#BecauseMiami: MAGA Tov

All right, Smirnoff, official vodka of the NFL, world's number one vodka. Chris Cody, you're with me here.
Smirnoff!

Wow, you're on the money with Smirnoff. Spinoff.
I'm gonna ask you, Chris, what's your favorite game day food? Smirnoff. Not your favorite game day drink.
What's your favorite game day food? Smirnoff.

All right, here's the deal: game day is everything. The noise, the rituals, the passion, the dip, the wings, the dip again.
Spirit off.

Smirnoff off belongs in that mix because if you're tailgating or hosting or just sitting there checking your fantasy lineup every 30 seconds, you need Smirnoff! Otherwise, it's not a real game day.

They've been doing it since 1864, which is, I don't even want to do the math. It's a long time.
It's like when Greg Cody was born. They're award-winning.

They make cocktails super easy and they're all about bringing fans together. So yeah, we do game days.
That's their thing. And if you're over 21, you should too.
Why, Chris? Smearing off.

Grab a bottle of Smearin' Off at your local retailer and head to Smearin'Off.com to find recipes of delicious cocktails perfect for game day. Smearing off! Please drink responsibly.
Smearing off!

Number 21, vodka distilled from grain, 40% alcohol by volume, the Smearin' Off Company. New York, New York.
Please do not share with anyone under legal drinking age. Smearing off.

Folks, losing at fantasy football has consequences.

It really does. I mean, a new tattoo, a bad haircut, waffle challenges.
I've seen those waffle challenges. Those look delightful.

You're stressing me out with that soundboard. Well, fantasy football is stressful.
So stressful that it can lead to nighttime teeth grinding. Dentech's mouth guards help with nighttime teeth grinding.

I'm actually a grinder, and it's a problem I have. And that's why Dentech wants to protect your teeth while raising the stakes with this fantasy season.
This is very exciting.

If you want the loser of your fantasy league to live in infamy at the 2026 Football All-Star Game, sign up for the ultimate fantasy football punishment at dentech.com slash ultimate punishment.

No purchase necessary open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. states and D.C.
who are 21 years of age or older. Contest ends on December 8th, 2025.
Void where prohibited.

For details and official rules, visit dentech.com slash ultimate punishment.

You ever notice how everything keeps going up? Rents going up, streaming services going up, even your favorite burrito spot suddenly thinks its 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'll never go up only at Boost Mobile.
After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience lower speeds.

Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Plan.

I just filed a bar complaint against attorney Monique Pardo-Pope, the Miami Beach Commission candidate whose father was a notorious coke-dealing, corrupt cop, neo-Nazi serial killer, executed by the state of Florida in 2012 after Governor Rick Scott signed his death warrant.

This is not about the sins of the father. This is about the lies of the daughter.

And now the Florida bar is announcing this week that they launched an official inquiry and opened a disciplinary file on her. Only 25% of complaints progress to this stage.

All because Monique Pardo-Pope is still trying to hide her secret past from voters.

Her father, Manuel Pardo, who believed Hitler was a great man, murdered nine people in cold blood, shooting, beating, and stabbing them. His only regret, he said, is that he didn't murder 99 people.

The only regret that I have is that instead of nine, I wish I could have been up here for 99. He spoke extensively of his hatred for Jews, blacks, gays, and lesbians.

His apartment was filled with Hitler books, a Nazi flag on the wall, and a pet doberman he reportedly tattooed with a swastika.

Why did she hide this from voters and why does she refuse to answer direct questions about it? Should someone so intensely against transparency and accountability be an elected official?

While she was very young in 1986 when he committed these heinous crimes, from 2013 to 2018, well into adulthood, and after she'd become an attorney and member of the Florida Bar, Monique Pardot-Pope repeatedly celebrated her Hitler-loving father on social media, my hero, my guardian angel.

In September 2015, when she was 34, she called him, my guiding light in the sky, my eternal best friend.

In 2018, at age 37, she wrote, there's no one better suited to have been my daddy, and I will forever be proud to have been your little girl.

For you to understand my motive, what I did, because I want my daughter to be proud of her father, and my family to be proud of my father.

She wrote, I would travel those thousands of miles each weekend once more if it meant just one more day with you. She's apparently referring to trips to visit her father on death row.

He was there from 1986 until he was put to death in 2012, when she was 32 years old. What did they talk about? How did it shape her? What made her so proud of him? And what was so heroic about him?

Setting aside his horrific crimes, what we know about Manuel Pardot's beliefs are not inconsistent with Monique Pardo Pope's current views.

For example, as a child, we used to have to say to pledge the beginnings in the morning and pray in the classroom. Nowadays, that's illegal, unconstitutional.

But it is illegal to allow homosexuals to teach our children and allow communists to teach our children. So what does that tell you? We're We're being destroyed eternally.

But I sent a message and I just hope some other people carry on my work. Monique Pardot-Pope is not only proud of him, she seems to be carrying on some of his work.

A few months ago, she appeared at an event of the Christian Family Coalition, an ultra-conservative organization at the forefront of Florida's most discriminatory anti-LGBTQ plus policies, extremist anti-abortion legislation, and ending the separation of church and state.

As a lawyer, Monique Pardot-Pope has an obligation to the truth, yet she's equivocated on the facts of her father's case, misrepresenting the court's findings on his mental state and as my bar complaint details.

She even outright lied about the outcome of litigation involving me in order to smear the messenger, inventing a defamatory lie that I lost a lawsuit that I actually won.

Best case scenario, she's incompetent and doesn't know how to do the most basic legal research. Worst case, she's a malicious deceiver, willing to spread lies without compunction.

Either way, she's grossly unqualified for the position she's running for and perhaps even the profession she's in. Her father was a serial killer, but Monique Pardot-Pope may be a serial liar.

And she is now just one ballot away from being a Miami Beach City Commissioner.

At President Trump weighing in on the Miami Mayor's race, he endorsed Emilio Gonzalez for Miami Mayor on social media yesterday.

In a post on Truth Social, the president released a statement saying in part that Emilio strongly supports our incredible law enforcement, military, and veterans, and knows the wisdom and courage it takes to ensure law and order.

Gonzalez came in second place after Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who is endorsed by Miami-Dade Mayor Danielle Levine Cava. That runoff election is scheduled for December 9th.

It is the end of an era. On Tuesday, December 9th, we will have a new mayor in the city of Miami, Francis Suarez,

will not only be gone, he'll be, I guess, sort of retired from politics for now and is term limited for life.

He served eight years as a city commissioner, eight years as a city mayor, and now, according to 79% of the voters of the city of Miami, cannot run for office in the city of Miami ever again.

Whatever will he do now? If you put garbage in, you're going to get garbage out. So one of the two people who will be mayor next week, Emilio Gonzalez, is here joining us.

Magatov, to you on your endorsement from the president. I also also invited his opponent, former county commissioner Eileen Higgins, who has been on the program before.

I did not hear back from her or her campaign. Friend of the show.
We have a

surrogate here,

former friend of the show, friend without benefits of the show. And we have Eileen Higgins surrogate over here, Christian Olvert, is joining us on the program.

Christian, thank you so much for being here. That's sort of an inside Miami politics, inside baseball joke.

Nonetheless, we will be volleying some questions to him during the program to see what he has to say. Chances are you may have better answers than Eileen Higgins would.

It's a little disappointing that she's not here, but it says, oh, so much about her confidence level, I would actually say, Emilio. So let's start there.
There's been a lot of,

before we get into the endorsement and the politics behind this race, there is a sense of confidence. Some may call it overconfidence on the part of Eileen Higgins and her campaign.

Some may call it hubris. They sort of feel like she is already won or been anointed.
What's your take? All of the above. Overconfidence, confidence, and hubris.

She was competing against one person in this primary that we had. She was competing against Ken Russell.
I was competing against 12 other people.

She did very well. I did well.

But now everything's changing and everybody's coalescing and the voters are finally figuring out who can do the best job, who stands for what,

and we're working it, and we're working it hard, and I'm not leaving any stone unturned. I go to every single event pretty much that I'm invited to.

I'm not afraid to go into uncharted territory, if you will, because I think the voters need to know who we are and what we stand for. Christian Olvert, your thoughts?

Very good. I want to get into that a little bit more about the differences between the two candidates, which

numerous. But before we do, in the Cold Open, we had that clip, which definitely changed the race.
Some would argue, define the race.

Miami Herald headline from that week before Thanksgiving, Trump just turned Miami's mayoral race into a referendum on himself.

This is dicey territory politically. You've got a president who did not win the city of Miami last year.
He's arguably less popular now, judging by his record low polls.

Is this a referendum on Donald Trump, this election?

You know,

I don't really think so, Billy. I think more than anything else, the president is now a resident of the state of Florida.

Clearly, Miami is a city where potentially his library will be, so he follows events in Florida, and particularly South Florida.

It was an opportunity for him to endorse me. I would never, ever tell a sitting president, no, I I don't want your endorsement.
I welcome it. The governor endorsed me.
Both our senators endorsed me.

By the way, Eileen has been endorsed by the county mayor, by the Florida Democratic Party, by numerous members of Congress.

So

this did eventually turn into a very partisan race. I will tell you that long before I even filed,

She was campaigning as the trusted Democrat. That is to say, she put that label on herself.

And I did not. You know, I wanted to respect the NPA aspect and no party affiliation aspect of the race.

The president got on board. The governor got on board.
Everybody understands that

there's concern about what would happen to Miami if somebody with her qualifications, or for that matter, lack of qualifications, were to take over the city.

Again, does it move the needle? I hope so, but I'm still out there. I'm not hiding from anybody.
I'm not hiding from this very subject, which well, what choice do you have? I mean, it's right out.

It's out there.

It's out there. It's way out there.
You know, and again, you know, listen, if President Biden had wanted to say, hey, you know what, Emilio is a great guy, fine, thanks.

Really? Really? Is that true?

I would. Some outside chance that Joe Biden was still president and he endorsed you for Miami Mayor.
What's true is that I would accept that

I would accept it. He's a sitting president.
You know, he is a sitting president. And that's something that you cannot in good conscience say, you know what?

Nah, I'm not interested in your endorsement. Take it back.

Well, let me ask you this, though. If you could talk now, talk, you are talking now, too.
As a proud NPA, Donald Trump was a Democrat a lot longer than I was a Democrat.

But as a proud NPA for the vast majority of my voting life since I turned 18 in 1996 and voted for Ross Perot, by the way, I've been an NPA and I love nonpartisan municipal elections.

I'm not a big fan of these constitutional offices that we've created. I'm even less of a fan that they're partisan.
I really do like a partisan race.

I don't like the toxicity and tribalism that seeps in to races when they get partisan, because it's really about what's best for this community from the government that serves you on a minute-by-minute basis, which is what local government does.

But here's my question. Speaking to...

Democrats and NPAs who last summer saw you as a different brand. They saw you as a savior of democracy and the election.

You were the, as we've talked about at Nausam on this show, the only candidate, the only person who sued the city of Miami to restore the election that the mayor and the city commission had canceled in order to gift themselves an extra year in office.

It was an act of insanity. You were the only person who stood up to it.

I had Eileen Higgins sitting in that very chair some time ago, asking her why, A, she didn't join the fight, and B, why why she then fundraised on it the day the day that you

that you lost and was privately telling people, oh, this one-year delay in the election actually benefits me, while she was telling me a totally different story.

Maybe that's not why, maybe that's why she's not here again today. Christian Wilford, what are your thoughts on this?

Sorry, Miles, in the interest of equal time here, I just wanted to.

Anyway, so talk to MPAs and Democrats who may have felt like you were their guy over the summer, but now you have this MAGA mayor thing that may be a turnoff to some of them.

I would tell them that nothing has changed, okay? And

people were attacking me. Members of the Democratic Executive Committee were attacking me before I even filed, Billy.
They were calling me the MAGA mayor.

They were saying, and these are all flyers that I got at home, that I'm doing away with public education, that I'm doing away with health care for seniors.

And then when I actually- I don't know what the mayor of Miami has to do with

This is why partisan politics is so stupid in these races. Absolutely.
Listen, I agree.

In municipal elections, I vote for the person, okay? Because you know what? You want somebody who's competent. Okay, you know what? I want to make sure that my streets are safe.

I want to make sure that the elderly are taken care of. I want to make sure that we don't flood.
That's not a partisan issue. Nice parks.
There aren't Republican parks and Democratic parks.

Nice parks. But my point is, right out of the shoot, they started with the know, innuendo and, you know, defamation and you're going to do this.
Folks, I haven't even filed yet.

And they were already piling on. And what that tells you is that they were afraid I was going to get in the race and that I was going to be forced to reckon with.

And they're right, because nothing has changed. You know what? The president has endorsed me.
Nothing has changed.

My policy state, I have not adjusted any of my policy positions after the endorsement or before the,

it's the same person.

I want a Miami that works for everybody I want a Miami listen and I've I've this sounds a little trite but I tell people this all the time I don't want to just be the next mayor because if I wanted to be the next mayor let somebody else be the next mayor I want to be the mayor that does the heavy lifting I want to be the mayor that takes big bold projects and delivers that's the guy I want to be I don't want to be the next guy I want to get into that heavy lifting in just a moment I do want to say nor do I believe that you have to answer for all of the policies and comments for this president, having accepted his endorsement.

But there are issues that overlap, these municipal and local issues.

You specifically mentioned flooding, which, for those of us who have lived in this community as long as you have, as long as I have, it doesn't require a culture war or an argument about science.

We can just trust our eyes and see how things have gotten worse over time, which neighborhoods are being disproportionately impacted by. You want to call it climate change, sea level rise?

It's fing ⁇ ing flooding is what's happening.

On sunny days.

So, but do you see when you have endorsements from a governor or from a president who says that we're going to ban the word climate change, there's no such thing as global, there's no, that people get concerned because they live in Miami and they're building arcs because

it feels like it's time. Forget climate change.

We get a brief shower and brick will floods. Okay.
But

I'll turn that argument on its head. Okay.
Because nothing that the city does that is consequential with with regards to infrastructure, we're going to do by ourselves.

We don't have the money for that. You know, 75% of our budget is salaries, benefits, and pensions.
So that leaves very little money with which to address key issues. But

because of what you just said, I have the wherewithal to go to Tallahassee, to talk to the governor, and say, you know what, call it what you want. I need money for this.

I can go to Washington and say, you know what, I need your help with this. That is something that I can leverage, not the other way around.

We have a situation in Miami where the residents don't take the government serious. The residents fear their, you know, we talk about weaponization of government a lot.

By the way, I am a victim of that weaponization of government. But the bottom line is, is that a lot of folks aren't

really involved because of retribution. So now you have weaponization.

I've got folks that tell me, hey, I want to support you, but I'm trying to to figure out a way how to do it and have nobody find out.

Well, why? Why? Because I'm afraid the city will shut my business down. And I mean, these are serious people.
These are not, you know, insignificant small bodega owners.

These are heavy, heavy hitters in Miami that are afraid that their projects are going to be shut down. So again, nothing has changed.
And

I have an endorsement from the governor. I have an endorsement from both our senators.
Fine, I will go to Washington and I will sit with everybody and I'll say, look, you know what? I need your help.

Call it what you want. Miami needs your help and I expect you to deliver.

I don't want to belabor the point, but you brought something up, the weaponization of government, which has been a key topic in the city of Miami.

We watched it happen transparently in broad daylight, right from the dais. We've heard testimony from countless people who have witnessed it, experienced it, been victims of it, memorialized it.

We have a $63.5 million

civil federal judgment against Joe Carollo for doing just that.

Is there not some incongruity, though?

We're sitting here talking about the weaponization of government, and we have a president who is now famously and openly and transparently weaponizing government against his enemies and weaponizing the DOJ and even the Department of War, whatever it's called now.

Meaning, is there not some concern that,

like I said, there's an incongruity, if not a hypocrisy, there.

The concerns are valid, but I will tell you that I would be committing mayoral malpractice, if you will, for lack of a better term.

If I want to make that the beach I'm going to die on and not worry about my residents.

You can only be against stuff so many times. I want to be for things.

I want to be the best mayor the city has.

If our federal government, if our state government is conducting itself in a way that a lot of people disagree with, fine. That's why we live in a democracy.

But I don't want to be the one, like other mayoral cities. I'll mention one.
You've got

Michelle Wu in Boston, who's basically declared war against the federal government. You've got in Seattle where ICE is more under attack than the delinquentes.
That's not me. That's not me.

I want to serve our public. And by the way, and I want to use, and I want to use these connections.
Listen, one of the beautiful things about being old is that

you've been around for so long, you know everybody, right? So I want to use that to our advantage.

Why would I want to start as mayor declaring war on a federal department? It makes absolutely no sense for the people that live here.

Can we talk about how banks are still acting like it's 1994? Fees on fees on fees.

Overdraft fees, monthly fees, probably a breathing near the ATM fee coming soon, which is why QIIME feels like someone finally flipped the script.

Fee-free, smarter banking that's actually built for you. The person trying to make it through life, not the billionaire who keeps a yacht in every time zone.
Chime isn't just another banking app.

They've got tools that genuinely help people like MyPay, where you can get access to up to $500 of your paycheck whenever you need it, or getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit.

Open your account in minutes at chime.com slash Dan. And now there's the new QIIME card.
Cash back and credit building with your own money together on one card.

No annual fees, no interest, no strengths, and qualifying direct deposits get you 1.5% cash back on eligible purchases. QIIME is not just smarter banking, it is the most rewarding way to bank.

Join the millions who are already banking fee-free today. It just takes a few minutes to sign up.
Head to chime.com/slash/dan. That's chime.com/slash/dan.

Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services, a secure QIIME visa credit card and MyPay line of credit provided by the Bankcore Bank NA or StrideBank NA.

MyPay eligibility requirements apply and credit limit ranges $20 to $500. Optional services and products may have fees or charges.
See chime.com slash fees info.

Advertised annual percentage yield with Chime Plus status only. Otherwise, 1.00% APY applies.
No min balance required.

Chime Card on Time Payment History may have a positive impact on your credit score. Results Results may vary.
See chime.com for details and applicable terms. It's the holiday season.

Fantasy football probably not going your way like most of America. Your football team, hopefully you're still in the mix.
If your college football team is in the mix, congratulations.

You've made it this far. Why don't you toast your friends with some Miller Light at the holiday party? It is a surefire winner.

It's the holiday season right now, so why don't you celebrate the 50th anniversary of my favorite beer, Miller Light?

Every time I crack open a Miller Light, I look around at my friends and family and I think, yeah, this was a right call. It's a taste you know you can depend on.

Brewed for flavor with simple ingredients like malted barley, rich balanced toffee notes, and that iconic golden color.

And at 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces, it lets you enjoy the season without weighing you down. The best holiday beers are the ones you don't expect.
Miller Light, great taste, 96 calories.

Go to millerlight.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer.
Tis Miller time. Celebrate responsibly.

Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

Big projects. You talked about undertaking big projects.
Before we get into one of my favorite subjects, I want you to be able to elaborate on that. What do you mean by that when you say that?

Listen, I want to do away with property taxes from homestead exemption residents um it can be done the the math the math will allow us to do it um i want us i want to talk to the state about doing away with the death tax if you want i can go through these if you like

we have um calculated that the city of miami's budget which by the way has grown exponentially in the last five years probably doubled but our standard of living has not doubled our quality of life has not doubled So we figure that homestead-exempted properties produce about $102 million

a year for the city budget. $102 million.
Sounds low. Very.
It's less than 7%

of the total budget. Where's the rest of it coming from? It comes from fees from all the commercial buildings, all the high-rises, and so forth.

Remember, we're talking about single-family residents that have a three-bedroom house somewhere in Shenandoah. $103 million.
$103 million. Roughly.

okay we also just had the state CFO come and say you know what Miami residents you guys have been taxed over taxed to the tune of $95 million and that includes all sorts of waste and fraud so you're looking at a delta of seven million dollars you mean to tell me you can't find seven million dollars in efficiencies in a three billion dollar budget it's you almost have to try not to be able to do that.

So so again, it isn't, by the way, I don't know, not too many people know this. When I was a a city man, I was city manager for two years.

My second year budget was actually $100 million less than my first year budget. And we didn't miss a beat.
We just looked for efficiencies.

That's one area that I think we could be incredibly innovative in putting more money in our residents' pockets.

Housing is expensive here, okay? Living here is expensive. I've noticed.
Yeah, I think we all have. But you know what? The city of Miami is not going to build you a house.

We don't have a housing authority. We can't have.
The The federal government won't allow any more housing authorities. So the idea is to put more money in people's pockets.

And you start, by the way, this isn't an end-all. You start there.
And then you start look for other opportunities.

The state of Florida may usurp all of this anyway by putting some sort of state constitutional amendment on the ballot. And if it makes it to the ballot, obviously people are going to vote.

It will eliminate.

It will pass. Yes, people are going to vote to eliminate it.
I don't know that they fully understand that.

I don't necessarily know that it's the best idea, but I do want to get into the specifics on it with the city of Miami.

You mentioned the $94 million that the CFO of the state, Blaze Angolia, came in and announced. But that was not exactly a forensic accounting.

They were talking about the increase in budget over a period of time based on inflation, based on certain formulas and calculations.

And rather than actually looking at line items, I mean, if you asked me, where's waste?

I could, off the top of my head, I could name several

five or six.

you know one of the things that Blaze did figure one of the things that Blaze did is essentially at the macro level right and a very interesting statistic Miami's population has grown by only 23,000 people

it costs something like $15,000

per person in services seems like a lot per person a family of four moves to Miami that it's going to cost $60,000 worth of service Those are at the macro levels, but you're absolutely right.

Look, they won, day one. I said, I am going to conduct a forensic audit of the city budget.
I want to know where the money is. Why? Because anybody can promise anything, but you know what?

You got to pay for it. I told you 75% of our budget is salaries, pensions, and benefits.
That leaves 25% to actually do stuff. You've just brought up a very important point.

Most of the budget, most of the money. that these cities spend, that taxpayers are paying for, is to pay people who no longer work at the city.
Yes. Bottom line, am I wrong?

They're paying them to not work at the city anymore. I'm not saying that they didn't earn it.

I'm not saying nobody has, I mean, there's, I don't think any private industry offers like real pensions in that form anymore. But my question is this.

You're never going to solve that problem. It's an imbroglia, no pun intended.

But like, but what I'm saying is that if you start cutting from the budget, it's not going to be from that 75% per se of pensions that you're obligated to pay out.

It's going to wind up being from services that the current residents and homeowners and business owners need in the city.

I'm not saying there's not waste there. I'm just saying, like, how do you...

Just to give you an idea, when I was a city manager, somebody handed me a piece of paper when we were looking at the budget.

It had like eight names on them, and they were eight city of Miami employees who in retirement made over

$250,000 a year. I'm on the wrong line of words.
I can't. 250.
There's eight of them at least. Okay.

But what I'm saying is that through efficiencies, we won't know. Listen, think of all the garbage that this city puts in.
You can't, that's zero savings there. All of those people.

There's zero savings on those payments. Absolutely.
Absolutely. But once you do a forensic audit on everything, to include, by the way, the contracts for police and fire,

let's take a look at those. I'm not saying that we're going to destroy anything, but what I'm saying is that we have not been faithful stewards of the taxpayer.
Well, that's a fact.

And we need to just at least put a marker down and say, you know what? Why are we buying this? Who let this contract out? Who won the contract?

Those are questions that I don't find those to be unreasonable questions because nobody has been able to come up with the right answer.

Remember the famous $400 million bond for resiliency and affordable housing? I remember. Where is it?

I asked that rhetorically. You know, I'm sure they're spending it somewhere.
I know that they have plans to spend it. A lot of it has been unspent six, seven years later.
Why?

So again, I think that my going in there day one, I know what to look for. And I'm going to ask all those questions.
And I'm going to say, hey, you know what?

Let's talk about this line item and that line item and who let this RFP out and what were the requirements. And oh, by the way, who won? You know, businesses don't want to compete here anymore.

Why? Guess what? They think this is a corrupt city, and they know who already is going to win before they even let let the RFP out.

I think, by the way, not a good parody song for the show, Roy, who let the RFP out.

I don't think the street.

So I appreciate the specificity of day one forensic audit. I don't know that I've heard those kinds of specifics from your opponent.
Hang on. Should we ask

any specifics on day one?

Okay, never mind.

So the other one that I feel very strongly about is what I call the death tax. Okay.
I have a really nice house that I paid a very modest amount for.

Because of the valuations in Miami-Dade County, my house is worth like 15 times what I paid for it.

People in Miami cannot afford to live in the homes they built

with their own hands. So the day I pass,

my daughter won't be able to inherit my house. Why? Because the valuation on that house will be so high that the real estate taxes will go from about the $6,000 that I paid.

But you would have been grandfathered in, and she will not be.

So my point is... She'll be forced to sell.
And

move, And, you know, my house will.

Because even with all that money, she won't be able to afford to live in my hand. She'll have to move to Arkansas, you know.
So, not that there's anything wrong with Arkansas. So, you know,

that's a state issue. Are you sure about that?

I don't know about that.

Would you accept the endorsement of the governor of Arkansas? I don't know the governor of Arkansas. I bet you would, actually.

Hey, it's Sarah Huckabee.

Oh, yeah. Now that you mentioned it.
Sanders. She got married.
Sarah Huckabee. Huckabee Sanders.

Maybe she married the Colonel? Holland?

Who let the RFP out?

Roy!

No, but

so again, by the way, this is a state issue. There's got to be a formula.
There's got to be a way where there's a portability, if you will, so that I can leave my house to my daughter.

You can leave your house to your kids and not have them forced to sell because the real estate taxes went from $6,000 to $90,000, which, by the way, nobody in this city makes $90,000, basically.

You can't find a house here for less than half a million dollars. And if you do buy it quickly, because it won't be on the market long.
So again, these are the big issues.

Another one, and tell me when you want me to stop. Listen, as a mayor, I'm entitled to a health insurance, which, by the way, I never accepted when I was the manager because I didn't need it.

But why couldn't the rest of the city of Miami residents be eligible for the same health insurance that their mayor and commissioners are entitled to? We're not going to pay for it.

We'll make them eligible. They can then negotiate with whatever provider.
I think it's only fair. You know, these are the things that I think,

by the way, I think the number of uninsured residents of the city of Miami is about 16% of our residents are completely uninsured. It sounds terrible.
Is that unusually high? For a major residential.

I think it's high. It's not unusually high, but it's high.

And by the way, if you have a great insurance, keep it. I kept mine.

So these are things that we want to do. Is that just if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor?

Was that when

you just Obama? No, no, no, no, no, no.

By the way, President Obama will not be in charge of this program. Let's just put it that way.

Will President Trump?

But again, listen, another issue, child care and elder care.

You have working families that have to decide whether to stay home and take care of the kids or work because it costs like $14,000, $15,000 a child.

Just don't leave the children in the car.

It's too hot. Yeah, in the summer.

We're like by the pool with no games. By the way, that's why we have a county heat officer to tell us these things.
Thank God.

Christian, what do you think? Christian Olvert. All right.
Nothing. So you've got child care, elder care.
I mean, all of these things are things that we should consider as.

And the city could help provide or subsidize or...

That's why

I use the tagline. Families first.
Let's help our residents first. Let's not so much concentrate on the guy that pays $30 million

for a penthouse. I don't want to say it's socialism, Amelia.

Not at all. It sounds like socialism.
Now, listen, you and I could say the measure of a functioning society, particularly a wealthy society, is how you take care of

the people who are less fortunate or are in sick or infirm.

Your children, you're elderly, and certainly it's helpful for the economy, I would argue, to have child care and elder care opportunities because it gets people out, as you said, out into the workforce and involved in the economy.

By the way, the city of Miami... Riding the Metro Rail with Eileen Higgins?

Just to give you an example, the first week or so I became the city manager, I was informed that the city operates three child care centers. I had no clue.
Did you know that? No.

The city operates three. They're city employees.
I went to visit all three of them, and I'm like, wow. These people are doing wonderful work.
Now, mind you. Seems like a great idea.

But coming from a guy that I'm thinking, you know, there are some things that the city should do and some that they don't, but, you know, child care is probably not one of them.

Completely convinced otherwise. Not only did I agree with it, I went back and asked the directors, I said, what do you need? What do you need from me? And they said, I need one, two, three.

I need money. I need this.
I got to hire more. Done.
Okay. So we're already doing that.
We are already doing that.

We already do that. So why can't we expand that fan a little bit, especially if it helps our working people?

It gets the city moving.

It's a heartbeat of the city, like you said. I mean, like when you have to take care of an elderly family member, you have to take care of children, everything stops.

Productivity stops, your life stops, everything. Here's another one.
Permitting, which we all hate. Ah, it seems fine.
Yeah. Affects everything, right?

So why can't we, by the way, I've already said day one, I'm going to put together a permitting task force that will report back in 30 days, best practices.

Or just a Molotov cocktail. No, no, I told us.
Mix me a molotov.

I'm convinced, and I've said publicly, I said, you know, if we blow up the permitting department and take a step back, let's see what works best, no permitting or what we have now.

But let me give you an example. You've got a single family home in Shenandoah, and all of a sudden...
I wish I did. And wish you did.
Okay. And you need to take care of a boela, right?

Because she's getting old and infirm. You want to put an addition on your house.

If you've got a contractor, if you've got an architect, if you've got an engineer, and they're all licensed and bonded in the state of Florida, why does the city of Miami have to show up at your house and inspect it 47 times?

At that point, the city should just be the repository of the plans. Build Ahuela's house.
Take care of Ahuela. Let's get small businesses moving.

If you don't get a permit in, say, 120 days, consider it approved. These are the bold things that are going to make people take notice that we live in a 2025 city that's organized as a 1975 city.

And that's got to stop.

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. The holidays are coming up, which means traditions.

Some families have these beautiful, wholesome rituals, and then some of us are just trying to keep our family from arguing over who ruined the stuffing last year.

But this time of year can also be a lot. It gets dark at 4.30, everyone's stressed, and suddenly the holidays go from magical to nightmare.

It's time to start some new traditions, ones that aren't chaotic. Therapy can be one of those new traditions, and BetterHelp makes it easy to fit into your life.

They've got over 30,000 licensed therapists. They've helped more than 5 million people and they've been doing this for over 12 years.

Plus, they average a 4.9 rating for more than 1.7 million reviews, which is better consistency than any team I root for gives me during the holiday season.

You fill out a quick questionnaire, they match you with someone who fits your needs, and if it's not the right fit, you can switch therapists anytime.

This December, start a new tradition by taking care of you. Our listeners get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash DLB.
That's betterhelp.com slash DLB.

If you could stop somebody from breaking in before they got inside your house, why wouldn't you?

Most old school systems only go off after somebody's already in your place, opening your fridge, petting your dog. Whatever.
At that point, it's too late. It's reactive.
Simply Safe is different.

It's proactive with this double layer of defense that helps stop crime before it even starts.

First, their AI-powered cameras spot potential threats outside, not just in motion, but an actual person lurking around in the bushes behind a tree, in a car, under the car, wherever they may be.

Then live monitoring agents jump in right away. They talk to the person through the camera, let them know they're on video and that cops are getting called if they don't leave.

That's how you stop crime before it starts. Personally, I trust Simply Safe to protect what matters most at my house, my wife, my daughter, my possessions, my things, my home, my safety, my peace.

I trust that to Simply Safe. That's it.
That's the list. No long-term contracts, no hidden fees, and SimplySafe was just named the best home security in 2025 by U.S.
News and World Report.

Right now, it's the best time to jump in: Simply Safe's last chance Black Friday sale: 50% off any new system. Go to simply safe.com/slash DLB.
Again, that's simply safe.com/slash DLB.

There is no safe like SimplySafe.

I got to ask this question because call it a federal policy that does dramatically impact people in particularly a city like Miami, a city of immigrants, a city where, what is it, 60%?

What was the percentage of 60-70%

of

the country?

And I'm going to ask it in the context of the 287G agreement, which is a partnership program of ICE

and local law enforcement agencies, of which City of Miami and City of Miami Police Department has one. I was at that meeting.

It was one of the most attended meetings, if not the highest attended meeting at public comment that I've ever seen, let alone attended. And it was

really, really powerful because this was not a bunch of latte drinking, liberal, East Coast elitist white activists.

This was an immigrant community coming forward despondent, broken in many ways, sharing the most powerful and distressing stories of sacrificing everything, separating from their families, traversing shark-infested waters, risking their lives, people who had lost family in the journey and the risk to experience freedom and the American dream here in Miami.

They were begging, they were pleading. It was really powerful, and it really affected me in ways that I didn't realize that it would, sitting there and hearing these people.

I don't know if you've watched any of it, but it's really well worth a watch just to see how people feel about this and how it experiences their lives. What do you say to those people

who would be your constituents, who are scared in their own homes, in their own country, in their own community, because they feel that their police department is colluding with ICE to send them away maybe to a country that they weren't born in, that they've never seen, that maybe they were born into, but don't even remember because they were single digits when their parents put them on an airplane with a Catholic priest in Pedro Pan and sent them to this strange country, which became the only home they ever knew.

It was powerful shit, dude. And it was hard not to be really moved by it and to really put a face and a name and stories onto these things things that we sometimes think of as being very archaic.

What do you say to those people to reassure them?

Billy, I spent two years as a federal immigration director

and it is probably the best job I ever had. And I got to tell you, for me personally as an immigrant, to be able to establish immigration policy, carry it out, be able to help people,

that was powerfully moving in itself. I used to get, you know, I don't like people reading my mail.

So whenever somebody would write a letter to Director de la Migra, the letter would make its way to my desk in stubby little pencil. And I would read every single one.

And every one of them was a heartbreak. I had to call parents whose kids were killed in combat, but they weren't citizens yet.

I naturalized over 150 soldiers that died in battle. but that were not U.S.
citizens. By the way, the Immigration Director has the power to posthumously naturalize those people.

So the idea that you would have a mayor that is uncaring, I think,

is a fallacy.

I am the immigration director who is going to be the mayor of the city of Miami, immigration director who will be mayor of the city with the largest immigrant population.

I will flip the argument on its head. I know where to go.
I know who to talk to.

I've already said publicly that one of the first hires that I'm going to make is I'm going to create an immigration services coordinator for the city of Miami. All big cities do.

New York City has an immigration commissioner.

We should have the same, and we should have a clearinghouse for people who are distressed, who have a problem, who maybe their attorneys are turned on them.

People might be scared to reach out to that office to come to that. But that's because me, as the immigration, former immigration director, is the mayor.

I'm going to be there to tell them, you know what, I'm here for you. I know who to call.
I know who to go see in Washington if somebody crosses the line. The 287G program is very controversial.

I believe the city of Miami is limited to three officers, and they're kind of on call.

To my knowledge, they're not always assigned to DHS.

And again, I will always, always advocate for my community, for my immigrant community, but I'm never going to ever advocate what other mayors in large cities do, which is

you got a thief, a thug, a rapist, a murderer. Oh, no, let's put them back on the street because I don't want to give this person to ICE.
No, that's never going to happen.

And it happens now, by the way. And it happens now.

So before we go, you've already said that day one, you're going to do a forensic audit. I imagine you're going to, you said it on CBS, that you're going to be replacing the city manager.

You're going to be hiring a new city manager, obviously, with the consultation, I suppose, of the commission. What other day one, when I say day one, that could be week one, it could be month one.

What are some of the initial

top line things that you are, that would make things different, that would let people know that's a new era in my life.

I want a forensic audit. I'm going to pick a new city manager within the week.
I want to create an immediate task force on permitting, an immediate task force on procurement.

I want to publish a citizens bill of rights, which does exist in every city agency, so that residents, when they go in, they know what their rights are. They know that their rights can't be trampled.

I've already said that I'm going to chair the commission. And not only am I going to chair the commission, I'm going to let anybody speak about anything they want.

Not, hey, if it's not on the agenda, be quiet and go home. No, you want a minute to talk about something that's not on the agenda, knock yourself out.

That's what a representative democracy stands for, and that's not what we've had in the past. By the way, I want to have Saturday meetings.

In fact, I'm thinking my first meeting will be on a Saturday. Just to break the mold, people can show up.

Right now they have to juggle, do I go to the meeting? Do I go to work? Am I going to get fired?

Sometimes you show up at a meeting and then they cancel the meeting or they don't want to hear your item or it's deferred when you, any number of things. So again, I want to do things differently.

And the other thing is,

as you've heard me say in Spanish, saca huortre elájo. You know, the idea that You can get away with just about anything and you're okay.
You'll still have a job. No,

just because it's not criminal doesn't mean I won't fire you. Okay?

If you are behaving in a way that is unprofessional,

if you are abusing a resident, if you are taking advantage of your position, even if it's not criminal, you're gone. Period.
And I think you have to put a marker down.

And I look forward to firing that first person because I'm serious. You've got to be able to,

people have to be able to say, wow, this guy fired Billy shit he's serious and that's the only way you can get people's attention to all of this stuff and and then and then we just start chopping away at everything that ails our residents but I'm I've got to tell you walk on the streets of the city they all tell me the same thing the city's corrupt the city's broken the city's this I don't trust my commissioners they're in it for everybody up there is that top three what's top three of like when you're knocking on doors you're talking to a million people right or thousands anyway what are they what are the top three things

by far by far corruption and governability they all listen Miami residents will tolerate everything just about but they won't tolerate the fact that they've had no choice yeah they have to but but somebody tried to steal their election that they won't tolerate and that they remember so when I talk to people they're like no the delinquentes they all got to go They all got to go.

No, no, you got to lock them all up. I'm talking old ladies to young couples.
Uh-uh, this is unacceptable. No.

And then after that, you get the cost of living, the issue with taxes, the issue with housing.

All of those things will fall in. I've had several people tell me, you know what? Just put them all in jail.
And then when you do that, come back and talk to me about the homestead exemption tax.

I know I've said before we go a whole bunch of times, but I did want to mention this because you've been consistent on this issue of elections and restoring democracy.

And I saw your statement on the appointment of Vicki Lopez, which we haven't talked about on this show yet, but I intend to talk about it. It was a similar heist.
It was a hijacking of democracy.

And I appreciated that you posted about this because it was a non-partisan position on a non-partisan seat.

But Vicki Lopez is very prominently, in addition to being a convicted felon whose sentence was commuted by Bill Clinton, is a Republican. I'm sure those things are unrelated.

But you said that's not how this should go. And if I'm not mistaken, Eileen Higgins was a party to whatever scheme, whatever backdoor backdoor deal they did to anoint this woman.

Well, let's back up one.

If Ms. Higgins had resigned her office the day she announced for mayor, we would have had an election this past November.
On the same ballot that she was on, that she qualified for. And

we would have had a new commissioner. It seems like that should be the law, dude.
You would think.

And then you have people that were going up before the commission and saying, hey, you know,

let's have an election. I want to run.
And they didn't. I tried to be consistent.

You know, if I'm going to take the city of court for not having an election, I can't in good conscience say, hey, you know what? It's okay if you don't have an election over here.

You've got to be consistent. And

they did what they did. Fine, I'm sure there'll be an election probably in the next six months or so.

Again, a special election brought on because one of the commissioners decided to hang on tooth and nail until the very last day so that we couldn't have an election in November.

I want to show you this headline: Politico Cortadito. It says

a GOP hugger, that's you, by the way,

versus a developer's darling. Miami's mayoral race just got defined.

We've talked about your IMAGA credentials and your esteemed list of endorsements, but this was incredibly compelling about Eileen Higgins because we could talk about your donors, but that list was a little, and that fundraiser that they talk about there kind of made my stomach turn because I was like, oh, it's just the usual suspects.

It's like business as usual in the city of Europe. You know, I read that article and listen,

I am who I am. And I'm also, you know, you may say I'm a, you know, everybody wants to put the MAGA labor on me, right? This guy's a MAGA mayor.
I don't even own a MAGA hat, let's put it that way.

But I'm also a candidate, regardless of the party.

I'm also a candidate that has an environmental policy, that has a governability policy that has a family for elders and children that has a property tax policy that has an open government policy that has a no tolerance for crookedness policy that's who I am and that's something that escaped her article by the way and and

I also hear that people, by the way, in my backyard, you know, NIMBY, there is a humongous building going up in my backyard. I've actually named the crane who wakes me up at 8 o'clock every morning.

The crane's name is Henry. And from one day to another, this monstrosity of a building is not only going up, but it's going down.
They're digging down just as much as they are building up.

So it's not that I'm against development, but let's do it in a smart way. Let's think about it.
Well, how is this going to affect traffic? How is it going to affect flooding?

How is it going to affect the school system? That's something people don't, you know, you build all these skies.

Thank God, Billy, that these are all part-timers because if they all moved in with their three kids, one, we wouldn't be able to walk down the street.

They They wouldn't be able to flush the toilet again.

And

the kids can't go anywhere to school. But what about Eileen Higgins' list of sponsors concerns you or should concern

it to concern everybody because

this whole business of her facilitating permitting, you know, you can facilitate a permit to build a 12-story building, but a small shop owner can't open it up.

We're going to concrete the city. We're going to concrete the city.
Everybody knows she's the developer's diva.

If you're a developer and you got an issue, you know who to go to. And whatever the amount is, you know who to go to.
If that's what she's wanting to be famous for, fine.

She should own it. My issue is, let's talk about the families.
Let's talk about corruption.

Let's talk about flooding. Let's talk about the environment.
Let's talk about the tree canopy. Those are things that aren't partisan.
Okay? And oh, by the way, there's no money in tree canopies.

You do it because it's our city, and I want my daughters and my grandson to grow up in a nice city.

You know, my family lives here. They're going to live here forever.

So there's nothing wrong, quite frankly, with being, as they call me, a Republican that actually cares, as opposed to being a Democrat that doesn't care, admittedly.

I'm still waiting to see what it is she stands for.

Well, I want to give her, Christian Olvert, representing Eileen Higgins, the last word.

And that about wraps wraps it up so Emilio Gonzalez thank you for responding thank you for showing up thank you for being here and answering the questions still waiting to hear back from from your girl Eileen my girl what's up what's up with what's up with that

you burnt bridges Billy like there's no way she's gonna contact you because there's a burnt bridge

sorry about that I don't know about that we should we could build a new bridge it could be a billion dollar black widow spider bridge do you realize the infrastructure in the city well are you gonna are you going to let Donald Trump build a casino across the street here?

That's what I want to know. Are you going to give that permit out? Do you want a casino? I do, actually.

I really do. Don't tell anybody that, but I really do want a casino.
Well, I really do. I'll tell you what, if we had one, I wouldn't have to fly to Vegas or have to.

Listen, I've been telling everybody, you know, they couldn't do it at the Fountain Blue. Genting couldn't even do it.
I'm like, if anybody can get a casino in Miami, it's going to be Donald Trump.

And I'm here for it.

I'll be first online at the blackjack tables. I can't wait.
Emilio Gonzalez, thanks for being here. Good luck to you.
Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.

You know, Roy, as we wind down the year and the mayor's race happens next week and these last couple of episodes, we're going to be saying goodbye to a whole cast of characters.

It really feels like a grand finale. Obviously, as you know, there'll be no more Joe Carollo.

We'll have a more formal goodbye to him next week.

But as I sort of go through the memories of the years, I'm reminded of this Miami moment from a Miami City Commission meeting almost two years ago now, in which Frank Pichell, who is a former Miami cop from way back in the day, who later became a mayoral candidate, and also been arrested a handful of times as well.

You know why?

Hashtag

Frank Bischelle showed up to

public comment at a commission meeting a couple of years ago and just went ahead and threw out that Miami Mayor Francis Suarez had allegedly been institutionalized in a mental hospital because he's wacko.

That is a direct quote. And then nobody ever said anything about it.
or talked about it ever again or followed up about it. You know why?

Hashtag

cocaines. Between you and Francisi, I spent over $25 million of our taxpayers' money embezzlement to protect Joe from all the lawsuits.

And Francisi, so he can travel the world to make himself presidential to run for president.

That idiot that I've known since he was eight years old, I know that he was institutionalized in a mental hospital because he was wife, he was.

Why do we have to pay for this? Now,

I'm suing

everybody.

This podcast is brought to you by Square. Okay, think of your favorite neighborhood restaurant, the one that feels like home.
Now, ask yourself, why that place?

If you run a restaurant, you already know it's the vibe, the flow, the way everything just works. That's where Square comes in.

Square keeps every corner of your restaurant moving, so you can focus on the reason you started it. See how Square can help your business.
Visit square.com/slash go/slash big.