What life lessons can you learn from a Vegas sports handicapper? Plenty, it turns out, especially if you want to get rich.
On Friday, MSNBC's Tucker Carlson welcomed Wayne Allyn Root, author of the book, "Millionaire Republican: The Republican Secrets to Megawealth and Unlimited Success," to share some of his secrets.
To read an excerpt from their conversation, continue to the text below.
TUCKER CARLSON: First, the title of your book, it seems to play into the stereotype of Republicans. Every campaign I've ever covered begins with the following attack: "He's a millionaire Republican, backed by the special interests." And you come out and just call yourself a millionaire Republican.
WAYNE ALLYN ROOT, AUTHOR, "MILLIONAIRE REPUBLICAN": Exactly. I'm being an honest Republican, saying that, you know what? People for years, Democrats, liberals, for years have said we are the party of the rich. And I stare back blankly and say, "Yes, OK, and the problem is?"
You know, I went to Columbia University, Tucker, and I learned in the most rudimentary, elementary economics class that if you want to be successful, you have to study other people that are already successful at what you want to do.
CARLSON: Right.
ROOT: And so, hey, if the charge is that we're the party of the rich, most millionaires I know are Republicans. Most CEOs I know are Republicans. Most small business owners are Republicans. If you want to be successful, it's time to admit we are, in fact, the party of successful people. Nothing wrong with that. You need to model us if you ever want to get out of the current situation that you are in.
CARLSON: But don't non-millionaires resent that, and isn't that the White House, this White House, for instance, and a lot of Republican members of Congress spend so much time wearing blue jeans and talking about the pork rinds they eat and all that, because they want to identify and be identified by people who don't make a lot of money?
ROOT: Well, I think the problem is Republicans are defensive and they have no reason to be. I'm an SOB, son of a butcher. And my dad wasn't just any butcher. He was a very unique one. He was a Jewish, Republican butcher from Brownsville, Brooklyn.
CARLSON: Not many of those.
ROOT: No. And he taught me, almost from the day I was born. Literally at the age of 3, he had me handing out literature for Barry Goldwater. He taught me from the day I was born the Republican is not the party of the rich; it's the party of anyone who ever wants to be rich.
CARLSON: You're a Vegas-Las Vegas resident. You live out there. And one of the points in the book, again and again, is that it makes economic sense, maybe cultural sense, to move to the red states, those red states that voted for George W. Bush.
My question reading that, as someone who grew up in California and has spent most of his adult life on the East Coast, in very, very blue states, is this-the red states aren't as pretty, honestly, as the blue states. They're not. And there aren't as many good restaurants. And there's a lot going on in the blue states, as annoying as politics are, and they're infuriating. There's a lot going on that isn't going on in Orlando, necessarily, or even Vegas.
ROOT: Not all red states, you know, out there are terrible places to live. Nevada is a wonderful place. Arizona is a wonderful place. Texas, Florida, Georgia, Utah, those are the fastest growing states in America, Tucker.
And the point of my book is, if you look at the U.S. Census Bureau, they name the fastest growing states, not today, but for the next 25 years, the next quarter century. And they are all, to a man, every single one of them, red Republican states.
CARLSON: Yes.
ROOT: If you matched it up with the states that have the most economic freedom, the lowest taxes, the most limited government, they are all, to a man, red Republican states. The future of America, not that you can't do well anywhere. You can do well if you think like a Republican, whether you're in New York or California or Illinois. You can, but you will do better where the taxes are lower.
Why? Pretty simple reason. It's not what you make that counts; it's what you keep. And when taxes are lower, you have economic freedom and the ability to start your own business and build a fabulous life. And those taxes, I believe are just a complete rip off. Why do I say that?
CARLSON: It's kind of hard to argue with people's behavior. I mean, people move to the red states for a reason. So...
ROOT: And it's one of the biggest migrations in American history.
CARLSON: Right.
ROOT: You know, people don't notice it, because there are lots of people moving to California and to New York. But you know what? Many of them are illegal aliens. Many of them are people on welfare.
The people moving, migrating to red states are people that-like-minded people to me. They are Republican thinkers. They're entrepreneurs, retirees with big assets. They understand that it's what you keep that matters.
And as that happens, and continues, blue states are in a lot of trouble, Tucker, because smaller and smaller populations with less and less resources and less and less-smaller and smaller assets are going to have to support all these people that are not high income producers and have no way to pay taxes.