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ID:
2025-11-28-gary-justin-horwitz-ai-collaboration
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Call Summary: Gary & Justin Discuss AI Implementation for Really American Media Network

Overview​

Gary and Justin reconnected after Thanksgiving to discuss a potential collaboration where Gary would serve as an AI consultant for Really American Media. The conversation covered Justin's media empire growth, operational challenges, AI implementation opportunities, and deeper discussions about politics, faith, and nationalism. They agreed to begin with Gary joining team meetings to understand operations before implementing AI solutions.

Key Topics Discussed​

Gary's Current Professional Direction​

  • New Business Focus: Gary is exploring helping existing businesses apply AI for specific frustrating problems through one-off projects
  • Example Project: Working with a mentor on a global fast food chain app for brand consistency across franchisees
  • Philosophy: "If someone wants to build a relationship with me where I help their business, but they don't like determine my life, that feels like a good balance"
  • Preference: Working directly with founders/CEOs rather than lower-level staff - "if I have a great brainstorm with someone and they're like, 'I'm unlikely that this gets implemented because I have zero power,' like what the fuck do we have this conversation?"

Really American Media Business Empire​

  • Network Structure:

    • Really American (main YouTube channel and umbrella brand)
    • US Democratic Socialists (Facebook-focused, $50K+/month revenue, Justin takes 35%)
    • Raw Story (50-50 partnership with legacy brand)
    • Democratic Wins Media (Ethan Wolf collaboration)
    • Union Proud Warrior (additional property)

  • Financial Performance:

    • YouTube: $30-50K/month after profit sharing
    • Consulting: $25K/month (delegated - J.B. Pritzker, Nancy Pelosi, others)
    • Facebook: $20-30K/month (managed by Nathan)
    • Total: Approximately $75-100K/month across all revenue streams

  • Growth Metrics:

    • Over 100,000 YouTube subscribers/month growth
    • 40-50,000 Instagram followers/month growth
    • Q4 2025: Already grown 115,000 YouTube subscribers
    • Last month: Over 200,000 growth across all brands combined

Operational Challenges & AI Opportunities​

  • Current Pain Points:

    • Manual story identification and selection
    • Thumbnail and headline creation
    • Production turnaround times
    • Competition with AI-generated content ("How am I supposed to compete with George Clooney AI?")
    • Operations issues: "who's doing what, how quick to turn around"

  • AI Implementation Areas:

    • Automated story identification from trending topics
    • Data-driven guest selection
    • Thumbnail and headline generation
    • Pre-production guidance for hosts
    • Paywalled content creation based on trending Democrats

  • Gary's Proposed Approach:

    • Start by observing current processes
    • Join meetings with Kenny and Tony (hosts/content creators)
    • Understand manual workflows before automation
    • Build modular tools rather than huge systems initially

Vision for 2028​

  • Justin's Strategic Goal: "How do we turn this multi-platform, multi-brand beast into something that seamlessly grows as fast as humanly possible before 2028?"
  • 2028 Significance: "2028 is going to be the most insane news cycle ever"
  • Network Model: Each brand needs "new media geniuses" with 1-2 "high level thinking geniuses at the very top"

Partnership Structure Discussion​

  • Ethan Wolf Deal: Justin offering 40% of Democratic Wins for 10% of Really American
  • Nathan's Role: Being considered to run USDS, "very data oriented"
  • Board Structure Vision: Justin considering Gary, Nathan, and himself at top level
  • Gary's Potential Role:
    • Initial hourly consulting to understand operations
    • Potential board-level involvement
    • Focus on AI systems and automation

Political & Religious Discussion​

  • Gary's Faith Journey:

    • "I got baptized a month and a half ago"
    • Took three-month sabbatical post-Alpha Schools
    • New approach: "Do business. Learn how to solve real business problems... give my 10% to the church"

  • Israel-Palestine Nuance:

    • Justin: "Netanyahu's a war criminal... There's state-sanctioned violence going on in the West Bank"
    • Discussion of Jewish identity: Gary - "You're the chosen people. Deal with it. But you're also chosen to be discriminated against"
    • Justin on nationalism: "Nationalism is the actual poison. The belief that because you are who you are or born where you are, you are superior"
    • Both agree on complexity and need for nuanced dialogue

  • Religious Content Opportunity:

    • Nathan runs Christian pages with millions of followers (despite being "new age guy")
    • Growing followers at penny per acquisition
    • Making significant money from religious content
    • Potential for bridge-building content between political and religious audiences

Cultural & Operational Philosophy​

  • Justin on Culture: After firing toxic employee after 48 hours: "Culture is everything... We will tolerate nobody. Like a ruthless fucking... if you gave them a week trial, this will not be tolerated"
  • Justin's Self-Assessment: "You know me, I'm a scatterbrain creative. I think it's amazing that it's come this far already"
  • Political Identity: "Pragmatic socialism, not this bullshit. Dude, like the DSA is only focused on Israel. I'm like, you guys even care about healthcare?"

Key Quotes​

On Business & Leadership​

  • Gary: "It's pretty painful for me to have like... I'm just assuming that at some point in history, there was a leader of a big corporation that I'd be willing to work with like medium to long term. Haven't found that so far"
  • Justin: "You are not meant to deal with lower level staff... if you're working with the company, it's like, great, where's the founder or CEO?"
  • Justin: "I'm the boss. I did not consent for this to be recorded" (joking about scheduling)

On Politics & Faith​

  • Gary: "No one believes anything. And business is good. Do business."
  • Justin: "I believe in things. I clearly believe that the right wing is just far worse"
  • Justin: "The only way to convey nuanced messages is long [form conversations]"

On Media Competition​

  • Justin: "There are fucking AI channels now with like Rick Wilson or Robert De Niro reading the fucking news... How am I supposed to compete with George Clooney AI?"
  • Justin: "In that world, the people who understand AI and have existing digital real estate are the big winners"

On Growth & Vision​

  • Justin: "We're one of the players in the space, right? There's the Midas Touches who are a billion dollar business now. There's Aaron Parnas, the business is worth nine figures minimum"
  • Gary: "Let's bring about socialism into America" (joking at end of call)

Action Items & Next Steps​

  1. Immediate Actions:

    • Justin to invite Gary to meeting with Kenny (and possibly Tony)
    • Gary to observe current operational processes
    • Focus initial meeting on understanding workflows before suggesting changes

  2. Compensation Structure:

    • Start with hourly consulting arrangement
    • Evaluate for potential retainer as relationship develops
    • Consider larger partnership/board role as viable

  3. Implementation Strategy:

    • Begin with modular tools for specific pain points
    • Focus on story identification, thumbnails, and headlines first
    • Avoid overwhelming staff with organizational changes

  4. Political Considerations:

    • Justin needs to manage staff sensitivity about bringing in "higher level people"
    • Avoid having operational staff think strategic changes don't include them
    • Consider bridge-building content leveraging Nathan's religious pages

Strategic Insights​

For Gary​

  • Really American represents ideal client profile: founder-led, scaling rapidly, clear AI needs
  • Opportunity to demonstrate value through incremental improvements before larger engagement
  • Aligns with preference for working directly with decision-makers

For Justin​

  • AI implementation critical for competing with AI-generated content channels
  • Network model requires both operational excellence and strategic thinking
  • 2028 preparation needs to start now with infrastructure and talent

Partnership Potential​

  • Complementary skills: Justin's creative/network building + Gary's technical/systematic approach
  • Shared understanding of need for nuanced political discourse
  • Both see opportunity in bridge-building between different audience segments

Recent Developments​

This conversation represents a significant evolution from their previous Alpha Schools collaboration, with both having developed their businesses and philosophies. Gary's recent baptism and Justin's media empire growth show personal and professional evolution since their last strategic discussions.