From Ship Boardings to the Senate Floor: Adam Schwarze on Iran, COVID, and Running for Office | Ep. 291 | Pt. 2

Mike Drop

Mike Ritland

News, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Politics

4.9 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2026

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Adam Schwarze—Marine infantryman turned Navy SEAL officer, Harvard-educated warrior-scholar, and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Minnesota—sits down with Mike for part two of a raw, unfiltered conversation. From completing BUD/S as a seasoned combat veteran to conducting 75–100 real-world ship boardings in the Middle East, Adam's operational resume is as uncommon as his path to politics. The conversation cuts through the noise on Iran, the lessons learned from splitting forces across Iraq and Afghanistan. Adam also breaks down the ground-level mechanics of running a grassroots Senate campaign in one of the few states where money and name recognition don't automatically win. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hader, it's your big McDonald's hunger calling, and it's not just any kind of hunger.
0:04.9	It's the kind that calls for big arch.
0:07.0	Start with juicy beef, cheddar cheese and big arch sauce.
0:10.3	Oh, and don't forget those crispy onions.
0:12.6	Hungry?
0:13.3	You are now.
0:16.6	Saved from 11 a.m., subject to availability.
0:18.7	Price and participation may vary.
0:20.6	So, I guess, ultimately, did it still take you the four years?
0:24.4	Three years. I still did it in three years. But I have like two undergrads and like three quarters of an engineering degree.
0:29.5	I should go back and finish my like my last four classes and get like an engineering degree on top of everything else.
0:34.7	What was your degree in?
0:36.4	International relations, political science. And then I later on the way out of everything else. What was your degree in? International relations, political science.
0:39.2	And then later on the way, out of the teams, I got my master's at Harvard in international
0:44.3	relations, got a couple master's certificates at Harvard in nuclear deterrence, international
0:50.4	security, and then most recently wrapped at my MBA at Johns Hopkins.
0:55.6	And I'm like two classes away from a master's in public policy Johns Hopkins kind of an underachiever if I'm being
1:00.3	honest that's impressive man once you did make the transfer and and got the bud slot you came into
1:07.6	class 290 296 29 and at this point you're90? 296, yeah. And at this point, you're what, 28, 29? Yeah,
1:13.8	yeah. Yeah. Um, in Ensign, I assume. Yeah. Yeah. 29 year old ensign. Yeah. How was that with that amount of
1:23.4	experience? Now obviously, Bud's, you know, a lot of the guys are not boot camp age. Some are,
1:28.8	but most of them are a little older than, you know, the regular military in terms of starting
	...

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