Episode description

Brian Mistrot, Founder and President of One Nation Movement, joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to talk about his new political organization.  Mr. Mistrot has an interesting background in politics.  In 2015, he founded a political Party known as American Moderates.  Then, he merged it with other established Parties from across the nation to form the Alliance Party, which is now the fifth largest political Party in the country.  After serving as that Party’s National Chair until late 2019, he left to rally other activists to form One Nation Movement.

Mr. Mistrot is quick to point out that his new organization is not a Party, nor does it endorse candidates or other Parties.  As a 501(c)(3) organization, it is precluded from doing so.  Instead, it is an organization that tries to articulate issues, identify solutions, and direct them to the attention of an extremely limited target market.

The leadership team of One Nation Movement is composed of several nationally recognized conservative leaders.  The movement targets the five-to-ten percent of registered, center-right Republicans who are believed to be “persuadable.”  While this may seem like it has an innate bias, Mr. Mistrot explains why its focus is not.  The organization’s goal is to address three primary issues: (1) Democracy (voting integrity); (2) Climate Change; and (3) the National Debt.  Its premise is that these three issues impact everyone regardless of political affiliation, and there are rational solutions that merit better messaging.

Mr. Mistrot describes One Nation Movement’s position on each of these critical issues.  His organization is not structured as a “think tank.”  Instead, its messaging is crafted upon positions developed by partner organizations that offer expertise in these areas.  The key, as he describes, is organizing a following with whom the solutions can be shared; the One Nation Army as he describes it.  If One Nation Movement is correct, targeted voting blocks can be swayed to select better candidates and stances on the issues, which will create a better outcome for all Americans.

Mr. Mistrot debunks the thought that there was measurable fraud in the 2020 presidential election.  One Nation Movement’s messaging tries to arm its “Army” with information that supports that.  He gives several examples of how the election was challenged, how those challenges were tested, and what the results of those tests were.

He also addresses Climate Change using data from organizations such as NASA.  One Nation Movement’s position is that there is no doubt that Climate Change is real and significantly affected by human behavior and global industrialization.  Correspondingly, it delivers that message clearly to its target market.

While time did not permit a “deep dive” into National Debt, Mr. Mistrot touched upon the size of the challenge and the critical need to address it.

He also shared the organization’s nexus with The Lincoln Project and how One Nation Movement is designed to use the same approach and tool set that garnered success for that organization.

The interview provides a fresh perspective of a segment of conservative politics that does not default to extremes.  Instead, One Nation Movement exclusively interacts with malleable voters who are open to innovative ideas and solutions.  Given the normal approach of the Parties that panders to hyper-partisan positions whose success is measured by how loudly and angrily they can be argued, it will be interesting to see whether this organization can have a more fruitful impact