In this episode, we dive into a week filled with personal reflections, political developments, and exciting podcast milestones. We kick off with a warm recount of Thanksgiving celebrations with my kids, Charlie and Bean, and the simple joys of sharing a meal together. This week also marked the launch of our podcast, which has already garnered over a hundred downloads, a testament to the support from our listeners despite minimal promotion.
We delve into the political landscape, discussing significant events such as Matt Gaetz withdrawing his name for Attorney General, Pam Bondi stepping in, and Kash Patel being tapped to head the FBI. We also touch on international affairs, including Zelensky's willingness to concede land to end the Ukraine war and the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian terrorists, highlighting the influence of President-elect Trump.
On a local level, we explore the impact of immigration policies on South Texas, particularly in Eagle Pass, and the challenges faced by border communities. Our guest, George Antuna, former city manager of Eagle Pass, shares insights into the political shifts in South Texas and the strain on local resources due to increased immigration.
We also discuss the broader implications of the recent election, the Democratic Party's campaign strategies, and the potential future of Texas as an independent entity. Throughout the episode, we emphasize the importance of choice in politics and the need for effective governance.
Join us for an engaging conversation filled with personal anecdotes, political analysis, and a look ahead at what's to come for our podcast and the political landscape.
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(00:00:05) Introduction and Podcast Launch
(00:01:16) Thanksgiving Recap and Podcast Success
(00:02:32) Political Updates and Administration Changes
(00:05:40) Podcast Growth and Future Plans
(00:07:32) Website Launch and Support Request
(00:11:28) Interview with George Antuna Begins
(00:19:59) George Antuna's Political Journey
(00:26:28) Border Issues and Local Impact
(00:55:05) Election Season and Political Analysis
(01:13:24) Liberalism and Election Denial
(01:24:46) Texas Independence Discussion
(01:42:26) Closing Remarks and Future Plans
- George Antuna
https://www.joerooz.com/support
[00:00:06]
Unknown:
Welcome to the podcast where every episode promises an unfiltered dive into the eclectic, the profound, and sometimes the absurd. No topic is off limits. Nothing is sacred, and political correctness takes a back seat.
[00:00:24] Unknown:
Alright. Hey, folks. Welcome to the podcast. Happy Monday. It is Monday, February, and Donald j Trump is the president-elect of The United States. Folks, I hope you guys had a great week this past week. It was, Thanksgiving, which was wonderful. Got to have a great meal with my little guys here, my my my boy Charlie and my girl Bean. And, you know, it's just the three of us. So I ended up, just getting like a a turkey breast for them and some stuffing and cranberries. So I did the whole you know, the whole thing. And, they had a great meal and we shared that together, which was a lot of fun. Also had to work my regular job, which was fine, you know. It was nice to be around the folks, at the job for, their for Thanksgiving.
And, man, I'm telling you, this week, we had a lot of things going on this week. A lot of things happened. First, probably the most important thing is we launched the podcast. Right? Last Monday, we opened up this, this new show with, a sit down with, Barry Louebrecht of, Podholm.fm, which was, a real treat to do that. Barry is is a good guy. He's a good friend, and, I hope you guys learned a lot from him, talking about, how he got into the world of podcasting. And there really is so much more that we want to talk about too. So we're definitely gonna be getting together with Barry again, on another show, which is which I'm looking forward to as well. And, you know, of course, we we published that show on, on on last Monday and, we already have over a hundred plus downloads of the show, which is phenomenal considering that, we didn't really promote the show, until just, maybe a couple of days before we actually, you know, publish the first episode.
So, so so to get that many downloads that quickly, that's that's that's great, man. Thank you so much for that. We really do appreciate that. And, please keep listening. We got a lot of great things coming up and, you know, a lot of exciting things coming. And every day, we do we're doing something different. And again, this week, we got a lot of things accomplished. But in, you know, in the in the world overall, what did we see happen in the last week? We saw Matt Gaetz, withdraw his name for, for attorney general, which was kind of a disappointment. I think, I think Matt Gaetz would Gaetz would have been a great AG.
But I understand, you know, based on, you know, the reasoning that, that that he gave and and others. I I can understand where he was with it and, you know, I appreciate the fact that he didn't wanna be a distraction from the administration and, and and he withdrew his name. So that's that's fine. We understand that. But I think that there's probably something in the future here for him within this within this administration anyway. So I don't think, I don't think mister Gates is out of the way yet. Then we had, Pam Bondi, who's the, current AG from Florida. She stepped in and, and she took on that nomination for AG, which was it's another great move. Great, great move. And then, just this past weekend, president-elect Trump tapped, Kash Patel to head the FBI, which is another great thing. I I am I am absolutely loving the direction that this administration is going.
This is a this is a a no holds bar. It looks like a a take no prisoners, type of administration and don't get all worked up over that. You know what I'm talking about. Alright. I know some of the liberals out there, they lose their minds over these things, but you know what I mean. Alright. So, so you got Nikesh Patel, picked for the, FBI. And then, you know, of course, Joe Biden, this weekend decided that he was gonna backtrack on his word not to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, who was found guilty for violating, several federal gun laws.
The FARA Act, the Mann Act, you know, which is human trafficking. It's unbelievable, but not unexpected. Not not unexpected. And then you had, Zelensky. Right? This was big. This was huge. Zelensky is willing to concede land to bring, the war in Ukraine to an end. That's exciting. That's very exciting. That's only because Donald Trump will be coming into the White House and it will not be playing games. And then you have, Israel and the Palestinian terrorists have agreed to come to a ceasefire, which is another another nod to, President Trump and his his firm stance on on on the world issues. And then you had, you had, Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, and the, and the and the president of Mexico essentially, kissing the ring as it were.
And, so so it's been a it's been a busy, busy week in the world of politics, and I didn't even scratch the surface with any of that stuff. Like, I we just kinda glossed right over it. But definitely a busy week in the world of politics in the next couple of months. We we have just a a month and a oh, yeah. About two months, really. No. Month and a half before, president Trump is sworn in as, the forty seventh president of These United States, and, things are already falling into place. So that's exciting to see. Now not only has it been busy in the world of politics, but, man, it's been busy for us here at the podcast.
You know, like I said earlier, we, you know, unbelievable that we've passed over a hundred downloads already, and the show just just launched last week, and that that's great. And I know other shows get more traction. But look, we didn't promote this thing. We didn't advertise it. You know, I I don't have, a a huge name, like a Joe Rogan or or some of these, these, celebrities that are out there. And I don't have, you know, corporate money behind me, at the moment. I don't have any sponsors or anything like that to to keep us all going. I do this podcast, I do my other podcast. And, you know, so, so just to have that amount of downloads already and knowing that we just got started with this thing, that really tells me that we're we're trending in the right direction. So that's huge and that's a blessing and I appreciate it. Thank you so much to everybody that's, been downloading and playing, and listening in to, to the show.
Please continue to do that because I promise you, we're gonna be bringing you a lot of really, really interesting content. A lot of thing we're moving pretty quick here. We really are. We have, wow, we have, we have today's show. We have, another guest segment coming up next week. We have a couple of, shorts that we're gonna be putting in, over the next couple of days. And, so we're gonna be doing a lot of work, a lot of work with this. And, you know, we we wanna bring you something that that you will want to not miss.
You get me? So stay with us as we develop this thing. So much more coming down the road. Really excited to get into all this. Alright. Now, so some of the things that took place for us this week, not only did we launch the first show of this podcast and then we, have the amount of downloads that we've received from it. We are already the number one podcast on the GoodPods platform in the, news and commentary, the indie news and commentary, categories. So that's big. Thank you so much for that. And and, of course, you know, we're gonna pat ourselves on the back a little bit. We put the, we put the badges up there on our website. Oh, yes. I didn't tell you. We have a website now. So our website is up and running. We're excited for that too. Now you can head over to joerusiello.com. Just my name. So joerusiello.com.
And when you get over there, you'll be able to listen to the live show on our homepage. We're working on getting archived shows up there as well. So we're excited to do that, and we're looking forward to getting that up there. Still working on on on all of that. And then, you know, we also have a page dedicated to, our recommendations for other podcasts and other shows. Again, that's because we're part of the value for value. So I receive value from those shows and and this is my way of of helping to, to return the value. And we'll come to that in a moment. We also have our support page, which is probably the most important page we have right now, because we do need your support.
And what I need you to remember though is like I said, this is a value for value show. Alright? And all that basically means that if you've received anything of value from what we're doing here, from the content that we're putting out, I'm gonna ask you to please head over to our support page on our website. It's joerusiello.com/support. Look for it in that little pancake up in the right corner. And, click that support button and, you can make a donation in any amount. Any amount whatsoever. We have, a PayPal, arrangement set up on there right now. You can make a donation in any amount. We also have a link to, to our cryptocurrency.
You could very easily very, very easily just click that button right there and it'll take you right to our our our, our our donation page for the cryptos. And all you have to do is, you know, just just just fill in the information right there. It's just like using the web form for, for PayPal or Stripe or whatever. And it's really simple. Now, here's where it gets interesting. Alright? If you want your name, shout out, and your name listed in the show notes for the next show, you have to make a donation in the minimum of $18.36.
So $18.36 will get you, your honorable mention on the air and then your name listed in the next show's show notes. Also also, if you set up a recurring donation, a recurring donation means once a month, once however often you wanna donate, a recurring donation will get your name, shout out every show, and listed in our show notes as a producer of the show going forward. But it has to be a minimum of $18.36 and a recurring contribution for that. Now, you can donate any amount. We appreciate every donation that we get, but $18.36 will get you your shout out, your name listed in the show notes on the next show, and a recurring $18.36 donation will get you a, shout out on every show and your name listed as a producer of the show in every single show note or episode show note. Alright. So I think that's pretty clear. It'll be up on the website shortly and, you'll be able to to follow along right there. And of course, you know, one day I'll explain to you what the $18.36 amount, comes down to and and why I selected that for that point. But we'll come to that very, very, very soon. Alright. Now, really excited for today's show. Really excited for it because today, we're gonna sit down with our very first in studio guest, the former city manager of Eagle Pass, Texas and political extraordinaire, George Antuna.
Now, like I said, I have been looking forward to this for a while. I George, I met George and we'll talk about it, you know, once once we start getting, the, that that segment going. But we took we met, when I went down to meet the mayor of the city of Eagle Pass, several years ago and we just kinda connected right there. We have the same, spiritual backgrounds, we have the same, political background and, and so we just kinda connected and became good friends and, you know, we sat down one night and we, you know, had a couple of cigars, we had a couple of drinks and, you know, we talked about the direction that this world is going, that that the country is going in. We talked about podcast and we talked about all this stuff. And, really excited to get him on on the show with us. And as a matter of fact, he might actually, become a regular, part of the show. He might actually be our second chair. And And that's something else that we're gonna talk about, during the course of our segment with him. And then, of course, while we're doing that, we're gonna be, sitting here and enjoying some, Paul Sutton bottled in bond, and we're gonna talk about so many different things, such a wide range of subjects.
I think you're really gonna find this talk interesting and we are really really looking forward to getting into it momentarily. Alright, folks. So what we're gonna do is, we're gonna take a quick break here. And when we come back, we'll get into our conversation with George. We'll get everything all set up. And, so, hey, folks. Listen. Don't forget. Just head over to the website, joerusiello.com. Make sure you hit that support button if you could and send us over a donation. Look for our contact section. Send us over any messages, any questions or comments that you might have. And, also very, very important, as you're listening to the show and whatever platform you're finding yourself listening to us on, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share it with your friends, your family, and your followers.
That way, you'll help us become the number one podcast. I can dream. Right? I can. Alright, folks. Again, this is Joe Rusciello, and we'll be back right after this. You stay with us.
[00:13:59] Unknown:
This podcast is hosted on PodHome.fm, an intelligent podcasting platform that you can use to host unlimited shows and episodes and have unlimited downloads. PodHome comes with many intelligent features like PodHome AI, which automatically creates transcripts, chapters, suggests titles, show notes, detects people, and creates clips. You can use Pothome AI unlimited for all your episodes and all your shows. Go check it out and start your free seven day trial at pothome.fm.
[00:14:36] Unknown:
Alright. Hey, folks. I am really, really excited about doing this. This is, I've been waiting for this for quite a while now. Finally, got him to, to agree to sit down and talk. Originally, we were gonna do this over as a as a a a video chat, but we decided that, since, since he's actually in town for a change, we're gonna get him here in studio and my very, very first in studio guest. He's the former city manager for the city of Eagle Pass. He's the South Texas political extraordinaire and, very involved with Republican politics here in Texas for about thirty plus years. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to my good friend, George Antuna. George, how you doing, brother? I'm good. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Awesome, man. This is I have been looking forward to this for, like, the longest time. Well, thank you so much for your patience. I appreciate that. Yeah. I know it's been tough, so I appreciate your time. We're having a we had a great night last night. Yes, we did. Got to get together a little bit. And, I was telling a friend of mine earlier that, if if the conversation that we had last night is any indication of how today is gonna go, this is gonna be rock solid. Absolutely. We're gonna have a great time. So, of course, we have, just a few things here in front of us. We have some beautiful Paul Sutton, bottled in bond bourbon that we've been, we've been sampling here before we got started.
So, I don't know exactly how far we're gonna get with this stuff, but this is good stuff. You know, of course, I yeah. Well, it's It's gonna be an interesting podcast. That's for sure. Oh, for sure. For sure. You know, and, we were saying before we got started here, that, one of the things I wanna do is when I can afford to do it, I wanna put a nice ventilation system in here. This way we can, not only sit here, talk politics, we could also, some sip on some bourbons, smoke a couple of cigars, and, you know, just be guys, hang out and just Absolutely. Just just shoot the crap for Absolutely. However long we can and however long you guys will put up with it. There you go. But, but, I met George, a couple years ago, through, through I think it was, I I had gone to meet the mayor of Eagle Pass at the time, which I thought was hysterical, by the way. I don't know if I ever told you that because I'm from New York City, you know that, and, you know, the audience knows that. And, you don't just get to call city hall and say, hey, I'd like to sit down with the mayor, you know, and chat a little bit. Right. Right. That never happens. Absolutely never happens. And, who was the mayor at the time? I I don't remember.
[00:17:11] Unknown:
What was it? Two a couple of it was two years ago. It was, the the current mayor who is, Rolando Salinas. No. It was before him. Okay. So it was Luis Cifuentes. Before him. Okay. Then it was, yeah. So it was, Ramsey Cantu. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. Because, when I was I was city manager, I had
[00:17:32] Unknown:
I I served under three mayors. Okay. Well, I met I met with, Mayor Cantu. And, that was Who is now the county judge, by the way. Yes. That's right. Yeah. I I saw that. Yeah. But, that was that was a treat to do that, and it was a blessing. And we got to talk a little bit about a lot of the things that I've I've done in my career working in New York. And then he introduced me to you. And, I think I think we kinda connected right away at that point, which was great. It it was very comfortable when I first met you, and I felt like I knew you. It's probably because, you know, we we have that that same type of, interest in politics and, you know, spiritual things and and and whatnot.
You tend to just gravitate to each other. And, it was it was great, you know. And and we I developed this friendship, which is which is wonderful. You were instrumental in in in, helping me get into a position with the city for a for a little while, which I really appreciated. And, and then we just kinda went from there. And then, you know, you know, life got in the way a little bit and, kinda, you know, you had to do your thing. And I think you left city service at that point and moved on to something better. And, you know, I'd we just kinda lost contact a little bit, but here we are. And this has this has been absolutely great. And, so so George, why don't you just give us basically an idea of, what led you to get into, politics here in in South Texas? What what was the the catalyst for that for you?
[00:18:59] Unknown:
Well, basically, for us was, back in mid to early nineties. You know, we we want the South Texas is predominantly Democrat. I know you may not see it now, but, I mean, there was a lot of work that happened before 2024. And so, back in the early nineties, you know, we just wanted basically, choices. You know? Back then, you only had one political party, in the in the Democrat party, and it was, and and it didn't give choices. And I think people need that, you know. It it it could have been the other way around. And I would have been, saying we need a choice. We need, something, different in in the sense that, South South Texas can experience that that opportunity for a choice.
It couldn't the the end all be all cannot be in, political primaries, you know. And so we wanted to give them that opportunity to to to look at that, not only in the primary, but obviously in the general election. So, that was it. Quite frankly, Ronald Reagan was a big inspiration for us, for me, for my parents. Mhmm. When he got elected in '80, and then reelected in '84. And so, I saw my parents as small business owners, who were, like pretty much any other business owner south of San Antonio, you know, and and they were watching their their pennies and their nickels, extremely, conscious of of of the way, they manage their business and as well as their households.
And they were very conservative. Mhmm. And so because of that, I saw that a lot, that the party of Ronald Reagan, Republicans, were more in line, with, what my parents' ideals were. Mhmm. And and so because of them, me and a bunch of guys got together. And, when I was at UTSA, we were very involved with the College Republicans. And we, you know, we were talking the same language. All of them were from South Texas. We had a lot of South Texas folks, attending UTSA, our kids at that time. And, and so we moved forward and and and started started this movement. Mhmm.
You know? And so you had, that nobody else really wanted to gravitate to. The Republican party was still kinda more in the world of, country club Republicans, blue blood Republicans, you know that. Mhmm. And so, but Ronald Reagan brought a different message. Mhmm. And so, you know, his big motto was, Hispanics are Republicans. They just don't know it. And so they kept saying he kept saying that. Why? Because of all the things that I just told you. You know, the ideals, the conservativeness, small business, they were pro, their culture of life and things of those natures. And that's right. And so, and even back then, the, it was there was a shift. Mhmm. You know, we're talking about shifts now.
But even then with Reagan, there was there was a shift. And so, we started the the the movement. And, moving forward, I think, it it, you know, it started gaining, momentum, and, we went from there. But, yes, it's, it's been it's been amazing. I had the pleasure of of working in corporate America back in the early, nineties. Got a chance to go work for then governor then lieutenant governor Rick Perry, then governor Perry. I had a great, great experience working for, then US senator Kay Bailey Hutchison as a regional director for San Antonio, South Texas. Then I went into municipal government Mhmm. As an economic development director, for, the city of Schertz, which is a suburb of, San Antonio, and, opened up my small business.
And then, had the opportunity to be city manager here in Eagle Pass. And, it was totally a great experience. We did a lot of great things.
[00:23:49] Unknown:
But like all things, you know, you know, things happen and, you know, we move on. That's right. Yeah. Well, I know that, you know, I came here from New York City and which is Yes. Yes. You did. Which is, not very well known for its, Republican leanings. So, when I got here, I did notice, of course, you know, obviously, it's a very blue Yes. Very blue city, but it's not it's not blue like It's not blue New York. No. Not at all. It's definitely much more conservative. Very. You know, so so, you really didn't Very conservative. You didn't notice it as much as you would up in New York City, you know. So I I kinda felt comfortable with that right away. Right. And you said something last night that that was very interesting, to me anyway.
And that is, when when you were out there door knocking. Right? You were trying to get folks to, that were Democrats, you know, we don't want you to switch parties, you know, we just want you to vote Republican, which which may have taken thirty years later to do it. But that's I think that's kind of what happened because, if I'm not mistaken, I I think Maverick County, which is part of what Eagle Pass is, in in over the last, couple of election cycles has increasingly voted red Yes. Going on through. And I think, Yes. Absolutely. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think, I think in this election cycle, I think it was 53%.
Fifty nine. Fifty nine %,
[00:25:16] Unknown:
voted. Which is which is, a huge number. Anything over 55 in the political world, anything over 55, is basically, quite frankly, just an ass whooping. Mhmm. Alright. I mean, no. I can't put it any other way. No. You're right. You're absolutely right. And so in 2016, when, president-elect Trump, former president Trump,
[00:25:38] Unknown:
whatever you wanna call it It's confusing. It is. You know? I just say sitting president. I I know. Exactly.
[00:25:44] Unknown:
Thank you. And so in 2016, in Maverick County, he he he got, and then I make reference to Maverick County because I've been living here for a while. He got 26%. Mhmm. In 2020, he got 44%. Wow. I mean, he doubled. Yeah. And then in, in, 2024, he got 59%. So it was pretty astonishing how every every county from Maverick all the way down to Cameron County where where where, Brownsville is flipped Mhmm. And went Trump or went red. Why? I mean, because for all practical purposes, Eagle Pass was the epicenter of of, of the undocumented immigration issue that they've had. Sorry.
And, we've had, a lot of illegal immigrants coming through, through this city. Now they may not stay here. Mhmm. We know that their end goal is to go north, but we experienced it. And so as a former city manager, when I first got here in 2019, I remember border patrol saying, yeah, we get about 200 crossings a day. By the time I left, they were well over 2,000 plus Wow. Crossings a day, which is was being extremely burdensome, to our police department Mhmm. To our EMS units, to our fire department. Because, by the way, the city of Eagle Pass has a contract with the county which covers which fire and EMS covers the whole county.
Oh, wow. And not just the city. Alright? So, you're looking at a large, large county, covering, being covered by, the the the city of Eagle Pass. And so and it obviously put a lot of strain on our PD. And then notwithstanding, of course, the customs and border protection folks, our, border patrol, folks, God bless them. They were having their challenges too. They were pulled in a hundred million directions. So once, president Biden took over, it was a it was a like, the switch just went off from from January 20 to January 2021 of '21, January 20 to January twenty first of twenty twenty one, it just flipped the switch Yeah. One day to the next, you know, where we started getting an influx of of, a lot of, immigrants coming through, our city, and through the state of Coahuila.
So, people say, well, why did they go to Eagle Pass? Why did they go to Del Rio? Why did all the Haitians end end up under you know, 15,000 Asians end up under the bridge of of, Del Rio, Texas? It's because the state of Coahuila is is pretty safe, right, in Mexico on the Mexico side. The state of Tamaulipas and the state of Nova Leon, they're not so safe. Okay. And so over there, if the cartels don't get you, the the the, the local officials will get you. The statewide officials will get you. Somebody's gonna get you. Gotcha. And so, in in in the state of Coahuila, it was it was pretty safe.
And, but the the cartels were still making money. They were charging 10 to $15,000 per person to cross. And and they were so brazen that they even gave you a a a three try warranty. You can imagine that, man. Imagine they gave you a three try give me 5,000, 10 thousand, but I'm gonna give you a three try warranty. The first time they kick you back, the third the second time they kick you back, the third I will try it again the third time. And Third time's a charm. Yeah. Third time is a charm. So it it it was the only you know, I I hear, the former, the current congressman, Gonzales, saying the only one people that were making money were the cartels, and that they were human smuggling. Mhmm. So but the the sad part about it, just Joseph, is that they didn't see the difference between a bag of drugs, a bag of, you know, whatever Mhmm. And a and a baby.
To them, it was a product. Right. Yep. It was a product that they were trying to push across the border. Something had to be moved. Exactly. And so, it was it was sad. It was sad. People drown on the Rio Grande River every day. Mhmm. People don't see it. You know, they drown all the time. They they, you know, the the the immigrants don't understand the currents. They don't understand where the deep ends are because the the the the cartels just dump them into the river and tell them go go there. That way. Yeah.
[00:31:03] Unknown:
And, and of course, we're the we're we're the bad we're the bad folks for not wanting to to, to to get them over here safely.
[00:31:12] Unknown:
It's That's a very good point, Joseph. Yeah. Because think about it. When you have order on the border, less people die. That's right. That's absolutely right. Yeah. When you have order on the border, less people die. Why? Because they're not trying to get across. When you have a lax border policy, then people die trying to get across because they don't understand the heat of South Texas when it goes to a 10 during the summer. Mhmm. They don't understand the the amount of vermins that are out there, you know, the rattlesnakes, the whatever is out there. They don't understand the veracity of the Rio Grande River. In Mexico, they call the Rio Grande River river the Rio Bravo.
And the reason why they call it Bravo is because bravo in Spain in English basically means wild. Okay. Okay? So they call and if you're in Mexico, they call it the Rio Bravo. Why? Because it is. Mhmm. It's wild. We don't know what to expect. You know, you don't know the current, like I said, the currents and whatnot. The depth of the you know, one day one one moment you're walking at three feet, the next moment you're walking in 30 feet. You don't know that. Right. And so,
[00:32:35] Unknown:
we call it the real grande because it is grande. Right? But but in Mexico, they call it the real bravo. Wow. You know, and it it's interesting too. You you mentioned about the, the fatalities that come across. I I I I know a few folks that that work for border patrol. And, one of the gentlemen that I know, very well, he's a good man, hardworking man. He's actually on, those fan boats. Mhmm. He actually serves on the fan boats and Swamp boats. We call them swamp boats. But that's what they do in Louisiana, but they're swamp boats. Yes. Yeah. So, and I and I remember talking to him a few times about things that he has seen Yeah. And experienced down there. And it's it's heart wrenching. It really is when you when you hear about, a small child or Absolutely. Or a baby, being washed up against rocks or whatever. You know, it it's it's it's heart wrenching. And it's you you can't lay the blame on anyone.
And I'm sorry to say it if this is gonna offend you, but you know what? Political correctness goes out the window on this show. This is the this is the fault of the current administration. Yes. Absolutely. 100%. You know, I I I it it infuriates me as someone again, I'm a transplant. I understand that. You know, I haven't lived here my whole life. I haven't seen the the the upwards and downwards of of life here in Eagle Pass, but I've been here for for, going on eight years. And in eight years, I've seen I've seen things, you know. I've seen changes. I've seen positives and negatives. And to to sit here and listen to all of these talk shows and and all of these, Sunday news, shows where you have the, DHS officials, Mayorkas and and all of them out out there saying, the border's secure. The border's secure. Everything is fine. It's all good. But yet, in the meantime, when I'm leaving for work in the morning, I see, I I see a line of people standing in front of the gas station over there, the same yellow envelope loading up onto an unmarked bus. Yep. How are you telling me the border is secure?
[00:34:34] Unknown:
The border is not secure,
[00:34:36] Unknown:
under the Biden administration. No. And I I applaud I applaud governor Abbott and and the initiative that he's taken to to secure the border down here. You know, a lot of folks say this is political grandstanding and and so on and so forth. It's not. It absolutely is not because it it the the the work that he's doing in securing the border down here, in in in if you wanna call it defiance to the federal government, I'm fine with that, is saving lives. And I'm not just talking about immigrant lives. I'm talking about or I I don't even wanna call them immigrants, illegal migrants.
It's it's not just it's not even just saving the it's it's saving Texans. It's saving folks in Eagle Pass. It's saving folks in Del Rio.
[00:35:25] Unknown:
Right. Right. I mean, there's a reason why the border counties voted red. Mhmm.
[00:35:34] Unknown:
Overwhelmingly, which is a beautiful thing. I mean,
[00:35:36] Unknown:
you who would have thought that anything from Del Rio to Brownsville would have voted red? It was a situation where, the counties just said, no mas. No more. I can't handle this anymore. There is no, security along the border when it comes to illegal immigration or immigration in the end of end of itself. And but, you know, and the locals know it. You know, I used to get calls from, senior citizens. And they when I was city manager, I used to get calls from senior citizens senior citizens, and they would say things like, hey. I'm having, you know, issues in my alleys where, I have these, immigrants hanging out behind my house, waiting for, their ride to San Antonio Mhmm. Or waiting for the coyotes, like they say it.
And so, I had to, speak with our, electric company, in this case, it's AEP, and we would install, lights in the in the alleyways Mhmm. So that, these illegal immigrants wouldn't hang out in, in the alleys. And so and and and a lot of these homes turned into stash houses where they would literally put put them in in a in that home that was empty, and and then then, and then the coyote would come and pick them up. It it was a very sophisticated system that the cartels had, and and they would pick them up and take them to San Antonio. And so it was one of those situations where it was not safe Mhmm. At all.
And so we we would see that day in and day out. And I'm talking about the river was real close to our, Main Street downtown area. And so they would walk through, walk to the alleyways. They would walk through or crawl through the, sewer systems, to, to pop out of the the sewer cap in the middle of the street. The the the the cartels were very sophisticated. They know they knew what houses were empty Mhmm. On both sides of the border. They knew, where all the tunnels were when it came to sewer and water, and and those that are big enough to accommodate a human.
They knew your every movement. In fact, our current mayor, when he had his house under construction here in Eagle Pass, he came home for lunch, and he saw himself, four or five people hanging out during lunch, his lunch, hanging out waiting for, the Toyota to come pick him up Wow. And take him to San Antonio. And so, he it spooked the heck out of him, of course. And, he had to call, border patrol, what we call border patrol, and and and they took them away. But, that's how brazen these cartels are. And once again, they don't care.
[00:39:09] Unknown:
It's all about the money for them Yeah. One way or the other. You know, it's interesting because I had a I had an experience here, and I I haven't really told too many people about this. But, I wanna say it happened sometime last year. I had just finished the renovation work on the house. And, I I was it was a Saturday morning. It had to be about 07:00 Saturday morning. The dog started freaking out a little bit, and then I hear a knock on my door, on my side door. And, so who's knocking on my door? It's 07:00 in the morning. You know? So I I went to the door. And, and, of course, you know, I carry. So I I I had my my my pistol my pistol with me.
So I go to the door and, I open it up, and there's a guy standing out there. Now, you know, not your not your local Eagle Passian. You know, you could tell. This is not somebody from here. And, in in very, very broken English, said to me, I need a place to live. I'll pay you $1,700 7 $1,700 a month Wow. To to to live here.
[00:40:20] Unknown:
Yeah.
[00:40:21] Unknown:
And I said, well, no. I'm not renting the place. He goes, I'll give you $2,000 a month. And I said, no. I'm not interested. And then I opened the door a little bit further so he could see the sidearm, and he left. That kind of that kind of freaked me out a little bit, you know. Oh, well, as it should. You know, and I went and I invested in the, in all the Ring cameras and all that stuff that I have outside the house now. But, but, you know, was he a migrant? I I think so. It might have been. Of course, it was. You know. And and that's just it.
[00:40:52] Unknown:
That's just it. It's a monetary issue now. So, you know, you have illegal immigrants coming across. Alright? So now the locals, like, the senior citizens that I was mentioning Mhmm. They're concerned because they live by themselves. Their dogs are barking at, you know, in the middle of the night, to no end. Nobody sleeps. Mhmm. Alright. And then you have, the city having to expend tons and tons of money, on this, whether it's border patrol or police department. Of course, the federal government notwithstanding and the state neither. You have ranchers losing, fence after fence after fence, paying tens of thousands of dollars to repair them every time.
Their cattle are meandering into, other property owner's property. Livestock is lost. Mhmm. It is a huge disruption into our economy here on the local level. Yeah. Sure it is. People north of here don't see it. That's right. Yeah. And when you disrupt that economy, when you're disrupting people's livelihoods, it makes a difference. And so I hope right now the White House is listening because this is why they lost South Texas. That's right. I I No other way. I agree with you a %. The economy had something to do with it. Absolutely. But the lack of border security security had even that much
[00:42:37] Unknown:
reasoning why. And one of the things that that always amazes me, when it comes to, particularly democratic policies, is they're so concerned about protecting the borders of other countries, but not our own. You know what I'm saying? It's interesting. But I I just wanna circle back to one thing you said about ranchers. I I know a gentleman who's who's a rancher. He's a he's a member of the church that I go to. He's a he's a retired border patrol officer. And I wanna say that he's probably in his mid to late eighties. Okay?
And he he has he has numerous health issues, but, he keeps himself active. And, he he told us at at at church one day, it was a private conversation, you know, not private in the sense that I can't talk about it, but it was just like a couple of us standing around. He wasn't, like, speaking me on the pulpit or No. Of course. Right. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So he he, he basically said that, he was working on his tractor, and he he was under the tractor. Mind you, 80 years old. Yes. Of course. Under the tractor, he's working on it. And as he's under the tractor working on it, he hears voices.
And from where he was laying, he could see feet Yeah. Standing around him. He pulled himself out from underneath the tractor, and there were six 20 year old migrants surrounding him. Yes. If he said that if he didn't have his if he didn't have his gun, he was very concerned about what would have happened to him. And I I agree with him on that. That's dangerous. It's very, very dangerous. And, you don't wanna, you know, you know, you don't want to, you don't wanna find yourself in a situation like that. Six twenty plus year old migrants, one 80 plus year old man.
[00:44:37] Unknown:
Yes. And and and and you don't know who's coming across. Right? You you know, you have the president of of Venezuela, Maduro, releasing tens of thousands of, of, folks from jail and telling them, hey. You need to go elsewhere. I can't support you. My socialist government cannot support you anymore. Same thing for, mental institutions. Mhmm. So you you would hear Trump saying that, and people were, like, incredulous about it. But when we talk to Venezuelans at the border, because they come through Eagle Pass, they you can tell immediately, you know, who has it together Mhmm. And who doesn't. Yeah.
It's like any other thing. Right? And so you see them and you can tell. You can tell that these guys, I I you you ask them. I say, wait. Where are you from? Oh, so Venezuela. I'm from Venezuela. And then they say things like, and then they can't articulate themselves. They they they they quite frankly, you can tell that they're not all there. Right. And and then they themselves tell you, see, yes. I was released, from a home. They say homes, but but we know what they mean, in Venezuela Mhmm. To come here. But at the end of the day, when the president-elect would say that Maduro was releasing, the worst of the worst, that's exactly what he was doing. Mhmm. A few years ago, when Chavez was there before Maduro, peep you know, you had the standard middle class teachers, folks like that were leaving because they were they were concerned about the socialist government, which and quite frankly, they still should be. Right?
But but Maduro kicked in or Chavez died, Hugo Chavez died, and then Maduro kicked in, as a new president. And, socialism only works until a certain point. Right? Until you run out of people to take their money away from. Right? That's right. And so I was gonna I was actually gonna say that same thing, you know. Socialism's great until you run out of other people's money. Exactly. Right. That's what Margaret Thatcher used to say all the time. All the time. And Churchill, Winston Churchill said the same thing. It's it's all beautiful until you run out of other people's money to take away. And that's what happened in Venezuela.
And and so then, once they drained, all their money from the residents, all the money from the oil and gas companies, from the from other from other nations, they just couldn't support their their socialist system anymore. So they would release these folks, and, they cross right through here Mhmm. On their way to your former city of New York City, Chicago, whatnot, other cities. Of course, it was courtesy of of, the the air air abbot. Right? But
[00:47:47] Unknown:
I like that. It's cool.
[00:47:49] Unknown:
Greyhound abbot. Right? But, but nonetheless, I mean, they were sanctuary cities. They claimed to be sanctuary cities, and so we accommodated that.
[00:47:59] Unknown:
Yeah. It it. But e we see even even New York City is starting to realize the mistake. Now, I don't know. It's like, Adams, the mayor in New York City. I don't know him personally, you know. I never really had any interactions with him, but I know people that do know him. And, he's not a political dummy. No. He's not. Not at all. He's an He gets it. He's a political opportunist. And he sees right now one of the great thing, you know, the the the Trump the Trump effect as they call it, you know. All of a sudden, Donald Trump is now the president-elect again.
And all of a sudden now, New York City is ending the, the the, public assistance to migrants. They're cutting back on the debit cards that the migrants have been getting. They're cutting back on the housing the migrants are getting. They're cutting back on all of this stuff, because it is a drain on the on the on the economy. You know, my sister still lives up in New York, and and she she tells me all the time of of just how infuriating it is when she she sees that people, you know, migrants are coming through here with these debit cards that are loaded with Yes. With with 2,000, 3 thousand dollars. And she's struggling to to to to fill up her shopping cart, you know, on her salary. And she works for the city. She works. She's a she's a a teacher's aide for special needs children.
So, you know, it's it's
[00:49:30] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I mean and and you don't have to even go that far. City of San Antonio is doing the same thing. They're putting them up in, San Antonio, by the way, for points of reference, is about a 50 miles away from, Eagle Pass. It's two hour drive ish. City of San Antonio is, putting up, a lot of these illegal immigrants, in, old hotels that no longer are functioning. And so they put them there. They give them you're right. Like you just said, you know, they give them, housing. They give them some, they give them, monies for, food and obviously shelter.
And, and so back And in some cases, even they provide transportation. They do. And so back in the day, you know, one of my site jobs back in the day was construction. And so I I have a lot of friends that used to go pick up or still pick up folks at day labor, there, in Downtown San Antonio on Dela Rosa and whatnot. And so they go pick them up and, some of these, migrants say they they ask them and say, hey. How how much are you paying how much are you paying, a day? And so they ask and they said, well, we're paying, a hundred a day, which is pretty decent money. Mhmm. And they're like, well, no. We don't work less than 200.
So now they're dictating to, subcontractors or whatnot how much they wanna get paid. Why? Because they have that security to fall back on. That's right. Yeah. They have the the the they have the security of falling back onto, the the the hotel that the city is providing, the the the the the the foods, stamps, or the the the credit cards that the city is providing Yeah. The benefit card. For feed for food. Right? And some For feed.
[00:51:27] Unknown:
That's good. I had cattle in my mind. Sorry. And so, Like, I'm sorry. I couldn't let it pass. I had to say something. For food. And so be because of that, I mean,
[00:51:40] Unknown:
it it's unfortunate. But that's kind of that's where it's at. And so, okay, so now you're so now these contractors need help. These guys are not they don't have much they don't have any training. You know? All they need them to do is to be able to, you know, clean up and sweep the areas where they're working. They're not skilled anything other than that. And so they have to pay $200 a day to these folks. And then, at the end of the day, who who pays for it? You and me do. That's right. Yeah. And so whoever, paid for the room addition, the new home or whatever it may be, has to pay that up upcharge.
So it hits our pocketbooks even at that level. Mhmm. And I don't think people really quite frankly understand that. Yeah. No. I don't I don't
[00:52:45] Unknown:
I agree with you. I I don't think people fully understand just how much of an impact all of these particular policies, these extremely liberal open border policies affect everyday life. You know? And and the first the politicians, I'm sorry, the politicians are so, what's what's the word? They're so secluded
[00:53:09] Unknown:
from Yes, they are. Everyday
[00:53:11] Unknown:
living at the federal level, I'm talking about. I I think I think local politicians and state politicians have a little bit more of an understanding of just how impactful all this stuff is on everyday life. But those folks that are, like, sequestered and and hidden away in in in Washington, DC, that are so removed from everyday normal life, don't really understand just how much this impacts everybody. When I go to when I go to H E B, which is a local supermarket here in in Texas, when I go to H E B and I get four bags, four small bags of barely the basics for a hundred and 50 something dollars, you know, especially here in Eagle Pass where the cost of living for the longest time since I've been here has never been that difficult to navigate.
All of a sudden now, you're talking it it's it's getting unbearable. And then, of course, you have fuel prices, so on and so forth, which is another issue altogether. But
[00:54:12] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, people don't see, the what I just mentioned right now Mhmm. That, it it has a trickle down effect, you know. In this case, there's a trickle up. Right? Because, you know, you're starting from this part and it's going up. And and so, there's a reason why a cost of construction is going up. There's a reason why, all these other, cost of goods have been up. So, you know, it it it, you know, and you think, that you're getting, for the most part, cheap labor, but you're not. Mhmm.
[00:54:51] Unknown:
You're not. You're not at all. Alright, George. Let's, let's take a quick break here. Use the restroom if you need to. And then when we come back, I I wanna talk to you a little bit about this, this election season and Yeah. Sure. Let's talk about it. This whole election process I'm excited about that. Saving democracy and just a few points about that. Alright, folks. This is the podcast, and we'll be back right after this. Stay with us.
[00:55:19] Joe Russiello:
Hi, everyone. This is JJ, the cofounder of Goodpods. If you haven't heard of it yet, Goodpods is like Goodreads or Instagram, but for podcasts. It's new, it's social, it's different, and it's growing really fast. There are more than 2,000,000 podcasts, and we know that it is impossible to figure out what to listen to. On Goodpods, you follow your friends and podcasters to see what they like. That is the number one way to discover new shows and episodes. You can find Goodpods on the web or download the app. Happy listening.
[00:55:56] Unknown:
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[00:56:32] Unknown:
Hey, folks. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Joe Rusciello, and I'm here in the studio with, our first studio guest ever, George Antuna, former city manager for the city of Eagle Pass. And we just had a great conversation talking about the border issues and local politics, and it was just wonderful. And, what I'd like to talk about just, you know, for a short period of time, for as long as I have you, because I don't know how much longer I have before. But, what I'd like to really talk about too is, like, this whole election process, this this whole election election season. I know we kinda briefly touched on it earlier, but, you know, you have the Democratic party who is who ran a campaign on saving our democracy.
First of all, we're not a democracy. That's right. Alright? We we are a we are a representative republic or That's right. Or a constitutional republic. How however you I prefer representative republic, but, you know, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna argue with you over that. But, but we are a representative republic that in in that, we are ruled by law. We are ruled by law, where democracy is mob rule. It's it's it's that it's that 50 plus one gets their way. Alright? So we don't have a a democracy in the classic sense of a democracy. Alright?
Now this party, this the Democratic Party ran this whole election season on, you know, preserving democracy, saving democracy, you know, keeping the fascist out of office and and and so on and so forth. But yet, the Democratic Party put forward a candidate who received absolutely no votes in any primary this time around, and did so poorly four years ago that didn't even make it through the primaries. I think I if I'm not mistaken, the, the the the cackling communist from California, I think she was the first to, to drop out, of the, 20, 20 election, primaries for the Democrats. Am I right? Mhmm.
And, and here they are. They they they they basically the the committee, the Democratic Committee, Democratic National Committee, basically anointed her as their candidate, and not a vote was cast for her. And yet these folks are here screaming about saving and preserving democracy. I find that just a little bit on the hypocritical side. What say you, sir?
[00:59:13] Unknown:
I mean, yes. I mean, you you you you had a situation where, you had a, candidate that wasn't vetted, appropriately. And you had a situation where, it was a rush to find, the candidate to, to to to succeed, president, Biden. Unfortunately, president Biden, waited way too late, to drop out. He should have said a few years ago, I'm gonna run one time and then I'm done. Right? I I mean, his whole goal in 2020 was to just remove, president-elect Trump. I mean, and he succeeded. Mhmm. Alright? So because he succeeded, now that should be it. Right? That, you know, then you move on. And and they should have had an open, thorough primary season.
Instead, he hangs on thinking that he's gonna be doing good. And then the first presidential, debate happened in June of this year, and it was a catastrophe for him. I I I I heard it. I saw it a few times after that. And it, it was it was it was, shocking, quite frankly. But nonetheless, so then they move forward. Everybody's clamoring for him to resign or not run again, excuse me, and so he doesn't. And then now you're in a quandary where you have the, the, Democrat, what is it, the the convention. Right? Coming up in December. Excuse me. Coming up in Chicago, in July or so, or maybe in August. I forget. But nonetheless, it was very, very, very challenging. It was August. Yeah. Yeah. August. And so it it kinda reminded me of the nineteen sixty eight Chicago, convention where, they where, Lyndon Bain Johnson from Texas, president, decides not to run.
But in this case, they they didn't have an open primary because unlike Johnson or LBJ, as they call them here affectionately in Texas, LBJ gave them plenty of time to find a candidate, but Biden did not. And so now you're you're you're dealing with a situation where you have, you know, the vice president. And it kinda reminds me of that sitcom on HBO called Veep. Oh, yeah. I don't know if you ever watched it. I did. But it is so hilarious, and it's so on point. Scary. Right? Julia Louis Dreyfus could not have been a better Kamala.
Mhmm. And so it's like, wow. It's amazing.
[01:02:19] Unknown:
No. It it really is. But my question is this. Do you really think that Joe Biden knew that he withdrew from the race? I know. I don't think he did. I because I I do remember seeing a clip where somebody asked a a reporter asked him, about his withdrawal from the race, and he looks shocked by it. Like, he had no idea.
[01:02:45] Unknown:
I'll leave that to Joe Biden. But, at the end of the day, it was very talk about preserving our democracy. Joe should've, even back when, said I'm not running again I agree. To preserve the preserve the democracy, himself. And so but but he did not. And and so then, you know, we're we're we're put and then Kamala was the vice president was put in a situation where she's now has to run a race within a hundred and six days or so. And, it was not, obviously successful, but it was it was it was the wheels were never
[01:03:31] Unknown:
on the wagon. The wheels were off, you know. I agree. And and it's I'm surprised though that they haven't harped on that as far as the reason why she lost this election, that she didn't have enough time. I I heard it mentioned, you know, sporadically here or there, you know. But
[01:03:49] Unknown:
And then she didn't help herself. I mean, okay. So fine. You're the new candidate. You got a hundred and six days to go before election day. Okay. You're gonna what are you gonna do different that your administration Mhmm. Your administration has not done.
[01:04:08] Unknown:
Right? And so and she never articulated that. No. As a matter of fact, she got on the on the view, I think. Right? And she said, I I can't think I can't think of anything that I would do different. Right there and then,
[01:04:20] Unknown:
when they gave her that softball question because every every, TV station was asking her softball questions. Mhmm. At that point, she should have said, I'm gonna do this, this, and this different. I love my president. I love Joe Biden. But we need to do this. Mhmm. We need to strengthen our borders. We need to better our economy. We need to do this, this, this, this, whatever it was. But and then, I'm sorry, Joe. She was gonna throw you under the bus, but it's what needed to happen, and she did not do that. Yeah. I agree.
[01:05:03] Unknown:
But at the same time, also, you know, she proudly touted the fact that she was the last person in the room on just about every decision that, that Joe made. And that kinda puts her endorsement on all the policies that the president was making.
[01:05:21] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean
[01:05:23] Unknown:
You you know what I mean? That's it. So That didn't help her cause. And so She didn't articulate her her her candidacy very well. But and that's exactly the same problem she had in 2020. Something. Let me tell you something.
[01:05:34] Unknown:
When you're the you know, what what the former, vice president for FDR. He's he's he's buried in Uvalde, Texas. Oh, really? He's from Uvalde. And so, mister Nance says or vice president Nance at that point says, you know, that basically being vice president is nothing more, and I may be paraphrasing it wrong, is nothing more than a warm bucket of spit. Alright? Because you basically do nothing as a vice president. Mhmm. You're just there. You're a heartbeat away. I get that. But, you know, like Veep has very, very well said on the on the sitcom, it is basically one of those situations where they call you when they need you, and you're sometimes invited into those rooms, and sometimes you are not. Mhmm.
[01:06:36] Unknown:
No. I and I understand that, but the fact that she that she touted the fact that she was the last person in the room and and these decisions that are being made, and the fact that the decline of Joe Biden was so obvious, so obvious. And of course she not how could she not see that? Well, that and also, I I don't doubt for a minute that she wasn't the final voice and the final opinion on things because of his decline.
[01:07:03] Unknown:
Now, the speculation of course Well, you know what? That that that that that's remains to be seen, obviously. But and, at the end of the day, we don't know that. However, you know, well, you know, you know, it's kind of it is what it is. But unfortunately, we have a situation where, we do have, a president because he's still president till January 20. Mhmm. A president that is not does not have all his mental capacities. And at the end of the day, there's situations where right now, he's making decisions or somebody is making decisions for him to do what he's doing in Ukraine and in other parts of the world, which can be a huge hindrance for the, president-elect.
Oh, absolutely.
[01:08:00] Unknown:
And and that's actually I'm glad you mentioned that because that's a point that I was gonna try to bring up and that is that, the administer the current administration is gonna do whatever they can right now to derail Yeah. For sure. The incoming administration. And, I could I I can't think of a more clear example of that other than giving Ukraine the green light to use American Yes. ICBMs and the interior of Russia. Look, I'm not I'm not gonna say I'm a fan of Russia. I'm not a fan of Ukraine at all in this in this matter. But I I am of the mind of it's none of our business.
It's really none of our business what goes on between Ukraine and Russia. We shouldn't be there. The only reason why I think we're doing that is not even for NATO purposes or or European security. I think it's because of the investment that, that American politicians have in Ukraine.
[01:09:00] Unknown:
I mean, whether it's our business or not, the the president You're pushing us to the limit of World War three here. The the current president should be, right now, standing down until the president-elect takes office. Period. Mhmm. Right now, you have two months to just stand down. Let the president-elect come in, choose his curtains, drapes, whatnot, and stand down. I mean, this is is this a national security issue? No. Mhmm. No. It's not. I agree. I mean, I understand if you have, you know, several hundred thousand, you know, Japanese soldiers standing at our footsteps. Okay. You need to act. Mhmm. But this is not the case. No. And I agree with you.
[01:09:57] Unknown:
I'm not an I'm not an isolationist. I don't think that we need to be removed from, you know, all the world stage altogether. But aside aside from, from financial investments, we don't have a dog in this hunt.
[01:10:15] Unknown:
We really don't. You know, I and I may disagree a little bit with you.
[01:10:21] Unknown:
That's not allowed on my show, buddy. Okay.
[01:10:26] Unknown:
I may disagree a little with you only because Russia attacks Georgia. Russia attacks Crimea. Russia attacks, in this case, Ukraine. What is wrong with them? I mean, why do they feel like, hey. Now you need to be part of us because at one point you were part of us, but now you're not. And we don't like the fact that you're succeeding, so now you're gonna be a part of it. Oh, and by the way, we don't like the fact that you have a a coastline and we don't. Mhmm. So Vladimir, Putin, like they say in Spanish or Putin, you know, is just being a a huge bully in this situation, and just saying, you're part of us. I was part of the KGB.
Now you need to be Russia again. And, you know, and to me, that's kind of BS. And, you know, that's just him being a bully. And him wanting to take the old guard back, because, you know, Russia as a country is is falling apart.
[01:11:42] Unknown:
Mhmm. Well, again, I'm not a I'm not, you know, I'm not a fan of of, of of Putin or Russia or anything like that. But, you know, we don't really hear very we we hear a lot of the negatives about Putin, Russia, and their and their, their, desires and endeavors in this. But we don't really hear about Zelensky and what his behind the scenes stuff was. You know, we we we we we have well, not we, but the the administration, you know, puts Zelensky up on this, on this pedestal as this, as this sign of virtue when we don't really know exactly what took place to provoke all of this. Was it really just pure Russian aggression, Russian bear aggression, or was it just was there something else going on behind the scenes?
Personally speaking, I think this is all scriptural. You know, I'm not I I don't wanna I don't wanna, you know, do what delve too much into into bible prophecy, but I think this is all part of these end time events that are supposed to be taking place. And, you know, you read in the book of Daniel, you read the book of Revelation, you talk about, you know, all of these events taking place. This is supposed to happen. So, yeah, it it it's it's it's a very interesting time in which we live. It it truly is. And, what I had I wanted to actually I wanted to play some audio for you, but, come for it. I kinda lost the moment there. But, because we kinda kinda into into, into this whole thing with, Zelensky and and and World War three Putin and whatnot. But, just just just to kinda circle back just for a second here, we're talking about, you know, the reasons why Democrats lost.
Okay. Yeah. We we we did digress. Yeah. We we we kinda got we kinda got way off. One of the things that I I truly believe, and I think it's becoming more and more evident as time goes on, is that, unfortunately, elements of liberalism is is truly a mental illness. I I the more I'm watching things, the more I'm seeing things, just just confirms it. I mean, I understand that there are, you know, folks who are liberal, who are very intelligent people, who are who are articulate, and who can who can present an argument and can and can hold a discussion without falling into this.
He cheated. There was fraud. There was Mental illness, my friend. My favorite part's coming up. Right there. The liberalism is a mental illness. He cheated. He cheated. Alright. So we have election denial. We have mental illness. We have a whole bunch of things here. I'm just curious when the FBI is gonna knock on this guy's door and and haul him off to a to a a secret place and and, and and detain him without his rights and so so on and so forth because he's denying election saying that he cheated. He cheated. He cheated.
[01:15:04] Unknown:
You know, I I at at the end of the day, it was it was it was a bad campaign, with a bad candidate.
[01:15:12] Unknown:
It was. And the the issues that they they campaigned on, I mean, look, I know people who are who are gay and that that live that lifestyle and and such, you know. And look, that that's between you and God. You know, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that you can't do this, you can't do that, you should. Would I prefer you not do it? Of course. Absolutely. Because I want the best for you. I don't want you to live that type of lifestyle, but I'm not gonna stop you from doing it either. Absolutely. You know? But you you targeted your campaign towards what is it? It's what one something percent of the of the entire population.
That's what you focused on.
[01:15:51] Unknown:
And, you know, and you you you talk about, a lot of different things, when it comes to, that that topic. And it's unfortunate, I mean, because of the mere fact that, you cannot just look at such a micro level of the electorate. You need to look at the big picture. And the big picture was the economy. Mhmm. The big picture was immigrant, border security. The big picture was, you know, a lot of other things. Those two were, like, the number one and two. I mean, they can interchangeably have happened, but they did not. And at the end of the day, that's what I think, the Democrat party, did not,
[01:16:47] Unknown:
take fully into account. Yeah. Like we said earlier, the Democratic party of today is not what it was thirty, forty years ago. It's not even what it was ten years ago. It's a completely different party now. It it has totally embraced far left activism. It has totally embraced Marxism. It's spread throughout the college campuses. It's spread throughout even the public schools. The the, the grade school levels. It's just running rampant. And and I I love the idea of this, Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE.
[01:17:24] Unknown:
You know? I saw that. Which I think is great. It's a great idea. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you. Right now, if the federal government cuts 10% of the workforce, they will not blink an eye. No. Of course not. The the the government is not in other countries, the government is set up to promote jobs Mhmm. Themselves to promote jobs. You know, you know, the the the the country of Mexico, I mean, Mexico. You know, we all know that. I mean, I I we see it every day, you know. And and there's more when you get a job with Mexico or the state of Coahuila, the the the federal government will stick with you. You you kinda like everybody's like, oh, wow. That that's awesome.
You know, it's not like, dude, what are you talking about? But they're going to make money. Mhmm. Right? If you get a job with the state of Texas or even the federal government for that matter, It's it's not gonna be a great paying job, but it's a job. But what's but the government is not in the business of hiring people. To create jobs for the business sector, yes. For themselves? No. Mhmm. We don't need any more bureaucrats. We have plenty of them.
[01:18:52] Unknown:
I was reading a a statistic, but it's, 2,000,000 employees of the federal government or something like that? That's ridiculous.
[01:19:03] Unknown:
I mean and I'm telling you, they can lose 200,000 tomorrow and It won't take it won't it won't affect anybody's lives. When when when the president-elect was president, he, removed the Department of Interior headquarters from DC to Colorado. Why? Because the lion's share actually was not Department of Interior. It was another department within the department. But he moved it to Washington excuse me, to Colorado. And when he moved it to Colorado, it was more effective. Why? Because let's just say it was a Bureau of Land Management, the BLM. And the Bureau of Land Management does nothing more than manage property owned by the government, the federal government. Well, the lion's share of BLM property is in the western part of the country. Why not be in Colorado? Right? So tons of people resigned or retired, from the BLM out of DC because they didn't wanna move to, to Colorado.
So they moved it to Colorado. Extremely effective. And then president Biden comes in, and he moves it back to DC where they're hugely removed, 3,000 miles removed probably, from where their clientele is or their customer base is, Because their customer base is not in DC East Coast. Their customer base is in
[01:20:40] Unknown:
the West Coast. Correct. Yeah. Where the issues actually are. Exactly. Yeah. I I I agree with our founding generation when they said that, you know, the affairs of Washington, DC should not affect the everyday lives of the American people. Yes. And, and I think we need to return to that. So I agree with with, you know, Doge, if if you wanna call it that. I mean, Department of Government Efficiency. And interestingly though, once once they announced Doge you know you know the Dogecoin? It's like a cryptocurrency. It's a Bitcoin. At one point, Doge was really, really hot. It was very, very, it was a very high price to purchase Dogecoins.
And, of course, it dropped off. Bitcoin is soaring. I think I I own some Bitcoin, so it's like, I think the last time I looked it was like $93,000 as one bitcoin now. Oh my god. Doge is, I I own I own some Dogecoin also, but Doge is like 50¢ for one coin, you know? So it's like huge but at one point, Doge was popular. Doge was good. And of course, you know, Doge increased once they announced the Doge, Department of Government Efficiency. People started buying it crazy. And, I don't know why I'm talking about this, but I I think I think that Paul Sutton is getting to me here. That's the thing.
But, but Doge, it it it's a great idea. I I like the idea that I know the Liberals love poking fun at it saying, well, you know, you have two people running in the Department of Government Efficiency. Okay. And your point is what? You know, find me one find me one government agency that is that running efficiently with the number of people there. Why did we need to hire 80,000 new IRS agents? Why does the IRS have AR fifteens?
[01:22:36] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I I used to live when I lived in the city of Schertz in San Antonio, my neighbor was a IRS auditor, and she carried him. Mhmm. She was an agent, actually. She was an auditor first, an agent. And she carried she would literally go to people's houses, with a handgun because she was she said she was afraid that they were going to, you know, cause harm or whatnot.
[01:23:08] Unknown:
But I thought to myself I think we need to bring back tar and feathering. I thought to myself,
[01:23:14] Unknown:
really? We the IRS has gotten to this point where they are training their agents or their auditors
[01:23:26] Unknown:
to, carry. To kill. Basically, to kill American citizens Okay. Well, there you go. For taxes. You know, I I I don't I meant to ask you this last night too, and I I I forgot. And I just thought of it now talking about the IRS. And I'll say whatever I want about the IRS. I'm already on one of their watch lists, so I don't care. The, what what's your opinion of, of president Trump's idea of abolishing the income tax, closing down the IRS, and going back to what it was prior to 1913 with just tariffs. Or funding the government with just tariffs.
[01:24:14] Unknown:
I mean, that has some merit. I mean, you you're talking about taxing folks based on consumption. Right? So if you consume large amounts of groceries, obviously, you're gonna pay more taxes. So it's all, you know, you know, based on, your your consumption component. And so, I mean, it's gonna be interesting, to to to watch that. I mean I mean, you had the, the fair tax folks from back in the day saying, and I still remember this, in the nineties where they say, just just tax everybody 17%, and then we'll go on our merry way. You know? So if you make 20,000, you pay 17%.
If you make a gazillion dollars, you make you pay 17%. And and then everything in between, you know, you pay consumption taxes and whatnot. But, I mean, paying nothing is is is is is not an option. You you know, back in the day, you're right. Before 1913, our number one source of revenue was, was, you know, tariffs. Mhmm. And that's what I tell my kids. And I'm like, you know, I, you know, they're like saying, daddy, you know, he's gonna start charging all this amount on tariffs. And I said, you guys don't understand. I said, before income tax, that was our number one source of revenue.
Mhmm. Tariffs. Free trade was not even thought of. Right? And so, you know, that those kind of things that we need to think about. If we're going to go that route and we're gonna get rid of USMCA, the the the new NAFTA, right, then we definitely need to make sure that we're, taking that into consideration,
[01:26:20] Unknown:
most definitely studying it very hard. Oh, absolutely. You know, you hear a lot of talk about flat tax and, and fair tax. And and I'll be honest with you, back in, you know, full disclosure here, in in, back in the nineties when the fair tax was first floated as an idea, I I jumped on board with that. I was I was looking at that thing and I was like, it's not a bad idea, not a bad deal. But then you start to think also that, okay, well, like you said, if somebody's making $20,000 a year, they pay 17%. If somebody's making a gazillion dollars a year and they're only paying 17%, you know, is it really fair?
[01:26:56] Unknown:
You know, at that point. Yeah. I mean, it it it it it's fair in the sense that they thought of, of course, back then. It's like 17% will hurt you at a million dollars, just like 17% will hurt you at $20,000. Right? And so, anyways, well, that that didn't obviously happen. They started throwing all kinds of, earned income credits, you know, and whatnot, you know, depending on how many kids you have, which basically led into other things. Right? So now you're incentivizing this and that and Right. And whatnot. And and and and I mean, it it you you never have you never want to do something that incentivizes people to do more of.
Right? True. And that's kind of the situation sometimes.
[01:27:54] Unknown:
Yeah. But, I I think also too that, an income tax is I look at an income tax once a penalty Mhmm. For, for hard work. You know? Yes. Yeah. I kill myself. I work hard. I do this. And especially if I'm I'm a a private business, you know, a a a small business. I work hard. I put in x number of hours, a week, a day, whatever you wanna look at it. And I make this much money, and yet still I have to pay more in taxes where I think what is what's the number right now? I think it's like 50% or 49 something percent of the population doesn't pay any income tax whatsoever. Yes.
You know, that's ridiculous. And so So a flat tax I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you. But a flat tax or a consumption tax, everybody pays. Everybody pays. You know, whether it's 10%, whatever it is, everybody pays. Even an illegal migrant.
[01:28:50] Unknown:
Pays. Right. Well, I mean, they're paying now, obviously, but, through the consumption tax and sales taxes and whatnot. Yeah. I mean I mean, those those are kind of the situations where you say, how much is enough? I mean, how much is too much? And the IRS, you know, you don't know, you know, you're I'm I'm a small business owner, or used to be. And so I I saw how every day of the week, I was trying to figure out how this purchase, how this movement, or how this what have you is gonna save me money at the end of the year. Mhmm. I mean, literally, I live we live our company lived around how we're going to be able to beat the IRS.
And that, you know, that that that takes time away from your business, from your capability to, market yourself even better and whatnot. I mean, you why I mean, you're always consistently thinking to yourself, how am I going to be able to get more deductions every month?
[01:30:14] Unknown:
Mhmm.
[01:30:15] Unknown:
Every month. Yep.
[01:30:17] Unknown:
I know I know exactly what you mean. You know, I you know, I'm trying to be a small business. You know, one of the things that, my goal here is is is to eventually get an LLC, you know, for the for the podcast and, you know, try to get some of those protections that are involved with that. It's difficult. It's expensive to do that.
[01:30:40] Unknown:
Do you have a opinion on that? No. I mean, you should get an LLC. I mean, you why why not?
[01:30:46] Unknown:
Yeah. It's just the the the it's just expensive to do. So Wow. We're working on that. Get it get it done,
[01:30:54] Unknown:
you know, you know, formulate yourself as such. And then, you you you're I mean, I'm not gonna tell you. I mean, you already know this. May or may not know this. I mean, you can tax deduct this whole room. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Yeah.
[01:31:11] Unknown:
Although somebody did tell me though that I had I would have to have had the LLC in place prior to purchasing all that stuff. So, you know, there would be some finagling
[01:31:20] Unknown:
at that point. So even if you do it if you set it up on December 30, you're still good.
[01:31:27] Unknown:
Or thirty first. Something to consider. Something to consider. Alright. So we're gonna wrap this up here just about a minute or so. But, I'm gonna throw a couple of questions at you really quick. Oh, my god. Okay. Go for it. Alright. Because I know you've had a couple of of these, Paul Suttons here. And and, by the way, the Paul Sutton, Bottled and Bond bourbon, hundred proof, by the way. Absolutely delicious bourbon. Even though it's a hundred proof, you don't really get overwhelmed by it. You know? Especially drinking it neat. Right? I mean, you you've had it neat. I don't feel too overwhelmed by it. And and the particular bottle that we're having right now was, was bottled in, in, November 23.
So we're we're pretty good. I love that hand etching on on there. You know, it's it just goes to increase the price, brother. That's not it doesn't mean anything. You know how it is. But, alright. So couple of quick questions for you. Alright. Go for it. Alright. And then we'll wrap this thing up. Alright. I told you last night that I am, in full disclosure here, I am a member of the Texas Nationalist Movement. I I I am a supporter of it. I'm a member of the eighteen thirty six club of the Texas Nationalist Movement. I've sent an invitation to the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement to come on the show and have a chat. And, I I firmly believe that, at some particular point, I don't know if it's gonna be in my lifetime or not, but there is gonna be some kind of a national separation.
What do you think about Texas going on its own?
[01:33:08] Unknown:
Yes. I've been asked that many many many times. Have you really? Oh, man. So right now, as we know, Texas is probably the eighth, Largest GDP in the world? Has a large I mean, literally, quite quite frankly, they can be their own country. But we're not we're not accounting for all the federal government, components that are here. We have military bases Mhmm. That that, hire a lot of folks. I mean, we have one not too far from here in Del Rio at Laughlin Air Force Base who who hires a few thousand folks as a, on a GS level. Right?
And then we have, of course, San Antonio's Military City USA. Then we have Corpus Christi, who has the naval airbase, as well. And then, of course, we have all the federal employees that that that work here and whatnot. And I'm saying that because, we need to be more careful about saying things like that because, right now, the, the state government gets a lot of money from the federal government. Rightfully so because we send a lot of taxes to the feds. Right? I was just gonna say that again. And and and and a lot of it would stay here in Texas for sure. So, we just need to be careful about that. I I I haven't been 100% sold 100% sold on that. I mean, there's folks that have and and and believe that Texas should be their own country.
And and and maybe to some extent, I I do too. But I do have concerns about that component. Yeah. When we remove that part where, you know, what do we do when somebody attacks us? Right? Are we going to have our own army, our own air force, our own navy, whatnot? I'm sure we will. But we are we gonna have are we gonna have to be part of NATO now? Because, you know, because we're on our own. You know? And so, I am an American that just happens to be live in Texas. Right? Or should I say I'm a Texan that happens to be American? I don't know. I would say it the I would say it that way. That way. Okay. Yeah. And some
[01:35:46] Unknown:
I would love to say that I'm a natural born Texan, you know, but I'm a transplant. But still, Texas is my home then. You know? So it just, you know, who you know, if you you can call your home wherever you wanna call it. Right?
[01:35:59] Unknown:
So I was born a Texan, in Kearns County, Texas, which is Lucky bastard you. Which is about, 50 miles or so Southeast of San Antonio. But, you know, so with that being said, I'm a Texan. And so when I travel abroad, they ask me, where are you from? And I said, Texas. I get more accolades than if I say The US. I don't know what it is, but maybe it's just, you know, that people saw a lot of Dallas back in the day. I don't know. But with that being said, I mean, I just it's it's just what. But I just wanted to make sure that we need to understand that there's consequences.
Sure. Of course. And we don't know that. Mhmm. The unknown the unknown is the scariest part of it all. Well, you when you think back over to,
[01:37:00] Unknown:
the, the the the founding of these states united, ventured off way into the unknown.
[01:37:10] Unknown:
Yeah. For sure. In that And and, you know, and Texas is the only state that entered the union as a sovereign country.
[01:37:19] Unknown:
Well, I I I kinda disagree with that because the term state in itself means a sovereign nation, a sovereign country. Okay. So the the the original 13 colonies Right. Were considered they consider themselves to be countries of their own. That's why when when when, John Adams talked about, the desire for freedom, he said, let me have my country. He wasn't talking about a national entity. He was talking about Alright. Alright. He was talking about I'll give you that. Massachusetts.
[01:37:57] Unknown:
May maybe I'll give you that. But we were the Republic Of Texas. Yes. We were. Absolutely. And I think that
[01:38:04] Unknown:
Texas will rise again.
[01:38:07] Unknown:
Texas has risen. And it will again. Has risen. We even celebrate our independence on March 2. Yeah. Every year. We're the only state that celebrates our own independence. I know. I know. So we have we we have this the state is all state officials take the day off.
[01:38:30] Unknown:
And I'm gonna tell you something else too. Travel anywhere around this country, around around this union of states, the American Union, if you want to the European Union, the American Union, travel anywhere around the American Union, you will not see anywhere and any other state private citizens Okay. Flying their state flag. Oh, yeah. Only Texas.
[01:38:59] Unknown:
And I see your state flag behind you. That's right. So, the state of Texas is the only one that can the only flag, excuse me, that can fly at the same level as The United States. As The US. That's correct. And that's a constant that's a state constitutional thing. It's an amazing thing actually.
[01:39:21] Unknown:
A couple years ago, we had a, we had an interim administrator at the, at the facility that I worked at. And he knew he knew I was a a a a, as he put it, a Yankee by blood. And he actually, in the middle of it of a, a full staff department head morning meeting, challenged me on how much I knew about Texas, and asked me that question about the Texas flag. And then I said to him I said, also in the in in in, in the Texas constitution, it specifically states that Texas retains its sovereignty and can withdraw from the union at any time for any reason.
And he was like, does it really? I said, yes, it does. He goes, well, I didn't know that. I said, you should be ashamed of yourself, sir. You are a born Texan, you don't know that? I'm a Yankee and I know that? Yeah. So
[01:40:23] Unknown:
so Yeah. I mean, and, you know, and quite frankly, there there is some credence to that for sure. You should we should understand that, we are the Lone Star Safer reason. That's correct. And, we are very, very, honored, obviously, to be Texans. I mean, so I mean, some some Texans were here before the Rio Grande was the, the boundary for Mexico and The US. Mhmm. And so we I have tons and tons of relatives that were kinda say, like, say that. You know? The, I didn't I didn't cross the river, the river crossed me. Right? So,
[01:41:16] Unknown:
Oh, I like that.
[01:41:18] Unknown:
That's good. I like that. And so, you know, it's it's it's one of those situations. But we need to understand that at the end of the day, Texas has a vibrant, vibrant economy. There, there's a reason we within the short few years, we went from 25,000,000 to 30,000,000. There's a reason why we are, attracting so many residents from out of state. There's a reason why we are attracting so many, Fortune 500 companies into the state of Texas. And it's trickling down even into South Texas. I mean, who would have thought? Who would have thought that Elon Musk would put SpaceX in Brownsville, Texas?
Right. I mean, right off the board. Who would have thought that? And it's gonna bring tons of jobs That's right. And opportunities to the lion's share of Hispanic, residents down there. Yep. I agree with you a %, brother.
[01:42:26] Unknown:
Alright. Well, I think I put you on the spot there enough. But I will tell you this though, if the, if the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement accepts our invitation to come on the show, we need to make sure that we schedule it so you can you can be here, so you can talk to him yourself. You got it. Alright. I would love to talk to him. Yeah. We may agree or disagree on a lot of things. What I'll do, I'll send you I'll send you some of the links to, to his material so you can look it over to so you can inform yourself before before it happens. Alright, folks. George, man, thank you so much for being here with us. I appreciate it, man. And I'm looking forward to doing more of this with you. Yeah. Let's do it. We're we're we've been talking, just so you know, off off the air about the possibility of making this a duo as opposed to Yeah. To a solo. Let's do it. So, I think that's gonna happen. And and folks, I hope you've enjoyed this conversation. This was, this was great. I love this. I looking for I look forward to this Wonderful conversation. George, why don't you tell us how we can find you, on your socials if you wanna give that out or any I mean, it quite frankly, it's pretty simple at,
[01:43:30] Unknown:
I'm on Facebook, Georgi Antuna, and, my email address is [email protected]. But at the end of the day,
[01:43:40] Unknown:
I'm I'm pretty simple to find. Alright. Praise the Lord. Alright, brother. Thank you again so much. I appreciate you being here. I'm gonna shave his hand over, of course, to the the board here. Alright, folks. This is Joe Rusciello, and you've been listening to the podcast. And, we'll take a quick break here. We'll come back. We'll wrap this whole thing up shortly. Stay with us.
[01:43:59] Joe Russiello:
Hi, everyone. This is JJ, the cofounder of Goodpods. If you haven't heard of it yet, Goodpods is like Goodreads or Instagram, but for podcasts. It's new, it's social, it's different, and it's growing really fast. There are more than 2,000,000 podcasts, and we know that it is impossible to figure figure out what to listen to. On Goodpods, you follow your friends and podcasters to see what they like. That is the number one way to discover new shows and episodes. You can find Goodpods on the web or download the app. Happy listening.
[01:44:36] Unknown:
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[01:45:18] Unknown:
Alright. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Joe Rusciello. Man, was that a great conversation that we had with George Antoon folks, the former city manager of the, City Of Eagle Pass, the, South Texas political extraordinaire, my good friend, and, soon to be partner on the show here. That's right. We were talking about, him him being second chair. We I think we talked about it during the during the course of the interview or or our conversation. And then, you know, we I know we talked about it, the night before. And, I know we talked about it after. So well, we will talk about it after. So it's it's gonna be, it's gonna be great to have us, have a partner doing this.
When I used to do Internet radio back in New York with my friends, Jay and Joe, We, we had a great time doing it. You know, it's a lot more fun when you have someone else to bounce the ideas and and and the conversation off of, and that can support the conversation and not, you know, when you find yourself starting to struggle. You know, it's it's always good to do that. It's it's good to have somebody else there with you. But, you know, we're gonna do the best we can. We're gonna bring you the best quality, political talk that we can possibly bring you.
And, we're gonna really just have a great time talking with George about all these things and and, really really excited about it. Really looking forward to it and cannot wait to get into it. Now, coming up, in the next couple of days, we're gonna do a couple of short shows, that'll be, coming up. And then, next Monday, we're gonna have another, guest segment with, a good friend of mine and a TikTok, TikTok famous guy, and, he'll be on with us. We'll have all that information ready for you when the time comes. His name is Ruben Ortega Landa. His, TikTok handle is, what is it? It's diabetes dell r g v or something like that. Yeah. Look him up, man. Look him up. He he puts out a lot of really, really fun content. Just a lot of fun. And and the reason why we're gonna talk to him is number one, he's a good friend as well. And, he he's, you know, trying to help us get this whole thing kicked off and and, to fill up that space and that's great. We really appreciate it and looking forward to sitting down with, with Ruben and and having a good conversation with him. Gonna talk some politics. We're gonna talk some some, some, you know, some some some fun, some fun topics, especially about his, his TikTok sudden TikTok fame, and how he just, you know, just keeps on coming up with these these cute little things that he puts out there and gets all this traction. In the meantime, I'm putting up serious stuff and nobody pays attention.
But, you know, it's alright. You know, that's okay. But, but we're looking forward to talking to Ruben next week and then, you know, also like I said, just keep your eyes open for those shorts that'll be coming up, over the next couple of days. And, we'll be looking forward to getting into all of that. Alright, folks. Well, I think, that's gonna do just about do it for us for, today. So why don't you head over to our website, joerusiello.com. And when you get there, send over any questions or comments that you have. Use the contact form, or you can always email us directly @infoatjoerusiello.com.
Also, while you're on the website, look for that support page. Click that support button. Help us out with a donation in any amount. And, don't forget +1 836 gets you the shout out. Alright, folks. And don't forget also, like, subscribe, and share it with your friends, your family, your followers. Help us spread the podcast. Alright, folks. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you soon. Talk to you later.
Welcome to the podcast where every episode promises an unfiltered dive into the eclectic, the profound, and sometimes the absurd. No topic is off limits. Nothing is sacred, and political correctness takes a back seat.
[00:00:24] Unknown:
Alright. Hey, folks. Welcome to the podcast. Happy Monday. It is Monday, February, and Donald j Trump is the president-elect of The United States. Folks, I hope you guys had a great week this past week. It was, Thanksgiving, which was wonderful. Got to have a great meal with my little guys here, my my my boy Charlie and my girl Bean. And, you know, it's just the three of us. So I ended up, just getting like a a turkey breast for them and some stuffing and cranberries. So I did the whole you know, the whole thing. And, they had a great meal and we shared that together, which was a lot of fun. Also had to work my regular job, which was fine, you know. It was nice to be around the folks, at the job for, their for Thanksgiving.
And, man, I'm telling you, this week, we had a lot of things going on this week. A lot of things happened. First, probably the most important thing is we launched the podcast. Right? Last Monday, we opened up this, this new show with, a sit down with, Barry Louebrecht of, Podholm.fm, which was, a real treat to do that. Barry is is a good guy. He's a good friend, and, I hope you guys learned a lot from him, talking about, how he got into the world of podcasting. And there really is so much more that we want to talk about too. So we're definitely gonna be getting together with Barry again, on another show, which is which I'm looking forward to as well. And, you know, of course, we we published that show on, on on last Monday and, we already have over a hundred plus downloads of the show, which is phenomenal considering that, we didn't really promote the show, until just, maybe a couple of days before we actually, you know, publish the first episode.
So, so so to get that many downloads that quickly, that's that's that's great, man. Thank you so much for that. We really do appreciate that. And, please keep listening. We got a lot of great things coming up and, you know, a lot of exciting things coming. And every day, we do we're doing something different. And again, this week, we got a lot of things accomplished. But in, you know, in the in the world overall, what did we see happen in the last week? We saw Matt Gaetz, withdraw his name for, for attorney general, which was kind of a disappointment. I think, I think Matt Gaetz would Gaetz would have been a great AG.
But I understand, you know, based on, you know, the reasoning that, that that he gave and and others. I I can understand where he was with it and, you know, I appreciate the fact that he didn't wanna be a distraction from the administration and, and and he withdrew his name. So that's that's fine. We understand that. But I think that there's probably something in the future here for him within this within this administration anyway. So I don't think, I don't think mister Gates is out of the way yet. Then we had, Pam Bondi, who's the, current AG from Florida. She stepped in and, and she took on that nomination for AG, which was it's another great move. Great, great move. And then, just this past weekend, president-elect Trump tapped, Kash Patel to head the FBI, which is another great thing. I I am I am absolutely loving the direction that this administration is going.
This is a this is a a no holds bar. It looks like a a take no prisoners, type of administration and don't get all worked up over that. You know what I'm talking about. Alright. I know some of the liberals out there, they lose their minds over these things, but you know what I mean. Alright. So, so you got Nikesh Patel, picked for the, FBI. And then, you know, of course, Joe Biden, this weekend decided that he was gonna backtrack on his word not to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, who was found guilty for violating, several federal gun laws.
The FARA Act, the Mann Act, you know, which is human trafficking. It's unbelievable, but not unexpected. Not not unexpected. And then you had, Zelensky. Right? This was big. This was huge. Zelensky is willing to concede land to bring, the war in Ukraine to an end. That's exciting. That's very exciting. That's only because Donald Trump will be coming into the White House and it will not be playing games. And then you have, Israel and the Palestinian terrorists have agreed to come to a ceasefire, which is another another nod to, President Trump and his his firm stance on on on the world issues. And then you had, you had, Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, and the, and the and the president of Mexico essentially, kissing the ring as it were.
And, so so it's been a it's been a busy, busy week in the world of politics, and I didn't even scratch the surface with any of that stuff. Like, I we just kinda glossed right over it. But definitely a busy week in the world of politics in the next couple of months. We we have just a a month and a oh, yeah. About two months, really. No. Month and a half before, president Trump is sworn in as, the forty seventh president of These United States, and, things are already falling into place. So that's exciting to see. Now not only has it been busy in the world of politics, but, man, it's been busy for us here at the podcast.
You know, like I said earlier, we, you know, unbelievable that we've passed over a hundred downloads already, and the show just just launched last week, and that that's great. And I know other shows get more traction. But look, we didn't promote this thing. We didn't advertise it. You know, I I don't have, a a huge name, like a Joe Rogan or or some of these, these, celebrities that are out there. And I don't have, you know, corporate money behind me, at the moment. I don't have any sponsors or anything like that to to keep us all going. I do this podcast, I do my other podcast. And, you know, so, so just to have that amount of downloads already and knowing that we just got started with this thing, that really tells me that we're we're trending in the right direction. So that's huge and that's a blessing and I appreciate it. Thank you so much to everybody that's, been downloading and playing, and listening in to, to the show.
Please continue to do that because I promise you, we're gonna be bringing you a lot of really, really interesting content. A lot of thing we're moving pretty quick here. We really are. We have, wow, we have, we have today's show. We have, another guest segment coming up next week. We have a couple of, shorts that we're gonna be putting in, over the next couple of days. And, so we're gonna be doing a lot of work, a lot of work with this. And, you know, we we wanna bring you something that that you will want to not miss.
You get me? So stay with us as we develop this thing. So much more coming down the road. Really excited to get into all this. Alright. Now, so some of the things that took place for us this week, not only did we launch the first show of this podcast and then we, have the amount of downloads that we've received from it. We are already the number one podcast on the GoodPods platform in the, news and commentary, the indie news and commentary, categories. So that's big. Thank you so much for that. And and, of course, you know, we're gonna pat ourselves on the back a little bit. We put the, we put the badges up there on our website. Oh, yes. I didn't tell you. We have a website now. So our website is up and running. We're excited for that too. Now you can head over to joerusiello.com. Just my name. So joerusiello.com.
And when you get over there, you'll be able to listen to the live show on our homepage. We're working on getting archived shows up there as well. So we're excited to do that, and we're looking forward to getting that up there. Still working on on on all of that. And then, you know, we also have a page dedicated to, our recommendations for other podcasts and other shows. Again, that's because we're part of the value for value. So I receive value from those shows and and this is my way of of helping to, to return the value. And we'll come to that in a moment. We also have our support page, which is probably the most important page we have right now, because we do need your support.
And what I need you to remember though is like I said, this is a value for value show. Alright? And all that basically means that if you've received anything of value from what we're doing here, from the content that we're putting out, I'm gonna ask you to please head over to our support page on our website. It's joerusiello.com/support. Look for it in that little pancake up in the right corner. And, click that support button and, you can make a donation in any amount. Any amount whatsoever. We have, a PayPal, arrangement set up on there right now. You can make a donation in any amount. We also have a link to, to our cryptocurrency.
You could very easily very, very easily just click that button right there and it'll take you right to our our our, our our donation page for the cryptos. And all you have to do is, you know, just just just fill in the information right there. It's just like using the web form for, for PayPal or Stripe or whatever. And it's really simple. Now, here's where it gets interesting. Alright? If you want your name, shout out, and your name listed in the show notes for the next show, you have to make a donation in the minimum of $18.36.
So $18.36 will get you, your honorable mention on the air and then your name listed in the next show's show notes. Also also, if you set up a recurring donation, a recurring donation means once a month, once however often you wanna donate, a recurring donation will get your name, shout out every show, and listed in our show notes as a producer of the show going forward. But it has to be a minimum of $18.36 and a recurring contribution for that. Now, you can donate any amount. We appreciate every donation that we get, but $18.36 will get you your shout out, your name listed in the show notes on the next show, and a recurring $18.36 donation will get you a, shout out on every show and your name listed as a producer of the show in every single show note or episode show note. Alright. So I think that's pretty clear. It'll be up on the website shortly and, you'll be able to to follow along right there. And of course, you know, one day I'll explain to you what the $18.36 amount, comes down to and and why I selected that for that point. But we'll come to that very, very, very soon. Alright. Now, really excited for today's show. Really excited for it because today, we're gonna sit down with our very first in studio guest, the former city manager of Eagle Pass, Texas and political extraordinaire, George Antuna.
Now, like I said, I have been looking forward to this for a while. I George, I met George and we'll talk about it, you know, once once we start getting, the, that that segment going. But we took we met, when I went down to meet the mayor of the city of Eagle Pass, several years ago and we just kinda connected right there. We have the same, spiritual backgrounds, we have the same, political background and, and so we just kinda connected and became good friends and, you know, we sat down one night and we, you know, had a couple of cigars, we had a couple of drinks and, you know, we talked about the direction that this world is going, that that the country is going in. We talked about podcast and we talked about all this stuff. And, really excited to get him on on the show with us. And as a matter of fact, he might actually, become a regular, part of the show. He might actually be our second chair. And And that's something else that we're gonna talk about, during the course of our segment with him. And then, of course, while we're doing that, we're gonna be, sitting here and enjoying some, Paul Sutton bottled in bond, and we're gonna talk about so many different things, such a wide range of subjects.
I think you're really gonna find this talk interesting and we are really really looking forward to getting into it momentarily. Alright, folks. So what we're gonna do is, we're gonna take a quick break here. And when we come back, we'll get into our conversation with George. We'll get everything all set up. And, so, hey, folks. Listen. Don't forget. Just head over to the website, joerusiello.com. Make sure you hit that support button if you could and send us over a donation. Look for our contact section. Send us over any messages, any questions or comments that you might have. And, also very, very important, as you're listening to the show and whatever platform you're finding yourself listening to us on, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share it with your friends, your family, and your followers.
That way, you'll help us become the number one podcast. I can dream. Right? I can. Alright, folks. Again, this is Joe Rusciello, and we'll be back right after this. You stay with us.
[00:13:59] Unknown:
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[00:14:36] Unknown:
Alright. Hey, folks. I am really, really excited about doing this. This is, I've been waiting for this for quite a while now. Finally, got him to, to agree to sit down and talk. Originally, we were gonna do this over as a as a a a video chat, but we decided that, since, since he's actually in town for a change, we're gonna get him here in studio and my very, very first in studio guest. He's the former city manager for the city of Eagle Pass. He's the South Texas political extraordinaire and, very involved with Republican politics here in Texas for about thirty plus years. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to my good friend, George Antuna. George, how you doing, brother? I'm good. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Awesome, man. This is I have been looking forward to this for, like, the longest time. Well, thank you so much for your patience. I appreciate that. Yeah. I know it's been tough, so I appreciate your time. We're having a we had a great night last night. Yes, we did. Got to get together a little bit. And, I was telling a friend of mine earlier that, if if the conversation that we had last night is any indication of how today is gonna go, this is gonna be rock solid. Absolutely. We're gonna have a great time. So, of course, we have, just a few things here in front of us. We have some beautiful Paul Sutton, bottled in bond bourbon that we've been, we've been sampling here before we got started.
So, I don't know exactly how far we're gonna get with this stuff, but this is good stuff. You know, of course, I yeah. Well, it's It's gonna be an interesting podcast. That's for sure. Oh, for sure. For sure. You know, and, we were saying before we got started here, that, one of the things I wanna do is when I can afford to do it, I wanna put a nice ventilation system in here. This way we can, not only sit here, talk politics, we could also, some sip on some bourbons, smoke a couple of cigars, and, you know, just be guys, hang out and just Absolutely. Just just shoot the crap for Absolutely. However long we can and however long you guys will put up with it. There you go. But, but, I met George, a couple years ago, through, through I think it was, I I had gone to meet the mayor of Eagle Pass at the time, which I thought was hysterical, by the way. I don't know if I ever told you that because I'm from New York City, you know that, and, you know, the audience knows that. And, you don't just get to call city hall and say, hey, I'd like to sit down with the mayor, you know, and chat a little bit. Right. Right. That never happens. Absolutely never happens. And, who was the mayor at the time? I I don't remember.
[00:17:11] Unknown:
What was it? Two a couple of it was two years ago. It was, the the current mayor who is, Rolando Salinas. No. It was before him. Okay. So it was Luis Cifuentes. Before him. Okay. Then it was, yeah. So it was, Ramsey Cantu. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. Because, when I was I was city manager, I had
[00:17:32] Unknown:
I I served under three mayors. Okay. Well, I met I met with, Mayor Cantu. And, that was Who is now the county judge, by the way. Yes. That's right. Yeah. I I saw that. Yeah. But, that was that was a treat to do that, and it was a blessing. And we got to talk a little bit about a lot of the things that I've I've done in my career working in New York. And then he introduced me to you. And, I think I think we kinda connected right away at that point, which was great. It it was very comfortable when I first met you, and I felt like I knew you. It's probably because, you know, we we have that that same type of, interest in politics and, you know, spiritual things and and and whatnot.
You tend to just gravitate to each other. And, it was it was great, you know. And and we I developed this friendship, which is which is wonderful. You were instrumental in in in, helping me get into a position with the city for a for a little while, which I really appreciated. And, and then we just kinda went from there. And then, you know, you know, life got in the way a little bit and, kinda, you know, you had to do your thing. And I think you left city service at that point and moved on to something better. And, you know, I'd we just kinda lost contact a little bit, but here we are. And this has this has been absolutely great. And, so so George, why don't you just give us basically an idea of, what led you to get into, politics here in in South Texas? What what was the the catalyst for that for you?
[00:18:59] Unknown:
Well, basically, for us was, back in mid to early nineties. You know, we we want the South Texas is predominantly Democrat. I know you may not see it now, but, I mean, there was a lot of work that happened before 2024. And so, back in the early nineties, you know, we just wanted basically, choices. You know? Back then, you only had one political party, in the in the Democrat party, and it was, and and it didn't give choices. And I think people need that, you know. It it it could have been the other way around. And I would have been, saying we need a choice. We need, something, different in in the sense that, South South Texas can experience that that opportunity for a choice.
It couldn't the the end all be all cannot be in, political primaries, you know. And so we wanted to give them that opportunity to to to look at that, not only in the primary, but obviously in the general election. So, that was it. Quite frankly, Ronald Reagan was a big inspiration for us, for me, for my parents. Mhmm. When he got elected in '80, and then reelected in '84. And so, I saw my parents as small business owners, who were, like pretty much any other business owner south of San Antonio, you know, and and they were watching their their pennies and their nickels, extremely, conscious of of of the way, they manage their business and as well as their households.
And they were very conservative. Mhmm. And so because of that, I saw that a lot, that the party of Ronald Reagan, Republicans, were more in line, with, what my parents' ideals were. Mhmm. And and so because of them, me and a bunch of guys got together. And, when I was at UTSA, we were very involved with the College Republicans. And we, you know, we were talking the same language. All of them were from South Texas. We had a lot of South Texas folks, attending UTSA, our kids at that time. And, and so we moved forward and and and started started this movement. Mhmm.
You know? And so you had, that nobody else really wanted to gravitate to. The Republican party was still kinda more in the world of, country club Republicans, blue blood Republicans, you know that. Mhmm. And so, but Ronald Reagan brought a different message. Mhmm. And so, you know, his big motto was, Hispanics are Republicans. They just don't know it. And so they kept saying he kept saying that. Why? Because of all the things that I just told you. You know, the ideals, the conservativeness, small business, they were pro, their culture of life and things of those natures. And that's right. And so, and even back then, the, it was there was a shift. Mhmm. You know, we're talking about shifts now.
But even then with Reagan, there was there was a shift. And so, we started the the the movement. And, moving forward, I think, it it, you know, it started gaining, momentum, and, we went from there. But, yes, it's, it's been it's been amazing. I had the pleasure of of working in corporate America back in the early, nineties. Got a chance to go work for then governor then lieutenant governor Rick Perry, then governor Perry. I had a great, great experience working for, then US senator Kay Bailey Hutchison as a regional director for San Antonio, South Texas. Then I went into municipal government Mhmm. As an economic development director, for, the city of Schertz, which is a suburb of, San Antonio, and, opened up my small business.
And then, had the opportunity to be city manager here in Eagle Pass. And, it was totally a great experience. We did a lot of great things.
[00:23:49] Unknown:
But like all things, you know, you know, things happen and, you know, we move on. That's right. Yeah. Well, I know that, you know, I came here from New York City and which is Yes. Yes. You did. Which is, not very well known for its, Republican leanings. So, when I got here, I did notice, of course, you know, obviously, it's a very blue Yes. Very blue city, but it's not it's not blue like It's not blue New York. No. Not at all. It's definitely much more conservative. Very. You know, so so, you really didn't Very conservative. You didn't notice it as much as you would up in New York City, you know. So I I kinda felt comfortable with that right away. Right. And you said something last night that that was very interesting, to me anyway.
And that is, when when you were out there door knocking. Right? You were trying to get folks to, that were Democrats, you know, we don't want you to switch parties, you know, we just want you to vote Republican, which which may have taken thirty years later to do it. But that's I think that's kind of what happened because, if I'm not mistaken, I I think Maverick County, which is part of what Eagle Pass is, in in over the last, couple of election cycles has increasingly voted red Yes. Going on through. And I think, Yes. Absolutely. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think, I think in this election cycle, I think it was 53%.
Fifty nine. Fifty nine %,
[00:25:16] Unknown:
voted. Which is which is, a huge number. Anything over 55 in the political world, anything over 55, is basically, quite frankly, just an ass whooping. Mhmm. Alright. I mean, no. I can't put it any other way. No. You're right. You're absolutely right. And so in 2016, when, president-elect Trump, former president Trump,
[00:25:38] Unknown:
whatever you wanna call it It's confusing. It is. You know? I just say sitting president. I I know. Exactly.
[00:25:44] Unknown:
Thank you. And so in 2016, in Maverick County, he he he got, and then I make reference to Maverick County because I've been living here for a while. He got 26%. Mhmm. In 2020, he got 44%. Wow. I mean, he doubled. Yeah. And then in, in, 2024, he got 59%. So it was pretty astonishing how every every county from Maverick all the way down to Cameron County where where where, Brownsville is flipped Mhmm. And went Trump or went red. Why? I mean, because for all practical purposes, Eagle Pass was the epicenter of of, of the undocumented immigration issue that they've had. Sorry.
And, we've had, a lot of illegal immigrants coming through, through this city. Now they may not stay here. Mhmm. We know that their end goal is to go north, but we experienced it. And so as a former city manager, when I first got here in 2019, I remember border patrol saying, yeah, we get about 200 crossings a day. By the time I left, they were well over 2,000 plus Wow. Crossings a day, which is was being extremely burdensome, to our police department Mhmm. To our EMS units, to our fire department. Because, by the way, the city of Eagle Pass has a contract with the county which covers which fire and EMS covers the whole county.
Oh, wow. And not just the city. Alright? So, you're looking at a large, large county, covering, being covered by, the the the city of Eagle Pass. And so and it obviously put a lot of strain on our PD. And then notwithstanding, of course, the customs and border protection folks, our, border patrol, folks, God bless them. They were having their challenges too. They were pulled in a hundred million directions. So once, president Biden took over, it was a it was a like, the switch just went off from from January 20 to January 2021 of '21, January 20 to January twenty first of twenty twenty one, it just flipped the switch Yeah. One day to the next, you know, where we started getting an influx of of, a lot of, immigrants coming through, our city, and through the state of Coahuila.
So, people say, well, why did they go to Eagle Pass? Why did they go to Del Rio? Why did all the Haitians end end up under you know, 15,000 Asians end up under the bridge of of, Del Rio, Texas? It's because the state of Coahuila is is pretty safe, right, in Mexico on the Mexico side. The state of Tamaulipas and the state of Nova Leon, they're not so safe. Okay. And so over there, if the cartels don't get you, the the the, the local officials will get you. The statewide officials will get you. Somebody's gonna get you. Gotcha. And so, in in in the state of Coahuila, it was it was pretty safe.
And, but the the cartels were still making money. They were charging 10 to $15,000 per person to cross. And and they were so brazen that they even gave you a a a three try warranty. You can imagine that, man. Imagine they gave you a three try give me 5,000, 10 thousand, but I'm gonna give you a three try warranty. The first time they kick you back, the third the second time they kick you back, the third I will try it again the third time. And Third time's a charm. Yeah. Third time is a charm. So it it it was the only you know, I I hear, the former, the current congressman, Gonzales, saying the only one people that were making money were the cartels, and that they were human smuggling. Mhmm. So but the the sad part about it, just Joseph, is that they didn't see the difference between a bag of drugs, a bag of, you know, whatever Mhmm. And a and a baby.
To them, it was a product. Right. Yep. It was a product that they were trying to push across the border. Something had to be moved. Exactly. And so, it was it was sad. It was sad. People drown on the Rio Grande River every day. Mhmm. People don't see it. You know, they drown all the time. They they, you know, the the the immigrants don't understand the currents. They don't understand where the deep ends are because the the the the cartels just dump them into the river and tell them go go there. That way. Yeah.
[00:31:03] Unknown:
And, and of course, we're the we're we're the bad we're the bad folks for not wanting to to, to to get them over here safely.
[00:31:12] Unknown:
It's That's a very good point, Joseph. Yeah. Because think about it. When you have order on the border, less people die. That's right. That's absolutely right. Yeah. When you have order on the border, less people die. Why? Because they're not trying to get across. When you have a lax border policy, then people die trying to get across because they don't understand the heat of South Texas when it goes to a 10 during the summer. Mhmm. They don't understand the the amount of vermins that are out there, you know, the rattlesnakes, the whatever is out there. They don't understand the veracity of the Rio Grande River. In Mexico, they call the Rio Grande River river the Rio Bravo.
And the reason why they call it Bravo is because bravo in Spain in English basically means wild. Okay. Okay? So they call and if you're in Mexico, they call it the Rio Bravo. Why? Because it is. Mhmm. It's wild. We don't know what to expect. You know, you don't know the current, like I said, the currents and whatnot. The depth of the you know, one day one one moment you're walking at three feet, the next moment you're walking in 30 feet. You don't know that. Right. And so,
[00:32:35] Unknown:
we call it the real grande because it is grande. Right? But but in Mexico, they call it the real bravo. Wow. You know, and it it's interesting too. You you mentioned about the, the fatalities that come across. I I I I know a few folks that that work for border patrol. And, one of the gentlemen that I know, very well, he's a good man, hardworking man. He's actually on, those fan boats. Mhmm. He actually serves on the fan boats and Swamp boats. We call them swamp boats. But that's what they do in Louisiana, but they're swamp boats. Yes. Yeah. So, and I and I remember talking to him a few times about things that he has seen Yeah. And experienced down there. And it's it's heart wrenching. It really is when you when you hear about, a small child or Absolutely. Or a baby, being washed up against rocks or whatever. You know, it it's it's it's heart wrenching. And it's you you can't lay the blame on anyone.
And I'm sorry to say it if this is gonna offend you, but you know what? Political correctness goes out the window on this show. This is the this is the fault of the current administration. Yes. Absolutely. 100%. You know, I I I it it infuriates me as someone again, I'm a transplant. I understand that. You know, I haven't lived here my whole life. I haven't seen the the the upwards and downwards of of life here in Eagle Pass, but I've been here for for, going on eight years. And in eight years, I've seen I've seen things, you know. I've seen changes. I've seen positives and negatives. And to to sit here and listen to all of these talk shows and and all of these, Sunday news, shows where you have the, DHS officials, Mayorkas and and all of them out out there saying, the border's secure. The border's secure. Everything is fine. It's all good. But yet, in the meantime, when I'm leaving for work in the morning, I see, I I see a line of people standing in front of the gas station over there, the same yellow envelope loading up onto an unmarked bus. Yep. How are you telling me the border is secure?
[00:34:34] Unknown:
The border is not secure,
[00:34:36] Unknown:
under the Biden administration. No. And I I applaud I applaud governor Abbott and and the initiative that he's taken to to secure the border down here. You know, a lot of folks say this is political grandstanding and and so on and so forth. It's not. It absolutely is not because it it the the the work that he's doing in securing the border down here, in in in if you wanna call it defiance to the federal government, I'm fine with that, is saving lives. And I'm not just talking about immigrant lives. I'm talking about or I I don't even wanna call them immigrants, illegal migrants.
It's it's not just it's not even just saving the it's it's saving Texans. It's saving folks in Eagle Pass. It's saving folks in Del Rio.
[00:35:25] Unknown:
Right. Right. I mean, there's a reason why the border counties voted red. Mhmm.
[00:35:34] Unknown:
Overwhelmingly, which is a beautiful thing. I mean,
[00:35:36] Unknown:
you who would have thought that anything from Del Rio to Brownsville would have voted red? It was a situation where, the counties just said, no mas. No more. I can't handle this anymore. There is no, security along the border when it comes to illegal immigration or immigration in the end of end of itself. And but, you know, and the locals know it. You know, I used to get calls from, senior citizens. And they when I was city manager, I used to get calls from senior citizens senior citizens, and they would say things like, hey. I'm having, you know, issues in my alleys where, I have these, immigrants hanging out behind my house, waiting for, their ride to San Antonio Mhmm. Or waiting for the coyotes, like they say it.
And so, I had to, speak with our, electric company, in this case, it's AEP, and we would install, lights in the in the alleyways Mhmm. So that, these illegal immigrants wouldn't hang out in, in the alleys. And so and and and a lot of these homes turned into stash houses where they would literally put put them in in a in that home that was empty, and and then then, and then the coyote would come and pick them up. It it was a very sophisticated system that the cartels had, and and they would pick them up and take them to San Antonio. And so it was one of those situations where it was not safe Mhmm. At all.
And so we we would see that day in and day out. And I'm talking about the river was real close to our, Main Street downtown area. And so they would walk through, walk to the alleyways. They would walk through or crawl through the, sewer systems, to, to pop out of the the sewer cap in the middle of the street. The the the the cartels were very sophisticated. They know they knew what houses were empty Mhmm. On both sides of the border. They knew, where all the tunnels were when it came to sewer and water, and and those that are big enough to accommodate a human.
They knew your every movement. In fact, our current mayor, when he had his house under construction here in Eagle Pass, he came home for lunch, and he saw himself, four or five people hanging out during lunch, his lunch, hanging out waiting for, the Toyota to come pick him up Wow. And take him to San Antonio. And so, he it spooked the heck out of him, of course. And, he had to call, border patrol, what we call border patrol, and and and they took them away. But, that's how brazen these cartels are. And once again, they don't care.
[00:39:09] Unknown:
It's all about the money for them Yeah. One way or the other. You know, it's interesting because I had a I had an experience here, and I I haven't really told too many people about this. But, I wanna say it happened sometime last year. I had just finished the renovation work on the house. And, I I was it was a Saturday morning. It had to be about 07:00 Saturday morning. The dog started freaking out a little bit, and then I hear a knock on my door, on my side door. And, so who's knocking on my door? It's 07:00 in the morning. You know? So I I went to the door. And, and, of course, you know, I carry. So I I I had my my my pistol my pistol with me.
So I go to the door and, I open it up, and there's a guy standing out there. Now, you know, not your not your local Eagle Passian. You know, you could tell. This is not somebody from here. And, in in very, very broken English, said to me, I need a place to live. I'll pay you $1,700 7 $1,700 a month Wow. To to to live here.
[00:40:20] Unknown:
Yeah.
[00:40:21] Unknown:
And I said, well, no. I'm not renting the place. He goes, I'll give you $2,000 a month. And I said, no. I'm not interested. And then I opened the door a little bit further so he could see the sidearm, and he left. That kind of that kind of freaked me out a little bit, you know. Oh, well, as it should. You know, and I went and I invested in the, in all the Ring cameras and all that stuff that I have outside the house now. But, but, you know, was he a migrant? I I think so. It might have been. Of course, it was. You know. And and that's just it.
[00:40:52] Unknown:
That's just it. It's a monetary issue now. So, you know, you have illegal immigrants coming across. Alright? So now the locals, like, the senior citizens that I was mentioning Mhmm. They're concerned because they live by themselves. Their dogs are barking at, you know, in the middle of the night, to no end. Nobody sleeps. Mhmm. Alright. And then you have, the city having to expend tons and tons of money, on this, whether it's border patrol or police department. Of course, the federal government notwithstanding and the state neither. You have ranchers losing, fence after fence after fence, paying tens of thousands of dollars to repair them every time.
Their cattle are meandering into, other property owner's property. Livestock is lost. Mhmm. It is a huge disruption into our economy here on the local level. Yeah. Sure it is. People north of here don't see it. That's right. Yeah. And when you disrupt that economy, when you're disrupting people's livelihoods, it makes a difference. And so I hope right now the White House is listening because this is why they lost South Texas. That's right. I I No other way. I agree with you a %. The economy had something to do with it. Absolutely. But the lack of border security security had even that much
[00:42:37] Unknown:
reasoning why. And one of the things that that always amazes me, when it comes to, particularly democratic policies, is they're so concerned about protecting the borders of other countries, but not our own. You know what I'm saying? It's interesting. But I I just wanna circle back to one thing you said about ranchers. I I know a gentleman who's who's a rancher. He's a he's a member of the church that I go to. He's a he's a retired border patrol officer. And I wanna say that he's probably in his mid to late eighties. Okay?
And he he has he has numerous health issues, but, he keeps himself active. And, he he told us at at at church one day, it was a private conversation, you know, not private in the sense that I can't talk about it, but it was just like a couple of us standing around. He wasn't, like, speaking me on the pulpit or No. Of course. Right. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So he he, he basically said that, he was working on his tractor, and he he was under the tractor. Mind you, 80 years old. Yes. Of course. Under the tractor, he's working on it. And as he's under the tractor working on it, he hears voices.
And from where he was laying, he could see feet Yeah. Standing around him. He pulled himself out from underneath the tractor, and there were six 20 year old migrants surrounding him. Yes. If he said that if he didn't have his if he didn't have his gun, he was very concerned about what would have happened to him. And I I agree with him on that. That's dangerous. It's very, very dangerous. And, you don't wanna, you know, you know, you don't want to, you don't wanna find yourself in a situation like that. Six twenty plus year old migrants, one 80 plus year old man.
[00:44:37] Unknown:
Yes. And and and and you don't know who's coming across. Right? You you know, you have the president of of Venezuela, Maduro, releasing tens of thousands of, of, folks from jail and telling them, hey. You need to go elsewhere. I can't support you. My socialist government cannot support you anymore. Same thing for, mental institutions. Mhmm. So you you would hear Trump saying that, and people were, like, incredulous about it. But when we talk to Venezuelans at the border, because they come through Eagle Pass, they you can tell immediately, you know, who has it together Mhmm. And who doesn't. Yeah.
It's like any other thing. Right? And so you see them and you can tell. You can tell that these guys, I I you you ask them. I say, wait. Where are you from? Oh, so Venezuela. I'm from Venezuela. And then they say things like, and then they can't articulate themselves. They they they they quite frankly, you can tell that they're not all there. Right. And and then they themselves tell you, see, yes. I was released, from a home. They say homes, but but we know what they mean, in Venezuela Mhmm. To come here. But at the end of the day, when the president-elect would say that Maduro was releasing, the worst of the worst, that's exactly what he was doing. Mhmm. A few years ago, when Chavez was there before Maduro, peep you know, you had the standard middle class teachers, folks like that were leaving because they were they were concerned about the socialist government, which and quite frankly, they still should be. Right?
But but Maduro kicked in or Chavez died, Hugo Chavez died, and then Maduro kicked in, as a new president. And, socialism only works until a certain point. Right? Until you run out of people to take their money away from. Right? That's right. And so I was gonna I was actually gonna say that same thing, you know. Socialism's great until you run out of other people's money. Exactly. Right. That's what Margaret Thatcher used to say all the time. All the time. And Churchill, Winston Churchill said the same thing. It's it's all beautiful until you run out of other people's money to take away. And that's what happened in Venezuela.
And and so then, once they drained, all their money from the residents, all the money from the oil and gas companies, from the from other from other nations, they just couldn't support their their socialist system anymore. So they would release these folks, and, they cross right through here Mhmm. On their way to your former city of New York City, Chicago, whatnot, other cities. Of course, it was courtesy of of, the the air air abbot. Right? But
[00:47:47] Unknown:
I like that. It's cool.
[00:47:49] Unknown:
Greyhound abbot. Right? But, but nonetheless, I mean, they were sanctuary cities. They claimed to be sanctuary cities, and so we accommodated that.
[00:47:59] Unknown:
Yeah. It it. But e we see even even New York City is starting to realize the mistake. Now, I don't know. It's like, Adams, the mayor in New York City. I don't know him personally, you know. I never really had any interactions with him, but I know people that do know him. And, he's not a political dummy. No. He's not. Not at all. He's an He gets it. He's a political opportunist. And he sees right now one of the great thing, you know, the the the Trump the Trump effect as they call it, you know. All of a sudden, Donald Trump is now the president-elect again.
And all of a sudden now, New York City is ending the, the the, public assistance to migrants. They're cutting back on the debit cards that the migrants have been getting. They're cutting back on the housing the migrants are getting. They're cutting back on all of this stuff, because it is a drain on the on the on the economy. You know, my sister still lives up in New York, and and she she tells me all the time of of just how infuriating it is when she she sees that people, you know, migrants are coming through here with these debit cards that are loaded with Yes. With with 2,000, 3 thousand dollars. And she's struggling to to to to fill up her shopping cart, you know, on her salary. And she works for the city. She works. She's a she's a a teacher's aide for special needs children.
So, you know, it's it's
[00:49:30] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I mean and and you don't have to even go that far. City of San Antonio is doing the same thing. They're putting them up in, San Antonio, by the way, for points of reference, is about a 50 miles away from, Eagle Pass. It's two hour drive ish. City of San Antonio is, putting up, a lot of these illegal immigrants, in, old hotels that no longer are functioning. And so they put them there. They give them you're right. Like you just said, you know, they give them, housing. They give them some, they give them, monies for, food and obviously shelter.
And, and so back And in some cases, even they provide transportation. They do. And so back in the day, you know, one of my site jobs back in the day was construction. And so I I have a lot of friends that used to go pick up or still pick up folks at day labor, there, in Downtown San Antonio on Dela Rosa and whatnot. And so they go pick them up and, some of these, migrants say they they ask them and say, hey. How how much are you paying how much are you paying, a day? And so they ask and they said, well, we're paying, a hundred a day, which is pretty decent money. Mhmm. And they're like, well, no. We don't work less than 200.
So now they're dictating to, subcontractors or whatnot how much they wanna get paid. Why? Because they have that security to fall back on. That's right. Yeah. They have the the the they have the security of falling back onto, the the the hotel that the city is providing, the the the the the the foods, stamps, or the the the credit cards that the city is providing Yeah. The benefit card. For feed for food. Right? And some For feed.
[00:51:27] Unknown:
That's good. I had cattle in my mind. Sorry. And so, Like, I'm sorry. I couldn't let it pass. I had to say something. For food. And so be because of that, I mean,
[00:51:40] Unknown:
it it's unfortunate. But that's kind of that's where it's at. And so, okay, so now you're so now these contractors need help. These guys are not they don't have much they don't have any training. You know? All they need them to do is to be able to, you know, clean up and sweep the areas where they're working. They're not skilled anything other than that. And so they have to pay $200 a day to these folks. And then, at the end of the day, who who pays for it? You and me do. That's right. Yeah. And so whoever, paid for the room addition, the new home or whatever it may be, has to pay that up upcharge.
So it hits our pocketbooks even at that level. Mhmm. And I don't think people really quite frankly understand that. Yeah. No. I don't I don't
[00:52:45] Unknown:
I agree with you. I I don't think people fully understand just how much of an impact all of these particular policies, these extremely liberal open border policies affect everyday life. You know? And and the first the politicians, I'm sorry, the politicians are so, what's what's the word? They're so secluded
[00:53:09] Unknown:
from Yes, they are. Everyday
[00:53:11] Unknown:
living at the federal level, I'm talking about. I I think I think local politicians and state politicians have a little bit more of an understanding of just how impactful all this stuff is on everyday life. But those folks that are, like, sequestered and and hidden away in in in Washington, DC, that are so removed from everyday normal life, don't really understand just how much this impacts everybody. When I go to when I go to H E B, which is a local supermarket here in in Texas, when I go to H E B and I get four bags, four small bags of barely the basics for a hundred and 50 something dollars, you know, especially here in Eagle Pass where the cost of living for the longest time since I've been here has never been that difficult to navigate.
All of a sudden now, you're talking it it's it's getting unbearable. And then, of course, you have fuel prices, so on and so forth, which is another issue altogether. But
[00:54:12] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, people don't see, the what I just mentioned right now Mhmm. That, it it has a trickle down effect, you know. In this case, there's a trickle up. Right? Because, you know, you're starting from this part and it's going up. And and so, there's a reason why a cost of construction is going up. There's a reason why, all these other, cost of goods have been up. So, you know, it it it, you know, and you think, that you're getting, for the most part, cheap labor, but you're not. Mhmm.
[00:54:51] Unknown:
You're not. You're not at all. Alright, George. Let's, let's take a quick break here. Use the restroom if you need to. And then when we come back, I I wanna talk to you a little bit about this, this election season and Yeah. Sure. Let's talk about it. This whole election process I'm excited about that. Saving democracy and just a few points about that. Alright, folks. This is the podcast, and we'll be back right after this. Stay with us.
[00:55:19] Joe Russiello:
Hi, everyone. This is JJ, the cofounder of Goodpods. If you haven't heard of it yet, Goodpods is like Goodreads or Instagram, but for podcasts. It's new, it's social, it's different, and it's growing really fast. There are more than 2,000,000 podcasts, and we know that it is impossible to figure out what to listen to. On Goodpods, you follow your friends and podcasters to see what they like. That is the number one way to discover new shows and episodes. You can find Goodpods on the web or download the app. Happy listening.
[00:55:56] Unknown:
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[00:56:32] Unknown:
Hey, folks. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Joe Rusciello, and I'm here in the studio with, our first studio guest ever, George Antuna, former city manager for the city of Eagle Pass. And we just had a great conversation talking about the border issues and local politics, and it was just wonderful. And, what I'd like to talk about just, you know, for a short period of time, for as long as I have you, because I don't know how much longer I have before. But, what I'd like to really talk about too is, like, this whole election process, this this whole election election season. I know we kinda briefly touched on it earlier, but, you know, you have the Democratic party who is who ran a campaign on saving our democracy.
First of all, we're not a democracy. That's right. Alright? We we are a we are a representative republic or That's right. Or a constitutional republic. How however you I prefer representative republic, but, you know, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna argue with you over that. But, but we are a representative republic that in in that, we are ruled by law. We are ruled by law, where democracy is mob rule. It's it's it's that it's that 50 plus one gets their way. Alright? So we don't have a a democracy in the classic sense of a democracy. Alright?
Now this party, this the Democratic Party ran this whole election season on, you know, preserving democracy, saving democracy, you know, keeping the fascist out of office and and and so on and so forth. But yet, the Democratic Party put forward a candidate who received absolutely no votes in any primary this time around, and did so poorly four years ago that didn't even make it through the primaries. I think I if I'm not mistaken, the, the the the cackling communist from California, I think she was the first to, to drop out, of the, 20, 20 election, primaries for the Democrats. Am I right? Mhmm.
And, and here they are. They they they they basically the the committee, the Democratic Committee, Democratic National Committee, basically anointed her as their candidate, and not a vote was cast for her. And yet these folks are here screaming about saving and preserving democracy. I find that just a little bit on the hypocritical side. What say you, sir?
[00:59:13] Unknown:
I mean, yes. I mean, you you you you had a situation where, you had a, candidate that wasn't vetted, appropriately. And you had a situation where, it was a rush to find, the candidate to, to to to succeed, president, Biden. Unfortunately, president Biden, waited way too late, to drop out. He should have said a few years ago, I'm gonna run one time and then I'm done. Right? I I mean, his whole goal in 2020 was to just remove, president-elect Trump. I mean, and he succeeded. Mhmm. Alright? So because he succeeded, now that should be it. Right? That, you know, then you move on. And and they should have had an open, thorough primary season.
Instead, he hangs on thinking that he's gonna be doing good. And then the first presidential, debate happened in June of this year, and it was a catastrophe for him. I I I I heard it. I saw it a few times after that. And it, it was it was it was, shocking, quite frankly. But nonetheless, so then they move forward. Everybody's clamoring for him to resign or not run again, excuse me, and so he doesn't. And then now you're in a quandary where you have the, the, Democrat, what is it, the the convention. Right? Coming up in December. Excuse me. Coming up in Chicago, in July or so, or maybe in August. I forget. But nonetheless, it was very, very, very challenging. It was August. Yeah. Yeah. August. And so it it kinda reminded me of the nineteen sixty eight Chicago, convention where, they where, Lyndon Bain Johnson from Texas, president, decides not to run.
But in this case, they they didn't have an open primary because unlike Johnson or LBJ, as they call them here affectionately in Texas, LBJ gave them plenty of time to find a candidate, but Biden did not. And so now you're you're you're dealing with a situation where you have, you know, the vice president. And it kinda reminds me of that sitcom on HBO called Veep. Oh, yeah. I don't know if you ever watched it. I did. But it is so hilarious, and it's so on point. Scary. Right? Julia Louis Dreyfus could not have been a better Kamala.
Mhmm. And so it's like, wow. It's amazing.
[01:02:19] Unknown:
No. It it really is. But my question is this. Do you really think that Joe Biden knew that he withdrew from the race? I know. I don't think he did. I because I I do remember seeing a clip where somebody asked a a reporter asked him, about his withdrawal from the race, and he looks shocked by it. Like, he had no idea.
[01:02:45] Unknown:
I'll leave that to Joe Biden. But, at the end of the day, it was very talk about preserving our democracy. Joe should've, even back when, said I'm not running again I agree. To preserve the preserve the democracy, himself. And so but but he did not. And and so then, you know, we're we're we're put and then Kamala was the vice president was put in a situation where she's now has to run a race within a hundred and six days or so. And, it was not, obviously successful, but it was it was it was the wheels were never
[01:03:31] Unknown:
on the wagon. The wheels were off, you know. I agree. And and it's I'm surprised though that they haven't harped on that as far as the reason why she lost this election, that she didn't have enough time. I I heard it mentioned, you know, sporadically here or there, you know. But
[01:03:49] Unknown:
And then she didn't help herself. I mean, okay. So fine. You're the new candidate. You got a hundred and six days to go before election day. Okay. You're gonna what are you gonna do different that your administration Mhmm. Your administration has not done.
[01:04:08] Unknown:
Right? And so and she never articulated that. No. As a matter of fact, she got on the on the view, I think. Right? And she said, I I can't think I can't think of anything that I would do different. Right there and then,
[01:04:20] Unknown:
when they gave her that softball question because every every, TV station was asking her softball questions. Mhmm. At that point, she should have said, I'm gonna do this, this, and this different. I love my president. I love Joe Biden. But we need to do this. Mhmm. We need to strengthen our borders. We need to better our economy. We need to do this, this, this, this, whatever it was. But and then, I'm sorry, Joe. She was gonna throw you under the bus, but it's what needed to happen, and she did not do that. Yeah. I agree.
[01:05:03] Unknown:
But at the same time, also, you know, she proudly touted the fact that she was the last person in the room on just about every decision that, that Joe made. And that kinda puts her endorsement on all the policies that the president was making.
[01:05:21] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean
[01:05:23] Unknown:
You you know what I mean? That's it. So That didn't help her cause. And so She didn't articulate her her her candidacy very well. But and that's exactly the same problem she had in 2020. Something. Let me tell you something.
[01:05:34] Unknown:
When you're the you know, what what the former, vice president for FDR. He's he's he's buried in Uvalde, Texas. Oh, really? He's from Uvalde. And so, mister Nance says or vice president Nance at that point says, you know, that basically being vice president is nothing more, and I may be paraphrasing it wrong, is nothing more than a warm bucket of spit. Alright? Because you basically do nothing as a vice president. Mhmm. You're just there. You're a heartbeat away. I get that. But, you know, like Veep has very, very well said on the on the sitcom, it is basically one of those situations where they call you when they need you, and you're sometimes invited into those rooms, and sometimes you are not. Mhmm.
[01:06:36] Unknown:
No. I and I understand that, but the fact that she that she touted the fact that she was the last person in the room and and these decisions that are being made, and the fact that the decline of Joe Biden was so obvious, so obvious. And of course she not how could she not see that? Well, that and also, I I don't doubt for a minute that she wasn't the final voice and the final opinion on things because of his decline.
[01:07:03] Unknown:
Now, the speculation of course Well, you know what? That that that that that's remains to be seen, obviously. But and, at the end of the day, we don't know that. However, you know, well, you know, you know, it's kind of it is what it is. But unfortunately, we have a situation where, we do have, a president because he's still president till January 20. Mhmm. A president that is not does not have all his mental capacities. And at the end of the day, there's situations where right now, he's making decisions or somebody is making decisions for him to do what he's doing in Ukraine and in other parts of the world, which can be a huge hindrance for the, president-elect.
Oh, absolutely.
[01:08:00] Unknown:
And and that's actually I'm glad you mentioned that because that's a point that I was gonna try to bring up and that is that, the administer the current administration is gonna do whatever they can right now to derail Yeah. For sure. The incoming administration. And, I could I I can't think of a more clear example of that other than giving Ukraine the green light to use American Yes. ICBMs and the interior of Russia. Look, I'm not I'm not gonna say I'm a fan of Russia. I'm not a fan of Ukraine at all in this in this matter. But I I am of the mind of it's none of our business.
It's really none of our business what goes on between Ukraine and Russia. We shouldn't be there. The only reason why I think we're doing that is not even for NATO purposes or or European security. I think it's because of the investment that, that American politicians have in Ukraine.
[01:09:00] Unknown:
I mean, whether it's our business or not, the the president You're pushing us to the limit of World War three here. The the current president should be, right now, standing down until the president-elect takes office. Period. Mhmm. Right now, you have two months to just stand down. Let the president-elect come in, choose his curtains, drapes, whatnot, and stand down. I mean, this is is this a national security issue? No. Mhmm. No. It's not. I agree. I mean, I understand if you have, you know, several hundred thousand, you know, Japanese soldiers standing at our footsteps. Okay. You need to act. Mhmm. But this is not the case. No. And I agree with you.
[01:09:57] Unknown:
I'm not an I'm not an isolationist. I don't think that we need to be removed from, you know, all the world stage altogether. But aside aside from, from financial investments, we don't have a dog in this hunt.
[01:10:15] Unknown:
We really don't. You know, I and I may disagree a little bit with you.
[01:10:21] Unknown:
That's not allowed on my show, buddy. Okay.
[01:10:26] Unknown:
I may disagree a little with you only because Russia attacks Georgia. Russia attacks Crimea. Russia attacks, in this case, Ukraine. What is wrong with them? I mean, why do they feel like, hey. Now you need to be part of us because at one point you were part of us, but now you're not. And we don't like the fact that you're succeeding, so now you're gonna be a part of it. Oh, and by the way, we don't like the fact that you have a a coastline and we don't. Mhmm. So Vladimir, Putin, like they say in Spanish or Putin, you know, is just being a a huge bully in this situation, and just saying, you're part of us. I was part of the KGB.
Now you need to be Russia again. And, you know, and to me, that's kind of BS. And, you know, that's just him being a bully. And him wanting to take the old guard back, because, you know, Russia as a country is is falling apart.
[01:11:42] Unknown:
Mhmm. Well, again, I'm not a I'm not, you know, I'm not a fan of of, of of Putin or Russia or anything like that. But, you know, we don't really hear very we we hear a lot of the negatives about Putin, Russia, and their and their, their, desires and endeavors in this. But we don't really hear about Zelensky and what his behind the scenes stuff was. You know, we we we we we have well, not we, but the the administration, you know, puts Zelensky up on this, on this pedestal as this, as this sign of virtue when we don't really know exactly what took place to provoke all of this. Was it really just pure Russian aggression, Russian bear aggression, or was it just was there something else going on behind the scenes?
Personally speaking, I think this is all scriptural. You know, I'm not I I don't wanna I don't wanna, you know, do what delve too much into into bible prophecy, but I think this is all part of these end time events that are supposed to be taking place. And, you know, you read in the book of Daniel, you read the book of Revelation, you talk about, you know, all of these events taking place. This is supposed to happen. So, yeah, it it it's it's it's a very interesting time in which we live. It it truly is. And, what I had I wanted to actually I wanted to play some audio for you, but, come for it. I kinda lost the moment there. But, because we kinda kinda into into, into this whole thing with, Zelensky and and and World War three Putin and whatnot. But, just just just to kinda circle back just for a second here, we're talking about, you know, the reasons why Democrats lost.
Okay. Yeah. We we we did digress. Yeah. We we we kinda got we kinda got way off. One of the things that I I truly believe, and I think it's becoming more and more evident as time goes on, is that, unfortunately, elements of liberalism is is truly a mental illness. I I the more I'm watching things, the more I'm seeing things, just just confirms it. I mean, I understand that there are, you know, folks who are liberal, who are very intelligent people, who are who are articulate, and who can who can present an argument and can and can hold a discussion without falling into this.
He cheated. There was fraud. There was Mental illness, my friend. My favorite part's coming up. Right there. The liberalism is a mental illness. He cheated. He cheated. Alright. So we have election denial. We have mental illness. We have a whole bunch of things here. I'm just curious when the FBI is gonna knock on this guy's door and and haul him off to a to a a secret place and and, and and detain him without his rights and so so on and so forth because he's denying election saying that he cheated. He cheated. He cheated.
[01:15:04] Unknown:
You know, I I at at the end of the day, it was it was it was a bad campaign, with a bad candidate.
[01:15:12] Unknown:
It was. And the the issues that they they campaigned on, I mean, look, I know people who are who are gay and that that live that lifestyle and and such, you know. And look, that that's between you and God. You know, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that you can't do this, you can't do that, you should. Would I prefer you not do it? Of course. Absolutely. Because I want the best for you. I don't want you to live that type of lifestyle, but I'm not gonna stop you from doing it either. Absolutely. You know? But you you targeted your campaign towards what is it? It's what one something percent of the of the entire population.
That's what you focused on.
[01:15:51] Unknown:
And, you know, and you you you talk about, a lot of different things, when it comes to, that that topic. And it's unfortunate, I mean, because of the mere fact that, you cannot just look at such a micro level of the electorate. You need to look at the big picture. And the big picture was the economy. Mhmm. The big picture was immigrant, border security. The big picture was, you know, a lot of other things. Those two were, like, the number one and two. I mean, they can interchangeably have happened, but they did not. And at the end of the day, that's what I think, the Democrat party, did not,
[01:16:47] Unknown:
take fully into account. Yeah. Like we said earlier, the Democratic party of today is not what it was thirty, forty years ago. It's not even what it was ten years ago. It's a completely different party now. It it has totally embraced far left activism. It has totally embraced Marxism. It's spread throughout the college campuses. It's spread throughout even the public schools. The the, the grade school levels. It's just running rampant. And and I I love the idea of this, Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE.
[01:17:24] Unknown:
You know? I saw that. Which I think is great. It's a great idea. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you. Right now, if the federal government cuts 10% of the workforce, they will not blink an eye. No. Of course not. The the the government is not in other countries, the government is set up to promote jobs Mhmm. Themselves to promote jobs. You know, you know, the the the the country of Mexico, I mean, Mexico. You know, we all know that. I mean, I I we see it every day, you know. And and there's more when you get a job with Mexico or the state of Coahuila, the the the federal government will stick with you. You you kinda like everybody's like, oh, wow. That that's awesome.
You know, it's not like, dude, what are you talking about? But they're going to make money. Mhmm. Right? If you get a job with the state of Texas or even the federal government for that matter, It's it's not gonna be a great paying job, but it's a job. But what's but the government is not in the business of hiring people. To create jobs for the business sector, yes. For themselves? No. Mhmm. We don't need any more bureaucrats. We have plenty of them.
[01:18:52] Unknown:
I was reading a a statistic, but it's, 2,000,000 employees of the federal government or something like that? That's ridiculous.
[01:19:03] Unknown:
I mean and I'm telling you, they can lose 200,000 tomorrow and It won't take it won't it won't affect anybody's lives. When when when the president-elect was president, he, removed the Department of Interior headquarters from DC to Colorado. Why? Because the lion's share actually was not Department of Interior. It was another department within the department. But he moved it to Washington excuse me, to Colorado. And when he moved it to Colorado, it was more effective. Why? Because let's just say it was a Bureau of Land Management, the BLM. And the Bureau of Land Management does nothing more than manage property owned by the government, the federal government. Well, the lion's share of BLM property is in the western part of the country. Why not be in Colorado? Right? So tons of people resigned or retired, from the BLM out of DC because they didn't wanna move to, to Colorado.
So they moved it to Colorado. Extremely effective. And then president Biden comes in, and he moves it back to DC where they're hugely removed, 3,000 miles removed probably, from where their clientele is or their customer base is, Because their customer base is not in DC East Coast. Their customer base is in
[01:20:40] Unknown:
the West Coast. Correct. Yeah. Where the issues actually are. Exactly. Yeah. I I I agree with our founding generation when they said that, you know, the affairs of Washington, DC should not affect the everyday lives of the American people. Yes. And, and I think we need to return to that. So I agree with with, you know, Doge, if if you wanna call it that. I mean, Department of Government Efficiency. And interestingly though, once once they announced Doge you know you know the Dogecoin? It's like a cryptocurrency. It's a Bitcoin. At one point, Doge was really, really hot. It was very, very, it was a very high price to purchase Dogecoins.
And, of course, it dropped off. Bitcoin is soaring. I think I I own some Bitcoin, so it's like, I think the last time I looked it was like $93,000 as one bitcoin now. Oh my god. Doge is, I I own I own some Dogecoin also, but Doge is like 50¢ for one coin, you know? So it's like huge but at one point, Doge was popular. Doge was good. And of course, you know, Doge increased once they announced the Doge, Department of Government Efficiency. People started buying it crazy. And, I don't know why I'm talking about this, but I I think I think that Paul Sutton is getting to me here. That's the thing.
But, but Doge, it it it's a great idea. I I like the idea that I know the Liberals love poking fun at it saying, well, you know, you have two people running in the Department of Government Efficiency. Okay. And your point is what? You know, find me one find me one government agency that is that running efficiently with the number of people there. Why did we need to hire 80,000 new IRS agents? Why does the IRS have AR fifteens?
[01:22:36] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I I used to live when I lived in the city of Schertz in San Antonio, my neighbor was a IRS auditor, and she carried him. Mhmm. She was an agent, actually. She was an auditor first, an agent. And she carried she would literally go to people's houses, with a handgun because she was she said she was afraid that they were going to, you know, cause harm or whatnot.
[01:23:08] Unknown:
But I thought to myself I think we need to bring back tar and feathering. I thought to myself,
[01:23:14] Unknown:
really? We the IRS has gotten to this point where they are training their agents or their auditors
[01:23:26] Unknown:
to, carry. To kill. Basically, to kill American citizens Okay. Well, there you go. For taxes. You know, I I I don't I meant to ask you this last night too, and I I I forgot. And I just thought of it now talking about the IRS. And I'll say whatever I want about the IRS. I'm already on one of their watch lists, so I don't care. The, what what's your opinion of, of president Trump's idea of abolishing the income tax, closing down the IRS, and going back to what it was prior to 1913 with just tariffs. Or funding the government with just tariffs.
[01:24:14] Unknown:
I mean, that has some merit. I mean, you you're talking about taxing folks based on consumption. Right? So if you consume large amounts of groceries, obviously, you're gonna pay more taxes. So it's all, you know, you know, based on, your your consumption component. And so, I mean, it's gonna be interesting, to to to watch that. I mean I mean, you had the, the fair tax folks from back in the day saying, and I still remember this, in the nineties where they say, just just tax everybody 17%, and then we'll go on our merry way. You know? So if you make 20,000, you pay 17%.
If you make a gazillion dollars, you make you pay 17%. And and then everything in between, you know, you pay consumption taxes and whatnot. But, I mean, paying nothing is is is is is not an option. You you know, back in the day, you're right. Before 1913, our number one source of revenue was, was, you know, tariffs. Mhmm. And that's what I tell my kids. And I'm like, you know, I, you know, they're like saying, daddy, you know, he's gonna start charging all this amount on tariffs. And I said, you guys don't understand. I said, before income tax, that was our number one source of revenue.
Mhmm. Tariffs. Free trade was not even thought of. Right? And so, you know, that those kind of things that we need to think about. If we're going to go that route and we're gonna get rid of USMCA, the the the new NAFTA, right, then we definitely need to make sure that we're, taking that into consideration,
[01:26:20] Unknown:
most definitely studying it very hard. Oh, absolutely. You know, you hear a lot of talk about flat tax and, and fair tax. And and I'll be honest with you, back in, you know, full disclosure here, in in, back in the nineties when the fair tax was first floated as an idea, I I jumped on board with that. I was I was looking at that thing and I was like, it's not a bad idea, not a bad deal. But then you start to think also that, okay, well, like you said, if somebody's making $20,000 a year, they pay 17%. If somebody's making a gazillion dollars a year and they're only paying 17%, you know, is it really fair?
[01:26:56] Unknown:
You know, at that point. Yeah. I mean, it it it it it's fair in the sense that they thought of, of course, back then. It's like 17% will hurt you at a million dollars, just like 17% will hurt you at $20,000. Right? And so, anyways, well, that that didn't obviously happen. They started throwing all kinds of, earned income credits, you know, and whatnot, you know, depending on how many kids you have, which basically led into other things. Right? So now you're incentivizing this and that and Right. And whatnot. And and and and I mean, it it you you never have you never want to do something that incentivizes people to do more of.
Right? True. And that's kind of the situation sometimes.
[01:27:54] Unknown:
Yeah. But, I I think also too that, an income tax is I look at an income tax once a penalty Mhmm. For, for hard work. You know? Yes. Yeah. I kill myself. I work hard. I do this. And especially if I'm I'm a a private business, you know, a a a small business. I work hard. I put in x number of hours, a week, a day, whatever you wanna look at it. And I make this much money, and yet still I have to pay more in taxes where I think what is what's the number right now? I think it's like 50% or 49 something percent of the population doesn't pay any income tax whatsoever. Yes.
You know, that's ridiculous. And so So a flat tax I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you. But a flat tax or a consumption tax, everybody pays. Everybody pays. You know, whether it's 10%, whatever it is, everybody pays. Even an illegal migrant.
[01:28:50] Unknown:
Pays. Right. Well, I mean, they're paying now, obviously, but, through the consumption tax and sales taxes and whatnot. Yeah. I mean I mean, those those are kind of the situations where you say, how much is enough? I mean, how much is too much? And the IRS, you know, you don't know, you know, you're I'm I'm a small business owner, or used to be. And so I I saw how every day of the week, I was trying to figure out how this purchase, how this movement, or how this what have you is gonna save me money at the end of the year. Mhmm. I mean, literally, I live we live our company lived around how we're going to be able to beat the IRS.
And that, you know, that that that takes time away from your business, from your capability to, market yourself even better and whatnot. I mean, you why I mean, you're always consistently thinking to yourself, how am I going to be able to get more deductions every month?
[01:30:14] Unknown:
Mhmm.
[01:30:15] Unknown:
Every month. Yep.
[01:30:17] Unknown:
I know I know exactly what you mean. You know, I you know, I'm trying to be a small business. You know, one of the things that, my goal here is is is to eventually get an LLC, you know, for the for the podcast and, you know, try to get some of those protections that are involved with that. It's difficult. It's expensive to do that.
[01:30:40] Unknown:
Do you have a opinion on that? No. I mean, you should get an LLC. I mean, you why why not?
[01:30:46] Unknown:
Yeah. It's just the the the it's just expensive to do. So Wow. We're working on that. Get it get it done,
[01:30:54] Unknown:
you know, you know, formulate yourself as such. And then, you you you're I mean, I'm not gonna tell you. I mean, you already know this. May or may not know this. I mean, you can tax deduct this whole room. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Yeah.
[01:31:11] Unknown:
Although somebody did tell me though that I had I would have to have had the LLC in place prior to purchasing all that stuff. So, you know, there would be some finagling
[01:31:20] Unknown:
at that point. So even if you do it if you set it up on December 30, you're still good.
[01:31:27] Unknown:
Or thirty first. Something to consider. Something to consider. Alright. So we're gonna wrap this up here just about a minute or so. But, I'm gonna throw a couple of questions at you really quick. Oh, my god. Okay. Go for it. Alright. Because I know you've had a couple of of these, Paul Suttons here. And and, by the way, the Paul Sutton, Bottled and Bond bourbon, hundred proof, by the way. Absolutely delicious bourbon. Even though it's a hundred proof, you don't really get overwhelmed by it. You know? Especially drinking it neat. Right? I mean, you you've had it neat. I don't feel too overwhelmed by it. And and the particular bottle that we're having right now was, was bottled in, in, November 23.
So we're we're pretty good. I love that hand etching on on there. You know, it's it just goes to increase the price, brother. That's not it doesn't mean anything. You know how it is. But, alright. So couple of quick questions for you. Alright. Go for it. Alright. And then we'll wrap this thing up. Alright. I told you last night that I am, in full disclosure here, I am a member of the Texas Nationalist Movement. I I I am a supporter of it. I'm a member of the eighteen thirty six club of the Texas Nationalist Movement. I've sent an invitation to the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement to come on the show and have a chat. And, I I firmly believe that, at some particular point, I don't know if it's gonna be in my lifetime or not, but there is gonna be some kind of a national separation.
What do you think about Texas going on its own?
[01:33:08] Unknown:
Yes. I've been asked that many many many times. Have you really? Oh, man. So right now, as we know, Texas is probably the eighth, Largest GDP in the world? Has a large I mean, literally, quite quite frankly, they can be their own country. But we're not we're not accounting for all the federal government, components that are here. We have military bases Mhmm. That that, hire a lot of folks. I mean, we have one not too far from here in Del Rio at Laughlin Air Force Base who who hires a few thousand folks as a, on a GS level. Right?
And then we have, of course, San Antonio's Military City USA. Then we have Corpus Christi, who has the naval airbase, as well. And then, of course, we have all the federal employees that that that work here and whatnot. And I'm saying that because, we need to be more careful about saying things like that because, right now, the, the state government gets a lot of money from the federal government. Rightfully so because we send a lot of taxes to the feds. Right? I was just gonna say that again. And and and and a lot of it would stay here in Texas for sure. So, we just need to be careful about that. I I I haven't been 100% sold 100% sold on that. I mean, there's folks that have and and and believe that Texas should be their own country.
And and and maybe to some extent, I I do too. But I do have concerns about that component. Yeah. When we remove that part where, you know, what do we do when somebody attacks us? Right? Are we going to have our own army, our own air force, our own navy, whatnot? I'm sure we will. But we are we gonna have are we gonna have to be part of NATO now? Because, you know, because we're on our own. You know? And so, I am an American that just happens to be live in Texas. Right? Or should I say I'm a Texan that happens to be American? I don't know. I would say it the I would say it that way. That way. Okay. Yeah. And some
[01:35:46] Unknown:
I would love to say that I'm a natural born Texan, you know, but I'm a transplant. But still, Texas is my home then. You know? So it just, you know, who you know, if you you can call your home wherever you wanna call it. Right?
[01:35:59] Unknown:
So I was born a Texan, in Kearns County, Texas, which is Lucky bastard you. Which is about, 50 miles or so Southeast of San Antonio. But, you know, so with that being said, I'm a Texan. And so when I travel abroad, they ask me, where are you from? And I said, Texas. I get more accolades than if I say The US. I don't know what it is, but maybe it's just, you know, that people saw a lot of Dallas back in the day. I don't know. But with that being said, I mean, I just it's it's just what. But I just wanted to make sure that we need to understand that there's consequences.
Sure. Of course. And we don't know that. Mhmm. The unknown the unknown is the scariest part of it all. Well, you when you think back over to,
[01:37:00] Unknown:
the, the the the founding of these states united, ventured off way into the unknown.
[01:37:10] Unknown:
Yeah. For sure. In that And and, you know, and Texas is the only state that entered the union as a sovereign country.
[01:37:19] Unknown:
Well, I I I kinda disagree with that because the term state in itself means a sovereign nation, a sovereign country. Okay. So the the the original 13 colonies Right. Were considered they consider themselves to be countries of their own. That's why when when when, John Adams talked about, the desire for freedom, he said, let me have my country. He wasn't talking about a national entity. He was talking about Alright. Alright. He was talking about I'll give you that. Massachusetts.
[01:37:57] Unknown:
May maybe I'll give you that. But we were the Republic Of Texas. Yes. We were. Absolutely. And I think that
[01:38:04] Unknown:
Texas will rise again.
[01:38:07] Unknown:
Texas has risen. And it will again. Has risen. We even celebrate our independence on March 2. Yeah. Every year. We're the only state that celebrates our own independence. I know. I know. So we have we we have this the state is all state officials take the day off.
[01:38:30] Unknown:
And I'm gonna tell you something else too. Travel anywhere around this country, around around this union of states, the American Union, if you want to the European Union, the American Union, travel anywhere around the American Union, you will not see anywhere and any other state private citizens Okay. Flying their state flag. Oh, yeah. Only Texas.
[01:38:59] Unknown:
And I see your state flag behind you. That's right. So, the state of Texas is the only one that can the only flag, excuse me, that can fly at the same level as The United States. As The US. That's correct. And that's a constant that's a state constitutional thing. It's an amazing thing actually.
[01:39:21] Unknown:
A couple years ago, we had a, we had an interim administrator at the, at the facility that I worked at. And he knew he knew I was a a a a, as he put it, a Yankee by blood. And he actually, in the middle of it of a, a full staff department head morning meeting, challenged me on how much I knew about Texas, and asked me that question about the Texas flag. And then I said to him I said, also in the in in in, in the Texas constitution, it specifically states that Texas retains its sovereignty and can withdraw from the union at any time for any reason.
And he was like, does it really? I said, yes, it does. He goes, well, I didn't know that. I said, you should be ashamed of yourself, sir. You are a born Texan, you don't know that? I'm a Yankee and I know that? Yeah. So
[01:40:23] Unknown:
so Yeah. I mean, and, you know, and quite frankly, there there is some credence to that for sure. You should we should understand that, we are the Lone Star Safer reason. That's correct. And, we are very, very, honored, obviously, to be Texans. I mean, so I mean, some some Texans were here before the Rio Grande was the, the boundary for Mexico and The US. Mhmm. And so we I have tons and tons of relatives that were kinda say, like, say that. You know? The, I didn't I didn't cross the river, the river crossed me. Right? So,
[01:41:16] Unknown:
Oh, I like that.
[01:41:18] Unknown:
That's good. I like that. And so, you know, it's it's it's one of those situations. But we need to understand that at the end of the day, Texas has a vibrant, vibrant economy. There, there's a reason we within the short few years, we went from 25,000,000 to 30,000,000. There's a reason why we are, attracting so many residents from out of state. There's a reason why we are attracting so many, Fortune 500 companies into the state of Texas. And it's trickling down even into South Texas. I mean, who would have thought? Who would have thought that Elon Musk would put SpaceX in Brownsville, Texas?
Right. I mean, right off the board. Who would have thought that? And it's gonna bring tons of jobs That's right. And opportunities to the lion's share of Hispanic, residents down there. Yep. I agree with you a %, brother.
[01:42:26] Unknown:
Alright. Well, I think I put you on the spot there enough. But I will tell you this though, if the, if the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement accepts our invitation to come on the show, we need to make sure that we schedule it so you can you can be here, so you can talk to him yourself. You got it. Alright. I would love to talk to him. Yeah. We may agree or disagree on a lot of things. What I'll do, I'll send you I'll send you some of the links to, to his material so you can look it over to so you can inform yourself before before it happens. Alright, folks. George, man, thank you so much for being here with us. I appreciate it, man. And I'm looking forward to doing more of this with you. Yeah. Let's do it. We're we're we've been talking, just so you know, off off the air about the possibility of making this a duo as opposed to Yeah. To a solo. Let's do it. So, I think that's gonna happen. And and folks, I hope you've enjoyed this conversation. This was, this was great. I love this. I looking for I look forward to this Wonderful conversation. George, why don't you tell us how we can find you, on your socials if you wanna give that out or any I mean, it quite frankly, it's pretty simple at,
[01:43:30] Unknown:
I'm on Facebook, Georgi Antuna, and, my email address is [email protected]. But at the end of the day,
[01:43:40] Unknown:
I'm I'm pretty simple to find. Alright. Praise the Lord. Alright, brother. Thank you again so much. I appreciate you being here. I'm gonna shave his hand over, of course, to the the board here. Alright, folks. This is Joe Rusciello, and you've been listening to the podcast. And, we'll take a quick break here. We'll come back. We'll wrap this whole thing up shortly. Stay with us.
[01:43:59] Joe Russiello:
Hi, everyone. This is JJ, the cofounder of Goodpods. If you haven't heard of it yet, Goodpods is like Goodreads or Instagram, but for podcasts. It's new, it's social, it's different, and it's growing really fast. There are more than 2,000,000 podcasts, and we know that it is impossible to figure figure out what to listen to. On Goodpods, you follow your friends and podcasters to see what they like. That is the number one way to discover new shows and episodes. You can find Goodpods on the web or download the app. Happy listening.
[01:44:36] Unknown:
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[01:45:18] Unknown:
Alright. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Joe Rusciello. Man, was that a great conversation that we had with George Antoon folks, the former city manager of the, City Of Eagle Pass, the, South Texas political extraordinaire, my good friend, and, soon to be partner on the show here. That's right. We were talking about, him him being second chair. We I think we talked about it during the during the course of the interview or or our conversation. And then, you know, we I know we talked about it, the night before. And, I know we talked about it after. So well, we will talk about it after. So it's it's gonna be, it's gonna be great to have us, have a partner doing this.
When I used to do Internet radio back in New York with my friends, Jay and Joe, We, we had a great time doing it. You know, it's a lot more fun when you have someone else to bounce the ideas and and and the conversation off of, and that can support the conversation and not, you know, when you find yourself starting to struggle. You know, it's it's always good to do that. It's it's good to have somebody else there with you. But, you know, we're gonna do the best we can. We're gonna bring you the best quality, political talk that we can possibly bring you.
And, we're gonna really just have a great time talking with George about all these things and and, really really excited about it. Really looking forward to it and cannot wait to get into it. Now, coming up, in the next couple of days, we're gonna do a couple of short shows, that'll be, coming up. And then, next Monday, we're gonna have another, guest segment with, a good friend of mine and a TikTok, TikTok famous guy, and, he'll be on with us. We'll have all that information ready for you when the time comes. His name is Ruben Ortega Landa. His, TikTok handle is, what is it? It's diabetes dell r g v or something like that. Yeah. Look him up, man. Look him up. He he puts out a lot of really, really fun content. Just a lot of fun. And and the reason why we're gonna talk to him is number one, he's a good friend as well. And, he he's, you know, trying to help us get this whole thing kicked off and and, to fill up that space and that's great. We really appreciate it and looking forward to sitting down with, with Ruben and and having a good conversation with him. Gonna talk some politics. We're gonna talk some some, some, you know, some some some fun, some fun topics, especially about his, his TikTok sudden TikTok fame, and how he just, you know, just keeps on coming up with these these cute little things that he puts out there and gets all this traction. In the meantime, I'm putting up serious stuff and nobody pays attention.
But, you know, it's alright. You know, that's okay. But, but we're looking forward to talking to Ruben next week and then, you know, also like I said, just keep your eyes open for those shorts that'll be coming up, over the next couple of days. And, we'll be looking forward to getting into all of that. Alright, folks. Well, I think, that's gonna do just about do it for us for, today. So why don't you head over to our website, joerusiello.com. And when you get there, send over any questions or comments that you have. Use the contact form, or you can always email us directly @infoatjoerusiello.com.
Also, while you're on the website, look for that support page. Click that support button. Help us out with a donation in any amount. And, don't forget +1 836 gets you the shout out. Alright, folks. And don't forget also, like, subscribe, and share it with your friends, your family, your followers. Help us spread the podcast. Alright, folks. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you soon. Talk to you later.
Introduction and Podcast Launch
Thanksgiving Recap and Podcast Success
Political Updates and Administration Changes
Podcast Growth and Future Plans
Website Launch and Support Request
Interview with George Antuna Begins
George Antuna's Political Journey
Border Issues and Local Impact
Election Season and Political Analysis
Liberalism and Election Denial
Texas Independence Discussion
Closing Remarks and Future Plans
