#1550 - Wesley Hunt

Joe Rogan (0:12)

Mr. Hunt, welcome aboard.

Wesley Hunt (0:14)

Happy to be here.

Joe Rogan (0:15)

Thanks for being here. I really appreciate it. A friend of Dan Crenshaw's is a friend of mine, all of them. So Congress, running for Congress. This is what I want my congressman to look like, jacked veterans.

Wouldn't the world be a better place?

Wesley Hunt (0:32)

I agree, I think so.

Joe Rogan (0:33)

I mean, it really would be.

So tell me what this has been like, running for Congress. Is this the first office you've run for?

Wesley Hunt (0:41)

This is the first time, thank God.

Joe Rogan (0:42)

What started this? I know you're friends with Dan, who's also a congressman. What started this journey?

Wesley Hunt (0:47)

Yes, great question. And thank you so much for having me on.

Joe Rogan (0:50)

My pleasure.

Wesley Hunt (0:50)

This is awesome. Really appreciate you. And what started this was really just my family and how can we continue service just in a different capacity. I come from a military family, so my dad did 23 years in the Army, retired as a lieutenant colonel.

My sister went to West Point in my family first. So she's 10 years older than me, did 23 years active duty. She was a military intelligence officer, deployed to Iraq twice, did a few tours, or brought as well. I went to West Point in my family second. We were 10 years apart, my sister and I, and then graduated West Point in the class of 2004, flew Apaches in Iraq for 8, was actually active duty 8 years, deployed to Iraq, did 55 combat air missions in Baghdad, and then did 2 tours of duty in Saudi Arabia as a diplomatic liaison officer. My brother, it was 10 months and 8 days, my juniors were Irish twins.

He also went to West Point, and he did 5 years in the Navy, went to Harvard Business School for his graduate degree, and now lives in Houston with his family. It was about 60 years worth of military service just in my immediate family.

Joe Rogan (2:01)

Respect.

Wesley Hunt (2:02)

Thank you, sir.

Joe Rogan (2:02)

That's a lot.

Wesley Hunt (2:03)

Thank you.

Joe Rogan (2:04)

That's a serious, serious military family.

Wesley Hunt (2:07)

It is. My mom's the best of us, so she stood at home for 2 months in 2006 while I was flying combat air missions in Baghdad. My sister was doing intel in the green zone, and my brother was in the Arabian Gulf on the destroyer for 2 months at the same time.

So even though she didn't serve in the military per se, she served those who served by lending her family. So when people ask me, why am I running for Congress, I always lead with that, because that's the kind of service and sacrifice it takes for us to live in this free country.

Joe Rogan (2:38)

So this is just a mindset that you were raised with.

Absolutely. And what made you make the leap?

Wesley Hunt (2:49)

So there's a lot of things going on in the country that we're seeing right now.

Joe Rogan (2:53)

Really? I thought everything was fine.

Wesley Hunt (2:56)

A few things we got going on in the country right now. And my dad always taught us, leadership is not about when it's convenient for you. It's about when your country needs you.

And our country needs us, I think, in this, which seems to be a dark time. We've had some dark times in the past. I'm sure we'll get into that. But it's always my opinion that patriots always step up when our country needs us the most.

And that's kind of what we were taught to do, to give back to the country that gave us all that we have.

Joe Rogan (3:27)

Now to all the things that are going on in the country right now, what stands out to you as something that you feel like you can contribute and possibly help correct or at least get on the right track?

Wesley Hunt (3:39)

Yeah. So there's a lot of talk of a lot of racial injustices of the past. This is something that I think I'm uniquely positioned to talk about. My great-great-grandfather was a slave. His name was Silas Crawford, born on Rosedown Plantation, just north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Three of his great-great-grandchildren all attended West Point.

I earned three master's degrees from Cornell University. My brother went to Harvard, sister has her advanced degree in applied mathematics. We've had the honor of serving our country. We've had the honor to live in a free country. We are standing on the backs and on the shoulders of absolute giants. And while we have a ways to go, by God, that's some serious progress.