Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / Rob Astorino, WOR and NewsMax host Interview

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Rob Astorino, WOR and NewsMax host Interview · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A lot of good news for Republicans recently. Rob Astorino
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is the host of the Rob Astorino Show on WOR.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Saturday is 4 to 5, host of the Saturday Agenda,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: 1 to 3 on Newsmax. And the former Westchester County Executive,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I'll explain the good news in a second, but Rob,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Curtis isn't here today, so do you want to talk
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  Speaker 1: about him?
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  Speaker 2: It seems like old times, Larry. I know.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: So now we'll talk about, go ahead.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: What were you going to say? I want to get
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  Speaker 2: you off the ledge.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, you think I'm going to commit suicide because he's
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: not here?
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  Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no, no. Definitely not that. It
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: would be the politics. It would be the, you know,
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  Speaker 2: you're concerned each week we talk.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, I'm not concerned anymore. Republicans.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, go ahead.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not concerned anymore. And I'll tell you the reason.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Let's do a couple of things. Let's start with the
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  Speaker 1: governor's race. I think Bruce Blakeman is finding his footing.
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  Speaker 1: Every single time I hear him interviewing, he's hitting the
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  Speaker 1: right tone. He's hitting the right topics. I was wondering,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: he just seemed to be floundering. Maybe he was busy fundraising.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know, but he seemed to be floundering a
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  Speaker 1: little bit, but man, he's coming out swinging now and
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  Speaker 1: I'm impressed every time I see him. Do you share
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  Speaker 1: the same impression?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, look, I've known Bruce a long time. He's a pro. He,
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  Speaker 2: he gets it done and he knows how to campaign.
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  Speaker 2: This is not his first rodeo. You know, going around
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  Speaker 2: the state, it's different. It takes time, not only to
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  Speaker 2: get to know everyone around the state, but also to
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  Speaker 2: find your footing. You know, it's a very different race being,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: you know, county executive and, and then running all over
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  Speaker 2: New York state where it's very different, very diverse, you know, in, in,
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  Speaker 2: in backgrounds and, and just the geography. It's just, and it's,
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  Speaker 2: It takes a while. He's done that now. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: he's lapped the state. I don't know how many times.
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  Speaker 2: I know he had a very successful fundraiser in Syracuse
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  Speaker 2: the other night. He pulled in a lot of money.
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  Speaker 2: Money is not really the issue, which is really good.
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  Speaker 2: And that's always been the case from, you know, for
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  Speaker 2: me or for any Republican. Money's been tough because nobody
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  Speaker 2: believed they don't invest in New York. He's had money
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  Speaker 2: and he's got some super PAC money so he can compete.
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  Speaker 2: Republicans with money can compete in this state, and that's
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  Speaker 2: why I think he's in a position to win.
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  Speaker 1: I agree with you. I think he's really gaining ground,
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  Speaker 1: and we can see that in the polls. And I
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  Speaker 1: think not only is he gaining ground, but he's gaining
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  Speaker 1: confidence in this race because every interview I see him on,
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  Speaker 1: he does extremely well. If you were to advise him,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: what does he need to do in the debate, the
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  Speaker 1: one and only debate coming up in about 10 days?
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  Speaker 2: You know what? He needs to. Well, first of all,
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  Speaker 2: I think he looks like a governor in all honesty.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that that's important. You know, he's got
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  Speaker 2: that stature. He's got a great demeanor. He just he
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  Speaker 2: just has to bite his tongue. You know, she's going
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: to be lying the entire time. And he's got to
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  Speaker 2: just make sure he remembers he'll never get the benefit
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  Speaker 2: of a doubt in a debate with a woman. And
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  Speaker 2: she will play that card a million times because she,
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  Speaker 2: I think she feels she's on the run here. Like he's,
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  Speaker 2: she's looking in the mirror and he's a little too close.
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  Speaker 2: And then she's going to start getting desperate and play
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  Speaker 2: every stupid card the Democrats play. And it's going to
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  Speaker 2: be Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump. But I think he's
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  Speaker 2: got a real opportunity here. Remember the two big issues
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  Speaker 2: where she actually wins in the polling is the affordability issue. And,
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  Speaker 2: And crime. I mean, so he's got such an opportunity
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  Speaker 2: to take her strength and just wrap it around her.
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  Speaker 2: And I think he will.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think his proposal to eliminate the income tax
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  Speaker 1: for low-income people or even moderate-income people is a winner.
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  Speaker 1: And to cut the fat and to try to keep
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  Speaker 1: some of the money here, stop the rich and the
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: corporations from leaving New York. I think if he stays
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  Speaker 1: on that, those messages, it's really a strong message to say,
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  Speaker 1: especially when people are suffering?
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  Speaker 2: Well, remember, take the two issues, right? Affordability and crime. Okay. So,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's pretty easy who's been in charge in
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  Speaker 2: this state forever, right? It's the Democrats. We just have
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  Speaker 2: to go back a few years when crime was rampant everywhere,
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  Speaker 2: the riots, the George Floyd stuff, the COVID nonsense, all
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  Speaker 2: this stuff, who was in charge. And with affordability, for
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  Speaker 2: God's sakes, why is everybody leaving? Because they are in
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  Speaker 2: charge on every issue, whether it's utility bills, whether it's
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  Speaker 2: property taxes, there really is no one else to blame.
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  Speaker 2: And so it's pretty easy to tell people that because
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  Speaker 2: in the end, they know it's true. They know it's true.
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  Speaker 2: It's been her, it's been Cuomo. You just keep going backwards.
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  Speaker 2: They're all Democrats. So I think if he pounds that,
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  Speaker 2: stays on that and offers his vision of how he's
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: going to fix it, I think he can come out
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  Speaker 2: not only winning the debate, but winning the election.
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  Speaker 1: I agree with you. He said something really fascinating in
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  Speaker 1: an interview that I heard recently when they asked him
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  Speaker 1: about ICE and working with ICE and if that's going
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  Speaker 1: to hurt him. He said, no, working with ICE allows
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  Speaker 1: me to control what ICE does in my county.
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  Speaker 2: That's a great answer. Isn't it?
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  Speaker 1: Isn't it a tremendous answer? And for him to be
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  Speaker 1: able to say that with the state, he said, I
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  Speaker 1: can take crime down. and I can know where they're going,
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  Speaker 1: and I can keep them out of the communities. I
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  Speaker 1: thought it was brilliant. Let me talk about why I'm
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: feeling better about the midterms, because some recent polling that
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: came out shows Susan Collins in the lead now. It
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: shows Rogers now tie. It shows in Oregon the governor's race,
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  Speaker 1: the Republican winning. There seems to be a bit of
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  Speaker 1: a surge for Republicans, and I'm guessing that has to
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: do with the fact they have so much money and
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: the ads have started.
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  Speaker 2: It's finally being spent. Yeah, it's finally being spent. So
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  Speaker 2: that's important. I mean, we exceeded all this ground at
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  Speaker 2: Democrats so early. You can't do that, especially when you
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  Speaker 2: have the huge advantage with money, not a little edge.
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  Speaker 2: Start spending it. Define them. Define yourself. And they didn't.
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  Speaker 2: And now they're playing catch up. And also, I was
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: just in Wisconsin and the governor's race there. A ton
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  Speaker 2: of money is going to the Republican candidate. That didn't
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  Speaker 2: happen in the past either. And he's now tied. He's
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: in a position to win. Same thing in Minnesota. Tafoya
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  Speaker 2: is neck and neck actually winning in some polls. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: think about that. We're doing, by the way, locally, the
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  Speaker 2: two Long Island races, we're doing very well there. Trump's
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: numbers are not bad at all. And so we could
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  Speaker 2: flip some from seats on Long Island. So look, it's
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: never going to be easy, but I do not think
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  Speaker 2: it's going to be a disaster. Oh, I agree with you.
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  Speaker 2: I think we're going to hold the Senate. House, I'm
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: not so sure about, but I've always said the Senate, yes.
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  Speaker 1: But I think the House is going to be close.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's going to be really close. It's fascinating.
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  Speaker 1: It's fascinating to watch it happening, and they still have
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  Speaker 1: a lot of money and a lot of time to
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  Speaker 1: pull out a couple of more races. At least the
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  Speaker 1: polls are going the right way. And by the way,
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  Speaker 1: the polls always undercount Republicans, so we have to take
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  Speaker 1: that into account as well. Rob, it was great talking
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  Speaker 1: to you, listening to you this weekend. when you are
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  Speaker 1: on four to five on Saturday, and you're also the
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  Speaker 1: host of Saturday Agenda, one to three on Newsmax, former
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  Speaker 1: Westchester County Executive Rob Estorino. Thanks a lot, Rob.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks, Larry. Good talking to you.