast. Senator Schmitt gives his live reaction to a major Supreme Court gerrymandering ruling that came down right before the event, and then gets into the left-wing political violence problem, the Luigi left's assassination culture, and why no one on the Democratic side will call it out.

He makes the case for why MAGA is not going back, explains why the staffing question matters as much as the candidate, and goes deep on legal immigration — the H-1B scam, the OPT program, and why the "we don't have enough workers" argument is a lie that Republicans have been too timid to challenge. The senator also gave a live reaction to the president's announcement about reviewing troop deployments in Germany, prompting some foreign policy commentary. And stick around till the end to hear his predictions on the congressional baseball game.

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American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

Subscribe to our Podcast, "Moment of Truth"

Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-truth/id1555257529

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/5ATl0x7nKDX0vVoGrGNhAj

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This week on Moment of Truth, Nick sits down with Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist and author of the new biography Alito: The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution, for a deep dive into the most consequential yet least understood justice on the Supreme Court.

Mollie makes the case that Samuel Alito is not just the author of the biggest conservative legal victory in fifty years, but also the clearest model for how to balance principle and pragmatism in a movement that tends to choose only one. They cover originalism and how Alito's brand of it differs from Scalia and Thomas, the inside story of how Dobbs actually came together, the unprecedented leak that triggered assassination threats against the justices, the smear campaigns from Bork to Kavanaugh, and why the lower federal courts — not the Supreme Court — are the real crisis facing the rule of law right now.

Follow Mollie: https://x.com/MZHemingway

Get the book: https://www.amazon.com/Alito-Justice-Reshaped-Restored-Constitution/dp/1541607139

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American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

Subscribe to our Podcast, "Moment of Truth"

Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-truth/id1555257529

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/5ATl0x7nKDX0vVoGrGNhAj

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This week on Moment of Truth, Nick is out of the office, so the American Moment staff have taken over the studio. Chief of Staff Isaac Kirshner is joined by Director of Operations Havi Rubenfeld, Director of Personnel Mary Frances Devlin, and Personnel Manager Emma Verrigni for an episode that pulls back the curtain on everything American Moment does and gives a genuine, unfiltered look at what it actually takes to get started in DC.

They dive deep into all of American Moment’s main programs - Fellowship for American Statecraft, AM Fridays, and the Frontiers of American Statecraft program. They also talk honestly about what they look for in applicants, what they wish they had known before moving to DC, and how to survive on a Hill intern salary.

Whether you are thinking about applying to a fellowship, planning your first DC summer, or just curious what goes on behind the scenes at American Moment, this out of the box episode is sure to leave you better prepared and ready to join the fight.

https://americanmoment.org/about/team/

Follow Isaac: https://x.com/IsaacKirshner

Follow Havi: https://x.com/Havivarose

Follow Mary Frances: https://x.com/maryfrandevlin

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American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

Subscribe to our Podcast, "Moment of Truth"

Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-truth/id1555257529

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/5ATl0x7nKDX0vVoGrGNhAj

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This week on Moment of Truth, Nick sits down with Katy Talento, CEO of AllBetter Health and former White House Domestic Policy Council staffer, for one of the most illuminating conversations the show has ever had on healthcare. 

Katy traces a career that took her from the Senate HELP Committee to a convent to the Trump White House where she helped win the fight for hospital price transparency, one of the most important and least understood healthcare reforms of the last decade. She breaks down why the Republican approach to healthcare has been a political loser for twenty years, who the real villains in the system are, why your insurance card is probably costing you more than cash would, and why American medicine has no answers for the chronic illness epidemic slowly destroying the country. She also gives a frank assessment of where MAHA stands today and what HHS still needs to do. 

This one will change how you think about your own healthcare.

Follow Katy: https://x.com/KatyTalento

Katy's Substack: katytalento.com

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American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

Subscribe to our Podcast, "Moment of Truth"

Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-truth/id1555257529

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/5ATl0x7nKDX0vVoGrGNhAj

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This week on Moment of Truth, Nick sits down with Matthew Haller, President and CEO of the International Franchise Association, for a deep dive into one of the most underappreciated pillars of the American economy. Three and a half percent of US GDP runs through the franchising model and most people have no idea.

Matthew explains how franchising actually works, why it is one of the most powerful wealth-building tools available to ordinary Americans, and why the left has spent twelve years trying to quietly destroy it through labor regulation. They also get into the history of franchising from Ben Franklin to Ray Kroc, the difference between a Starbucks and a Dunkin Donuts dollar, the incredible story of a Capitol Police officer turned Chick-fil-A franchisee in DC, and the inside scoop of how President Trump ended up behind the fry machine at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania.

This one is a genuine education from start to finish.

Follow Matt: https://x.com/matthewhaller

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American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

Subscribe to our Podcast, "Moment of Truth"

Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-truth/id1555257529

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/5ATl0x7nKDX0vVoGrGNhAj

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This week on Moment of Truth, Nick sits down with Noah Wall, founder and president of the State Leadership Initiative, to learn why Republican-run states are, in most meaningful ways, just Democrat-run states with lower taxes.

Noah lays out the full architecture of what he calls "the shadow government" — a constellation of left-wing NGOs that quietly control every major function of state government, from Medicaid to transportation to state parks — and explains why the conservative movement has almost entirely ignored this problem. They dig into why the reddest states tend to produce the worst Republicans, how the Chamber of Commerce has captured the state GOP in ways most voters never see, and what a handful of states like Florida, Idaho, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Indiana are actually getting right.

If you care about winning, this is the episode to send to everyone you know.

Follow Noah: https://x.com/NoahWall

Follow SLI: https://x.com/RedStatesLead

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American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

Subscribe to our Podcast, "Moment of Truth"

Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-truth/id1555257529

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/5ATl0x7nKDX0vVoGrGNhAj

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This week on Moment of Truth, Nick sits down with Isaiah Taylor, founder of Valar Atomics, for a return visit and an update from their first conversation in August 2023, when Isaiah was a solo founder with a pitch deck and a dream.

In less than three years, Valar Atomics has grown to over 100 people, achieved the first-ever startup nuclear criticality in American history, airlifted an entire reactor on three C-17s, and is on track to bring a functional reactor online by July 4th in time for the 250th anniversary of the United States.

They talk about what made all of this possible — namely, four executive orders signed by President Trump — and why it was functionally impossible before that. They also get into the China nuclear gap, why cheap energy is the single most important variable in the geopolitical competition of the next century, and what synthetic hydrocarbons could mean for American energy independence.

Keep your eye on Isaiah and Valar Atomics. This is only the beginning of an incredible story.

Follow Isaiah: https://x.com/isaiah_p_taylor

Watch our previous episode with Isaiah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yboOWa0i72s

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American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

Subscribe to our Podcast, "Moment of Truth"

Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-truth/id1555257529

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/5ATl0x7nKDX0vVoGrGNhAj

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This week on Moment of Truth, Nick sits down with Christopher Barnard, President of the American Conservation Coalition, who makes the case that conservation is not a left-wing issue... and in fact, it never was.

Chris traces the roots of American conservation back to Teddy Roosevelt, explains the critical difference between conservation and preservation, and lays out what a genuinely pro-human environmental agenda looks like in 2025. They dig into the Make America Beautiful Again executive order, the wildfire crisis caused by decades of terrible forest management, and why regenerative agriculture is one of the most exciting policy opportunities on the right right now.

They also get into energy dominance — what it means, why permitting reform is so urgent, and why America needs to stop choosing between oil and wind and embrace our ability to build everything. If you ever thought environmental issues belonged to the left, let this episode change your mind.

Follow Chris: https://x.com/ChrisBarnardDL

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YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4qmB5DeiFxt53ZPZiW4Tcg

American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

Subscribe to our Podcast, "Moment of Truth"

Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-truth/id1555257529

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/5ATl0x7nKDX0vVoGrGNhAj

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