Richard Shao

Chief Operating officer

Richard is the COO of the Conservative Nut. A former staff writer, and website manager, Richard was a member of this organization since it's birth.


Despite being a former Bernie Sanders supporter, Richard has evolved to hold conservative views, libertarian tendencies. Drawing influences from the core of political philosophy, the works of thinkers such as John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and Milton Friedman, Richard, at his roots, believes strongly in the core rights of life, liberty, and property. He is a constitutionalist, believing the bill of rights must never be violated. 


Richard strongly rejects the idea of identity politics, believing stereotypes based on political identity hurts the United States. The idea that a conservative must be a racist and a liberal must be soft is one that he vehemently rejects. Despite generally holding conservative-libertarian views, Richard refuses to call himself a Republican or a Libertarian, preferring to be an independent, as he feels this allows him to decide on each issue individually, rather than going with what his political party believes.


Richard seeks to unite the right and the left, believing that at the core, everybody has the same goal to make the world a better place. While liberals and conservatives may hold different on how to best accomplish this goal, both parties seek the same end result. Because of this, Richard believes it is imperative for the right and left to cooperate, as neither could get anything done without the other. As the COO of the Conservative Nut, Richard hopes he could contribute to bridging the gap and show young people similar to himself that cooperation is possible and their voices matter.


An aspiring surgeon, Richard hopes he can help the world best possible, whether that be in the political arena, or in an operating room. Richard sees the field of medicine as being surprising similar to politics. A politician takes a "symptom," "diagnoses" it, and then "cures" it. An example of this would be with large homeless population in a city. The homeless issue would be the symptom. The politician may conclude the reason why the city has the issue is because of high taxation, a diagnosis. He then solves it by lowering taxes, a cure. This style of thinking appeals to Richard, and he seeks to use it to benefit society.


Aside from his involvement with the conservative nut and pursuing his dream of being a surgeon, Richard is an avid rower, and a summer camp counselor at his local YMCA. He has earned two silver medals during his rowing career, and seeks to add to his collection his senior season. He runs the rowing team Instagram, and seeks to bring his social media expertise to The Conservative Nut. Richard cites working at the YMCA as being one of the most important things he has ever done, as it has taught him lessons that cannot be learned in a classroom. 


You can follow Richard on Instagram