Episode
Ep 132: Sen. Bill Hagerty on Saving Memphis & Designing Regulatory Frameworks for AI and Crypto
- Published
- Nov 6, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 2442
- Processing state
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- https://blog.joelonsdale.com/p/ep-132-sen-bill-hagerty-on-saving
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Summary
In 2023, Memphis earned the distinction of the nation’s most violent and dangerous city. Senator Bill Hagerty had seen enough. Together with President Trump, he helped orchestrate the most important public safety initiative you probably haven’t heard of — until now. Thousands of criminals arrested, dozens of children rescued, and they even figured out how to work around a Soros-backed District Attorney. This is just one of many fronts Sen. Hagerty is leading on since joining the U.S. Senate. A businessman by background, Sen. Hagerty began his career at Boston Consulting Group, growing the business in key markets like Japan, before launching his own private equity firm. In 2011, he stepped up to serve, bringing billions of dollars of investment into Tennessee as the state’s Commissioner of Economic and Community Development. In 2017, he was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Japan and played a critical role in bolstering our alliance and countering China, before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020. We begin with the Senator’s diagnosis of the government shutdown and whether Republicans should end the filibuster and break the gridlock. Then, we dive into the Memphis Task Force and the Senator’s groundbreaking work to partner with the White House and a Democratic mayor to save a great American city. More than a dozen federal agencies have quietly surged into Memphis; they’ve arrested thousands of criminals, and better yet, are doing it in a way that prevents the Soros-backed DA from releasing them back on the streets. Next, we discuss the Senator’s business career and path to ambassador. One of his great successes: accelerating the delivery of U.S. weapons to Japan — a process that used to take five to seven years! Finally, we cover his leadership on stablecoin legislation…