Frank Presents: John Deaton

[Music] hello this is Frank faly with Frank presents and today it's my honor and privilege to have John Deon candidate for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate thank you Frank doesn't that sound great John it sounds great and it's my honor to be here with you so thank you for having me I'm really looking forward to it John tell me a little about yourself well I I have a very unique life experience I come from uh a single mother on welfare and food stamps uh deadbeat dad who abandoned us and I grew up in a place called Highland Park Detroit and if you look it up you'll see that's one of the top ranked worst neighborhoods to live in all of America uh and it has been that way for quite a while for over 40 years I'm 57 years old um and there was even a sign not too far from one of my childhood homes that says internet your own risk police do not Patrol this area you you'd be shocked that we're living in America if you were to go back and uh drive down the streets to where I grew up it's pretty bad um I uh was the first person to graduate high school in my family everyone before me was a high school dropout because of the neighborhood for example Frank the first day of high school I had a 38 shoved in my mouth and the hammer cocked and the next day I was a high school dropout as you can imagine like everyone else and you know I grew up in extreme poverty uh born into intergenerational poverty my mother had a sixth grade education and um like I said on welfare and food stamps in fact uh pivotal moment in my life was when I was 14 I was I was out of high school for like three almost four months as a high school dropout desperately wanting to graduate high school and go to college and my mother caught me crying and she said John why are you so upset actually she called me John John back then why are you so upset and I said Mom I want to graduate high school I want to go to college and she said well just do what your brother did and you know work till you're 17 I'll sign the papers and join the military that's sort of like a poor kid's way out of poverty or out of the bad neighborhoods and so I told her I didn't want to really wanted to go to college and so I need to graduate high school and my mom God bless her she is my absolute hero she put her arms around me and said I'm sorry son that's just not for people like us and I explained to people that's what real true intergenerational poverty does to people it strips some of their ambition their self-esteem uh handcuffs the human Spirit and the mind if you will and and on that day at 14 I said I'm going to break the cycle of poverty and one day if I'm a dad I'll be a good dad unlike mine and that started my journey I started 14-hour 16-hour days uh found a a tiny Catholic High School in a place called Royal Oak Michigan and a principal named Terry art God bless him he gave me a he felt pity for me but Frankie made me earn it he said listen the tuition's $1,400 a day I'll cut it to 700 not, 1400 a year I'll cut it to 700 a year but you'll play two Sports you'll maintain a 3.5 and you'll be active in the church and uh I got a job washing dishes and waiting tables after football and basketball practice and paid my way through high school and then college and made it to Boston New England School of Law and that's uh where I went to law school graduated from New England School of Law in Boston what college did you go to I went to Eastern Michigan University it's down the street from University of Michigan and and IPS salani and I I'll tell you Frank I had no connection to Massachusetts uh ended up having the greatest connection ultimately but uh most of my life I didn't have a connection except for one thing I was a huge Larry Bird fan it's the truth especially in Detroit and uh I made my way here uh because of that I said well I'm going to get out of Detroit let me go to Boston I was praying that Larry Bird wouldn't retire my first year of law school which was 92 but he did uh so I never got to see him play in the garden uh which is something I look forward to but lived in Roxberry my first year uh East Boston my second and Ma my third and that connection I told you I realized I'm going to be the American dream I knew I was going to be a licensed lawyer here in Massachusetts I knew eventually because you know I feel I have some Talent at this and I'll couple it with my work ethic I knew I'd be successful so I really am the American dream I decided to join the milit after all and I joined the Marine Corps and I got chosen by the Marine Corps I tell everyone the truth is I couldn't afford Harvard Law probably Frank couldn't have got in to be honest but I beat out Harvard Law BC law bu law suffk law Northeastern yeah um uh well just I was talking about Massachusetts law schools uh because they only had one slot for the 1994 Judge Advocate law contract for the Marine Corps and students from all these Massachusetts schools were trying to get for it A Few Good Men it just came out 92 so everybody wanted to be like a Judge Advocate but I'm very proud the Marine Corps chose me to represent the Commonwealth and I'm very happy now I want to represent the Commonwealth in the Senate now you don't uh well first of all I gather that when you were in grammar school and Junior High School you were an outstanding student I was pretty good you know I I was a pretty good student no doubt about it um uh you know my public education wasn't the best I don't speak perfect English you know I think it's even though I'm a law school graduate because those early years I was in public schools of the real rough inner city couldn't get really a lot of quality teachers that would go teach and that but but I did well and why why did someone point a gun at you another student and didn't want you to go to high school I mean what was the other student perspective of why well uh it's a very impoverished neighborhood uh and it it was uh about 96% black population um I was one of the only white students in the neighborhood my from kindergarten to 8th grade there were three white students racial tensions were very high because in I was born in ' 67 during the race riots and and you know there were cops that had um executed Young Blackman and race was very uh bubbling over and very tense and so um that's part of it but uh they did it uh I mean I'm sure that guy put a gun on many black students as well it was just a very rough neighborhood Highland Park High um had the uh I guess designation of being one of the first high schools in America to have a um metal detector at the entrance somehow that kid got the gun past the metal detector but it was just a very violent uh rough neighborhood um my mother was stabbed when I was six for example in front if I recall right after World War II there were race rots in Detroit am I no there were there were race riots in Detroit and you know the neighborhood that I grew up um Henry Ford had opened up in the 50s um a uh or actually in the earlier than that opened up the First Assembly Plant for the Model T in my neighborhood long before I was born but he closed that plant in 1959 and when he closed that plant which basically everybody worked at that plant in that neighborhood it went from 50,000 people to like 12,000 and and people just moved out my mother unfortunately didn't have the means uh to to get us out of there uh and so it was a pretty rough neighborhood so you've graduated your school and then uh you were in Massachusetts yep um then what did you do well um I went on active duty in the Marine Corps after law school as a judge ADV Judge Advocate um I went to Yuma Arizona was my first Duty station I was the chief law enforcement officer and I was a Special Assistant United States Attorney there's actually a picture of me it was published in the heral uh I'm in camouflage un form uh I'm on active duty and there's a big piles of heroin and marijuana packages on the desk because the cartels would use Young Marines as mules to transport the narcotics or even people on the southern border so I actually was fighting border issues in the 90s dealing with the FBI border security Naval criminal investigative service seven years of active duty uh doing that I also taught seven years seven years I taught at na what did you rise to uh I was selected for major but I never pinned it on because I got hurt uh not in combat but in a training exercise I had a couple back surgeries and the Marine Corps medically retired me as an 03 which is a captain even though I had been selected to pin on the major okay um uh and so I after I got medically retired what I did is I became a lawyer here in the Commonwealth representing mesela and lung cancer victims from asbest so I've been fighting major corporations and insurance companies for 22 years and representing you know Working Families we're talking you plumbers Pipe Fitters service members Engineers electricians bus drivers truck drivers auto mechanics were were you w were you with the company that special izes there's a law firm that has advertised for years uh on Master Poma yeah no they they they advertise but they what they do is they get the case and then they send it to a guy like me right okay I don't necessarily have I didn't have the advertising budget uh to advertise but they would send it to me and I would do the work and of course they get sharing the fee uh so some of those I don't have like a um a Prof you know contractual relationship with any of those firms but I have done business with those firms because they'll say hey John you know uh will you take this mesom uh person who worked at say Canal electric or braon point or Boston Edison so you in business for yourself yeah absolutely so you've run your own business and I do uh so a small Law Firm let's turn a minute now to your candidacy for the Senate okay one of the things I always like to ask people if you when you when you get elected what chair or what committee do you want to be on you know that's a great question and I haven't been asked that uh often that's for sure uh this may be the only second time uh that I've been asked it and it's an important question there are the first I have three committees in mind my first one is veterans Services because I don't believe we treat our veterans the way they're supposed to be treated in this country I'm a veteran but you exclude Massachusetts in that statement though right well massach no no I don't Massachusetts uh you know for example if you look at the the shelter crisis you know combat vets or veterans uh homeless don't get priority over anyone else I think that they should get a priority over someone else if you've served your country I don't think that you should wait in line uh behind you know people who are just arriving to the country even if they're good people um and so okay so you want to be on the V uh I want to be on the Ethics Committee uh I actually fought the United States government I sued the government and I exposed huge conflicts of interest uh related to the SEC the Securities Exchange Commission uh and it helped lead to An Inspector General investigation where you know these conflicted Regulators were sort of regulatory captured they were being captured by special interest group and I think we got a return to ethics in our government you have you know what what does the Ethics Committee do I mean what what's their power what's their main purpose the main purpose is really instituting transparency uh in our government and I think we have a fundamental lack of transparency in our government you know for example I think that you shouldn't be allowed to trade stocks based on inside information that you've learned that the general public doesn't have there were there were senators and Congress people who Lear were briefed on the covid shutdown in February before it happened they solded all their stocks because they knew the market would crash I think that should be illegal uh and I think that should be barred um things of that nature is the Ethics Committee though it's not just concerned with senators and congressmen right right no it it it's uh is is that part of its concern or is there a special committee that does that no it for there there are different like inspector generals and there special subcommittees on certain things but the Ethics Committee basically is how do we Institute policies that are going to improve our ethics our conflicts of interest you know we have people in government like I was saying about the the insider trading that I believe are violating a statute which is the fin Financial conflict laws of America uh 18 USC 208 to give you an example which basically says you're not even allowed to have an appearance of impropriety so it doesn't have to be improper you're not supposed to even make it appear and the re the reason I think is so important is the public has lost confidence in our agencies and our elected leaders and that's way and the third committee would be the Banking Committee which is Senator Warren sits on that so I'm hoping to replace her in the Senate and I'm hoping to replace her in the Banking Committee because I think Frank she's the epitome of what's happened uh 13 years ago she went there promising to hold Bankers accountable she was outraged they didn't go to prison from the financial crisis well 12 years later guess who wrote her last bill the banking industry she she couldn't beat him so she joined him and I think that what's happening in our banking industry uh where you have so much power concentrated to five major Banks there needs to be better supervision and oversight and I want to go there and do that what other the differences do you see yourself in Elizabeth war in heaven you know that's a great question when it comes to policy I could I could name many things you know ing the Supreme Court her position on Israel uh the her position on the border but the fundamental difference between me and Senator Warren is our approach she's great at fighting against things fighting against people and issues but Frank that's not the same as fighting for things and issues of people for example she's great at fighting against the rich and the wealthy but Frank that's not the same as fighting for the poor in the middle class so I think you can uplift people without tearing people down uh I don't think you have to tear other Americans down to lift other Americans up so I think my Approach is just fundamentally more positive and uplifting that leads me right into my next question Bus Station train stations all over the United States are not handicapped accessible all because of one federal law that they don't have to be handicapped accessible unless they send a c spend a certain percentage in renovation would you actively actively fight to make an exception for train stations and bus stations that they all must become handicapped accessible absolutely I I think that you know someone listen when you look at the American Disabilities Act um it needs to be amended need and it also needs to be enforced what you're seeing is you're having Builders who will look at that that percentage of Rehabilitation or innovation and then intentionally you know stop so that they don't have to meet uh those requirements it's Freedom you you can't live in a free Society in a free America if all your participants don't get to participate in activities whether it's restaurants whether it's Federal buildings whether it's uh any of those so yes uh I'm someone who has fought for the underdog all my life I've been fighting forestas victims for 22 years against corporations and insurance companies and anyone that's an underdog who's being under represented is something that's going to appeal to just who I am as a person let's go back to a statement that you inferred to Israel mhm what is your feeling about the state of Israel the government in particular Netanyahu how responsible have they been to carry out the war in Gaza I mean I believe something like 40,000 deaths have occurred yes Israel experienced 2,000 of terrible awful Invasion and killing in Israel right but how do you see this what Netanyahu calls a war against Israel I I mean against Gaza Well here here's the thing we we I we start off with the the fact that Israel does have a right to defend itself I think we all can agree that it has right to defend itself and I'm someone who's been trained uh and actually taught generals at naval war College on the Rules of Engagement and making sure you comply with the Rules of Engagement so I stand the fact that Israel has a right to defend itself um at the same time if war crimes have been committed they need to be fully prosecuted and you know the problem we have is we don't want to equate Israel with Hamas though I think that that's a mistake and I think Senator Warren equates Israel and Hamas it's very difficult Frank to make peace when the charter of the Hamas organization says we will kill every Jew and we will destroy Israel and so how do you make peace with a entity that says no we're going to kill you every time we can and continues to violate the police so but that doesn't mean mistakes aren't being made that doesn't mean that crimes against humanity should not be investigated and fully um held accountable and and so I think that um unfortunately in these situations mistakes are made I think Israel has made some mistakes you know uh I don't believe they're committing genocide like some people believe uh we can have that discussion but that doesn't certainly mean that any type of War crime should not uh be fully held accountable and I think I think uh the Prime Minister uh you know shares a lot of responsibility and and I think that when this war is over uh I I personally wouldn't mind seeing new leadership changing the subject to see how financially conservative you are okay would you do away with the penny because the cost of producing it is unbelievably High sure uh and listen I'm someone when I said to you that I sued the government I'd become known in the world of cryptocurrency because I sued the the government because of overreach related to certain cryptocurrencies you know Bitcoin ethereum xrp uh we're headed toward a digital form of currency anyways and it's kind of sad that when you have uh a new digital world that we have that we're still messing with uh with pennies so uh I think that we're probably headed to some cashless Society in the in the future I don't know how far that is whether that's 10 years from now or 20 years from now but I think we could do away with the penny right now all right what's the question that I haven't asked you that all way driving here you just I want him to ask me this question you know basically why I got in this race um I committed my own funds to this race because I felt so com it's this compelled when I was in the Marine Corps I mean law school in Boston I felt compelled to join the Marine Corps because of what I was able to do in this country you know I'm supposed to be in jail or I'm supposed to be dead according to where I was born and how I was raised and I'm the American dream and I see that dream dying and I felt compelled because Frank when you look at what's wrong America Is In Perpetual crisis you have illegal immigrant ation that's out of control you have a debt problem in this country 35 trillion in debt credit card debt over a trillion uh 50% of Americans don't have $500 in case of an emergency we have an opioid crisis we have inflation housing crisis cost of living crisis Foreign Wars sparking up everywhere but the greatest crisis Frank is a crisis of leadership you have career politicians like Elizabeth Warren partisan people who have an agenda who are loyal to a party uh and they fuel division amongst us so that they can stay in power and I think we need somebody who says hey I just want to go do the job uh and someone who believes in term limits who isn't going to be a career politician how long are you going to be a politician well I believe in term limits so I believe you get 12 years two terms as a senator six terms as a congressman or woman if you can't help bring change in more than a decade maybe it's time to step aside and let someone with the skill set do it so even if I'm not successful in implementing term limits I won't run for a third term I'll sit back because I I think that um it's something that's really necessary because all it all becomes about staying in power these individuals like Senator Warren they get addicted to the power and they want to stay there and they want to like control things I just want to go do the job and come home and spend time with my family when I'm done John Deon I have that correct you do sir how can people join your campaign learn more about your campaign uh contact you thank you Frank it's uh John Deon for senate.com so j n d a t o nfor senate.com there's a volunteer button if you want to volunteer at the camp campaign there's obviously donations that are accepted on that site uh and listen there's a lot of excitement I'm getting more and more volunteers the more they hear about this campaign and hear about the vision that I have it's becoming a ground swell of excitement and so I encourage people to go to it John Deon for senate.com be a volunteer today okay do that once more to get to your website okay John defor senate.com the one of the things I've kind of noticed is I don't see any political signs for anyone are we doing away with political signs in this campaign well right now we're in the uh Republican primary which is September 3rd so I should have said that too on September 3rd if you're an unenrolled voter or republican voter please vote uh and please vote for me John Deon um I have lots of signs um and I think it's it's the summer so you know it's hard I will admit Frank it's kind of hard sometimes in August to get people motivated about November but I think that um come early September uh especially September 3rd is the primary right here at the Franklin Franklin gymnasium from like 6:00 in the morning to to 8 in the evening um you can start voting yep in a couple of days no no no there's already early voting going on with the ballot already now yeah so already now and I don't know the last date to register is still a couple of days away I think I think so yeah I think yeah listen you're right is the September 3D's coming up and it's going to be a a marathon a a Sprint Marathon from September uh the night of September 3rd to November 5th when it's Elizabeth Warren versus John Deon but I'm confident I really am and if anybody wants a sign they can get one from John Deon for senate.com but but you do want the even though you're going to win you do want the people to go out and vote absolutely absolutely September 3rd or before uh is very important and uh I think that if they look at this campaign they'll see I'm a different kind of candidate I'm I'm not your typical candidate uh and someone who genuinely loves his country I I wouldn't be sitting here Frank if this wasn't the greatest country in the world well September 3rd happens to be my birthday uh and uh I'm I'm kind of along there you can do me a great birthday gift by going out and voting on September 3rd at the Franklin Fieldhouse yes John it's a pure pleasure to have you I look forward uh to uh you coming back after your win we can expand our conversation as to the difference between you and the current uh US senator I I look forward and uh I will be back after September 3rd Frank and we're going to we're going to explore those differences because there are many differences between me and Senator Warren thank you thank you sir I appreciate you you're welcome thank you for watching Frank present uh and we look forward to any comments that you might have for the program uh uh thank [Music] you this program 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