The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - #BecauseMiami: Epstein Files in Alligator Alcatraz

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

As democracy continues to die without so much of a whimper, Alligator Alcatraz is up and running. Florida state representative Anna Eskamani talks to Billy Corben about what she saw when she visited the detention facility. Plus, Grant Stern, the executive director of Occupied Democrats, talks about the postponement of this year's election in the city of Miami. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Florida Democratic lawmakers are raising alarms over conditions at the state's new immigration detention center that the administration is calling Alligator Alcatraz after seeing the conditions of the Everglades facility for themselves. Five state lawmakers were denied entry into the facility on July 3rd, despite saying Florida law allows them to inspect it without notice. Democratic lawmakers who toured the facility on Saturday described people essentially packed into cages in vile conditions and yelling for help. But new reporting from the Miami Herald finds that hundreds of immigrants with no criminal

charges in the United States are being held files to alligator Alcatraz, Roya. That way we're never going to see those again, I suppose. We have the latest on the concentration camp in the Everglades. Yes, it's a concentration camp. Go to dictionary.com. Look it up. It's exactly what it is. There's a difference between a concentration camp and a death camp, by the way.

It starts out as a concentration camp, and it'll eventually turn into a death camp. We know people are gonna die out there. And we hear from Grant Stern, with a top five Newsmax sound bites. You know Newsmax, the right wing cable entertainment slash news station. He's their token liberal news

Well, I'm use I was in a name. I'm sorry. I'm doing air quotes so hard I'm getting carpal tunnel, but first the latest on alligator Alcatraz aka Gator Gulag We really need a better name for it because it's I think I'm starting to get offended by the alligator Alcatraz thing It's so sticky. I get it. They're selling merch and they're fundraising off of misery and pain. Speaking of which, the definition of a concentration camp is a guarded compound for the mass detention without hearings or the imprisonment without trial of civilians as refugees, members of ethnic minorities, political opponents, etc. That's the definition. If it's not a concentration camp, why are they trying so hard to make it a concentration camp? Anna Eskamani is a member of the Florida House of Representatives,

representing right from central Florida, the Orlando area, where she is also now running for mayor of Orlando. Anna, thank you so much for being here. You were one of those lawmakers who went out earlier this month to try to gain access, which they claim you've claimed is actually in the law. The state of Florida allows you as an elected lawmaker to arrive unannounced and inspect a facility, but you were not allowed in. So let's start there.

What happened? Well, first of all, thanks for having me. And you got that right. When I started hearing that detainees were arriving at this Everglades detention facility, I knew that we have to go down there. There was just no way I could sit in my house in Orlando and allow this to happen

without some attempt of oversight and accountability. After seeing all the press clippings with Trump and DeSantis, I was just so disgusted by what is truly a political stunt, but one that hurts the environment and hurts people's lives. And so a group of us, five lawmakers in total, two from central Florida, one from Tampa,

one from Duval, and of course, South Florida folks, we all rendezvoused at this location and demanded access only to be denied going back and forth. And I think one of my biggest takeaways on that first visit, attempted visit, was it was unclear who was actually in charge. And there were multiples to agencies on the ground that are all being expensed by the public. And ultimately it was the Florida Department of Emergency Management that gave us

the final denial by saying that the facility was not safe for us to tour. Oh, which of course our response was, if it was not safe for us to tour. Oh. Which of course our response was, if it's not safe for us, how's it safe for people to be in there right now? Sure. It was just wild. It was wild. And as you know, due to the pressure that we built and pressure by members of Congress

who are planning to make an unannounced visit following Saturday, the state announced a scheduled curated visit in order to prevent what really is a PR disaster for them because what started as a, you know, political propaganda catchphrase has now evolved to be a disastrous waste of public money that is hurting people. So let me ask you about this because you had mentioned that they were then going gonna set up this scheduled kind of dog and gator show for you

to come back on this tour. But in actuality, is that correct that the law allows you to come unannounced? And of course, there's good reason for that as well, right? To allow unannounced visits. Absolutely, I mean, it's important to remind folks that as state representatives, we are responsible for the public dime and we already visit detention facilities unannounced any

day of the week, any any week of the month. I mean, I visit state prisons across Florida and county correctional facilities with no issues. Sometimes there can be a little bit of confusion at the beginning of who I am and why I'm there because it is an unannounced visit. But once we kind of get through those formalities, it is a clear access. I can ask to go anywhere in the facility. And importantly, I can talk to anyone I wanna talk to. Now, of course, an inmate or detainee does not have to talk to us.

And I'm very sensitive to folks who might be scared to talk. And so I navigate that with caution, but I'm talking to the correctional officers. I'm talking to those who are detained, incarcerated. The only way you really get to hear what the conditions are like and what we as state lawmakers have to do to meet basic standards.

So I was citing that same statute, we were approaching with that same reasonability of, hey, this is a state facility. You've said that in your own words, and so we should be able to access it. And of course, we were denied. Right, the law gives you the power of the purse. It gives you the ability of oversight.

And this is a facility that you need to be able to access unannounced for exactly the reason of being able to see what's actually happening there and not what the people who are in charge, although that was questionable at that time too, who the hell was in charge, what they want you to see. But then eventually you did get a date certain, you did come back for the guided tour.

So what did you see and how though were you limited or hamstrung as you might not otherwise ordinarily be on that tour? Well, it's important to stress at the top of this that the expectation that it would be a curated and very scripted tour, an attempt to sanit at the top of this that the expectation that it would be a curated and very scripted tour, an attempt to sanitize the facility was what I came in prepared for. But I have to tell you, Billy, there's no way to sanitize people in cages. And when we actually saw those detainees in cages, I mean, it was just so horrifying and reminiscent of America's past and past of other countries as well who have engaged in this type of targeted behavior. You had 32 men in one cage, 32 bunk beds in one cage, three toilets, small toilets in those cages, three phones next to the toilets in those cages,

and then eight cages in one tent. So it's like 200 and some men in one tent just stacked on top of each other, and they wouldn't let us talk to anyone. They surrounded us with five security. So this is the security you'd find at a club or at a mall. I mean, that was another takeaway for me is that the individuals who were receiving these contracts

are making millions off the detainment of immigrants. And of course, they're no big contracts that are all friends with Governor DeSantis, donors of the Republican Party of Florida, and none of them are trained to manage a facility like this. So nobody has any idea what's going on, right? Like they, it's shocking the fact that we're paying these

folks pretty exorbitant salaries to maintain a facility that is built by tents, that is barely off the ground, that can't withstand basic rainy days in Florida, let alone a hurricane that has surrounded my mosquitoes. But when these doors swung open and we were able to basically glimpse inside with security blocking our ability to walk forward. You had all these men start chanting freedom in Spanish. They started pointing at their water cups to say that the water was bad. The water made them sick. They were calling for help.

They were sharing us their names and saying, I have a social security card, I have status. I mean, it was 60 seconds of just, honestly pain because you wanna help and yet you're physically being held back by the state. Like you're physically being held back. And then of course, in the context of the law, you're being held back, which is why we've sued DeSantis to get this type of access. But I

mean, it was really frustrating. And it was gross, very gross at different levels, especially at the end of the tour when because there were Republicans who were on this tour. And, you know, for them, it was about, you know, spitting out talking points to try to help on the PR disaster. And at the end of the tour, they clapped. I mean, who claps at the end of a tour of a detention facility? They clap.

The same people who clap when they get rid of Medicaid. Right. I mean, I'm a big Star Wars fan. And so I always think think back to, you know, the Galactic Senate and the line from Padme when she says, this is how democracy dies, with like a round of applause. I mean, it was like that. Like, I'm just standing there like, why are you clapping? Like, why would you?

I don't even like when people clap when a plane lands, but at least I understand it, you know? Cause like, they don't necessarily know gravity, or, you know, aeron plane lands, but at least I understand it, you know? Because they don't necessarily know gravity or aeronautics. But I get it, now so more than ever. That's just, as I like to say about Florida, it rarely shocks me, but regularly disappoints me. Roy, you had a question? Yeah, you mentioned hurricanes earlier.

Is this facility going to be able to withstand a severe storm and in an emergency situation, are they going to be able to do anything about it? Oh, absolutely not. I mean, this facility is, it's tents connected to tents, right? I mean, it's a tent that you, if you go to an outdoor event and they have like those giant white tents, like that's the tent. Like it is, tents are not that sophisticated, right?

A tent is the tent. Like it is, tents are not that sophisticated, right? A tent is a tent. And to the point of hurricanes, we did ask him, so let me back up a little bit. This tour was led by the Florida Department of Emergency Management Director, Kevin Guthrie. And that also feels so shameful to me because this is someone who's committed his entire professional career

to hurricane preparedness and response and helping people in hurricanes. And now he's committed his entire professional career to hurricane preparedness and response and helping people in hurricanes. And now he's using his logistical expertise to create a detention facility taped together by tons. Hang on. I'm sorry. We're supposed to clap for this, right? It's really bad.

Yeah, it's terrible. It's really bad. No, it's sick. It's really bad. No, it's sick. It's so dystopian. Let me ask you though, you've been to, you've said, you've toured prison facilities unannounced, you've seen some of the conditions are just generally inhumane. It's part of the, I guess the experience of being deprived

of your liberty under presumably as a result of committing a crime and being sentenced, but these conditions worse than you've seen in other state facilities? This is such a great question because last night, I spent a few hours talking to individuals who have been previously detained at this facility, but also other facilities, including Chrome down in Miami.

The horror stories out of Chrome cannot be ignored. For decades, a nightmare. For decades, the stories out of Chrome cannot be ignored. For decades, a nightmare. For decades. The deaths out of Chrome cannot be ignored. And so I do want to be careful to the point where it's all the attention goes to the Everglades. I want people to understand, like, when we close the Everglades detention facility,

because we will close it, that is 100% my goal in this advocacy. We can't ignore the fact that there are gross violations of human rights in all these essential facilities. And so it's not just the fact that in the Everglades that it's an environmentally sensitive area, it just goes, it's deeper than that. So to your point of the comparison,

I would say that it's a different type of bad. I mean, first of all, at least in correctional institutions, you have COs that are trained to be correctional officers. They have educational programs, and obviously they need to be more robust, but we do have education programs, we have rehabilitation programs. You have a library, you have rec activity.

It's like there is a- It's a real fucking building. I'm sorry to interrupt, but like that's- That too. It's's- That too. It's like, there might be issues, there might be AC problems, but it's not a f***ing tent in the middle of the swamp for crying out loud.

Exactly. And we didn't even mention the mosquitoes, but I'm a born and raised Floridian, like I am so used to mosquitoes. This is a whole different level. That was the first thing I talked about on this show. That was the lead. The lead was on this show. That was the lead. The lead was not the alligators.

The lead is the skeeters. They are deadly and gigantic. And one of the first words we got from inmates, we played the audio on this show after I talked about mosquitoes for like 10 minutes. The first thing he said was like, the mosquitoes are like elephants. That was like in Spanish.

That was the first thing he said. We got a little bit of time, but I have a bunch more questions I really want to ask because you have been there you have seen it nobody listening right now has seen alligator Alcatraz and you have and so what I want to know is who are these people running this place who is getting these no bid quote-unquote emergency multi-million dollar contracts we never seem to have enough money in the state for anything and then all of a sudden in eight days,

there's hundreds of millions of dollars in our taxpayer money going to build this horrific facility with no code enforcement, no fire measures, none of the procedures that any of the rest of us go into, building something out or constructing or opening an office or a building or a business, it is not undergoing any of that life-saving scrutiny, and all of a sudden, there's just blank

checks that the governor can pass out to everyone. And also, this should be public record, but are the records suddenly disappearing now? What the hell is going on with these fiscal conservative small government, you know, transparency is key. What is happening here? on with these fiscal conservative small government, you know, transparency is key. What is happening here? I mean, it's literally a, it's a swamp in the swamp, right? Swamp in the swamp.

To your point, you have no big contracts going to friends of Governor Ron DeSantis and donors of the Republican Party of Florida. The facility itself right now is being managed by a company called Critical Response Strategies that is super sketch. It's like OCP, like from RoboCop. Exactly.

Omni consumer products. 100%. And then you have CDR Health, which is the healthcare provider. And all these companies, by the way, have scrubbed their leadership pages. They are taking millions of dollars in contracts and then hiding, hiding from the public.

And I really wanna emphasize this point that you just made that never accept a politician who says we can't afford this because it's not about finances, it's about will, it's about prioritization, it's unfortunately about politics. But we could absolutely spend what's going to be upwards of more than half a billion dollars in this facility. We could spend it on affordable housing, on teacher pay, on food and security, and yet these are where these dollars are going. Socialism is what you're saying we can spend it on.

That's basically right. I mean it's insane, but I do want to emphasize, you know, the contract piece here. So I've been digging up these contracts just by looking at Florida's two public facing databases called Facts and Flare. Yes, I'm a nerd. So we've been tracking these contracts as they get uploaded for weeks now. And I have several that I saved to my drive. I download them, I look at them and I save them.

Yeah, the internet is not forever as people commonly. Not when the state of Florida is in charge. And so all of a sudden, right? So I see these two contracts that caught my eye, right? One was for the management of this facility, this critical response strategies, and it's nearly $80 million of staff costs and excessive wages.

And then the other contract that I found, I spoke to Asphalt, an $11 million road at New Asphalt being paved in the Everglades, which is a road that I physically saw in a parking lot that I physically parked in. So I knew that it already happened, but the receipts are very helpful. So I, of course, put these online and all these reporters started asking me for copies of it, which I'm happy to do. And then reporters started telling me, you know, where did you find this?

Did you get this through public records? And I was like, no, I just found it online on the facts website and they can't find it. And I'm like, wait, what? And so it turns out, and I have verification of this today because I spoke to the department of financial services which is who runs the website, that the PDF contracts were taken down.

They told me it was not their office, which means it's either the office executive governor or the floor department emergency management. And so here you have an example of, we're going to sell merchandise and hashtag this and act like we're all proud of this. On the flip side, we're gonna hide contracts, hide our vendors and avoid any public scrutiny

or accountability, which is more motivation for me to keep going, to keep pushing those buttons, to keep asking those questions, to keep showing up unannounced, but my God, it is, they always move the goalposts in Florida and it's so important for us to not be dismayed by that, but accept that reality that you know every time we get somewhere They're gonna move that goalposts and we just we just can't give up

I'm still wondering what the money is coming from and you mentioned asphalt so that means they're building roads So I can only assume that this is earmarked for infrastructure So right you this money come from you guys have that have the power of the purse and yet the governor is just unilaterally spending nine figures. How is that happening? Well, it is a blank check without a doubt. This is coming from a slush fund a legislature allocated towards Governor Artisantas years ago. It's called the Emergency Responsive and Preparedness Fund and now as Democrats of the floor legislature, we tried to get rid of this fund.

We've tried to put restrictions on this fund to say it can only be spent on natural disasters. But that is the same source of funding that the governor also weaponized to traffic Assam seekers from the border to Martha's Vineyard several years ago. So this has been an ongoing issue with the legislature and the governor,

hence why there is some tension between our speaker and the governor. I will tell you that this fiscal year, that fund, the legislature added more teeth to accountability where they have to report to us what they are spending it on. So my suspicion, and I actually reached out to the Florida House to get clarity on this,

is that they're spending money from last fiscal year still, from the slush fund last fiscal year, but there's half a billion in this fund. But they're going to exceed it, and they're going to have to come to us, the legislature, to ask for more money. And so it's bound to happen,

an opportunity of tension legislature, which is why we need to hold our lawmakers accountable on this, we need to hold all local government officials on this, we need folks to speak up. That'll get rubber stamped right through the misappropriations committee in no time. We're out of time, I've got so many questions though, because we've now learned that a majority of these inmates

have no prior criminal record, so this is not, as was advertised, the worst of the worst, the violent criminals, the people that we were promised would be prioritized to take off our streets to make our communities and our state safer. That's just a bold face lie. And also, of course, you were just talking about the ability of running these facilities,

but we're talking about lawyers whose clients have disappeared in there, lawyers who have no access to their clients, lawyers who cannot facilitate the legal process or hearings or even speak privately as they're entitled to have privilege to do. So none of this is constitutional, none of this is kosher. It is as we establish the definition, going in a concentration gap.

But before we go, last question, we have unconfirmed reports that there has been a death already, if not deaths in Alligator Alcatraz. Do you have any more information on that? We are trying aggressively to confirm. There was a death that the detainees had told us of where we could go at this point. And we are trying to work every angle.

But as you can imagine, it's just so opaque right now. But yes, there are very serious rumors of death, potentially up to three people who have died. And it's important to note that those who are being detained are every age. I mean, you have eight-year-olds who are there who are not getting access to their medicine, folks who can't get insulin.

The healthcare needs are not being met. And as you already noted, the hundreds of folks being detained have no criminal background whatsoever. This is the scheme, Roy. It has been from the turn of the century with Jeb Bush in destroying our public education system. It's privatize, subsidize, brutalize.

And first thing you do is you take these functions that would normally be the purview of the government, you privatize them, subsidize them. So tax dollars are actually going into these private corporations, mostly cronies and donors of the politicians who give away these contracts in the first place, whether it's through a RFP or an emergency no bid situation. And so we're still paying for them as we would the government the difference is

they get to brutalize what I mean by that is there is no accountability. There's no transparency. They're not subject to chapter 119 or sunshine laws or public record laws because whoa, we're private corporations. Like, wait, wait, they're not private corporations when we pay them our tax dollars to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

But suddenly when it comes to records and accountability and access and information and transparency, oh no, they're private corporations. We can't possibly let you in on our trade secrets or our corporate documents or whatever. And this is just bad news all around. And it happened in education, it's happened in prisons, it's now happening in concentration camps.

This is a slippery slope and you're seeing it now. The weather, weather reporting and the space program is gonna be privatized and Florida is the laboratory for bad democracy and we take this Florida and we export it and the Florida today is the America of tomorrow. So there's a reason why when you see a Florida man

in Washington DC that you're seeing the kind of chicanery that we have been subjected to through a quarter century of one party rule. That's the other thing too. If you're sick and tired of the abuse and you're tired of the corruption and you're tired of the mismanagement and you think we need Doge and you think we need there's a deep state and you think well who the hell has been in charge in Florida since 1999? Let's be real. The Democrats have been a non-entity the entire century so far.

That's the bottom line, no power. So if you're upset and concerned about Florida, there's only one group of people to blame here. And I'm a pretty, I'm a fair guy. I'll say like, I'll call the Democrats out all the time. I just did. But like, this is not a both sides kind of situation. It's just not.

Anna Eskamani, thank you so much for being here. It's always a pleasure. It's never under good circumstances. We're like friends who only see each other at funerals at this point, right? It's just like, hey, I text, I was like, hey, something terrible is happening in Florida. You want to come on and talk about it?

Yeah, that would be great. Yeah, it's so, so depressing. But anyway, keep up the good work, fight the good fight, make good trouble, and good luck to you in the Mayor's race. Thank you. I'll appreciate it. Y'all be well. Let's keep fighting. Howdy, folks. It's Mike Ryan. If you were listening to the show just a couple days ago,

you know that Jeremy came up with the top five. Breath of fresh air type of list. A really refreshing feeling. And on that list, Jeremy with the top five. Breath of fresh air type of list, a really refreshing feeling. And on that list, Jeremy, help me out. I mean, that first sip of a Miller Lite at the barbecue on a hot day, crack it open. That sound. That feeling's better.

That sound ultra satisfying. And then that first sip, it hits. And yes, while it's hot outside as it is presently, cools your body down, it hits a little different down here in South Florida. But as someone that had Miller Lite north of the border, and basically football tailgates as the leaves turn, there really isn't a bad time to turn into Miller time. Next time we should do a top five times to have Miller time. I like where your head's at, because it's every time. That's right. Every time. Morning time Next time we should do a top 5 times to have Miller Time. It's Miller Time somewhere.

Miller Lite. Great taste. 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Cheers to 50 years of Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Breaking news! McDonald's international menu items are vanishing. McPizza bites missing in Italy.

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in participating McDonald's and Canada Good afternoon commissioner Pardo while I Appreciate the effort at reform and I do support lifetime term limits in re 19. You should not Unilaterally cancel this year's election and give yourselves an extra year in office per fr4 Commissioner Rosado, you were just campaigning, knocking on doors, you probably spoke to hundreds, if not thousands of voters, right? How many of them said to you, the very first thing

you should do on your very first meeting is to cancel the election and extend your own term a year longer than we're electing for? I'm guessing not one. Nobody thought of it because nobody actually wants it. It's not only a bad look, it is profoundly unethical to gift yourselves this personal and political benefit. For anyone who says this will save money, you guys waste so much money. If there's one thing voters want you to spend money on, it's elections. Invest

in our democracy. So please send this issue, if it's so popular, to voters for a referendum. We've got some breaking news to tell you about now. In a controversial move, the city of Miami has canceled the November election, postponing it until 2026. There's been debate on whether or not this move is even legal. And the controversial vote is with less than five months before election day when voters were set to elect a new mayor and new city commissioners. All in favor? Aye.

No. The motion passes 3-2 with Commissioner Corio and Commissioner Cabello voting no. Now the term of commissioners and the mayor will be extended by one year without voter approval. In Florida's attorney general, he's not having any of it. Sending this blistering letter to the mayor and commissioners Wednesday, arguing that based on his interpretation of Miami's charter, the county charter and state constitution, moving the date of elections without a public vote on the issue is unconstitutional. If you nevertheless move forward with the proposed ordinance,

my office reserves the right to consider taking all available actions to prevent this violations of law from occurring. Not only do I believe that it's illegal, but even if it weren't, it's morally wrong. Commissioner Joe Croio is against it, despite getting to hold his seat for another year. The voters voted for all of us for four years, not five. If they wanted to make a change,

they should have brought it up to the voters. Could it come to the point where commitmenters could get suspended? The law does provide me that as one of many reports. I want to put a little context there for you, Roy. What you just heard there was a video, an audio in which I was agreeing with Miami Commissioner Joe Correia and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. I could not believe that with my own eyes. That's what, or your own ears.

I mean, I was watching and looking and listening and everything. That's what just happened. And you heard me speaking at the Miami City Commission meeting last month, and then you heard the commissioners vote three to two to unilaterally cancel this year's election, or at least postpone it to next November, and gift them all an extra year in office, including Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.

-♪ Party poster leader! Joe Carollo basically said to the press after I said it that if this is so popular and such an important thing they should take it to a referendum for the city of Miami voters to vote on instead of just voting for their own personal benefit and then Ron DeSantis said basically he said that it's illegal I don't know if that's true there is a legitimate legal dispute here now between the state of Florida the Attorney General the governor and the

city of Miami its Commission its mayor, the attorney general, the governor, and the city of Miami, its commission, its mayor, and its city attorney. But the governor is now threatening to possibly suspend and remove from office those commissioners who voted for this and presumably the mayor who signed it into law and did not veto it. I don't know how I feel about that, that the governor should come in and ostensibly hijack a city by taking over its commission and I don't know. But I need to talk about this with somebody who knows, Miami Native author, podcaster, activist, executive editor of Occupy Democrats and token liberal on the right wing cable entertainment network.

I imagine they're going to have to make that defense at some point against who knows, Dominion or somebody. Entertainment channel Newsmax. Grant Stern is joining us. Grant, what do you make of this situation? I know it's a lot more complicated than just the headline of Miami canceled an election. And we know why all of that got scary and made international headlines. And this is one of my most viral videos that I've ever posted on social media, because the Miami of today is the America of tomorrow.

So people are scared that Miami and Florida has always been the beta testing grounds most viral videos that I've ever posted on social media, because the Miami of today is the America of tomorrow. So people are scared that Miami and Florida has always been the beta testing ground for, you know, the evil laboratory of democracy down here. And we export all this Florida and bad laws and crazy shit elsewhere. What do you think people need to know about what it is Miami did here? So what we're seeing in the city of Miami is a hail Mary to push through some really important reforms, but not in the best political way to do it. I mean, I showed up and spoke against it and said, look, why not have a snap referendum,

put it to the voters quickly and do what you have to do. But this is the result of some reform minded commissioners trying to do the right thing in the wrong way. And I'm not convinced it's gonna pass muster in the courts. I mean, one of the city candidates for mayor is suing to reverse it, but I wouldn't put any stock in what the Florida Attorney General says is legal opinion. That's what I'm saying.

It's a real conflict here. The fact that you have to agree with Joe Carollo's morality questions the very nature of why this is actually going to be a bad thing The most important thing here is that the city of Miami only has like five to ten percent voter participation in any given election And this is going to raise the voter participation rate up into the 60s It's going to create a very different category of Elector on these local races that have far too long delivered the local dynasties that none of us are big fans of.

Okay, yes. So to be clear what actually happened here with the postponement or cancellation, whatever you want to talk about it at this November's election is they moved the election to even year elections. So instead of these odd year elections, which as you said, attract very low voter turnout, they now want to go to- Disgustingly low. Disgustingly low.

I mean- Yes. Barely double digits sometimes, as you said. You have a commissioner on the dais who's a communist como mierda, and he spent $2.3 million on 5,000 votes. Well, good for him. It's crazy. Yeah, he's the best commissioner money could buy. But what I'm seeing is that this idea that moving to even-year elections will increase voter turnout. That, I think, is that this idea that moving to even year elections will increase voter turnout.

That I think is just a fact. Even years are federal elections, there are presidential elections every four years, more people will be there. Now I might argue, but I'll table this argument for a moment, that a higher turnout of low information voters is not necessarily good for democracy. I think last year was evidence of that. But I want to table that argument for a second because we could talk about that all day. But let's talk about what you were saying though,

this argument that this somehow breaks the chain, the vicious cycle of Miami, not recycling our trash, but re-electing it, right? The kind of generational political crime dynasties, political crime dynasties that we have down here. Here's the problem with that, in my opinion. Even your elections, it is going to be far more expensive and competitive to participate.

Number one, you know in Miami, we do not have a deep bench of campaign talent, managers, door knockers, people who know how to run a campaign legally from a financial perspective. Actually, I think we have too many of those people who know how to run a campaign. No a financial perspective. Actually, I think we have too many of those people who know how to run a campaign. No, we have political grifters.

We have political grifters is what we have. We have a lot of those people here. There's not a lot of talent. I said talent. And so what happens is everybody, you have scarcity. Prices go up. Printing costs go up for flyers. Prices for ads go up.

Nobody can break through. The down ballot candidates cannot penetrate the conversation or the zeitgeist. What's gonna happen is the only candidates that can are those with name recognition who belong to those dynasties, those with a lot of money or those who sell out to special interests who can raise a lot of money

to try to get the name recognition. Look, let's look at what happened in the past and see what could happen in the future versus let's speculate what could happen in the future, right? In 2019, we had Ken Russell back on the ballot in District 2 where I live, right? And I helped a friend of mine, Jim Fried, for free because he's my neighbor and my friend and we just needed somebody to change things, honestly, run against Ken Russell. He finished second out of the four-person group, right?

And Ken Russell raised he finished second out of the four person group, right? And Ken Russell raised a million dollars. A million dollars! He said earlier that raising a million dollars for a commission race is obscene and then he went full obscene in his second election, right? And Jim Fried did a great job but he could only win like a couple thousand votes. He couldn't even get Facebook to allow him to do a digital ad in the 12 weeks that his campaign lasted, right? I mean, you think that it's gonna be a problem?

How is he gonna do that in an even year election? But I'll tell you right now, Damien Pardo, I'm sorry, Damien Pardo who introduced, who sponsored this item and was one of the three votes in the affirmative for it. And by the way, I'm not necessarily, to be fair, arguing about the even year election. What we're saying is the process sucked. They should have taken it to a referendum. Let the people decide. Hang on, I want to finish this thought.

Damien Pardo, had he run for office in an even-year, would not have won his election. Maybe, maybe not. It was an open seat. It was a short-term interim commissioner. He was not the incumbent. He was running against an incumbent even though she had only been there nine months. Yeah, well, let's talk about it. She had the name recognition. She raised a ton of money and spent a ton of money of special interest money. That's what I'm saying. But that's the outlier. So we've seen one outlier election where it happens, but every single other election, no matter how bad the incumbent is,

unless they're actually indicted and removed from office, the voters put them back in. So let me ask you this though. C.J. O'Caroio. They said they had to gift themselves all an extra year because if they took any time away from their term, which they could have done the opposite direction, there would have been litigation.

There's litigation irregardless, as there always is going to be. They got litigation for giving themselves a year. They would have gotten litigation for taking time away. I hate to correct your grammar here, but it's irregardless bro. Irregardless lacy's is my sister. Let me hang on. Irregardless bro. So here's what I'm trying to say is that why not vote for this now,

make it effective, let's say in 2028, because as Joe Corolla, I'm quoting Joe Corolla now and I agree with him. As he said, everyone who's been elected currently has been elected for a four year term or in the case of the new commissioner to complete the four year term of the late Manolo Reyes, as was the mayor elected for a four year term. If we delay it till 2028, voters will go to the ballot box voting for a mayor and or a commissioner knowing that that

commissioner will be voted for a five-year term so at least so then there will be informed voters going in so then we're having a mayor and multiple commission candidates who are gonna run in 2027 and then have a one-year term how does that work work? Number one. Number two, right? How do we give them an extra year? We can't come on. No, but you're asking someone who's not in office yet to shorten the term of the office they're running to from four years to one, right? Which is a difficulty. And the second problem, and this I think speaks to the idea of breaking up these dynastic name recognition clans, right? So let's say that you have the election and the term limits vote in the same day. So now let's just imagine for example somebody who's should be termed out

and will be under the new policy, the new charter amendment, but isn't under the poorly written old charter amendment is on the same ballot and they get elected. Does the term limit apply to them? Jesus, this is getting too wonky now. Even I'm, even I'm confused about it. It's a it's a perfect mess and I will say this. You talk about well-needed reforms. I believe the city of Miami and its charter is unreformable because you can amend it between now and kingdom come and you will never fix the mess that this city has become. I have two straightforward ways that this city could become a knot mess.

You ready? First you shave? Not as complicated. There are plenty of barber shops here, okay? So the first one is pretty straightforward when I say it, but it has a lot of big implications, okay? So the first one is going to a council manager form of government. Oh, Jesus.

Right? There you go. Easy. is going to a council manager form of government. Oh, Jesus Christ. Right? There you go. Easy. But what that means is the mayor is sitting on the city council. Right now, we have a weak mayor who doesn't sit on the city council.

He sits in the court of- He sits in Dubai. What are you talking about? No, no, no. The Saudi court. The Saudi royal court, right? Yes, that's correct. He sits in the court of the House of Saud,

but he doesn't come to our commission meetings. In fact, I saw him walk by and look down on all of us earlier today. In Miami, we are definitely not woke. Dude, stop being poor, bro. Stop being poor. So good. Jesus Christ, dude.. Jesus Christ the last Jewish carpenter Roy. What do you have to say about that? Yeah. So anyways, I mean council manager, it means that the mayor is a member of the commission, right? It's the city of Miami Beach. That's how city of Miami Beach operates. Right. And what it does is it takes away the mayor's greatest weapon for corruption, which is the fact that they're exempt from the sunshine law for meetings which is insane. But it also neutralizes what they're voting on

this week which is the lifetime term limits because it becomes a new all the the positions basically be especially the mayor becomes a new position by charter and then Francis Suarez could run again he could be maker again the need I think you need a charter I think you need a charter amendment that up that that carries the term limits over to do it yeah okay I mean that's just the fact but this is my point though this is my point there's so many moving parts the charter is such a mess. It's been exploited and destroyed in so many different ways.

And if you blow it up and rebuild it, same problem you just mentioned. Right? Yes. Okay. What's numero dos then? Okay. Number two. Create districts that manage all the physical infrastructure and everything that's happening within them

so that all these special districts can do what they're supposed to do. The DDA can hire the ambassadors. The CRAs can build affordable housing. The Bayfront Park Trust can put on concerts instead of having a cash room and having Joe Carollo, his wife, his brother, his cousin, his mother, his sister, his uncle, his, you know, gay lover, who knows, All of them, you know, running in and stealing money from the place. I mean, you heard the overtures he made

at one of our friends at that last meeting. We don't know what's up with Carollo, but if he is, I respect his decision, and I understand that Joe Carollo may want a man in charge of his finances instead of a woman. He's very traditional, you know. Jimmy Kroketas with the skim in the cash room at the Bayfront Trust. Grant, he's very traditional, you know. Jimmy Krokietas with the skim in the cash room at the Bayfront Trust.

Grant, as I mentioned earlier, you are the token liberal on right-wing cable entertainment network Newsmax. And you have had, at this point, countless through the years, viral clips of your various clapbacks and sound bites. I thought it would be fun to do a top five of Grant Stern's best bites from his appearances on the science fiction cable network Newsmax. Let's do it.

Number five. Do you know what's creepy though, Grant? The amount of people connected to P. Diddy. I'm just going to call it like I said, you are surrogate for Colin Harris. Do you know how many photos there are of Donald Trump and P. Diddy? There's even photos of I'm just gonna call it like I said Connected for Harris. I know Photos of Donald Trump p-ditty and Jeffrey I'm sure he said that best friend for 10 years. I'm sure my goodness when he becomes president But actually I want to get your perspective on the closing argument since grant brought it up I thought it was incredible and the difference was stark with Donald Trump speaking with steelworkers.

Everyday Americans. Why is that guy wearing a safety vest? Yeah, what is he wearing? It was election day, you know? Does he help children across the street at the crosswalk? Well, I mean, if you remember, Donald Trump was riding around in a dump truck telling his losers to get in and we're gonna go out losing Boy that that clip really aged like fine wine milk for her milk for her That was election day 2024 and everybody got a shout out there your boy did he Roy?

Your boy Jeff your boy Jeff Don't do that to me. Yeah, your boy Jeff. Your boy Jeff. I like the garbage truck with the tie. Unbelievable. With the tie. That's classy. Jesus Christ, dude.

Numero cuatro. Hakeem Jeffries made sure that Donald Trump owns this one big beautiful bill of his. The one that's going to kick 13 million Americans off of their health insurance. The one that's going to kick 13 million Americans off of their health insurance. The one that's going to raise costs for the poorest Americans. People that make under $40,000 a year by $1,600 a year in taxes and insurance premiums. They're going to raise your premiums too, because who do you think is going to pay for the $1.1 trillion in healthcare cuts that Republicans just enacted? You are.

Your families are. Donald Trump did that, and he lied about his no taxes on tips. It's just a little tax break, the first 24,000. So if you're a waiter and you make $50,000, well, your tips are going to be taxed. That's what Democrats think of this. It's a terrible bill and it should never have been passed. Boys, okay, Rich. I was just going to ask Grant, if I were a waiter and I used to be a barber and they

told me that if I made 50 grand and I could take 24 and not pay tax on them, I'd be doing cartwheels. What do you think about that? I think you probably wouldn't be paying very much tax on those in the first place because the tax rate on the first $24,000 is the lowest tax rate in the entire bracket. It's not much of a break. And when your healthcare is going to be taken away at the same time, especially if you're,'re say feeding a large family and you don't have a large income and your children's health care is gonna be taken away Well, that's not much of a tax break at all. Is it it's actually a tax increase. Why why?

Why do they keep letting grant on that channel to spew his socialist propaganda number three? I mean, I'm just thrilled that I bought a Tesla Cybertruck and I'm so happy guys aren't you guys happy about that? You bought one? It was a good one Grant. That was a good one. In a rare moment Grant is actually laughing that's good and that's good sts self-explanatory there is a comedy it's a comedy channel really is what is what is that you are you are there comic dot relief or is it joker a calls me the court jester numerados

well this is a and and another example of donald trump letting the presidency get away from him jd Vance gave the worst performance in a serious meeting since I think the Godfather that's been on television Since the Godfather one went on TV Because Santino spoke out when somebody from outside the family was discussing business and then what happened to the Godfather? It didn't go so well for the Godfather. JD Vance has no reason to be so involved in these talks. He's just the vice president. He's not in the chain of command and he doesn't have a formal portfolio and he was the one who litigated the issues. He said litigating was disrespectful. He's the one who started the litigation and made a

litigation happen on national television. Donald Trump is national television Very surprised evaluating who's in that room Boy Every JD Vance clip goes nuts I mean people just despise JD Vance I think and they like seeing me slam the hell out of him on Newsmax Keep going. He's a great American. I can't wait to see number one the Russians and we hope that they'll say yes That they'll say yes to peace. The ball's now in their court. Grant, I want to give you opportunity to respond to the previous economic question, but also

this, because of course a ceasefire would be an incredibly important event affecting geopolitics, affecting energy, which is part of the economy. So Rubio has been busy traveling to Canada and amid the tariffs standoffs he's been doing a lot. But what do you expect to come from these negotiations? Well, I want to thank you for letting me comment on Marco Rubio, because Marco Rubio was tragically born without a spine. And there is nothing you can try from that man's mouth other than hot air will be expelled.

Okay? So Marco Rubio is pretty much like a tool of Donald Trump. He's just there to say whatever is politically expedient. For Donald Trump's purposes, the man has no center, no beliefs, and pretty much can't be trusted. Grant, I didn't know how you were going to top screaming about Jeffrey Epstein and Diddy and their countless photographs with the president and you didn't. But still solid, solid top five. I think my favorite still might be the, the OLI and unlike Newsmax, we will have you back

again. Although we keep trying to cut you off. You cut me off, more than Newsmax does. This is what happens with our third world government and fourth world infrastructure here in Miami. I think they're trying- For real, bro. Ron DeSantis. Are you guys using Dixie cups and strings there?

Ron DeSantis is trying to shut you down, dude. Grant Stern. For real. Thank you so much for being here. Come back and visit us again, won't you? Yeah, absolutely. I'm looking forward to it. And Because Miami is one of my favorite shows.

Can't wait to see the next one.