The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - #BecauseMiami: Miami Mamdani

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

Billy Corben goes over the week that was, despite the fact that he booked former Miami commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla to be a guest on the show and for two consecutive weeks has no-showed. As you'll tell from this episode...Billy was less than thrilled. Billy also talks about outgoing Miami mayor Francis Suarez comparing New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani to former Cuba dictator Fidel Castro. Could it be that Suarez doesn't know the difference between communism and socialism? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now is a good time to remember where tequila's story truly began. In 1795, Cuervo invented tequila. Quervo. What are you doing here? Quervo. Anytime someone says quarevo, I show up. Well, I do know that to be true, but even during and reads, like... Quervo.

I think he could lay out, especially from one of our great partners. Sweet, delicious quervo. Since then, Cuervo is stayed true to its roots. The same family, the same land, the same passion. Quervo. So, enjoy the tequila that started it all. Quervo. Quervo.

The tequila. That invented tequila. Broximo.com. Please drink responsibly. Quervo. You ever notice how everything keeps going up, rents going up, streaming services going up, even your favorite burrito spot suddenly thinks that salsa should cost extra. But with Boost Mobile, you and your phone bill doesn't have to play the will this go up soon game.

Why? Because Boost Mobile has an unlimited talk text and data plan at a price that'll never go up. In fact, it's the same price you'll pay for life. So switch now for unlimited wireless. at a price that will never go up only at Boost Mobile. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds, customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Plan.

Mike, you know I have one rule to live by, right? Don't place parlays on multiple long shots. Don't say a game is one when it hasn't hit, triple zero. Always drink your Yeagermeister ice cold. That's the rule. Everything else is merely a suggestion. Everything else? Everything else.

Wearing clean underwear every day. Well, that's just a personal decision. brushing your teeth. Obviously smart, but not a rule. Never pee-pee on an electric fence. Okay, maybe there are two rules. But the one that is 100% that I insist on completely, Yeagermeister must be drank ice cold.

Or don't drink it at all. Damn, that's cold. Exactly. You're finally starting to get it. Drink responsibly. Yeagermeister liqueur 35% alcohol by volume imported by mass Yeagermeister U.S. White Plains, New York. Okay, wait.

If we're doing 45 seconds, I'm telling this story. So yesterday, the city of Miami, Commissioner got indicted. His name is Alex Diaz de la Portia for bribery and corruption. You post shit about this. And that's a man who 25 years ago screamed racial slurs at me in a drunken tirade. He called me a arrow thrower and Indian. I guess because I'm in Nicaragua and he was born. He's a white human. He's going to jail and I'm a national TV talking about you. That's how it started in September of 2023 and 14 months later, this is how it went. Making news, charges have been dropped against former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portia.

Former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portia was facing charges connected to alleged bribery and money laundering, but all of those charges have been dropped. Prosecutors concluded there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction in this case. Diaz de la Portia was arrested in September of last year. He was accused of accepting money from the owners of a private school in Edgewater. $245,000 in exchange for voting to. approve the construction of a local sports facility. Happy Halloween because Miamians.

This year I got a trick instead of a treat because Alex D.L.P. Diaz la Portia or degenerate lying prick was supposed to be on this show last week and then again this week and he is a no-share. show. That's great, Billy. Good job closing the deal on that. There he is sitting next to Roy, as you can see with his headphones on. Diazlo-Bortillo-Dia was arrested for bribery and money laundering and corruption and campaign finance crimes and then exonerated by the same state attorney that arrested him. We've covered it on this show repeatedly. And he is now running for mayor of the city of Miami in this clown car of a race that is going on right now. As a, as we speak. Early voting is already underway. And he was going to come on the show and take the

tough questions. And he was going to. He was never going to. What am I talking about? I'm glad you finally realized that. Never going to happen. Yeah, well, because you didn't introduce me to polymarket in time for me to see how low the odds were on him showing up. Could have consulted with Draft Kings to find out that this was a losing bet for me all the way. What's amazing, though, Roy is that we actually have had three of the top contenders in this 13 candidate mayoral race on the show. We had, of course, Emilio Gonzalez. We had Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, and we had former City of Miami Commissioner Ken Russell. And of them, the only person who I think is polling to potentially make the runoff is Joe Carollo.

So, he's a wife, be her wife. Now, to be fair, Diazla Portia is not going to break double digits, I think. So I think he's in a race for, I don't know, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth place, probably. But it was going to be interesting to talk with him. And because he is quite the character, as you can discern from the beginning of this program,

I'm a little frustrated about this. Although it was entirely, entirely predictable. Speaking of Joe Correyo He's a wife He's a wife Oh, wow, I was going to make a joke That I just was right on the tip of my tongue It was right on the tip of my tongue

You have a governor some out What I have is very small And it didn't fortunately it didn't escape my lips But the headline this week is No, Donald Trump hasn't endorsed Joe Corroyo For mayor of Miami He sent out a flyer, a mailer entirely in Spanish, which is unusual because Donald Trump signed on March 1st of this year

in executive order declaring English the official language of the United States. But this flyer shows a litany of pictures of Joe, some with his wife Marjorie, and, well, then not even candidate Donald Trump, because this was all back from Joe Corroyo's days as the, he was the city manager in Doral for about like 15 months before he got fired for trying to hijack the entire city from the mayor and the government who hired him. Again, it was kind of like, what did that mayor expect? Kind of like, what did I expect inviting a coup? A DLP onto the program. I should have expected a coup. Oh, I expected nothing. And clearly Durala should have expected a coup. He's got this flyer. It says more than 25 years with President Trump defending our Republican

principles and values. He's really pandering to his base. A lot of these guys, Diaz La Portia, Corroyo and Emilio Gonzalez are running what appears to be a Republican primary and really cannibalizing the conservative vote here in the city of Miami. So it's an interesting tactic, but I will say that the New Times, their reporter Alex DeLuca, spoke with someone at the White House who said that despite the fact that these mailers look like an endorsement of some sort from the president of Joe Corroyo, it is absolutely not the case. He is not endorsed or engaged in this race is what the White House spokesperson said in an email. But he sent these misleading flyers, of course, to Republican super voters all over the city of Miami.

So, Roy, what is the state of the Miami mayor's race? Because as you know, is on his way out. He's been term limited. He tried to steal an extra year and hold on to power without the people voting on it. And he was unsuccessful. Thanks to Emilio Gonzalez's lawsuit. But what do you do? Because there are 13 candidates running for Miami mayor, and 40% of voters are undecided.

What's the maximum amount of the percentage that you have to win? So that's the thing. By the way, the 40% of voters that are undecided, understandably so. This is an arrozco mango. It's too many people. It's like a cheesecake factory menu. Early voting is already underway, so it's time to make a tough decision. And to your point, Roy, it's most likely that no candidate will get the majority of the votes required to win outright on November 4th.

And so the top two will face off in a December runoff election that will ultimately decide the mayor's race. So you've got to vote now and you've got to vote again in December if you want to help pick the next mayor of Miami. But who the hell do you vote for? Right now, we're really just choosing the two people that will wind up in the runoff. And if you want what's best for Miami in this race, these are the candidates that you should hope make it through. And that is Emilio Gonzalez and Ken Russell. Now, what are the odds of that happening? I probably not great.

So to be clear, I'm not picking winners here. I'm just saying if you want the best choice out of these 13 candidates, we didn't get to pick the candidates. We now have to pick from the candidates, from the talent pool here, shallow, though it may be. And this choice in December is what's probably best for the city of Miami. Now, I've talked shit about both of these guys, but again, we're picking from the crop that we have. I will say that both of them have city hall experience and both of them have fought the corruption that has plagued this city. They testified in that corruption trial, the civil corruption trial against Joe Corroyo.

And that was the case, of course, that resulted in a $63.5 million judgment against Joe for weaponizing city government against business owners in Little Havana. Another thing we've talked about a lot. I also should say that these local races in Florida are nonpartisan, which means there's no R or D beside the candidate's names. but unfortunately they're often hijacked by party politics irregardless and i know some people will never vote for a democrat and some will never vote for a republican and as a proud npa i think that's unproductive but the upside here in this race is there's something for everyone if you

lean dem ken russell is unfortunately your best choice in this race if you care about the environment and affordable housing and climate change he is certainly more legitimate than eileen higgins who you saw come on this program and lie and be less than ingenuous i would say okay there you go i would say i would say i would say i would say and with eileen higgins you'd be trading overt corruption for covert corruption she is a wolf in sheep's clothing if you follow the money, you can predict her votes and how she will act. Ken Russell is, believe it or not, a little bit more of a good faith actor. Eileen Higgins will sell you out with a smile. And if you lean Republican, then Emilio Gonzalez is certainly your guy. He has tried to out

Maga everybody else in this race, touting endorsements from Ron DeSantis. Oh, that's BS. No, totally, totally BS. from U.S. Senator Rick Scott and from that Canadian. What's his name? Ted Cruz. Yes. Is it Canuck or Canuck? It's Canuck. What are you, Rose?

It's not the Vancouver Canucks. No, it's the Vancouver Canucks. So that Canuck, Ted Cruz. Yes. Canuck Cowboy from Texas. Ted Cruz. So Emilio Gonzalez certainly has his conservative bona fides or Republican bona fides established. So setting aside partisan politics, if you want what's best for Miami, those are

the two candidates you should want in the runoff. And if you want to know who to vote for in December, well, we'll burn that bridge when we get there. We'll be right back. Folks, listen up. Guy Fieri's got culinary chaos on his Christmas list. Don't miss the brand new series Tournament of Champions All-Star Christmas on Food Network. For the first time ever, Superstar chef duels will go head to head in high pressure, high flavor matchups, all for charity. Get ready as game day intensity meets holiday heat in the biggest culinary competition of the season.

It's TOC like you've never seen before. Don't miss Tournament of Champions All-Star Christmas. Series premieres November 5th at 8 only on Food Network. Stream it the next day on HBO Max. Oh, the football season. Cruel beast. Sometimes it gives. Sometimes it rips away.

Sometimes you got good times. sometimes he got bad times, but one thing that'll always lift your spirit is making it Miller time, because game day just hits different with Miller light in your hand. 50 years of great taste, simple ingredients, and that iconic golden color that you can spot from across the room. It's a real eye catcher, folks. And here's the kicker. Just 96 calories.

3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. The original light beer since 1975, and still hitting different five decades later, So, whatever your game day looks like, remember Miller Time, he's always a good time. Miller Lite, great taste, 96 calories. Go to Miller Lite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller Time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories,

and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. All your favorite NBA players are back. In Draft King Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA, is D placed to bet on NBA stars this season. New customers, download the Draft King Sportsbook app now use code Dan. That's code D-A-N to bet five bucks and get three months of NBA League pass, plus get $300 in bonus bets if your bet wins. In partnership with Draft Kings, the crown is yours.

Gambling problem, call 1-800 Gambler. In New York, call 8778-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope-N-Y-4-669. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. called 888-7-8-8-8-9-7-77 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boothill Casino-Win Resort in Kansas, pass-through of per-wager tax may apply in Illinois. 21 and over.

Agent eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required. NBA League Pass auto-renews until canceled. Additional terms at DKNG.g.com slash audio. Limited time offer.

Mike, you know I have one rule to live by, right? Don't place parlays on multiple long shots. Don't say a game is one when it hasn't hit triple zero. Always drink your Yeagermeister ice cold. That's the rule. Everything else is merely a suggestion. Everything else? Everything else.

Wearing clean underwear every day? Well, that's just a personal decision. Brushing your teeth? Obviously smart, but not a rule. Never pee-pee on an electric fence. Okay, maybe there are two rules. But the one that is 100% that I insist on completely, Yeagermeister must be drank ice cold.

Or don't drink it at all. Damn, that's cold. Exactly. You're finally starting to get it. Drink responsibly. Yeagermeister liqueur, 35% alcohol by volume, imported by mass Yeagermeister U.S., White Plains, New York. In what way does Mandami remind you of a young Fidel Castro? You know, communism, socialism, it's the easiest selling politics. You just tell people that are down on their lives, listen, I have the answer.

I'm going to use government to take more from these people and just give it to you. And who wouldn't vote for that? I mean, if you're down in your luck, you know, that sounds like a great deal. And the only problem is it never works. It never has worked and it's never going to work. And that was the exact same promise that a young charismatic, you know, sort of leader made in Cuba in the 1960s. And he did effectuate equality. He effectuated equality of misery, equality of repression, equality of poverty.

I don't even know where to begin with this underhanded man-child fail, son. So this is outgoing Miami Mayor Francis Juarez reacting to the Polly Market report that in the New York mayor's race, Zoran Mamdani has like a 95% chance, 95% odds of winning this race. I don't know a lot about Momdani. don't follow the New York mayor's race that carefully because I if it's not entirely clear hashtag because Miami I don't live in New York I live in Miami I know that New York mayors races tend to make more national news but nonetheless this is just crazy talk first of all the interchangeable way in which he uses terminology like communism and socialism as if they're exactly the same thing there

are certainly similarities, but they are not the same ideology. Number one. Number two, the idea that... This is called righteous anger. Is it righteous? I'm just, I mean... Only in the Banana Republic, baby. Only in Miami. Or maybe it's just anger. This idea that he's like Fidel Castro. Fidel Castro was a tyrant, a dictator, an authoritarian. He was a left-wing dictator. Before him, Cuba had a right-wing dictator in Batista. What he's describing is one dictator being better than another dictator. How about no dictators? Or how about in the words of our founding fathers, no kings? I don't even know that he understands what he's talking about. He's obviously just trying to get some hits on Fox News. But look at the way these guys,

operate down here in Miami right now. It's all socialism in Miami-Dade. I mean, we have these Robert King High Towers, which is a 300-plus unit public housing for the elderly, where all of these guys go to campaign because they're super voters, these elderly voters. First and foremost, it's public housing. You know what that is? Socialism. They're all getting food stamps. You know what that is, Roy? Socialism. They're all, I got Obamacare, Medicare, Medicare, Medicaid. You know what that is? Socialism. They've all, they're all in Social Security. You know what that is? That would be socialism. Socialism. And these guys, like Francis Suarez, they'll go and they'll get gift cards for groceries or go buy food and things for some of these folks with our money,

with taxpayer money, public dollars, and then go and give them that. You know what that is, Roy? I believe that's socialism. Socialism. And then I got to hear from these people that, Mamdani is a communist and a socialist, all at the same time. Yeah, I got to hear from some of these same folks that I'm looking for the cart, dude. This is always what happens. You've got glasses on it. Certainly. There you go.

Yeah, I will say I do vote against my own best interest, which is to say I vote to raise my taxes so that I can help people who need help in this country. have an opportunity to live the American dream and to create opportunity for themselves and their families. And certainly, I think a society should be a civilized society. The richest country in the history of the world should be judged on how we treat our most vulnerable and infirm, our children, our elderly, our sick. And how long you've been living here? I know. It's pretty twisted. I don't believe that that's socialism. I believe that that is capitalism creating opportunity. That is people paying their fair share to contribute to a society that has created these opportunities for us to succeed. Oh, Bernie. That's what I think that. No, he's a Democratic socialist, which to be fair,

Mamdani says that he is not a communist. He's a Democratic socialist. I'm not a Democratic socialist. That is not my ideology, but the hypocrisy of someone of Miami Mamdani. That is Francis Suarez. Francis Suarez is Miami Mamdani. Not a bad name for the episode, by the way. I should write that Ponsi Postalita, Miami Mamdani. I'm really loving the cutaways to our guest. I should interview our guest. Anyone listening is really not going to get the benefit of this sight gag here. We do these radio sight gags that we do on the program.

But I just find the hypocrisy really telling and really frustrating. Roy is now moving the mic over to what is a plastic Halloween decorative skeleton with cans on, with headphones. on his head and something tells me that he is more sober and engaging than DLP would have been there we go that's that was a wait who wait who left Roy was that was that the skeleton hocus pocus so I had that one I had that one I had that one lot to love you're brilliant you were super smart so speaking of socialism in Miami, a lot of Miami-Cuban Trump supporters are super scared, bro. At Little Havana's Domino Park, fear among those we spoke with about the possibility that

in just days, those who benefit from SNAP, a federal assistance program, might not get the benefits in November because of the government shutdown. Enrique Gonzalez, who's 79 years old, says he benefits from SNAP, $128 a month, helps him a lot. He'll be greatly affected, he says, asking the president for help, reminding us Mr. Trump likely won the presidency because of Cubans here in South Florida. The senior citizens are almost going to starve. Almost three million Floridians could suddenly be without vital food assistance. This number includes over a million children, over 700,000 seniors, and over a quarter of a million Floridians with disabilities. So I think it's important to note, Roy, that Miami-Dade has.

as the nation's highest share of elderly food assistance beneficiaries. Of the more than 215,000 households in the county, three out of five have one or more elderly member over 60. This is according to Miami Herald's analysis of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. And as you heard, nearly three million Floridians may lose access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as. as food stamps as soon as tomorrow. So we're just minutes away here from a lot of people going hungry.

You have a lot of, you know, you have the local Catholic charities, a lot of the food banks are working overtime. These are folks who already serve upwards of 600 seniors every month. And of those, I think, you know, 40, 50, 60 percent of them already receive SNAP benefits. So to hear people talking about the possibility of going starving in, again, the richest country in the world where we are spending $350 million, the price of like the Staples Center is okay to build the Epstein ballroom while a very serious conversation about Americans going starving. Is it really? It'll always be... Yeah, they changed the...

It'll always be Staples Center. Yes, it will always be Joe Robbie to me. It'll always be FTX arena to me. Speaking of which, are you going to Francis Suarez's American Business Forum next week? Next week? No. Why not? It's right across the street due to the FTX arena.

Because I don't want to. You're going to have the Argentinian president. Malay is going to be there. You're going to have Leon Messey. Donald Trump, Raphael Nadal. You're going to have Jamie Diamond. You have... Who else?

It's a, it's quite a- Robin Adol's going to be there? Yeah. Huh. Oh, now, have I sold you a ticket? I think you can get some diamond tickets for $10,000. This is not an event for Miamians. This is like, this is like some late stage capitalism kind of oligarch festival or something.

Like, oh, it's OF. It's the oligarch festival. Now, for everybody else in Miami, that's only fans, because we are also, Roy, entrepreneurial and capitalist as we are. We are the only fans capital. of the United States of America as well. And Bang Brothers. Which could also be why we were the snap capital of the Bang Brothers.

Can we get BBC? Bang Brothers Center? They tried. They tried. They offered like 10 million bucks, I think. Didn't they? Yeah. And they didn't take it.

They did not. The county did not take it. The BBC. I just like saying that over and over again. I'm sure to Brits love that. Bang Brothers Center. Roy, you're not going to believe this. What's that, Billy?

It turns out Miami has some waste fraud and abuse. Yeah, it would give me. Florida Doge came to town. If this was a business, the city of Miami would go bankrupt. Florida's chief financial officer says the city of Miami is burning through tax dollars. Blaze Ngoglia says the city's general fund skyrocketed past what it should be, even with taking population growth and inflation into account. The city of Miami blew past that number by $94 million.

And Goglius says his mission is to root out wasteful spending in local governments across the state as part of an effort for property tax reform, floating the idea of eliminating them altogether. And the city of Miami is the latest target, with its general fund increasing more than $358 million since fiscal year 2019. The government is taking your money and squandering it. And Goglia says he's done similar audits in eight local governments, uncovering more than $1.1 billion. in wasteful spending this year alone. This feels like the meme with Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man. These are not exactly, I mean, Blaze Angolia is not exactly a good faith. No a name. No-a-name, man.

It's also my drag name, Blaze and Broglia, whatever. Angolia is how you pronounce it. Angola, Angola. Angola. This guy has been going on this Florida Doge tour. The problem is he's talking about saving, when he says that Miami has overspent by $94 million and that Miami's budget growth is not consistent with inflation and cost of living and all this, okay, but he didn't actually point to any particular line items.

I could be more specific about it. The guy is using a formula that I don't know applies to the city of Miami as it would to a more rural community, and not to mention that this is all a scheme so that the governor, Ron DeSantis, can introduce legislation next year in the legislative session to get rid of property taxes, which on its face sounds really compelling. And then when you think about where do our taxes go, it's a little frightening because they go to first responders, fire. police they go to public hospitals they go to transit they go to making the lights go red and green

they go to schools they go to trash they go to all of the essential services that impact all of us every second of every minute of every hour of every day and eliminating those would i mean just be an absolute not even a cannon blast but a nuclear explosion in the budget of these municipalities have they all been responsible no is the city of miami been responsible obviously not i talk about that all the time but it's hard when you have a state government who themselves their budget has grown from 92 billion dollars fiscal year 2020 to 2021 to 117 billion in fiscal year 25 26 a 25 billion dollar increase and they're like they're talking about what kind of amounts to like rounding errors in some of these municipalities and yes there is waste there is fraud there is

abuse but when you don't have responsible good faith actors who are legitimately examining it and not coming to the table with their own baggage and their own hypocrisy and their own agenda it's really really hard and that's kind of the challenge of this moment too in this world is that like you have to immediately question why people are saying and doing what they're saying and doing even when you agree with it, even when it sounds like a good idea or it seems to be well-meaning. You have to be quintupley skeptical than ever before. Well, you look like you have something to say, or maybe it's our guest would like to contribute something. Thank you.

So certainly said more than DLP. yeah degenerate loser prick is that what we degenerate lying no you want me to change the title he'll be a loser after this election yeah yeah we have to worry about a you know potential defamation lawsuits from the word loser I don't think loser is defamatory I'm not saying it's it's factual but but you have to look at his at his record what he did win was an exoneration from the the the Broward County State Attorney's Office and I wanted to congratulate him for that and talk about how he was railroaded on that. But DLP, what do you, what do you think? What do you

think about that? I cannot sanction your between. Oh, there you go. So we're thinking about our friends in Jamaica and all throughout the Caribbean today. And for this Miami moment, we're going to share a friend of the show, John Morales, the meteorologist for Miami's NBC6. At the moment, he was live on television and found out about the storm being upgraded, not only to a category five, but the absolutely petrifying pressure of the storm being updated in real time. And those of us who have experienced hurricanes of this magnitude, like the Category 5 Hurricane Andrew, that fortunately, fortunately I say, was a fast-moving storm, whereas this one has just been stewing in the Caribbean, the eye directly over Jamaica. And I hope everybody is well and has survived

the storm and that we will have a Jamaica to visit once again. Cocaine's. So I've gone for about 10 minutes here. And 180 now? 180. What's the pressure? Pressure. This is Air Force flying under that. Yeah, this is Adam Berg. He's giving me this information. Pressure is now down to 896. Oh my Jesus Christ. Okay. Now is a good time to remember where tequila's story truly began. In 1795, Cuervo invented tequila. Quervo. What are you doing here?

Quervo. Anytime someone says quarevo, I show up. Well, I do know that to be true, but even during an ad reads, like... Quervo. I think you could lay out, especially for one of our great partners. Sweet, delicious quervo. Since then, Cuervo is stayed true to its roots. The same family, the same land, the same passion. Quervo.

So, enjoy the tequila that started it all. Quervo. Quervo. The tequila. That invented tequila. Proximo.quero.com. Please drink responsibly. Quervo.