Making Life Affordable Again | CPAC Women Warrior Summit

For our next panel, Making Life Affordable Again, please welcome Mae Mailman, Nikki Beaver, and Olivia Bernard, moderated by Bianca De La Garza. Hi, everybody. Amazing, Congressman Kamek. Well, I am so honored to be here, and obviously CPAC pulls together some of the best and the brightest, but now may we add the fiercest women warriors. So thank you, ladies. My panel is here. We just got the introduction, but I just wanna go a little bit deeper. Olivia Bernard, she is a real estate magnate. Okay, I'm giving her that title. She's outside of Austin. Say the name of your city, though. Dripping Springs. Doesn't that just sound exotic and beautiful? I wanna move there right now. Nikki Beaver, who I've been blessed to work with with the National Federation of Republican Women. Not only was she the comms director, she's now national political director, and they are out there knocking on doors every single day, grassroots. It all starts there. And such an honor to have Mae Mailman. She's the director of the Independent Women's Law Center, but she's done everything. She is an experienced attorney. She's worked in the Trump administration before, and she also even taught school. Sixth grade, I believe, right? And you just had another baby? Number three. I don't think they can hear you. So number three. Number three, three under three. Three under three. Nikki, children? Yes, I have three boys, nine, eight, and six. And Olivia? I have a 12-year-old boy who says he turned 30 when he was four. Oh man, and I have a 20-year-old daughter. So make America affordable again. We're gonna hone in on the economic pressures, and we're also gonna hopefully provide some tangible takeaways so everyone here, when you're talking to prospective voters, so we hold on to control for the midterms, that the messaging really is something that lands and isn't just a cheap talking point. I'll start with you, May. I was on air at 12 o'clock, President Trump in the Oval Office. He's getting hammered. All the reporters wanna talk about is gas prices, and all they wanna talk about is the ballroom, as if they're tied in together. As someone who knows policy left and right, inside and out, talk to us about why this is such a challenge right now and why the message of hold on, it's going to get better, doesn't seem to be the message that may last until November. Yeah, obviously it's disingenuous by Democrats because you know what's more expensive than gas is your vehicle, and you know what's tied to the cost of your vehicle is the plaintiff's lawyers and the regulations, which are all things that are driven by Democrats. Not only that, but Democrats want high gas prices. They'll say it out loud. They don't want oil and gas companies to exist. So obviously there's a facade there, but I think it's easy to get trapped into this lower prices, make things cheaper thing, in which case Democrats will always win that argument because they say free grocery stores. I'm Mondani. Free buses. We'll just have homeless shelter on wheels. And so you can never outmaneuver that. But when it comes to affordability, what Americans want, I really like what Marco Rubio said when they said, why is America the greatest country in the world? And he pointed to the American dream where you can be anything you want. And that is, I think, the promise of Republicans is if you work hard, there will be a job for you that we're not gonna regulate you out of existence, that we're going to innovate. And yeah, changes in the economy are gonna come, but we're gonna be there to provide like opportunity that you can make something of yourself. I see that too with some of the moves the administration has made. The Dell accounts are going to be transformative for so many children, the generosity there. And I think what you're talking about is the American dream, but unfortunately we know we're all up against a social media behemoth and the eroding of civilization as people get their news, unfortunately, from TikTok. And it does play into culture. And Olivia, I want you to pick up on that because in real estate, you are talking and selling homes all the time. Not only do you say it's not that there's not enough homes, there's plenty of homes, but talk to us about why you think that the American dream on one, you're saying on one salary is doable, but we're being fed a pack of lies. And I think you touch on something that's so important that we really have to tell the voters too, to kind of get away from. I do. I think the number one problem or one really big issue is messaging and it's TikTok. A lot of young people are getting their news from TikTok and it's very fear driven. When we're talking to voters and we're talking to our own families, I think it's just getting back to our values. You can have the American dream. You can raise a family on one income. You might not live in Austin, Texas or Silicon Valley. You might not have two brand new vehicles with thousand dollar payments. If we are choosing to live a life that shows the values that we claim to be the most important, we can build the careers, the trades, the opportunities. And I believe in housing, young people, there's a reality, right? When interest rates are higher and you're in a city that's more expensive, but there's no reason that a young person today cannot buy a house. There's opportunities all over this country. And it is a lie that we have this huge housing shortage. I don't understand the message behind that, but I think it's about getting back to the basics. And then also when we're talking to voters, actually look at real data. We had like 12 months of the lowest gas prices in six years. Inflation has practically flatlined. Interest rates have gone down three to four times. So we just have to combat the bad news with the true news. That's great. And Nikki, you're out there and your chapters are so powerful. If you guys aren't involved or connected to a National Federation of Republican Women chapter, I really implore you to Ms. Jenkins there, the president. And I used to work with Julie Harris and they are, you know what, it's common sense. And I think you go out and you actually have to sometimes face undecided voters or people who are maybe considering, Nikki, where they're gonna vote. So you are kind of on the front lines of this. Talk to us about what you're hearing when people talk about the cost of living and how you are encouraging them not to go with the radical left who are just promising, as May said, free stuff, but it ultimately will be the demise of our society and the demise of where we can grow as Americans. So the cost of living, I mean, if we go back to the Biden administration, they are the ones who created this financial crisis that we are in. Prices rarely go back down once they go back up. So we are up against a very difficult task. Eggs are down 30%, things are going down, but they're not gonna go down to where people think they should, because that's just never gonna happen. So when we're out talking to women who are the most stubborn group to change their hearts and minds, a lot of them don't like the tweets or, oh, this or, oh, that, but when rubber meets the road- Do they like the AI? Because now we're past tweets. We're in like full-on AI, Trump and aliens, baby. I don't know, I love it. I mean, we're talking in these, what a crazy time to be living with and exciting. I'm sorry, I just have to say. No, no, no, AI is- Tweets were nothing. Everybody's a little unsure, I think, right now. We are trying to get some of the women using it, utilizing it, and being a little bit more comfortable with it so that we can fully understand what we're up against. It's very new, it's very big, it's very fast, and so there's a lot to unpack with that, but you have to educate yourself, and I think we're in that phase of AI with at least our membership. But for the women, I mean, this election, this midterm election is gonna come down to women, and we have a tremendous opportunity to reach across the aisle, to find those women that are maybe independents, maybe even some Democrats who care about Maha, who care about what their kids are eating. Where are the burning-heart liberals, the tree-huggers that were hippies that loved health and the earth and all of these things? It has transformed into something that we don't even recognize, but we have to get back to the basics. We have to be healthy, and that is something that I think we can pull women over from the other side with. Affordability, they preach that all the time, but none of their policies provide affordability. We have to be bold, like all the women have said today. Have those conversations with somebody that's maybe on the fence, or make sure you're educated on your side so you can have that conversation. It's hard to have a conversation with Democrats, but if you can do that and you can find that way, which, who's better at that than women? Women are great at talking to other women and bringing them over to their side. So, really, conversations and affordability, I mean... And you need people out there. I'm telling you, getting involved. We are not on the sidelines. We need as many women as possible getting out there and talking to as many women as possible. May, you've been at the center of this. You've never been on the sidelines, but I think when we see people, they're just so exhausted. It's like a fatigue of like, oh my gosh, we're at war, and I can't... And the way it looks is like there is no hope, and we were at a dinner event last night, and I really think the message of hope is so important to weave into when you're talking to people who have lost it to get them back politically. And you have some great ideas, too, on a lot of this, and even keeping the nuclear family in the forefront. Yeah, so if we're talking about affordability, and I think a lot of people, maybe they're able to keep it together right now, but they're trying to figure out whether they can add another kid or their first kid. And of course, it is true that no, you never know whether you can afford a kid, and you have one anyway, and you figure it out. And that is why the statistics show that men with kids make more money than men without, because you figure it out, and you just do, and you have that drive. With five girls, yeah, you figure it out. No soy boys. You figure it out. Get to work and hustle. But when you're... We have created a sort of helicopter parent culture, I think, that has put a lot of stress on their parents about I gotta get my kids into college, and I've gotta get them into school. And so it seems really difficult. And even just having a dog, like how am I gonna get my dog in a doggy daycare? It's very expensive. So I think there's, and DC is very expensive. I know. So taking the chill factor up a notch, I think, is something that we can do. Why aren't, in Europe, apparently, like all these restaurants have playgrounds where you can just take your feral children and let them run. But here, the liability is too great, so why, businesses are not gonna bring that on. The land costs are too great. So it is, it's, I think that policies that make our lives, daycare. Yeah. At-home daycares, where one mom, she's a stay-at-home mom, she'd just like to take on a few extra kids. People would love to have more options like that, but it's regulated out of existence. Decreasing the regulation, increasing chill parenting, providing additional options for kids that are not necessarily the most $100,000 a year for George Washington University. Come on. Insane. I think are going to draw women into the party. I mean, right now, the only playgrounds are at McDonald's, which you don't really want, you know, besides the hantavirus and the ball pit. I mean, it really is, it's not the food we want people to eat. We want to be the, to get outside, move their bodies. I love that. Also, I mean, Spencer Pratt's been killing it with his videos in the parks in L.A. There's just, you know, druggies. I mean, it's heartbreaking, but they are lost zombies pushing baby carriages without babies through the park. He's calling out Karen Bass. Hopefully L.A. gets it together. You know, you're in Austin, where a lot of people have left from some of those blue cities. Talk to us about the impact on that. I also love the idea of, like, deregulating. That's something every person in this room, if you want that, you go back local and say, why don't we have, work with the local officials? Are they open to stuff like that, Olivia? I mean, you're in real estate, so I know you know a lot about, like, pushing through different types of permitting and all that stuff. Give us the secret sauce here. Texas is amazing. The secret is, have a red state and have a Republican governor, because we are so business friendly. I love it when the left says, like, hating the billionaires. The billionaires take all the risks. They buy the land, they build the buildings, they create the jobs, they create literal ecosystems where you then have schools and grocery stores. You heard Bezos yesterday. What's up? Bezos yesterday called it out to Mondami. It is the absolute truth. So Austin goes through, it's a three cycle wave. Every time we have a really big announcement, like with Elon buying northeast of Austin, the first thing that will come in is he'll have a wave of executives, and that's exciting. And then the next thing that will come in is, like, their middle management. And then six months to a year later, you get, like, the bulk of their employment. So being very business friendly, low regulation, which we do very well in legislation. Ken Paxson has been the most incredible attorney general. So it really is, it's policy driven, and it is the businesses that we have attracted. The number of businesses that bring some type of headquarters to Austin, even if it's small, Elon just actually leased out. We've got a really cool old utility building on the water downtown. He just leased the entire thing out, because he wants employees to be able to walk and stay healthy. Interesting. Well, Ken Paxson's gonna be interesting next Tuesday night, too. I'm sure we'll all be watching that. But to bring it back to making things affordable, because maybe you're not in a city like Austin, as you mentioned, Silicon Valley. Nikki, what do you make of this, that we're kind of also, we should be all together, staying together as Americans, as moms, as women, as sisters, as business leaders, as we are, as female CEOs and entrepreneurs, or media people. And I think that there sort of is this sewing of discord. And I actually believe it's coming out from external forces that separates us, and they're trying to do also, not just a culture war, but a class war. And demonizing. It's not just fighting the oligarchy. It is sort of weaponizing people who are upwardly mobile, who are hiring people. And Nikki, can you talk about that? Because you have chapters everywhere. You have chapters in California, you have chapters in the Midwest. I mean, everywhere, every demographic, there's an opportunity, a room, and a seat at the table if you're a Republican. And why we are demonizing people who want to come, and as Mae mentioned, have the dream, but also have zeros in the bank account. What is wrong with that? I think the left has really done a number on picking, like you were saying, picking yourself up by your bootstraps, and getting out there, and making the life that you want. They think that everything is going to be handed to you, and this has proliferated through the younger generation that we have now, we were discussing backstage. They think everything is going to be handed to them. America was built on hard work, and that's something that I think, from the ground up, from children up, we have to start instilling in our children again. And the American dream, you can get nowhere else. And the Democrats have just completely demonized the American dream, and being successful, and making a life for yourself that you want, and makes you happy. Can we, for the midterms, talk about, and is it, Mae, a winning message to remind everybody all the free stuff the Democrats gave to illegal immigrants, and why they don't have balanced budgets in places like California and New York? Because, I don't know, prepaid debit cards are being doled out in hotel rooms in New York City, so illegals could go and then commit murder and crime and rapes. The vice president's task force on fraud, I think, is just getting started. I think that that's going to expose a lot of the fraud, but also the waste that's occurred. And I think people care about that because it's comparatively unfair, because they are trying to make what's best for their families, and they're not getting a leg up. And I think another thing that women, maybe they know instinctively that they want, and it's hard to put into words, is this trad wife versus girl boss tension, where everyone wants to be a girl boss, but man, everyone wants to be a trad wife, and you're told you have to choose. But actually, you don't, because so many women have experienced part-time work or working from home, and Republicans have been the ones fighting for independent contractor work, where you're not an employee and you have that flexibility, and as Democrats, it is a Biden policy that President Trump undid that unleashes the flexibility of that independent contractor work. I think that is another one of those great talking points that women, they might not even know that difference, but man, would they love to be able to be both a trad wife and a girl boss, and that is one thing that I think that Republicans have been able to offer. Again, it goes back to that demonizing. And a woman should be able to choose whatever life she wants, and obviously, with a partner who she wants to stay and move somewhere and live in the countryside, and I would love to do that. I'm not able to do that right now, but I think it's some people's dreams, and who are we to criticize other people's dreams? So let's just, I want you to do a little round-robin. Do we have time for a few questions? I wanna make sure we're on time. What are you doing, each one of you, just if you can give a quick answer. I wanna open it up, because I know so many of the fantastic women here have questions. What are you doing right now, just to make sure, like if you're on a budget, or what practical advice, if you could each give me one or two things that really you think you take away. I think we need to make it simple again. Young, I only have a son, but young girls are graduating high school, thinking they need five to $700 a month for self-care, getting nails done. Like this is, we have not, the real world is not true anymore. I just think getting back to simple, we cook at home every day, we grocery shop together. Nice. Getting back to life being a little bit more simple. For me, I've been working since I was 14. I wanna teach my children hard work. If you work hard, you can do and be anything that you want to do or be. So, we just have to get back to hard work in this country. I think it's acknowledging, actually, that life is pretty tough for the younger generations financially. The cost of college, I think there's like an empathy factor, right? The housing cost, the college cost, the healthcare cost are unlike what the older generations experienced. And so, I think a lot of times there is a lecturing factor where it's like you didn't face George Washington being $100,000, like I can't dig myself out of that hole. So, I think one is actual true empathy and then it is tackling those big structural problems. And so, when we are talking about housing affordability, that is regulations, but also get out of New York City. Go live in the real world. We have the internet now. The internet is a wonderful, this is what innovation gives you. Innovation gives you options. And you have the option, it used to be a dream of ours. Is there some places that you think are fantastic quality of life, May? I mean, we were like cattle ranchers in South Dakota. I grew up in Kansas. You can give your kids the values that you believe and a lot of times you can have high level work because the internet exists. And so, I think not causing innovation, but using innovation and using it in ways that are healthy for you. These are great answers. And I know we want to take a few questions. I do press on nails. I'm not sitting in a manicure show and I'm like, I have to be on TV. So, it's like I really kind of have to sometimes when I'm like, but I agree. It's like all this money that we're putting into things that are a little bit sometimes toxic for our bodies as well. We're very mindful of that. Does anyone have any questions for our fantastic panelists? And I know, yes, hi. What's your name? Where are you from? Thank you. My name is Taryn Enos. I'm from here in DC. Moved here about a year ago. Came from Texas. My biggest question, I love that you were talking about affordability. I am a young woman. I spent the last 10 years building my own business to try to make it. Spent five, six, I think seven years now without health insurance. So, I understand a lot of what we're dealing with. I could not afford to rent an actual apartment for years until this year. How are we going to wake up a young group of women who are under 25 years old who get most of their information off social media when the people they're listening to are influencers who are telling them, these should be your expectations. How do we reach them and change their expectations when their social platforms are taken over? It's a great question. I think that's what we've been up against. We're slowly seeing it worse and worse. Who wants to take that? I can start. I think that, especially being in an organization with 60,000 women, I have incredible women mentors. I think young women need real women mentors, not TikTok mentors telling you how to do your makeup and what they're doing that day. You need real mentors. I am surrounded by incredibly strong women, not just at work, but family. I think some of them are watching right now, but you need real, strong women mentors. I think there's also been a good movement toward financial literacy in high schools, which I know is like this very boring thing, but it's not like the glamorization of the good life didn't exist before. It existed in magazines. You had to pick up the magazine rather than see it on your phone, but you still saw the $800 dress or whatever, and actually 4-H has this program. It's the best. It's called Buymanship. It's like, oh, I got a gold medal in buymanship, but they teach you about cost per wear and actually what you can afford and what's a good purchase and what a bad purchase, and that literacy element exists in programs like 4-H. I love it. Not completely part of our school culture yet, and I think there is actually movement to that, and it just needs to extend a little bit. I'll just extend on that. In Texas, we have brought financial literacy into the school through our TEKS, particularly where I'm a trustee. We have financial literacy K through 12, age appropriate, makes sense to the grade, but I think the way that we do it is the four years previous to the current administration, we saw conservative voices literally being deplatformed. It was awful. Right now, we have an opportunity where we're not seeing that happen, and I think that we need more young women who have great stories to tell. Isabel here today, just encouraging them different platforms like CPAC, platforming and promoting your generation to talk more about financial literacy, Latina, Wall Street Latina today. Oh, yeah, great. Promoting those pages, and I don't know exactly what the answer is, but that's where the audience is in that space that you're talking about, and exactly what you identified, I believe is the biggest challenge that we face. Misinformation online, lying to young American women and voters, and it's so destructive. Do you have a page? You do now? Do you talk about these types of topics? You're a public speaker. What's your website? It's fantastic. TerrenceStarspeaks.com. All right, we will follow you. We will follow, but that's what it is. There's no barrier to entry. You don't need a network anymore. You just need your phone, and there you go. Yes, right here in the front row, you have a question? I happen to be an economist. I'm sick and tired of hearing the word affordability. What we have to do, I believe, is to get at what several of you have worked into your remarks, but almost as though we're talking down to women. This is what we've got to tell what the administration has done on regulations, on all of the structural things that are not half as exciting as cutting taxes, but they have more impact on growth in personal GDP. We've got to get that out there. Trump accounts for children are huge. You get $1,000 for your newborn baby. You can contribute up to $5,000 every year as the parent or the grandparent, and if you do exceed or do the $5,000 and make those maximum payments, you can start your child off at 18 with $300,000. I can't imagine what that would have done for my life if I would have gotten $300,000 at 18. Hopefully, I had them. Hopefully, they have someone guiding them at 18 with $300,000, but what an incredible way to start your life. The Trump administration is doing tons of things like that, including deregulation and health savings accounts. They've doubled those. There's tons of things, so I agree. We need to talk more about what they've actually done. You've got to flood the market, and that's why when you leave here today inspired, hopeful, you go back to your communities, and you say, I just left the first Women's Warrior CPAC Inaugural Three-Day Summit. You have to join us. This is a mission that we are going to win because let's face it, ladies. We are in a fight for our future for our kids. Yes, ma'am, where are you from? What's your name? We're gonna get a microphone over here to you. My name is Connie Wilson. I live here on Capitol Hill, and we also live in Jerusalem. I just wanted to comment that one thing that has not come up is prayer, and as we, on Sunday, when Speaker Mike Johnson made the rededication of our nation back to God, as all of us, no matter who we are, what we believe in the one God is, we call upon him. He will do everything that every speaker has been talking about, but it takes all of us calling upon him. He has his angels going out, the unseen forces we don't see, but they do miraculous things for us, but if we don't call, we don't get. You ask, you get. It's really simple, so I encourage all of us, call upon him, ask him, and he will do it, and he'll send out all of his unseen workers. Exceedingly and abundantly beyond what you could ever ask or imagine, thank you. I know you guys all started the day with a prayer, and I know that that has been a big part of what we are talking about, and I think we kind of hit on it, touched on a little bit about culture and what people put their values on, and it is that material, the thing that we do not take with us, and I think it does go back to the spirituality, and it does start a lot in the home with the mothers praying over your children. That connects all of the dots, because what's happening is the enemy is using fear to create these lies, and that really is what we're combating, and I think that that literally connects everything that we just said. Keep it simple, get back to family, get back to our values, work really, really hard, understand what this administration has done, and we've gotta speak clearly and concisely with facts when we're trying to convert and keep voters. I don't know if that's humane, but I know we have a faith panel, which is perfect leading into that. So I just wanted to touch on healthcare, which I had heard, and I just wanna mention, and this is something that's gonna come out of the Trump administration, I think, soon, but the Biden administration and the Obama administration are so wasteful with healthcare, including paying for the transition of minors, that is, that traps kids in lifelong procedures and battle with their bodies. So it is things like that, unnatural things like that that the Democrats are doing that ratchet up everybody's healthcare and take away time from doctors that make kids sick for life. So when you actually think about the things that make life more affordable, it are the things that bring us back to nature, and I think conservatives and Republicans can be that voice of bringing us back to our purpose, to bring us back to our God and to bring us back to our nature, and I think that that is not only an affordable thing, it's a healthy life thing. And that is so demonic, too, what they're doing with the trans agenda. Mae Malma, Nikki Beaver, Olivia Barnard, let's give it up for these amazing women warriors today. Thank you for your great questions, and thank you, Mercedes, for having us here today.