In short
GOP Congressman Carlos Giménez argues Democrats are “selling tyranny” and that Trump’s immigration approach is backfiring by targeting too broadly (e.g., “deporting grandma” after years in the U.S.). He also discusses Congress, the filibuster, messaging around affordability, AI/China, and potential post-election consequences for U.S. policy toward Iran, Israel, and Venezuela.
Guest backgrounds
Carlos Giménez is a Cuban-born Florida politician. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1960 as a child, later lived in New York and California, and became a division chief in the Miami Fire Department. He served as mayor of Miami-Dade and is now a U.S. Congressman. The host is The Rubin Report (no detailed bio in transcript).
Key claims
Democrats are not “moderates,” support for Israel is used as a barometer of radicalization, breaking the filibuster would enable majority “tyranny,” and deportation should focus on criminals/gang members/active deportation orders while allowing a non-amnesty “premium” pathway for long-term law-abiding residents. He predicts Democrats would impeach, starve the military, and potentially cut Israel aid if they gain power.
Notable examples
deportation of people with active orders; “TPS” being removed and turning recipients “illegal”; Venezuela emboldened if U.S. policy is constrained; AI fears compared to past doomsday predictions (2012, 2020); China-driven AI regulation concerns.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOCritical Views on Democrats
0:28 to 1:46
Discussion on the perception of Democrats as tyrannical.
“They're selling the destruction of democracy in the name of saving democracy.”
Carlos Giménez's Background
2:01 to 3:15
Carlos shares his personal story and background.
“You like just wandering around Florida on our humid days, figuring out what's going on with the locals.”
Family Journey to America
3:15 to 5:47
Narrative about Carlos's family's immigration experience.
“My father stayed in Cuba for about another month or so as he was finishing up business and all that.”
The Significance of a Family Heirloom
5:47 to 7:22
Carlos discusses the return of his father's watch.
“And then my grandmother, unbeknownst to me some years later, asked my uncle to return the watch to me because it was really my, you know, my keepsake or whatever, you know, hereditary thing.”
Miami's Transformation Over Decades
7:22 to 11:00
Carlos reflects on Miami's growth and changes.
“Are you amazed at how much Miami has changed?”
Cultural Influences in Miami
11:00 to 14:00
Discussion on the diverse cultural makeup of Miami.
“But then a lot of the other buildings you're still seeing are actually permitted during my time.”
Freedom and Community Among Immigrants
14:00 to 15:31
Discussion on the shared experiences of Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in the fight for freedom.
“all the Nicaraguans here want freedom for Nicaragua.”
Current Congress Dynamics
15:31 to 17:15
An overview of the productivity and challenges within Congress.
“Let's talk a little bit about Congress, what's going on in the sort of country altogether.”
Filibuster and Bipartisanship
17:55 to 21:41
A deep dive into the importance of the filibuster and bipartisanship in Congress.
“It's a heck of a lot to pin on that guy.”
Democratic Party Dynamics
21:41 to 24:54
A critical analysis of the current state and direction of the Democratic Party.
“And so I then fall on the side of, no, that's wrong.”
Show all 22 chapters
Messaging and Midterms Challenges
24:54 to 28:00
Discussion on Republican messaging strategies leading up to the midterms.
“Whatever they're accusing us of doing, they're actually doing.”
Analyzing Trump's Economic Claims
28:00 to 30:16
The discussion explores Trump's economic promises and their implications.
“Nobody presses them to say, hey, exactly how are you going to do that?”
Impeachment and Political Strategy
30:16 to 33:58
Insights into the impeachment process and political maneuvering within Congress.
“That really like, hey, 40-something voted president.”
Immigration Policy and Challenges
33:58 to 41:25
A deep dive into the complexities of immigration policy and potential reforms.
“Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required.”
Political Landscape and Impeachment
42:00 to 43:30
Discussion on the potential political maneuvers and challenges Trump might face post-election.
“The Democrats will immediately impeach him.”
Skepticism About Climate Change Alarmism
43:30 to 45:55
A critical look at climate change predictions and the historical context of carbon dioxide levels.
“Suddenly, everybody's warning us the world is going to come to an end.”
AI's Impact on Jobs and Warfare
45:55 to 47:08
Exploration of AI's transformational potential and its implications for jobs and national security.
“Because, oh, all this paperwork didn't have gone.”
Regulation and Competition in AI
47:08 to 48:58
Debate on the need for regulation in AI and concerns about competition with China.
“Right, wait till China cures cancer before us and then the bind we're in.”
Political Disagreements and Populism
48:58 to 52:56
Discussion on the nature of political disagreements and the challenges of populism in the current landscape.
“Because he wants to limit the competition, right?”
Miami as a Model for America's Future
52:56 to 55:10
Reflecting on Miami's growth, challenges, and its potential to represent the future of America.
“That guy is like, there's this one issue that you and he agree on.”
Key Challenges Facing Miami
55:10 to 56:00
Insight into the challenges Miami faces as it grows and how to maintain its unique character.
“The challenges of Miami is keeping true to itself.”
Infrastructure and Community Development Insights
56:00 to 1:02:30
Explore the importance of infrastructure investments and community engagement in Miami.
“You want to make sure that you have low crime rates, that you're tough on crime.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Fall flavors are waiting for you at Whole Foods Market. Cozy picks all through the store, like maple leaf cookies from 365 brand. Swing by the bakery for pumpkin cheesecake, here for a limited time, and pumpkin turmeric bread freshly baked every single day. Sip the season with 365 brand cinnamon spice coffee and pumpkin spice creamer. While you still can, spice up fall at Whole Foods Market. Democrats are selling tyranny. They're selling the destruction of democracy in the name of saving democracy. And so, you know, I look at this and I'm like, no, no, no, no, I've seen this movie before. Bernie Sanders is a communist.
0:39He doesn't love America, he hates America. You went honeymoon where? Went to the Soviet Union? And then I've also heard him talk about Cuba. Their literacy rate is 27%. When did you realize how out of whack the Democrats were going? 80 % of the American people are with you on these things. Close the border, which he's done. deport criminals? Where do you run into trouble? You run into trouble and say, hey, I'm going to deport grandma who's been here like 25 years. Are we going to deport everybody that's, you know, working on a farm? Are we going to deport everybody that's working, you know, in construction, et cetera, et cetera?
1:08Well, we actually need some of those people, okay, to work. There has to be a way to resolve this problem because it's almost physically impossible to deport 30 million people. The president will actually step on the gas, you know, probably in Iran or something. Trying to get that over with before the Democrats take over in January. The Democrats will immediately impeach him. Then they'll try to starve him, starve the military. They may even eliminate aid to Israel and basically, you know, tie our hands. You'll then see the government in Venezuela become emboldened. Because right now we have them, right, by the neck.
1:42But all they're trying to do is trying to outlast Trump. Just wait them out. What are the Republicans doing wrong in terms of messaging that this thing is even remotely close.
1:59All right, Congressman Carlos Jimenez, welcome to the Rubin Report. It's good to have you in studio. My pleasure. You like just wandering around Florida on our humid days, figuring out what's going on with the locals. It's not humid today. I mean, come on, I've been here for 60-something years. This is a really nice day, not bad. That actually is where I wanted to start. I thought we'd do a little bio on you first, because obviously born in Havana from Cuba, you know, I'm five years into my Florida life here. I'm never leaving. They can bury me in the Everglades. I love it here. I love the Cubans.
2:28I love the Venezuelans. Where are you from? Culture of freedom. Where are you from? Originally from New York, but then lived in California for eight years. And then obviously during COVID, saw the promised land over here and here we are. We say for New Yorkers and Californians that eventually you'll be constituents. One way or another. Although I have talked to Governor DeSantis about maybe closing the border because it's enough work. But why don't you... We got to check your voter ID card. That's all. Don't worry. Yeah, yeah. It's all. Let's talk a little bit about your bio before we get into politics and all that stuff because it very much represents really what Miami's about and what's going on here.
3:05Well, I mean, I came here in November of 1960 with my grandmother, my mother, my sister. My father stayed in Cuba for about another month or so as he was finishing up business and all that. And then he joined us probably about a month later. And so, you know, there's a story about why we're here. My dad, I asked him once, hey, how come you decided to come to the United States? And this was a lot later, okay? And it's like, you know, maybe 20 years ago. I asked him, what exactly was it that caused you to come here? And he goes, well, you came home from school. and you asked me, hey, dad, if the Russia and the United States ever got into a war, who would win?
3:56And then he answered, well, you know, you watch TV and you see the good guys and the bad guys and all the United States is the good people. And then the Russians are not and all that. And the Russia and the United States, you know, will probably, you know, win a conflict like that. I said, no, no, the Russians are going to win because they're more powerful. And he goes, oh, yeah? Where'd you learn that? And he goes, oh, they taught me that in school. Oh, wow. Okay? And I said, oh, they taught you that in school. Very good. And I also remember that I had a little stamp book of the Revolution. I'd get little stamps and put it on this book.
4:28And then, you know, I was wearing a little red and black armband, which was a symbol of the Revolution, right? And so, my dad watched that. And he saw that they were indoctrinating my sister and I. And he said, I think that's enough. And I'll always remember this. One of my earliest memories is I'm watching my father watching Fidel on TV. And my father's going, huh, huh. And I'm thinking to myself, why is he critical of Fidel? I mean, God, Fidel's so great and all that. And my dad was going bonkers. And so he said, that's enough. And so we packed up and we left. Now, my dad came over with$10 and two watches, one of which I own to this day.
5:16Oh, wow. Yeah. And there's a story behind that watch, so that's pretty cool also. Should we hear the story behind that watch? Well, the story on the watch is this, is that it's a 1957 Omega Constellation, all right? Really nice watch. And he had a Rolex Datejust, and he had that, I guess, as his dress watch. And he brought it over, both. I don't know how he got both of them over. but and then ten dollars and then um but we we we went to live with my mother's aunt who was married to an architect all right and we lived with them in a house with about 20 other folks all right uh for about two years and so when we finally got our own apartment um and uh and left that house My dad gave my uncle the watch as a token of his appreciation.
6:09And then my grandmother, unbeknownst to me some years later, asked my uncle to return the watch to me because it was really my, you know, my keepsake or whatever, you know, hereditary thing. And so after I became a division chief in the city of Miami Fire Department, my uncle called me one day to have dinner with him. So I went over. I didn't know why. So my wife and I went over to have dinner with my uncle. He was like the patriarch of the family. And he said, here, your grandmother asked me to return this to you. and I've been watching you and I've been watching, you know, what you've been doing with your career and, you know, and I'm very impressed with you, you know, where you've gone so far and and I want to give you, give you your father's watch back to you.
7:01My father was still alive, okay, and, and so I accepted it and it was a great, it was a great honor to get it back and it was a great honor to get it back from him because I really respected him, everybody loved him. And so I have it to this day. And apparently there's going to be a book written about watches of Congress. And it's going to be in the book. Yeah. Yeah. Are you amazed at how much Miami has changed? Could you ever have imagined it? Like, it's one thing to say, okay, Miami's changed in these last, you know, five years since this influx of people. And that's very obvious. Right. The way it's growing, the amount of people coming.
7:40But when you look back on the decades now, it must be completely mind-blowing what's happened here. I still, one of my first memories in Miami, we lived about a block away from Miami High School. And I remember, another interesting story is that there's a fire station down the block from where we lived, the first house where we lived. I opened up that fire station a block away from, I first came to the United States. And so I was looking towards downtown, and the tallest building by far was the courthouse, 25 stories, 25 stories, okay? Not anymore. You can't even see the courthouse. Yeah. All right?
8:24It's there. It's in the middle of all these other buildings, right? And so, yeah, so I've seen the transformation of Miami. and one of the things that I wanted to do when I was mayor of Miami-Dade was that I knew what Miami was going to be, that what it was destined to be, and that my job as mayor of Miami-Dade was to create the base for the greatness that I knew that Miami was going to be. Because I've said it plenty of times. I said either by the middle or the end of the century, when you talk about the United States and you talk about great cities in the United States, you'll mention three.
9:04You'll say New York, L.A., and Miami. Not Chicago. Two of those are going the other direction. I understand. No, I understand. But in terms of, you know, hey, you know, New York is New York. You know what I mean? And, you know, the biggest city, blah, and all that stuff. And then New York is Europe-centered. L.A. is Asian-centered. And then Miami is centered towards, you know, South America, the Caribbean. man, we are the business capital. We are the capital of Latin America, is Miami. But I always knew that Miami was going to take off. We have the weather. And then politically, up to now, we have a good climate, business climate, et cetera.
9:46And we wanted to make sure it kept that way. And so the things that I did as mayor of Miami-Dade was to expand business opportunity, to expand employment opportunity in a selfish kind of way because I wanted to make sure that my children and grandchildren had opportunities to stay here. Whereas before, a lot of kids would leave Miami because the business opportunities were not here. Case in point, Jeff Bezos. Jeff Bezos didn't establish his business in Miami, even though he's from Miami. Oh, right. He went to high school. He went to high school in Palmetto. Yeah, exactly. And then he went to, I think, Columbia or something.
10:22And then he heads off to Seattle. And he's back, though. Yeah, of course. They're all here. They're all here, okay? And I said, you know, we need to establish the workforce so that we can attract those kind of businesses to Miami so that our children and our grandchildren have the opportunity here in Miami and not have to go somewhere else. And so I'm pretty proud of what we did, the work that we did when I was mayor of Miami-Dade. A lot of those buildings you see were built during my time. But then a lot of the other buildings you're still seeing are actually permitted during my time. And so it just keeps growing and growing.
11:08Were the borders of Miami-Dade or what was considered Miami-Dade, has that changed over the years? No, so that's exactly the same thing. And now there's all these other incorporated cities. Yeah, Miami-Dade is 2 ,000 square miles. Most of it is the Everglades. and so not only was I the mayor of 2.8 million people but probably 2 million alligators too okay and unfortunately about a million pythons but but the the the actual boundaries haven't changed in you know decades so can you talk a little bit about just the sort of ethnic makeup and you know because obviously so many people from South America here and what that's done for the culture of freedom that's here?
11:50Because that's the very obvious thing to me, is that more than anything else, there is just a culture of freedom here. Well, I mean, the first big influx was actually Cubans, right? And then we came here seeking freedom. It was not economic at all. My dad was very well off in Cuba. Many of the first wave were the professionals, the doctors, the attorneys, the business people, et cetera. That's the first wave that came here. That's probably why we're the most successful ethnic group, you know, immigrant group ever to come to the United States. Because it was the brain drain from Cuba. And people don't understand this.
12:29People think, well, Cuba, you know, you're living in a hut or something like that. Cuba actually in 1959 had the second highest standard of living in the Western Hemisphere. Right behind the United States. We actually had color TV before the United States did. And so were there people out in the sticks? you know, and all that, and they were in the countryside that, you know, that were the farmers and all that, that, you know, weren't living in, that they may not have had electricity at all. Yeah, but the majority of Cubans lived a pretty good lifestyle, and the standard of living was second only to the United States.
13:02And so those folks that had created that island, et cetera, came over here, and most of them settled here in Miami. And then that created
13:16a culture or an environment that was conducive to freedom-loving, freedom-seeking people. Then, you know, when you talk about other countries, Venezuela, et cetera, et cetera, well, where are they going to go in the United States? Well, they could go to LA, but not really. Miami is still the center of Latin America, and a lot of them had second homes here. And so they gravitated towards Miami, spoke the language, et cetera. The same thing with Nicaragua in 1979. Where were they going to go? Well, they're going to go to Miami. Why? Because a lot of them had second homes here. We spoke the language, speak the language, and we had kindred spirits that we all were seeking freedom for our homeland.
13:58All the Cubans here want freedom for Cuba. all the Nicaraguans here want freedom for Nicaragua. The Venezuelans the same. Although the Venezuelans, it took a while for them to figure out that what we were saying, because we kept telling them, if you vote for this guy Chavez, if that guy gets in, here's what's going to happen. Bam, bam, bam, bam. And before you know it, you're going to be a socialist, communist country or a dictatorship. Oh no, that's never going to happen to us. We're Venezuelans. We're not Cubans. You know, we have these institutions. Okay, here's what's going to happen to you.
14:26Dan, dan, dan, dan. Now all of them come to me and said, You know, you're right. And so now we're fighting for freedom in Venezuela too. And so we're kindred spirits. We understand each other very well. We understand the suffering and the pain that goes with losing your country to thieves, dictators, communists, and the lies that they spread. And so, you know, that's why we all kind of get along here and why Miami is viewed as the place for, you know, to come. It's just such a perfect example of what the American dream is. I play basketball with this group of guys here that are, I'd say it's probably about 30 guys, probably half of them are Cuban.
15:13And it's like everybody has the same story that, you know, parents pretty much came with nothing. and they're all multimillionaires who have, you know, huge properties and huge businesses and such success and love for America. It's just great. So, okay, everyone knows my feelings about Florida and Miami. So we can leave that there. Let's talk a little bit about Congress, what's going on in the sort of country altogether. What's going on with Congress? Not much really is a little hard to say what's going on over there. Actually, we are the second most productive Congress in history, to be honest with you.
15:48uh we've passed more laws and more bills etc than every other congress except one and you'd figure that we wouldn't because oh my god they're in disarray and we actually got a lot of things done a lot of stuff is sitting in the senate all right um and the senate has a different set of rules the senate has the filibuster in order to get a something passed you need 60 votes and i understand the reason for the filibuster i do all right where are you on breaking the filibuster. Well, look, I don't want to be the one that breaks it. Okay. And I know that, you know, the Democrats may want to break it when they get there.
16:23But I don't want to be the one that does it. And so, and hopefully we'll have people like, you know, Federman or something say, no, we're not going to do that. Remember we had the last time the Democrats held control of Congress too. The, it was Manchin and I think Sienna. Yeah. And Sienna or Sinema or whatever her name? Oh, Kristen Sinema from Arizona. From Arizona. I said no. All right. And so, or else they would have. Okay. So hopefully now we have a Fetterman. We need to keep control of the Senate. And the reason for... Diesel prices just hit a record high. There goes my margin. Not mine, brother.
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17:26The Wayfair store is in your neighborhood at Eden's Plaza in Wilmette. Finally, you can feel the fabric, sit on the sectionals, and even open the refrigerators. Plus, our in-store designers will help you bring it all together with free one-on-one design support for any project on any budget. Yep, we said free. Oh, and did we mention the cafe? So what are you waiting for? Come see all that's in store. Visit the Wayfair store today at Edens Plaza and Wilmette. Wayfair, every style, every home. The filibuster. It's a heck of a lot to pin on that guy. No, I do. I understand. Look, I understand it, but I also understand the reason for it.
18:02The reason for it is to force you to be bipartisan, all right? And the filibuster has worked for us when we're in the minority and works against us when we're in the majority. But that's the way it's supposed to be. It's supposed to kind of, you know, the house is supposed to be the crazy house, right? We're the people's house. We're the ones that are going to put all kinds of stuff out there. And then the Senate is supposed to be the deliberative body, you know, the elder statesmen and women that, you know, that, well, wait a minute, let's tamp this down. Let's, you know, so that, you know, the entire country can benefit from it versus just one group.
18:42And the reason that I kind of support it is because the Constitution is actually written to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. All right. and coming from a place where I come from, I'm kind of like that, you know, that every once in a while, the majority could be tyrannical and then stomp all over the minority and the Senate is supposed to be that place where that, it kind of doesn't happen. That's the reason why the smallest state in the union has two senators and the biggest state in the union has two senators. So I'm actually with you sort of ideologically and philosophically on this, and I understand why you don't want to break things.
19:28My only pushback on that would be that it seems to me the Democrat Party now is so out of control. This is not Democrats from 10 years ago, and it's definitely not Democrats from 20 years ago before that, that we're dealing with an entirely different set of people who are telling you, telling us all, that every norm and institution is up for grabs right now. What do you say? I'm sure you've heard that before. No, I do. That's where my inner struggle comes, okay? where I love this country, I love the Constitution, I like the institutions. They're not perfect, all right? But I also understand why the Senate has certain rules, all right?
20:08Because if not, then it becomes, it's just two House of Representatives, all right? And so there's got to be this balance, counterbalance. The Democrats, my argument of that is that, yeah, I'm fighting against that. and my argument is going to be, you want the destruction of our country. Go ahead and vote for Democrats. You may not be happy with what we're doing, all right? But we're not going to destroy the country. It's a strange sales pitch, but JD made the exact same pitch this week, yeah. Exactly right, okay? And it's okay to disagree, all right? You're not going to agree with me 100 % of the time.
20:39I don't certainly agree 100 % of the time with my own party or my own president, all right? But I'm not here to destroy the country. you know when you're telling me that you're going to well we're going to eliminate the senate first of all good luck with that because it's going to take a constitutional amendment but outside of that the fact you're even thinking about it shows me where you're at you want a unicameral you want one one body you want then the president and the and the supreme court to be subservient oh to this one body well that's marxism okay that's that's the communist model And so these people are telling you what they are.
21:17And so coming from a communist country, which I loathe, and trying to protect this country, which I love, I have to fight against that. But then am I going to do the thing that they're going to do in the name of saving the country? There's an internal fight inside. Yeah, I get it. There's no clean answer. There is no clean answer. And so I then fall on the side of, no, that's wrong. Okay. And if I believe that's wrong, then I can't do it. I just got to fight to make sure it doesn't happen. I ask basically every Republican that I can sit down with, and I try to sit down with Democrats, they just won't do it anymore.
21:56But when did you realize how out of whack the Democrats were going? Oh, I realized that a long time ago. Even though the ones they say they're moderate, they're not moderate. They will, you know, when people ask me, the difference between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, Democrats are dogs. Republicans are cats, okay? And so when you tell a dog, sit down, sit, give me your paw, go, they'll do it, okay? You know, go this, beg, go all, they'll do it all, okay? When leadership tells them to do it, okay? And so there's a half of them are part of the progressive caucus, which is like to me, the socialist communist caucus.
22:39And so they have to bring forward these crazy ideas and they have to pass them. And so, and they'll do it, even the ones that say they're moderate. And so, and then I'm looking at Israel is a great barometer. It's a great barometer. And so that's number one for that. If you hate Israel, they'll let you slide on a couple other things. Yeah, but the barometer is I'm looking at support for Israel resolutions. Oh, there's 10 of them. Oh, there's 15 of them. Oh, now there's 80 of them that don't support Israel. All right. I'm like, uh-oh. Okay, now that's insane. And so, hey, resolution against socialism.
23:23Oh, look, there's five of them. Look, now there's 10 of them. Okay. Okay. Okay, that's the marometer I've seen and how fast, how rapidly that is swinging the other way. And so anybody that tells me, oh, yeah, I'm a moderate Republican, I'm a moderate Democrat. I say, you're not a moderate Democrat. Okay, there's no such thing as a moderate Democrat. Right, you're just that you're actually a moderate Republican. If you think you're a moderate Democrat, it makes you a moderate Republican. It's Bobby Kennedy, basically. Yeah, you can't be, you don't exist. there's only one one democrat out of 200 something that's pro-life we have this big tent i actually don't even know who it is who is it i think that's henry quay are from uh from texas okay who who is like a closet republican but he votes with them anyway yeah okay and so and he votes that that way all the time and so there is no such thing so anybody says oh i'll be different and i'm gonna change you're not gonna be different you're not gonna change you are gonna vote that radical agenda.
24:23You're going to vote for the Green New Deal. You're going to vote to destroy our oil and gas industry here in the United States. You're going to vote to raise taxes. You're going to vote to spend money up the kazoo on everything and raise our debt. Even though our debt is rising now, you're going to raise it even more. You're going to create more inflation. I mean, look what happened under the Biden years. You had 22 % inflation rate. They're the ones that caused the affordability crisis. And that's why I love Democrats. The Inflation Reduction Act. No, I love Democrats because you know how you can tell what they're doing when they accuse us of doing it.
25:00Whatever they're accusing us of doing, they're actually doing. They want to save democracy. Oh, you want to save democracy? How do you want to do that? Oh, we want to pack the court. Right, right. Well, isn't that what Chavez did in Venezuela as he was saving democracy? You know, pack the court so that you get all the rulings that you want, which means that, hmm, I wonder what's going to happen to our Second Amendment. All right. I wonder what's going to happen to, you know, the Dobbs ruling, all that. And you're going to end up just like that court in Venezuela. When Chavez packed the Venezuelan court, they had something like 200 ,000 cases.
Read the full transcript
25:40You know, people say, hey, the government is doing this. The government is doing this. The government is doing. You know how many the government lost? Zero. I was going to say one. You made me throw in one. Zero. Zero. The government lost zero cases, all right? And so that's tyranny, total tyranny, all right? And so that's what they're selling. The Democrats are selling tyranny, all right? They're selling the destruction of democracy in the name of saving democracy, okay? And so, you know, I'll look at this, I'm like, you know, no, no, no, no. I've seen this movie before. I have seen this before, and I'm going to fight it tooth and nail.
26:17So interesting, though. Now, how can I convince the American people what the fight is, okay? Yeah. So interesting. So you're still trying to take what you believe is the principled position on the filibuster, but you're acknowledging the dangers. So what, you know, as we're shooting this right now, we've got about five and a half, six weeks or so to the midterms. What are the Republicans doing wrong in terms of messaging that this thing is even remotely close? I get it. The incumbent president's party always, you know, loses 70 percent of the time and all that stuff. But I do think most Americans see that radical nature.
26:49I don't think that's what most Americans are. and yet, you know, the polls are not looking great. Yeah, well, you know, America, it's always about the pocketbook, right? All right, it's always about the wallet. And so people see the, we, when they started to do the affordability thing, one of the things I told my caucuses, why are we talking affordability? That's their language, okay? And we are now doubling, and we're saying, yes, there is validity to this. And you shouldn't be talking about affordability. You should be talking about Biden caused the affordability problem, okay? And not us, they did, all right?
27:29Oh, look at the high gas prices. Well, we haven't reached a high of the Biden administration yet. And can you imagine if we actually had the Biden administration and we had this issue going on in Iran, that we'd be paying 10 bucks a gallon, all right? And the borders would still be open. And the borders would be, you'd have, you know, 30 million people running through the border and the whole thing. So what do we have to do? We have to remind them about what happened like two and a half years ago. We have to remind them of what they really are trying to sell. They don't have any solutions. They say, well, we want to make things more affordable.
27:59How are you going to do that? Exactly how are you going to do that? Nobody's asking. Nobody presses them to say, hey, exactly how are you going to do that? How are you going to lower prices? And I also think, you know, part of the problem was that, you know, I would have never, as President Trump said, I will lower prices the first day. You can't do that. I will lower, I will slow the rate of inflation, which he has. And so when you look at the, if you actually carried out four years of the current inflation rate and took it out to the end of his four years, it'd be something like 11%. Biden was 22%, twice as much.
28:31All right. And so, yes, we have slowed the rate of inflation. We have this conflict in Iran that's actually hampering our efforts. But once that's over, you know, you should see things go down. How do we change the narrative? I think the president has to take bold action. You know, obviously, we're out. We can't take any more bold initiatives, right? We're done until the election. So I think the president has to do another thing. How did you feel the other day when Johnson called it? Well, that's it. We've done our job, and that's it, okay? And so I also think that one of our crazies, Thomas Massey, will not be there next time.
29:12I mean, is he going out in the most psychotic blaze of glory that anyone's ever seen? Just unnecessary. People used to tell me that he was all about, you know, that it was principled, right? Well, if you say no to everything, it doesn't mean you're principled, okay? It just says everything was no. And so he's just a contrarian. If you say, sky is blue, no, I think the sky is like teal, okay? You know, hey, we want to go west. No, I think I want to go southwest, you know? It's just, what is it you want? No, that's not what I want. So that's not principled in a sense. And so, yeah, he has, and so he's got this, you know, impeachment of Hegseth for following illegal orders.
29:58But wait a minute, who gave the illegal order? So why don't you impeach, you know, the guy that gave the illegal orders? Oh, because somebody else had already beat him to the punch. All right. And so, and even, that was a surprising vote. Motion to table the impeachment of Trump. Yeah. Where even Pelosi voted president. That really like, hey, 40-something voted president. And on the impeachment of Trump. And I'm like, whoa, wait, that was weird. But, yeah, go ahead. So let's try to play it out both ways. Okay. Let's try, you want to do the positive one first or you want to do the negative one first?
30:35Go whatever, however you want. All right, so let's do the positive one first. Let's say the Republicans hold, keep the House, keep the Senate. Now Trump has two years knowing he's never running for a reelection again. To me, it seems like we would see a Trump on steroids like we've never seen. Like he would really view this as, I've got to absolutely accomplish everything, whether that's ramping up deportations, whether that's doing things in Iran that he doesn't want to do right now. I think it would just be all in on everything. Do you think that's basically right? He would just have no reason not to.
31:08Well, he's kind of done that right now, right? I just have a feeling there'd be some tricks in the books. I'm not saying he's holding back right now. It just seems to me if he had no worries. I'm not sure because I think that he had four years to figure out what he wanted to do right away. And he's like from day one, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. so right now I think it's more like okay now what's the next issue right so I'm not sure that he would it would be like you know balls to the wall and all that there are some things like you talked about immigration that I would not be in favor of him doing certain things so I did I did want to get into that so yeah all right so why don't we do that right now yeah well I think you know you know you have a conversation with him and you say okay you you've deported maybe a million and a half people in two years, all right?
31:55You got 30 million more. Are you ever going to get there? You're not going to get there, all right? So why don't we face reality and say, 80 % of the American people are with you on these things. Close the border, which he's done. Deport criminals. Deport gang members. Deport people with active deportation orders. That's an 80-20 issue. Yeah, you can get basically everything. You can't get the Dems, but okay. You get every sane person. Okay. That's an 80-20 issue, okay? Where do you run into trouble? You run into trouble and say, hey, I'm going to deport grandma who's been here like 25 years, all right?
32:31She may not be legal, all right? But she's been here 25 years. She works, and people have already relationships with them, all right? And we see that a lot here in Miami-Dade County and around the country. And so are we going to deport everybody that's, you know, working on a farm? Are we going to deport everybody that's working, you know, in construction, et cetera, et cetera? Well, we actually need some of those people, okay, to work. So there's got to be a way. Although even that argument's a little thin now that, I mean, robotics is replacing everybody, right? The Democrat argument is we need these people to pick our tomatoes, but that's kind of disagreeing too.
33:04That's not here yet. Yeah. It's still not here yet. But it's— It could be. Their argument is bring them and have them picking tomatoes and get on the government dole. Well, I'm not saying bring them and bring them on tomatoes. They're not all of them, okay, are doing that, okay? But you still—okay, Sal, they can't pick tomatoes anymore. Everybody out, okay? I mean, they've been here for a long time. And so there has to be a way of not, there's no amnesty, et cetera, et cetera. You've been here 25 years. You've got kids, et cetera, et cetera. Okay, fine. There's no pathway to citizenship. You've got to come out of the shadows.
33:33You've got to pay taxes. You've got to pay Social Security. You cannot get the benefit of any federal. Hi, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Are you looking for a beach read this summer? May I suggest your big wireless bill? It's got suspense, mystery, a slightly flat emotional arc, and a shocking twist where you realize you've been overpaying the entire time. Fortunately, though, Mint's story is better. Every plan,$15 a month, even unlimited. That's it. Happy ending. Zero tears. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required.
34:03$15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. Aid. All right. You have to pay for your own health insurance. And you may have to pay a premium and taxes. You actually pay more than the regular because you're not a citizen. All right? That is something I think a good number of American citizens say, okay, and you haven't committed any crime and you haven't committed any fraud against the United States. In other words, you've been working here, keeping your nose clean. You know, yeah, you got here, you know, illegally, et cetera.
34:37But there has to be a way to resolve this problem because it's almost physically impossible to deport 30 million people. So how is that not amnesty? I'm not even necessarily against that, actually, but how is that not amnesty? Because amnesty for most people is that somehow you have a pathway to citizenship, okay? And by the way - But if you're not kicking them out, in essence - No, but it's not amnesty in the sense they're paying a premium, okay? They're actually paying, okay, over a citizen to actually benefit the country and paying for stuff they probably will never, ever gonna get. If you can't get any federal programs, you're not going to get food stamps.
35:17You're not going to get Medicaid or whatever, okay? So they wouldn't, the way you're laying it out, they would never become citizens? The only way they would ever become citizens is that they'd have to go back to their country of origin, get in the back of the line of that country. And then if somehow they made it, they made it. But if they didn't make it, they didn't make it, they would never become citizens. What do you think about some sort of time cutoff depending on when they came? So to me, it's like, because to me, anyone that, well, that border was open under Biden and we watch, we don't know.
35:49I mean, do you guys have an internal number? They, you know, they say 10, 12, some people say 20. So to me, if you came in in that, in the last five years and they find you, you have to go. I can get on board some. I don't, I don't have a problem with that. Okay. And so, you know, I'm talking about people that have been here 10, 15 years. Sure. Okay. They've been here a long time. All right. and then those people that came in the last four years, you know, from the Biden year, you know, the Biden time, okay, that they're excluded. Okay, so regardless of criminal status or anything else, you would do that?
36:20No, no, no, no. If you're a criminal, you're gone, even if it's 25 years. No, no, no, I understand that. But for the people that came in in the last five years, you're saying even if you were law-abiding otherwise in these last five years. Yeah, I'm not counting those things. Okay. I'm not counting those things. Do you get pushback on that from? No, there's some people that are purists. all right they're purists so they say oh no no no no that's amnesty no no no no no no no no no no okay i'll bet you if you talk to some of those purists all right they probably deal with illegals all the time of course of course okay all right they're either cutting their grass all right exactly okay like oh yeah okay no problem okay now start cutting your own grass uh and so um Yeah, but there has to be, to me, a sensible solution.
37:05Is it going to be everybody going to be happy 100 %? No. Are the people that are under the program going to be 100 % happy? No. All right. And so when everybody's a little bit unhappy about it, that's probably a good solution. What do you make of the way the Democrat messaging is with the Latin community in general, that somehow everyone that's from a Latin American country should be for endless immigration because it's somehow racist if they're not. They never say illegal immigrant. There's this constant confluence. I mean, I think it's really just unbelievably... I think we were making strides with Hispanics when you said, close the border, all criminals, gang members, gone.
37:52we lost to Hispanics when we went beyond that. When you started picking up grandma, when you started picking up that guy that's been here like 20 years, when you start picking up a family and then they have little American citizens and you're picking up that family and they've been here and they have to cut their nose clean, etc., you started losing the Hispanic vote. And you started losing also Americans too because some people say, wait a minute, this has gone a little bit too far. This is not really what I voted for. I'll be honest with you, what I voted for was closing the border and getting rid of the criminal elements, et cetera, and people with active deportation orders.
38:24That's what I voted for, all right? When they went beyond that, especially in this town, you know, I've got people that have been voting Republican forever, forever, hardcore, freedom-loving, from Cuba, hate communism and all that. They are incensed of what's going on. And maybe it's because, you know, this is Miami and we got so many immigrants and all that. they are incensed about what's going on. Yeah, it's tricky. It really is tricky. I get the purest argument too. And I'm a little more where you're on on this, but I get what the purest argument is. You're illegal, you're illegal. Yeah, but sometimes we make them illegal.
39:06So we had Venezuelans here, the temporary protective order. They had TPS, right? And so we said, well, no more TPS. Now you're illegal. Okay, okay. They were illegal. They were working, right? They had temporary protective status. And by the way, temporary protective status is given to when a country is unstable so that you have a legitimate fear of persecution going back to your country. Venezuela is stable. Haiti is stable. All right? And so that's what the program is set up for. Well, we're going to take it away. Now you're illegal. Well, yeah, you just created the illegality. Instead of just saying, okay, what's the program actually made for?
39:47The program is actually made for us because we are humane and that we don't want to send you back to get killed in your country. Haiti is a great example of that. You send somebody, a Haitian, back to Haiti, it's like almost a death sentence. They got gangs. It is a completely failed state. It is utter chaos there. Venezuela just had a huge earthquake, and they're still under the old regime. right? Yesterday, they incarcerated a political opponent in Venezuela. And so, you have this fear of persecution going back, a legitimate fear of persecution. That's what TPS is for. And so, the problem that I have is, hey, you have to use your common sense every once in a while, okay?
40:31And do what's right. So, then when you see, there's an interesting, like, ethnic distinction to this, because when you see, like, in Minnesota with the Somalis, who are clearly involved in a lot of fraud, who are all voting very far lefty, getting on the government toll and all of that stuff. Throw them out. If you're involved in fraud, part of my plan, you're gone. You're gone immediately. If you defrauded the U.S. government, you are gone. And so, no, you don't pass go, you don't collect 200 bucks, you're just gone. And so that's part of the plan too. You have to be, you can't be a criminal, you can't be a gang member, and you can never have defrauded the U.S.
41:11government. If you had, then you're eligible for deportation, okay? And where would most people be on that? That's an 80, 90, 10 issue, right? And so I'm completely 100 % in favor of that. Anybody who's defrauded the United States, and if you're here, it is a privilege for you to be here. It's not a right. And therefore, before that privilege, you're paying a premium to be able to work and live in the United States of America. So, all right, let's take the negative version of the midterms for a second. Okay. So, all right, so positive version is they keep it. Trump continues to do some things, basically wheels on the car.
41:50If the Dems get the House and the Senate, where do you think we're at in two months from now? Well, during the lame duck session, I think that during the lame duck session, then I think that that's where, you know, I think then the president will actually step on the gas, you know, probably in Iran or something, okay, and trying to get that over with before the Democrats take over in January. The Democrats will immediately impeach him. It'll go nowhere, you know, in the Senate, right? And then right after that fails, they'll impeach him again. then they'll try to starve him, starve the military.
42:39They may even eliminate aid to Israel and basically tie our hands. You'll then see the government in Venezuela become emboldened, the regime that's there right now, Okay? And start to say no to our requests, et cetera, because right now we have them, right, by the neck. But all they're trying to do is trying to outlast Trump. Let's just wait them out. Let's just wait them out. I know those people. I know those people. That's why all I want to do is want to get to elections as quickly as we can so we have a free and democratic Venezuela that will be a true ally of the United States, not a forced ally of the United States like we have right now.
43:28What do you make of this fiasco around AI? Suddenly, everybody's warning us the world is going to come to an end. We're going to be okay, or what? Well, listen, I'm just amazed I'm here right now because, I mean, the world was going to end in 2012, and then later 2020, and then now it's 2030. But somehow, you know, climate change hasn't destroyed all of us, right? Even us by the water over here. Yeah, I mean, hey, you know, We're living in Miami, you know, what can I tell you? And, you know, I always ask people this when they come see me and about climate change and all that. And then I ask people, okay, what's the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
44:09Well, I don't know. What do you think? What's the percentage? The percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. What do you think it is? 6 %? I have literally no idea.
44:220.04%. Yeah. 4 ,107%. Okay. And so, and how much of that carbon dioxide is actually naturally occurring? It's naturally occurring, not man-made, just naturally occurring. I'm going to guess a pretty decent amount. 90%. No. 90%. So we're destroying the planet with 10 % of 0.04%. That's why it's insane. Okay. And so, you know, I also talk about the Eocene epoch. 20, 30 million years ago. What was the carbon dioxide percentage? What were the temperatures back then? Which were, by the way, 14 to 27 degrees. Warmer than they are today. Okay? And you know who did really well during the Eocene epic? What kind of animal did really well?
45:04Primates. We're primates. Yeah. Okay? I get it. They did really well, okay, during that time. And so all this hoopla, about one and a half degrees, is a bunch of hoopla, okay? Matter of fact, when it actually gets a little warmer, you'll have more arable land. You'll be able to grow more stuff. Right. There's more green on the earth right now than ever before. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Because you know what carbon dioxide is? It's plant food. Right. Okay. And so, yeah, you're going to have more green. You're going to have more production of oxygen. And you'll have more arable land, even if it gets a little warmer.
45:40And so I never believed in that doomsday stuff. AI. back in the 60s. Oh, my God, computers. They're going to eliminate every job. You won't have any jobs because of computers. You know what happened? We had more jobs. Because, oh, all this paperwork didn't have gone. We had more paperwork, all right? We were keeping more and more data, da-da-da-da-da. And so, you know, that was pretty. So AI, what is the, my argument with AI is this. AI is transformational. It is akin to the car in the turn of the century, the 1900s, okay? Because the world was being, you were transported by horse and now you become transported by car.
46:34Some jobs were lost in the horse transportation business. Buggy whips probably weren't, you know, probably went out of business. Okay. And then, but many more jobs were created in the automotive industry. And so what happens with AI? We must win the race to AI. And people are saying, well, hey, I'm really worried about the Terminator. Well, I'm actually worried about the Chinese Terminator. Yeah. Okay. And I want an American Terminator to take out the Chinese Terminator. All right. because we don't have that then the chinese terminator will take us out okay and so um because of weapon systems etc the nature of warfare and all that we have to have smarter weapons and we have to have smarter weapons than our adversary also in in the good side of ai is the use of ai for for medicine medicinal purposes for new finding new drugs finding new techniques, et cetera.
47:36Right, wait till China cures cancer before us and then the bind we're in. Yeah, right. And so, and then if you add that to quantum computing and then, you know, the rise of mankind will be like, like that, okay? So we have to ride that, all right? And, you know, are there guardrails to be put on it? You know, yeah. Is there a bad that can come out of AI? Absolutely, you know, like bad out of any, you know, Bad comes out of the internet. There's the dark web, and then there's a regular web and all that, and there's bad things that happen, okay? But I have enough faith in humankind to be able to harness the goodness and try to limit the bad of AI as much as possible.
48:21I believe that actually all of this, a lot of it is coming from communist China, okay? That they want us to slow down. because they know we're ahead and that they don't want us to win. And so they create all this fear. And then they've got this guy come out. Oh, my God, it can destroy the world and all that. Well, who is that guy? All right. And then you have another CEO of a company comes out and says, oh, we need regulation. Why is it you need regulation? Why are you asking for regulation? The guy who's going to IPO next month is asking for, we're going to end the world and also can I have your money?
48:56It's incredible. Exactly. And why? Because he wants to limit the competition, right? Right. And so I kind of look at that, but then other people don't look at it that way. Oh, my God, it's going to be the end of the world. You know, I can see the term here. I can see Arnold Schwarzenegger coming after me. And, you know, and that's this fear. So you're basically totally with Trump and Mike Johnson on this. Just let the market. I mean, I completely, everything you said. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You may have some regulations, all right, on the periphery, maybe, okay? But as far as for national security purposes and all that, no, no.
49:30We can't because I know that China's not going to stop. How much of it do you think is being driven by the fact that I think Bernie Sanders and many of the Democrats, and I would say Obama too, they don't want America to lead anymore. I think that's a fundamental truth now. And that's what this is really about. They are un-American. Bernie Sanders is a communist. He doesn't love America. He hates America. And I'll tell it to his face. All right. I can see that guy. I know that guy. You went honeymoon where? So you went to the Soviet Union to go and do a honeymoon. And then I've also heard them talk about Cuba.
50:05Yeah. And they're, oh, but their literacy rate is 97%. Yeah. No shit. I'm excused. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's the internet. It's the free internet. It's 97%. No kidding. Oh, wow. Okay. So you can deny people their freedom for 97%. You can put people in jail for that. Right. They constantly do this. Right. Exactly. Right. So that's the good. Look what you've done to this country, what that system has done to the country. Destroyed the country. It's made it actually, the living standards worse than Haiti, where you used to have the second highest standard of living. Oh, and by the way, we were all illiterate back in 1959.
50:43You know, come on, man, give me a break. But that's what they go to. Oh, they have free universal health care. Yeah, it sucks. All right. Because the hospitals don't have medicines. You can't get an operation and all that. Yeah, it's free. All right. And by the way, it's not free. Because nothing is free, right? And so what you're paying for, you're getting what you're paying for, all right? And so, you know, that's, I know what this guy's about. And he's a snake oil salesman. He is a fraud. And he hates the United States. He does. He hates America and what we stand for. And so, again, that's why, you know, we got to fight.
51:20And we got to fight this guy and beat him. And then... Are you afraid that some of the Republicans are getting duped by this AI situation? like yeah i do like i saw even josh holly a guy that i basically like but you know he's basically calling for some regulations right now i don't get where he thinks china's gonna go with it and to me it seems like oh they're just like ah there's something populist kind of happening right now i have to do something i agree and that's that's the problem with populists right where where's the wind blowing look sometimes what's popular is not right and sometimes what's right is not popular.
51:56And I've always been, I will tell you how I feel. And I may be wrong. I mean, I'm not going to be 100 % right, but I'll tell you how I feel. And even though I may not be popular, I will still tell you how I feel. Because that's what I owe my constituents. And if you somehow think that you're going to be with me or you're going to agree with me 100 % of the time, there's something wrong with you. All right. There's something wrong. I don't agree with myself a hundred percent. Exactly. And so we're going to disagree. And that's what makes America great. We disagree. Now, do you agree with me 95 % of the time?
52:34Oh, I don't agree with you on this. So therefore I'm going to vote with that guy. Well, you're going to disagree with that guy. Like you're going to disagree with that guy 95 % of the time. You're going to agree with me 95 % of the time, even though on this one issue. So you're going to go there. And that's where I sometimes find people, they don't do the equation. Well, that's sort of the Massey version of this. Yeah, they don't do the equation. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That guy is like, there's this one issue that you and he agree on. Everything else you disagree on, you're going to send him to Congress so he can disagree with you 95 % of the time, whereas you disagree with me on this one issue.
53:12And that's where I think J.D. Vance was trying to go. that there will be times that we're, you know, and we're going to have to face it. Yes, we are trying to, you know, get a hold of inflation. Yes, we are fighting a war in Iran. Yes, it's unpopular. But what are we trying to do? We're trying to make sure they never get a nuclear weapon. You think gas prices are high now? Could you imagine if Iran had a nuclear weapon and actually controlled the strait and then could ask for any kind of tariff that it wants to. And then throw in China controlling AI. I mean, you really can see what they're trying to do here.
53:50So let's finish up with a little bit sort of full around where we started because, you know, every day on my show, I can make fun of the Democrats and we can talk about how crazy Cali is in New York and all that stuff. But one of the reasons that I love living in Florida is I spent a lot of time fighting against nonsense when I lived in Cali. And here I can fight for something. So I know the week that I moved to Miami, I got a text from Jared Kushner, who I'd never spoke before. I didn't know how he got my number. And we had dinner, and he said something to me that I've quoted on the show a million times, which is he said, if America is to succeed, Miami's 20 years in the future.
54:27And I really believe that. Now that we've seen so many people come down here and everything else. So what do you see as the challenges now for a place that's going up the way this is going? I mean, is it infrastructure stuff? Is it, you know, people complain of traffic? I lived in New York and Cali. I don't think the traffic's that bad here. But people complain about that. I mean, the cost of living obviously is high now. That's obviously changed. What do you see as the challenges and places that we can improve? Well, I mean, Jared is right. Miami is what America will be 10, 20 years from now, today.
55:00And that was something that Adrian Arsh said 20 years ago, and that why she liked Miami. She's back in D.C., but her friends ask her why she's in Miami and what she thought about Miami. And it's as true today as it was then. The challenges of Miami is keeping true to itself.
55:25If we maintain this quest for freedom and entrepreneurship and remain business friendly
55:40and continue to focus on the things that make a community great, we'll be fine. And so when I was mayor of Miami-Dade County, what was I focused on? Well, you want to make sure that you recall 9-1-1, either police or fire comes fast. You want to make sure that you have low crime rates, that you're tough on crime. You want to make sure you have good parks. Make sure that your streets are clean. Make sure that your garbage is picked up on time. All right? And we are good stewards of the environment. All right? Doesn't mean I'm an environmentalist or I don't worship there, but I like clean water, clean air, et cetera, et cetera, which we have here.
56:25And then also on the business side, make sure that the taxes are fair, that we provide good services and we provide a good value. and that we have a good educational system. And so if we do that, we should be okay. As far as traffic is concerned, I always tell people this. Believe me, they've been complaining about traffic. I mean, I was mayor back in 2011, okay, to 2020, all the time, complaining about traffic. What was interesting, though, was that whenever they told me that, I said, you know what's worse than traffic? no traffic yeah okay that means you got a dead city okay and sure enough covid hit and we had no traffic all right and i said hey look what you all wanted okay is this what you wanted well i don't know wait i don't think that's really what we wanted and all that and so look you got to make decent investments in your infrastructure we have to make decent investment in our warehousing.
57:31We're a logistics hub. So airport, seaport, as the mayor, I made sure that this airport, seaport, we're working and we're expanding. We're still going to fix up this airport. We're still going to fix up this airport. We need a better airport. I know they're doing some stuff, but we got it. The airport, you have the north terminal, you have the south terminal, which 90 % of the people go through. The middle, what's called the mid terminal, which is the older terminal, they're going to embark like$6 billion to make that a much better experience. But really, 90 % of our stuff goes on those two terminals.
58:07And yeah, but even so, I mean, we thought it was going to take 10 years to get to 50 million passengers after I left. They got to 50 million passengers like that. They way exceeded 50 million passengers. And so now they got to keep up. We didn't think we're going to have this kind of growth that quickly. So the airport, the seaport, now we have issues now in the seaport with the fuel farm. You know, the mayor, I don't think, did a really good, did a pretty bad, lousy job of guaranteeing where the fuel is going to come from for all the, you know, the ships that are there. We're the cruise capital of the world.
58:44Um, you know, but then, you know, on the educational front, um, you know, University of Miami, FIU and the other universities, are we, are we putting out the kinds of, uh, students that we need in order to attract the businesses that we need here in Miami -Dade? And on the other front, are we also providing the vocational training for, I think, will be the next thrust is actually, you know, stuff like, you know, aircraft mechanics, you know, stuff that you don't need a college degree for. And I'm trying to say, hey, go to college if you really need a degree. All right. But if you don't, you know, this whole thing about having a piece of paper and then end up at McDonald's, okay, is crazy.
59:28And now I've got you with hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans. And what did that degree do to you? We need to do a better job of that so that the people that need to go to college because that paper is actually worth something for what they're pursuing is one thing. But going to college just to go to college is a disservice to many of our young people. And then, you know, what is the philosophy? I mean, this city was built by people that love this country and love freedom and will fight to keep it. We have a new bunch of transplants that come from other parts of the country. I'm working on them one at a time over here.
1:00:18Okay. Well, do they love the country like we do? that because I can argue that I probably love the country more than you. More than me? Yeah, more than me. Probably not more than me. Absolutely. Because you haven't lost anything. Okay. All right. So you don't know. I will not say that my experience in Cali was probably as bad as your experience in Cuba. Okay. But I don't have that. But I can make that argument, right? That I see a lot of the people that are here, okay, are here by choice. Yeah. All right. You were born here. All right. We're here by choice. And why do we remain here? Because the love that we have for this country, because we can see the alternatives.
1:01:04All right. And we see how great this country is. unfortunately too many young people haven't seen the greatness they actually buy the baloney that they year in in college that somehow america is not great they're not exceptional uh and we're not the last you know the the last great you know the beacon of hope right uh well i know that we are the beacon of hope and i know we are exceptional and so can that uh that spirit all right remain in this town because that's really what builds a town you know the the people is what builds a town. So can that spirit remain? Can the generation that's following me, I wasn't born here.
1:01:43So my kids are first generation, my grandchildren are second generation. Do they have the same passion or something akin to and love for this country that I do, or maybe my children do, okay? And so that will determine the future of Miami. And will it attain the greatness that I predict, or will it become another New York or something, right? I think Miami and Florida are going to be just fine. I worry far more about the national project than I do about this place. I think we're so set up for success, and there's so many good people here, and for all the reasons you just explained, so we will, well, I guess we got our work cut out for us.
1:02:25We'll just continue with that. We'll see. It was a pleasure, Congressman. Thank you. The pleasure is mine. Thank you.
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From the publisher
Dave Rubin of "The Rubin Report" talks to Carlos Giménez about his family fleeing Fidel Castro's Cuba for freedom in the United States; why he says pre-Castro Cuba had one of the highest standards of living in the Western Hemisphere; how Cuban immigrants helped transform Miami into the capital of Latin America; how Cuban, Venezuelan, and Nicaraguan immigrants created Miami's culture of freedom; his warnings about Hugo Chávez, socialism, communism, and dictatorship in Venezuela; why he opposes Republican calls to eliminate the Senate filibuster; how the filibuster protects the minority and forces bipartisan compromise; why he fears ending it could backfire on Republicans; his concerns about Democrats, court packing, and support for Israel; how Hugo Chávez transformed Venezuela's Supreme Court; why his experience fleeing communist Cuba shapes his defense of American institutions; why he believes Trump's mass deportation strategy has gone too far; his proposed solution for long-term illegal immigrants without a pathway to citizenship; why he says deporting longtime workers and families is hurting Republicans with Hispanic voters; Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan and Haitian immigrants; what could happen if Democrats win Congress in the midterms, including his prediction of repeated Trump impeachments; and much more.
