Political Trade Secrets: Winning Campaigns | Elections

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Who Wins the 2026 Midterms? A Pollster & Forecaster Compare Notes Oct 26, 2026

Show notes

🎙️ Political Trade Secrets: Who Wins the 2026 Midterms? A Pollster & Forecaster Compare Notes

Who will control the House and Senate after the 2026 midterms—and what might the polls, forecasts, and political headlines be missing?

Join host Dustin Olson, pollster and Managing Partner of American Pulse Research & Polling, and Patrick Allocco—veteran campaign operative, technology entrepreneur, founder of the Zoose Political Index—as they pull back the curtain on the numbers, assumptions, and campaign fundamentals shaping the final stretch of the election.

From writing turnout software for Tom Kean’s 1985 reelection campaign to building AI-assisted election forecasts today, Patrick brings decades of experience at the intersection of campaigns and technology. Together, Dustin and Patrick explore what these tools can reveal, where they can mislead, and why human judgment still matters.

The episode explores:

• The battle for Congress, including Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and the races where candidate quality and campaign dynamics could challenge the national narrative

• Why the House and Senate could tell different stories—and how national mood, turnout, and individual candidates shape the outlook

• How Patrick builds the Zoose Political Index using polling, historical voting patterns, social media signals, and AI-assisted analysis

• The Wedgewood fake polling controversy, pollster track records, and the questions voters and reporters should ask before trusting a headline

• Why sampling, response rates, live interviewers, and multimodal research matter to getting accurate results

• What early campaign computing and get-out-the-vote operations can teach today’s campaigns about using A.I. effectively

BONUS: Stay to the end for Patrick’s stories from his days as a concert promoter working with Michael Jackson to organize the Jackson family reunion tour—and his account of the concert-promotion trip that turned into a 50-day hostage situation for him and his son.

Explore Patrick’s forecasts and subscribe to the Zoose Political Index at zoose.substack.com.

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The Political AI Arms Race: How AI Is Transforming Campaigns, Advertising, & Persuasion Oct 21, 2026

Show notes

🎙️ Political Trade Secrets: The Political AI Arms Race: How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming Campaigns, Advertising, & Persuasion

Who’s getting ahead in the political AI arms race—and what happens when AI helps create the campaign message and becomes the filter through which voters receive it?

Join host Dustin Olson and guests Julie Sweet of the AAPC and Justin Germany of Outlaw Media as they pull back the curtain on how AI is changing the mechanics of campaigning in the 2026 midterms and beyond.

From real AI-generated commercials to new research on which party is winning the AI arms race and how AI disclaimers affect voter trust, this conversation explores what the technology can do, where it creates friction, and why experience and human judgment still matter.

Justin Germany, founder of Outlaw Media and veteran ad-maker from the Bush-Cheney and McCain presidential campaigns, and Julie Sweet, Director of Advocacy & Industry Relations at the American Association of Political Consultants.

The episode explores:

• Who’s ahead—and where: Republicans’ early-adoption advantage, how both parties are adapting, and where Democrat organizations are getting their material into AI-generated candidate answers.

• Inside the creative process: Justin breaks down his Coign and Trump Account commercials—and explains why making an AI ad still requires a director, not just a prompt.

• The new information filter: How chatbots, AI search summaries, and personal assistants could change what voters learn about candidates.

• Satire, deception, & disclaimers: What Julie’s research reveals about voter trust—and why labeling something “AI-generated” may not explain what viewers are actually seeing.

• The less-visible battle: How model refusals, political free speech, and data privacy affect the work happening behind the scenes.

PLUS: Stay to the end for a look toward 2028—personalized political messages, synthetic influencers, and AI agents that could change how campaigns and voters interact.

Learn more about Julie Sweet’s work and AAPC’s research and resources at TheAAPC.org, and explore Justin Germany’s work at OutlawMediaLLC.com.

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Battle for the Senate: 7 Toss-Up Races That Will Decide 2026 w/ Mike Hahn Sep 30, 2026

Show notes

🎙️ Political Trade Secrets: Battle for the Senate—7 Toss-Ups That Will Decide the 2026 Midterms

Which Senate races could determine control of Washington in 2026, and what is happening behind the scenes as campaigns compete for voters, donors, attention, and a technological edge?

Join host Dustin Olson and guest Mike Hahn, President of Digital at Frontline Strategies, as they break down the battle for the Senate and pull back the curtain on how digital campaigning, fundraising, and artificial intelligence are changing the mechanics of modern campaigns.

Mike brings experience from inside some of the biggest Republican political operations of the past decade. He previously served as Deputy Digital Director at the NRSC and worked on President Donald Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns, including as Director of Social Media. He shares how digital evolved from one part of a campaign into infrastructure touching communications, fundraising, voter outreach, targeting, and more.

The episode explores:

• Seven Senate battlegrounds: Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Texas

• What public polling may be missing in some of the closest Senate contests

• Why candidate recruitment and candidate quality matter to the shape of the Senate battlefield

• How campaigns digitally target critical voter blocs through connected TV, social media, data, and tailored messaging

• WinRed vs. ActBlue: how fundraising platforms, donor data, and small-dollar money have changed the digital campaign ecosystem

• What national campaigns can teach smaller campaigns about digital fundraising, social media, and building a donor base

• What Trump’s social media approach can teach candidates about authenticity, direct communication, and being interesting

• The political consulting AI arms race and why campaigns and firms are moving quickly to gain a technological edge in data segmentation, targeting, fundraising copy, and content creation

• Why Georgia deserves more attention and what Frontline Strategies is seeing in the Senate race there

From polling and candidate recruitment to WinRed vs. ActBlue, social media, voter targeting, and AI, this episode of Political Trade Secrets looks beyond the headlines to reveal the machinery underneath the 2026 campaign.

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How Gen Z Is Rewriting Politics: Building Influence, Winning Young Voters, & Making America Talk Again Aug 05, 2026

Show notes

🎙️ Political Trade Secrets: How Gen Z Is Rewriting Politics—Building Influence, Winning Young Voters, & Making America Talk Again

How do you build political influence before ever running for office?

Why did Generation Z move sharply toward Donald Trump and Republicans in 2024?

And in an age of algorithms, outrage, and social media, can America learn how to talk to each other again?

Join Dustin Olson and Brilyn Hollyhand—author of Make America Talk Again, Gen Z political commentator, media entrepreneur, and former chair of the Republican National Committee's inaugural Youth Advisory Council—as they reveal how a fourth-grade podcaster grew into a national political platform, why young voters are reshaping American politics, and what it will take to turn online influence into real-world political action.

From Donald Trump's gains with young men to campus debates, social media algorithms, bots, paid influencers, and the future of civil discourse, this episode explores the hidden mechanics of modern political persuasion—and why much of what you see in traditional and social media is often far less organic than it appears.

The episode explores:

• Why Gen Z and young men moved toward Donald Trump after years of being dismissed, stereotyped, and told that masculinity was "toxic"

• How campus visits, TikTok, YouTube, podcasts, and giving young people a genuine seat at the table helped transform political preferences among younger voters

• Why the lasting social, educational, and political effects of the COVID lockdowns continue to shape Gen Z six years later

• What political leaders must do to convert online engagement into real-world turnout—and why internal divisions can squander political momentum

• Why the loudest and most extreme voices online rarely represent the silent majority of students, workers, and voters in the real world

• How bots, undisclosed paid promotions, coordinated meme campaigns, and possible foreign influence can manufacture outrage and manipulate political narratives

• Why rebuilding civil discourse requires the courage to be booed, debate people outside your political bubble, and stop treating social media like real life

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🕊 Legacy of the Late Congressman Tim Murphy: Navigating Congress, Trauma, Faith, & A Life of Service Jul 29, 2026

Show notes

🎙️ Political Trade Secrets: The Legacy of Congressman Tim Murphy: The Late Psychologist, Navy Reserve Officer, Author, & Mental Health Reformer Shares Wisdom on Navigating Congress, Trauma, & Faith in a Life of Public Service

Join host Dustin Olson and guest Dr. Tim Murphy—licensed psychologist, former Pennsylvania Congressman, former Pennsylvania State Senator, former commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, mental health reform leader, and author of The Christ Cure, The Angry Child, and Overcoming Passive Aggression—as they pull back the curtain on Congress, public service, mental health reform, trauma, faith, and what it really takes to help people through politics.

Recorded shortly before Dr. Murphy’s unexpected passing, this conversation now serves as a meaningful reflection on the causes and convictions that shaped his life’s work: healing families in crisis, supporting veterans and first responders, reforming the way America treats serious mental illness, and reminding leaders that public service should be about more than ego, status, or political theater.

The episode explores:

• What Dr. Murphy learned as a psychologist about power, leadership, narcissism, and the psychological toll of public life in Washington

• Why he believed people should not run for office just to say something, but because they have something important to say

• How Congress really works behind the scenes, from legislative “sausage-making” to the hard reality of passing major reforms without receiving the credit

• The story behind Dr. Murphy’s landmark mental health reform work, including the bill that passed the House 422–2 before becoming part of the 21st Century Cures Act

• Why he believed America must distinguish between broad “mental health” and serious mental illness, especially when dealing with schizophrenia, homelessness, addiction, and families in crisis

• How serving in the Navy Reserve and working with traumatic brain injury and PTSD patients at Walter Reed reshaped how he viewed politics and service

• Why faith, forgiveness, humility, purpose, and community are central to healing trauma, especially for veterans, first responders, and those who love them

• How Dr. Murphy’s books, articles, and work through Gunny’s Ridge continue his mission of helping the broken, the hurting, and those carrying unseen wounds

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📚 Back-to-School Political Playbook: Empowering Parents, Navigating School Boards, & Protecting Your Child's Education Jul 22, 2026

Show notes

🎙️ Political Trade Secrets | Back-to-School Political Playbook: Empowering Parents, Navigating School Boards, & Protecting Your Child's Education

What should parents know about how to get involved before their kids head back to school?

Join host Dustin Olson and guest Alexandra Bougher—Moms for Liberty Media Ambassador, Newsmax contributor, and mother of three—as they reveal how parents can navigate school boards, curriculum, local education politics, and the fight to shape their children’s education.

As families across the country prepare for another school year, this episode offers a practical back-to-school political playbook for parents who want to understand what is happening in their schools, build relationships with teachers and administrators, review curriculum, show up at school board meetings, and make a difference where it matters most.

The episode explores:

• How COVID-era school policies turned many everyday parents into local education activists

• Why parents should build relationships with teachers, principals, superintendents, and school board members before problems arise

• How to review curriculum, request lesson plans, use opt-out forms, and understand what your child is being taught

• Why school board meetings matter, which meetings parents should prioritize, and how to effectively advocate for your kids

• How parents can organize with others, host candidate forums, and support school board candidates who prioritize education excellence

• Why messaging matters when talking about parental involvement, school policy, and curriculum

• Why it is critical that parents take it upon themselves to teach history, patriotism, and citizenship at home while helping raise the next generation of Americans

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America 250 Series - Johnny Appleseed: Legend of America’s Pioneering Spirit, Born of the Revolution Jul 14, 2026

Show notes

🎙️Political Trade Secrets’ America 250 Series | Johnny Appleseed: Born of the Revolution, Legend of America’s Pioneering Spirit

What is the real story behind Johnny Appleseed, and how did John Chapman become one of America’s most enduring legends?

In this special America 250 episode of Political Trade Secrets, host Dustin Olson pulls back the curtain on the real John Chapman with Howard Means, best-selling author of Johnny Appleseed: The Man, the Myth, the American Story, and Ken Hammontree, living historian, Johnny Appleseed reenactor, performer of numerous historical figures, and author of There Was a Time.

Chapman was born of the Revolution in Massachusetts, the son of a Revolutionary War Minuteman. As the new nation moved west, he moved with it, living on the edge of the frontier between wilderness and civilization. His life grew alongside the country itself, from Revolutionary-era birth to frontier nurseryman to American legend.

But Johnny Appleseed was far more than the gentle children’s-book figure scattering apple seeds. Chapman was a landowner, businessman, missionary, pacifist, and American original who built a thriving apple tree business, helped settlers establish orchards, befriended Native Americans, gave generously to the less fortunate and animals in need, and carried his Swedenborgian faith through the Ohio wilderness.

Means separates the real John Chapman from the myth. Then Hammontree brings Johnny Appleseed to life in character for a living-history conversation about apple nurseries, Native American relationships, frontier hardship, faith, business, and life on the edge of civilization.

The episode explores:

• Why Johnny Appleseed was real, even though polling shows many Americans think he was mythical

• How John Chapman’s life mirrored America’s westward expansion

• Why apples mattered to pioneer life, land ownership, survival, vinegar, and hard cider

• How Chapman built a business empire on the cutting edge of the frontier

• Why his relationships with Native Americans set him apart from many other pioneers

• How his Swedenborgian faith, nonviolence, and “news right fresh from heaven” shaped his mission

• What frontier life was really like in the Ohio wilderness

• Why his story still matters as America celebrates 250 years of independence

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🐎 America 250 Series: Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride and the Night That Launched the Revolution Jul 07, 2026

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🎙️ Political Trade Secrets’ America 250 Series | Midnight Ride: How Paul Revere Saved the American Revolution

As America marks 250 years, do we truly understand the dangerous night that launched a revolution and helped make independence possible?

In this special America 250 episode of Political Trade Secrets, host Dustin Olson sits down with best-selling author Kostya Kennedy, author of The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America, to explore the real story behind one of the most famous events in American history.

This conversation goes beyond the Longfellow myth to pull back the curtain on Revere’s world, the Patriot intelligence network, the taverns and messengers that carried information, the other heroes who spread the alarm, and the chain of events that led to Lexington and Concord.

Kennedy explains why Revere was more than a folk hero. He was a silversmith, express rider, trusted messenger, and operator inside an early American communications network that helped turn a British march into the opening chapter of the American Revolution.

This episode explores:

• The real Paul Revere beyond Longfellow’s legend: silversmith, express rider, and trusted Patriot messenger

• The Patriot intelligence network behind the ride, from Joseph Warren and the Green Dragon Tavern to the committees of correspondence

• The wider warning system, including Dawes, Prescott, the lantern signal, borrowed horses, and riders spreading the alarm town to town

• Why John Hancock and Samuel Adams were in danger, and how the ride helped set the stage for Lexington and Concord

• The mystery of Margaret Kemble Gage and whether a warning from inside British command reached the Patriots

• Why April 18–19, 1775 changed the trajectory of the Revolution before independence was even declared

• What Revere’s ride teaches us today about courage, vigilance, communication, and ordinary Americans meeting the moment

• BONUS: Stay to the end for Kennedy on his book Pete Rose: An American Dilemma, recent developments in Rose’s Hall of Fame eligibility, and how Rose could get another look in the next few years

You can buy Kostya Kennedy’s new book The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America wherever books are sold.

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🇺🇸 America 250 Series: Lives, Fortunes, & Sacred Honor Jul 01, 2026

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🎙️ Political Trade Secrets’ America 250 Series | David Barton on the Declaration of Independence, the Founders, and the Faith Behind 1776

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, do we still understand what made the Declaration of Independence possible?

In this special America 250 episode of Political Trade Secrets, host Dustin Olson is joined by David Barton, best-selling author, founder of WallBuilders, host of The WallBuilders Show, and author of Lives, Fortunes, & Sacred Honor: The Signers of the Declaration, to pull back the curtain on the faith, ideas, sermons, and sacrifices that shaped America’s founding.

This conversation explores the Declaration of Independence, the Christian heritage of the American Revolution, the pastors and patriots often associated with the Black Robe Regiment, and the forgotten Founders whose courage helped secure the liberty Americans still enjoy today.

This episode explores:

• How sermons, pastors, and Biblical ideas helped shape the grievances and principles behind the Declaration of Independence

• What the Black Robe Regiment reveals about the role of clergy in the American Revolution

• How the Declaration was debated, revised, adopted, and signed

• Why Barton says Thomas Jefferson has been deeply misunderstood, from the Jefferson Bible to separation of church and state

• The forgotten stories of Founders like Benjamin Rush and John Witherspoon

• What the signers risked when they pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor

• Why America 250 should be about more than fireworks, nostalgia, or slogans

• What Americans today should remember about faith, liberty, rights, and self-government

You can buy David Barton's new book Lives, Fortunes, & Sacred Honor: The Signers of the Declaration on Amazon.

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🌍 The Human Cost: Broken Borders Forcing Political Realignment Worldwide Jun 25, 2026

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🎙️ Political Trade Secrets: The Human Cost: Broken Borders Forcing Political Realignment Worldwide

Join host Dustin Olson and guest Nicole Kiprilov—Republican strategist, media commentator, and Executive Director of The American Border Story—as they reveal why human stories are now the most powerful force reshaping politics on immigration.

From Angel Families and fentanyl victims to ranchers whose land has been destroyed, this episode breaks down how the real human cost of open-border policies is driving major political realignments—from the United States to Britain’s collapse under Starmer. Nicole explains why pure fear messaging is no longer enough, and what candidates must do differently heading into the 2026 midterms.

The episode explores:

• Why stories beat statistics to communicate the human cost of the border crisis

• How Angel Families are making sure victims are not forgotten

• How the fentanyl crisis connects to open-border policies, cartel supply chains, and online grooming

• How sanctuary states, local prosecutors, and state-level policies undermine federal immigration enforcement

• What candidates should learn from President Trump’s 2024 immigration message heading into the 2026 midterms

• Why Nicole says the Right needs stronger political and media infrastructure to compete with the left

• How candidates can talk about border security, ICE, and immigration enforcement with both competence and compassion

• Why immigration enforcement is becoming a defining political issue not just in America, but around the world

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