Bruce LeVell joins The Paul Leslie Hour!
Are you here? Oh, good! And thank you for tuning in to episode number 1,025 of the Paul Leslie Hour, the show featuring some of the most intriguing people of our time. You’re about to meet Bruce LeVell, Trump’s senior campaign surrogate in 2016-2020 and now in 2024.
Mr. Bruce LeVell is a strategist and vigorous supporter of President Donald Trump. With hundreds of media appearances to his name on television, radio, and podcasts, Mr. LeVell is also a successful businessman.
And speaking of business, we’d love it if you’d subscribe to Paul Leslie’s YouTube channel and also follow him on Twitter, at @thepaulleslie. You can also follow Bruce LeVell on Twitter, at @bruce_levell, and we thank you.
And now, it’s time for Bruce! You can also READ the written version of this interview below.
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Bruce LeVell, Senior Campaign Surrogate for Donald Trump
Paul Leslie: Well, ladies and gentlemen, today we’re joined by Mr. Bruce LeVell. He’s someone I’ve been excited to speak to for quite some time now. A senior advisor to the 45th president, Donald J. Trump. A strategist and frequent commentator on radio and television. Thank you so much on behalf of our audience.
Bruce LeVell: Thanks for having me!
Paul Leslie: Yes, sir. So it just seems like overnight, everything went from Biden to Kamala. Do you think that Kamala Harris is easier or harder to beat for President Trump?
Bruce LeVell: You know, with the culture and the climate, and what we’ve been dealing with since Biden came out of the basement, I think it really doesn’t matter who they stick up here.
The overlying bottom line is the American people have seen how the Biden administration has weaponized the judicial system. They’ve seen the travesty, what’s going on with the Southern border, the borders in general, for that matter. They’ve seen their total ignorance and their ability to really deal with crime – by just ignoring it.
So I think it’s time. I think that – as my good friend Rudy Giuliani said, on the courthouse steps here in Fulton County – is that the pendulum is swinging. And I think it’s swung way back over to President Trump and a lot of independent voters and especially in black culture.
We’ve seen the contrast from the success of the Trump administration versus what’s going on with the Biden-Harris administration. And I think that no matter who they stick up there, especially with 100 days left until the election, this train’s going too fast. So it doesn’t really matter.
About Kamala Harris: “They just have to throw something up against the wall.”
Paul Leslie: I want to call everybody to the attention of just today, Tucker Carlson has published an interview with Dr. Ben Carson, and it’s a deep dive on Kamala Harris. I recommend everybody check it out. But something that Dr. Carson pointed out, and I’d like to get your thoughts on, is he said, listen, you know, nobody voted for her when she was running for president in 2020. The enthusiasm was zilch. Why is she here, if that’s the case?
Bruce LeVell: Well, you know, I’ve had my own theory because I go back to the Reagan days. My first volunteer job was his campaign.
Like I said, we’re 100 days away. You’re going to have to mobilize a real name ID, which we’ve been running for four years. And obviously, we do have a name ID in our campaign, which is the former president, soon to be the 47th. So it’s a tough hill for them to climb.
And I think without them wanting to realize it’s like, let’s just throw something and do what we can do. Let’s retool and revisit this back in twenty twenty eight. They’re at a point where they just have to throw something up against the wall. Hopefully it can stick for 100 days.
And listen, the first early voting is September 6th, which is not far away. So to put a real campaign apparatus up and get a particular contrast to that, how you think you can stay in this, as the DNC says, keep holding the office, it’s going to be tough. So I think they realize that they’re going to have to go back and retool their Democrat party.
Related: Listen to Paul’s interview with Dick Carlson, Tucker Carlson’s father.
On the media: “We don’t have Jack Dorsey controlling Twitter.”
Paul Leslie: As you say, it’s basically a hundred days and the media has just rolled right into place. It’s pretty astonishing if you think about it. Do you see the legacy media succeeding in propping her up? Do you think people will be fooled?
Bruce LeVell: Well, they don’t have a choice. They’re going to do what they do. They’re already trying to set her up. And they all had a huddle. The advantage we have this time is on the social media apparatuses.
We don’t have Jack Dorsey controlling Twitter, which is now X, owned by Elon. So the messaging and the media is coming out much more fairly on the X platform than the fake other platforms that are out there. So they don’t have controlling algorithms to their advantage.
The other thing, too, is there are a lot of up-and-coming podcasts and digital media that the public has better access to than the traditional, “old-school” cable channels. There’s a lot more information that’s more freely available out there for the American people to see. And of course, it’s free to be more aggressive on the fake stuff, too.
You can’t run from the fact that meat and vegetables and food are up 20 – 30 percent, as well as gas, as well as the interest rates. And I say, the numbers are what the American people feel in their pocketbooks. So they’re kind of like, OK, so do we keep going down the same path or do we go back to what we know factually worked, which is the numbers under the Trump administration.
A lot of independents can see that vast contrast. They may not publicly come out and say it, but I think they want to go back in there and give President Trump another shot at the White House to get the economy back stable. And we haven’t even talked about the foreign affairs. They see all that to President Trump’s advantage.
About no tax on tips: “It’s a great idea when you can minimize the tax burden.”
Paul Leslie: I went to President Trump’s remarks last night in Charlotte, North Carolina, and something that really interested me is this whole idea of no tax on tips. I think pretty much everybody has been at one point in their life a bar leader. What do you think of that idea?
Bruce LeVell: I think it’s always a great idea when you can minimize the tax burden on any American citizen and whoever’s holding office be the best steward that they were supposed to be elected to do with the taxpayers’ money. So there is a lot of connectivity.
I actually talked about it last night at a Thai restaurant here in Georgia. No tax on tips. And the lady goes, huh? She didn’t really know, and I explained it to her. She said, oh yeah, that would really help.
So listen, anytime there’s a way to release the burdens, especially in this economy, in this high inflation, to help find a way to put more money in American taxpayers’ pockets to help them and their families – it’s a win-win. Any idea that comes up, not the ideas that show where we need more money to grow the economy, meaning to raise taxes.
I think it’s one of those brilliant, brilliant ideas, and only business people and people who are out in the real world understand. They know what goes on day to day, especially in small businesses and their employees.
“The media had a huddle and said, let’s create this thing called racism.”
Paul Leslie: It’s probably one of the best ideas I’ve heard from a politician in years and years. You were a guest recently on the Shelley Wynter Show on WSB, and I was listening to that interview and one of the things you commented is you said, listen, I’ve known Donald Trump a very long time, going way back. Is there something about Donald Trump that you think people would be surprised to know?
Bruce LeVell: One of the things that perplexed me more than anything – when I co-founded his diversity coalition in 2015 – was where was this race thing coming from? And I said that because you’re talking about someone that’s been visible in the public eye for 40 years. We’re not talking about someone who just popped out of nowhere like some of these other folks have that people are like, oh, he sounds good.
This is a guy that’s been out literally in the public eye. When you’re in the public eye, you come in contact with restaurant operators. You come in contact with limo drivers, butchers, bakers, candlestick bakers, you name it. And when you’re that exposed, people talk and you come in close proximity to people at restaurants and venues and speaking events and airline flights, et cetera.
And out of those years, not one person could come forward and say, well, he said this racial derogatory thing about this. Because you can’t mask that kind of behavior. It comes out in some capacity in 40 years in the public eye. It’s just not something you can hold back. But lo and behold, the media had a huddle – which they’re huddling up now – and said, well, let’s create this thing called “racism.” And let’s sell it this way.
A lot of people bought it hook, line, and sinker. And some high-level people now on certain tickets said, well, I thought it was true, too. It was so convincing. So I think that’s one thing that really perplexed me – we’re like, OK, this is totally the opposite of the person that I know.
And remember, when you’re in the hospitality industry, retail commodity industry like President Trump, your job is to make people happy and create a good environment with the hotels, sporting arenas and everything. You have to make that inviting, and understand people in order to do very well.
You can’t become very successful long-term like he has if you’re not loving people and good to people. So that right there is always like, wow, they really pull the biggest lie off outside of the fake Russian hoax collusion. That was the biggest lie that they pitched in the nation’s history: calling him “a racist”.
Related: Listen to Paul’s interview with Lynne Patton, Senior Advisor to Donald Trump.
Paul Leslie: Very interesting. What motivates you, Mr. LeVell, to do this work?
Bruce LeVell: I’m one of 30.6 million small businesses, and we make up 60+ percent of the GDP. So it means every quarter, I have to send my taxes off to the IRS. I have to pay my sales tax monthly. I got to pay my occupational tax annually to the city; I got to pay my inventory tax annually. The list goes on and on and on. So obviously, I’m paying attention to numbers.
I’m a numbers guy. Historically, I like to say I’m fiscally conservative because I’m a Frederick Douglass Republican, quite frankly. So anything that doesn’t look right on the balance sheet gets my attention.
So anyone who’s running for city council, state house, Congress, Senate, if you’re talking a really good policy-oriented pitch to get my vote and everything is about minimizing and being good stewards of the taxpayers’ money, you got my attention. Anyone that talks about growing jobs and you’re looking at raising taxes, you got to go away.
I know a lot of my colleagues – other business owners. We pay close attention because we’re numbers people. When people speak about policies that make numbers good, for my bottom line, you get my attention. I’m voting for you.
What’s always kept me involved was paying attention to the numbers, not the emotions. The emotions make you make bad business decisions. I live by that. And so does President Trump.
We have a lot in common, a lot of us. We’re not emotional people about noise and rhetoric. We’re only emotional about high taxes and over-regulations of the government.
Democrats about Kamala Harris: “We can’t just push this black woman off the ticket.”
Paul Leslie: Very quick – does your gut tell you that Kamala will be on the ticket?
Bruce LeVell: Yeah, I think they’re in a catch 22. They played the pandering game. They tried to check the box. And now they realize that we can’t just push this black woman off the ticket with a 14+ percent voting population in the U.S.
Is the black culture. They got 91 or 92 percent of the black vote in 2020, so they’re looking at numbers and thinking, we just can’t throw her to the side so let’s try to balance it out with a good running mate.
That’s what they’re scrambling around right now, trying to create some ticket to try to save face and throw up against the wall, thinking that hopefully they get lucky. But like I said, you know the cat’s out of the bag on inflation and the mass invasion of illegal immigrants, as well as a lot of the lies, cheat, and deceit that they’ve been caught during that administration and weaponizing the judicial system. So it’s going to be hard to come off of that. I think the DNC is going to have to retool and come back and revisit their apparatus for 2028.
“Remove the emotions and look at the numbers.”
Paul Leslie: So, Mr. LeVell, I’ll give you the last word. What would you like to say to anyone tuned in with us?
Bruce LeVell: I always think about things from a business perspective. So regardless of how you feel, look very close at the numbers. I always say, don’t get caught in that emotional rhetoric.
Does he want to cut taxes and bring back the tax cuts? Yes.
Does he want to have strong borders, which minimizes the strain on social security? Yes.
I’m a baby boomer. We’re the largest influx of elderly people, if we live that long, to go into that system where we don’t even have adequate nurses, let alone will we have enough money. The wasted money overseas and everywhere that doesn’t come back to our infrastructure and our social security system.
That’s what I say. Look at the numbers and ask yourself, if God grants me the ability to live 10 – 15 more years, what does that look like? Does the policy of what’s going on with the Biden-Kamala side show sustainability? Or does the idea that President Trump had in his tenure have a better future for my children’s children?
That’s all you have to do without getting caught up in all the Democrat – Republican emotional stuff. Remove the emotions and look at the numbers.
Paul Leslie: That’s it. Wise words. Well, Mr. LeVell, thank you so much.
Bruce LeVell: All right. Pleasure. Thanks for having me!
Related: Listen to Paul’s interview with Christina Bobb, Donald Trump’s lawyer
