A Media Memoir of Faith, Fracture, and the Fight for Truth
Chapter 11: The Why
After a solid number of videos were uploaded to Quinn’s Next Step, I stepped back for clarity and review. The new year began with a trip to Arizona for my grandmother’s 93rd birthday.
She spoke about my grandfather, who passed three years before I was born, as the love of her life. She shared memories of their time together in Illinois, the move to Arizona with her sisters and their husbands, and the years they spent raising their families in Phoenix. Listening to her talk about a life built with love, intention, and commitment settled something in me.
By the time I got back to Texas, I knew my purpose, my why. I was creating videos that my sons could one day look back on to know their father. Not the headlines, not the noise, not the cultural battles, but me. The way I thought. The way I worked. The way I lived.
Quinn’s Next Step’s Occupationally Divergent series was full of everything from Taco Bell cashier to owning my own business. A two-and-a-half-hour conversation with Duke Lucas of Red Dirt Dialogues was the longest discussion I had ever had on video. I attempted a political video reacting to the Republican National Convention. I sold items at outdoor markets to promote the channel.
I restarted Next Step Media Productions through the Wimberley Chamber of Commerce, investing what I could to help others with video as a solopreneur, like I had done in New Mexico. I attended luncheons. I prepared detailed quotes. I practiced my craft and improved my offered services.
As I was trying to regain my footing with work, the media world I had followed for years was shifting again. I had subscribed to The Daily Wire and The Rubin Report to support their battle in the culture wars against the left’s ideology.
I had bought Dave Rubin’s books and merch, even mailed him a couple birthday gifts as a ‘Thank you’ for the encouragement I’d received over the years. I picked up some Mayflower Cigars from Michael Knowles to enjoy while on a panel of the now deleted Friends of DW: ReWire fan show. I later reviewed the cigars in a Quinn’s Next Step series featuring Hill Country cigar lounges.
The Daily Wire Backstage episode on February 22nd would be Candace Owens’ final appearance. The tension between Owens and Ben Shapiro was the unspoken center of the entire episode. In the following Backstage, I saw Matt Walsh get interrupted by Shapiro when discussing the Israel and Gaza conflict. It was another sign that the divide inside the company was widening.
The fracture deepened. Candace Owens was fired. A few days later, during Resurrection season, Owens posted “Christ is King,” and the reaction was immediate. She was attacked as an antisemite, accused of signaling something sinister, and treated as if the most central phrase in Christianity was suddenly a threat.
Jeremy Boreing joined an X Space hosted by Tenet Media’s Lauren Chen with Nick Fuentes, debating “America First”, “Christ is King”, and how they were being used in public discourse. The conversation spread across the platform within minutes.
The lines between commentary, ideology, and influence blurred, and people drifted into separate camps. The shift was no longer subtle. It was public, loud, and accelerating.
Watching it all unfold told me more about the cultural moment than any headline could. The same commentators who once championed open debate and dialogue, faith and tradition, were now policing the language of believers. The division was no longer just political. It was spiritual.
The creators I once viewed as independent were revealing themselves to be part of a controlled opposition network. The Daily Wire was cracking. Tenet Media collapsed. Steven Crowder was getting screechy. Tim Pool became unbearable. I stopped watching The Quartering altogether.
Brett Cooper later left the Daily Wire to pursue marriage and family life. Dave Rubin’s content had changed as well. He had welcomed two boys through IVF surrogacy rentals despite criticism, and now he was openly criticizing his once friend Candace Owens. The people and platforms I had followed for years were splitting apart, each one taking a different path the longer the Israel conflicts continued, drawing new lines in the sand.
After a dozen or so presentations and no individual contracts through the chamber of commerce, I began to struggle financially. Inflation had caught up to me. My start-up funds were depleted and my disappointment started to show on the credit card. Consolidating debts didn’t seem like a bad idea at the time. I couldn’t jump back into the gig economy right away, but I let contractors know I was open.
The Austin Convention Center had begun a four‑year demolition and remodel, cutting out a large portion of the contracts I had relied on in recent years. I needed to work while also making videos.
I kept creating, kept experimenting, kept showing up, but by the end of summer, it was clear I needed to reset my career outlook, again.
Quinn's Next Step 