Latest / World Ablaze with George Fontes / Sara Alessandrini - Filmmaker, Documentarian, and Political Commentator

Transcript

Sara Alessandrini - Filmmaker, Documentarian, and Political Commentator · World Ablaze with George Fontes

• 0:00
  okay thank you once again everybody for tuning into another world ablaze with
• 0:10
  your host george font me um i have a special guest as you can see sarah alessandrini
• 0:15
  director filmmaker documentarian all around political commentator and as we're talking
• 0:22
  offline what's interesting to me is you're italian you're from italy you're here in the u.s
• 0:27
  you live in LA, but yet you took an interest in New York politics and really following what's
• 0:33
  happening out there. And I guess all started, if I'm correct, around that COVID and post-COVID
• 0:40
  area as it was concerning in the beginning. Andrew Cuomo, is that correct to say?
• 0:47
  Yes. Okay. So here's the deal. I know you want to talk about a lot of things. I do want to talk
• 0:53
  a little bit about your documentary. We don't have to dwell on it too much because I know you
• 0:57
  have many varied interests, but I want to talk about it because I think that's going to lead
• 1:00
  the conversation into how you became to the point you're at now and your interest in American
• 1:07
  politics and especially where you are now and how you view New York politics. There's so much talk
• 1:12
  about, obviously, with the Democratic Socialists being elected as New York mayor, a lot of things
• 1:17
  happening there. And obviously, we're going to get into your opinion here in the US being an
• 1:21
  immigrant and what you think of immigration policy and how things are being handled right now
• 1:25
  under the Trump administration.
• 1:26
  But firstly, why?
• 1:28
  Why did you do this documentary?
• 1:29
  Being someone from Italy, coming to New York,
• 1:31
  what was your interest in your politics
• 1:33
  and particularly, I mean, in particular,
• 1:35
  your interest in Andrew Cuomo in that situation?
• 1:38
  Yeah, very specifically about Andrew Cuomo.
• 1:40
  Yeah, like the why.
• 1:42
  Obviously, it's been a long journey
• 1:43
  because I filmed the documentary.
• 1:45
  It was like two or three months after he resigned.
• 1:48
  It was October of 2021.
• 1:51
  So this has been a very long journey
• 1:52
  because I made it first as a feature documentary.
• 1:55
  and then after I went to film festivals,
• 1:57
  I was like, I need to make it into a miniseries.
• 2:00
  And then it was a long work to make it in a miniseries.
• 2:04
  And so I released it in June of this year.
• 2:07
  So obviously we're talking about a very long journey
• 2:09
  of like more than four years.
• 2:12
  And for your audience, I don't live in New York.
• 2:15
  So it's even crazier the situation
• 2:17
  because I was born and raised in Italy.
• 2:19
  Obviously I lived there.
• 2:21
  And then I moved to Los Angeles 10 years ago.
• 2:24
  So I live in Los Angeles, but yeah, exactly during COVID, I learned about Andrew Cuomo, obviously.
• 2:29
  So it was during that time that I was watching him.
• 2:33
  And that's where I start thinking about New York politics.
• 2:36
  I mean, obviously, I always loved New York.
• 2:38
  So my heart was always there.
• 2:40
  I always thought maybe one day I will move there.
• 2:43
  So obviously, it's not so random that I thought about doing this.
• 2:48
  But yeah, it was during COVID, obviously.
• 2:50
  So, yeah, people have a lot of different opinions about Cuomo and the way he handled COVID.
• 2:55
  Obviously, like for me, I was always interested in politics.
• 3:00
  Not always, not since I was born, but like, let's say in the last 15 years,
• 3:05
  I loved like when I was living in Rome, I was very interested in politics and everything.
• 3:10
  But then I decided to cut politics from my life, honestly.
• 3:15
  I was trying to stay away from it.
• 3:17
  I was just trying to focus on my life and not really care too much about politics.
• 3:23
  Because, I mean, that's just like, you're always jumping from one topic to the next one.
• 3:28
  The media, there is always something so important that you have to think about.
• 3:32
  They want to dictate what you have to care about.
• 3:36
  And even when you start caring about the topic, then because of the way the system,
• 3:42
  especially like our modern area like people are not interested in the same topic for more than
• 3:47
  what like a week or something then people move on to something very quickly so it's not for me
• 3:53
  I'm more like I'm gonna deep dive into something if I really care for something and I don't like
• 3:58
  people telling me what I should care and what I should not care so in general I don't deal well
• 4:04
  with those kind of people and so during COVID yeah I just I was not trying to care about politics
• 4:11
  but I really love the way he was thinking about government,
• 4:14
  like focusing on like doing the hard work
• 4:17
  and not just doing what the people want you to say,
• 4:20
  not what the people always tell you that you have to do,
• 4:22
  like doing the hard work and getting things done.
• 4:26
  So I'm not just talking about it,
• 4:28
  especially I come from Italy.
• 4:29
  So like politics over there, it's very much,
• 4:32
  people complain, I always say about this country,
• 4:34
  but this is not this bad as people make it to be
• 4:37
  because yeah, like even in Italy,
• 4:39
  like there is no way to make any change.
• 4:41
  at all. It's just such a slow process, even just the way the law is built. Don't even think about
• 4:49
  the individual politicians that might be corrupted or anything. It's just like the way the law is.
• 4:54
  It's very slow and it's very elite in a way. To even think about the random person to go into
• 5:03
  politics, it's very structured. You have to do in a very specific way. You cannot just get involved
• 5:08
  like in this country actually it's much easier to think there are so many ways to get involved for
• 5:13
  people it's not just you have to there is no specific way to do it and so i just got passionate
• 5:20
  about politics again by listening by seeing covid obviously i'm sure we all have very different
• 5:26
  opinions about covid and everything but but yeah like that's what brought me back into this and
• 5:34
  then when there were the accusation of sexual harassment that made me think i was like okay
• 5:38
  I follow this guy, I watch him.
• 5:40
  Am I ready to change my opinion about him
• 5:43
  just because someone that I don't know made an accusation?
• 5:47
  And the way, like, obviously as a woman,
• 5:49
  I think like now there is so much pressure
• 5:50
  that you have to believe everybody
• 5:52
  instead of asking your own questions.
• 5:54
  And again, I don't like people telling me
• 5:56
  what I need to believe and what I should not believe.
• 6:00
  So I always support asking questions
• 6:03
  and then we go from there.
• 6:04
  But I'm for fairness and for truth
• 6:08
  And so, yeah, that's how I got involved.
• 6:12
  And then he was forced to resign, obviously.
• 6:14
  And then I was like, I have to do something.
• 6:16
  And I took one bad decision.
• 6:18
  And I kept taking bad decision for like four years.
• 6:21
  Bad decision.
• 6:23
  But so the thing about COVID, though, is it put politics front and center for everybody
• 6:31
  because you couldn't ignore it anymore.
• 6:32
  And that's one of the things I've said many times when I talk to people is most people go on Facebook
• 6:38
  on through with their lives, right?
• 6:40
  Day to day with their head buried in the sand
• 6:41
  because they don't want to care about politics.
• 6:44
  They just want to get on with their lives.
• 6:45
  They know they have to go to work,
• 6:46
  drop the kids off at school, whatever it is.
• 6:48
  And the only thing they can even connect with,
• 6:51
  if they even connect with it,
• 6:52
  but they'll gleam the headline.
• 6:53
  They never go any deeper.
• 6:54
  So that is how people view politics mostly.
• 6:57
  They don't realize how much it affects you
• 7:00
  until COVID happened.
• 7:02
  Then you were forced to realize how it affects you
• 7:04
  because politicians were making decisions
• 7:06
  for how you can live your life, what you can do, what you can't do.
• 7:09
  So I completely understand why you became attracted to politics at that time
• 7:13
  because you had to care.
• 7:14
  There was nothing else going on that you could focus on, really.
• 7:17
  It was all about what the government was telling you what to do, period.
• 7:21
  Can you shop? Can you work? Et cetera.
• 7:23
  But let's get back to your documentary.
• 7:25
  Now, I'm going to go through it a bit.
• 7:27
  And here's what I found interesting.
• 7:30
  what you said about headlines,
• 7:34
  not just taking what people say for face value, for example,
• 7:38
  diving deeper, that's exactly what you should be doing.
• 7:41
  So what I found interesting is you were one of the few documentarians
• 7:46
  when it came to politics that was not necessarily biased.
• 7:49
  At least I didn't see that.
• 7:51
  I'm not really sure which politics are, but it's neither here or there.
• 7:54
  What I really saw was more of presenting what happened
• 7:58
  in a way that someone can make their own decision.
• 8:02
  And what was even more interesting,
• 8:03
  and this is something that I've talked about before,
• 8:05
  I wonder what you feel about,
• 8:06
  is that you talked about this situation
• 8:10
  and other situations that affect
• 8:12
  the average person in New York.
• 8:14
  It wasn't like you were trying to interview
• 8:16
  top-level politicians, elitists, et cetera,
• 8:19
  however you want to coin it.
• 8:21
  You were just grabbing people off the street,
• 8:23
  asking their opinions.
• 8:24
  And it was interesting to find that
• 8:25
  they themselves were not necessarily believing what was in the media.
• 8:30
  They themselves were not believing what they were being told on social media.
• 8:34
  And they were starting to question themselves, like, is this reality?
• 8:39
  Are we being forced to believe this?
• 8:41
  It's like they were being led, you know?
• 8:43
  It was like the Pied Piper leading all the rats or whatnot.
• 8:47
  And it's like they themselves said that, you know, there's something going on here.
• 8:53
  There's something behind it.
• 8:54
  so that is what interested me.
• 8:57
  I wanted to know this.
• 8:59
  I'm going to ask you this.
• 9:00
  Based on everything you did, okay,
• 9:02
  and what you were researching
• 9:04
  and what was going on behind the scenes,
• 9:06
  do you feel, after seeing everything,
• 9:09
  was there something nefarious going on?
• 9:11
  Do you believe that Andrew was set up
• 9:13
  to take the fall?
• 9:16
  Was there something going on
• 9:17
  to where the DNC, the Democratic Party,
• 9:19
  was working against him at the time,
• 9:22
  or was there something else going on?
• 9:24
  Did you find any evidence of that?
• 9:26
  Personally, yeah.
• 9:27
  I mean, I think it's more like the DSA is the big issue right now.
• 9:31
  So yeah, definitely like a lot of things I would respond to what you said.
• 9:35
  First of all, I'm glad you said that you don't feel that documentary is biased
• 9:38
  because I'm very much in support of Andrew Cuomo.
• 9:42
  So I always say I try to make my documentary in a way that is like more balanced
• 9:45
  and it's not about me and my opinions.
• 9:48
  It's really just to get people to listen to what other people are saying.
• 9:52
  and yeah i definitely wanted like real people over there i didn't want the fancy famos i didn't want
• 10:00
  glamour i didn't want like big names because i just wanted to hear what real people have to say
• 10:04
  and i feel like a lot of documentaries a lot of movies or in general people in the media they
• 10:09
  always want to hear um like some only like people that like are already famos or something like that
• 10:16
  i want to do something very different like real people and also going back to what you were saying
• 10:21
  like when the media ask these kind of questions of people on the street
• 10:25
  I think the problem like if someone just like randomly ask you a question
• 10:29
  then you just say whatever you think people want to hear
• 10:33
  I don't think you really respond what you really think so my documentary
• 10:37
  is different that's a good thing because the interviews were
• 10:41
  pretty long so I mean the shorter one was like 10 minutes
• 10:46
  but then a lot of them were like an hour an hour and 30 minutes
• 10:49
  So people, you get to really see who they really are.
• 10:53
  Because that's what I wanted to do.
• 10:54
  Because, yeah, I think that a lot, like, you know, why the polls are never true anymore.
• 10:59
  Because, okay, you stop someone on the street.
• 11:01
  Maybe they don't want to tell you that they're voting for Trump or for Cuomo.
• 11:05
  But they tell you just because it looks better on them, depending on who you are.
• 11:10
  So, and people feel afraid about saying what they think because they're so afraid of being judged.
• 11:16
  Do you think people are succumbing to social pressures?
• 11:19
  Yeah, and I see a lot in this country.
• 11:22
  That's in general.
• 11:23
  Everybody cares about what other people think,
• 11:25
  but I see a lot, especially in this country,
• 11:27
  compared to other countries where you feel forced to believe certain things.
• 11:31
  And in politics, obviously, there are those things, as I was saying,
• 11:37
  you cannot even question what a woman is saying,
• 11:41
  because otherwise you're a horrible human being.
• 11:44
  That's not how we achieve a good society in general,
• 11:48
  anywhere and anywhere.
• 11:50
  There are good actors and bad actors everywhere.
• 11:53
  So like you have only a good system
• 11:55
  only if you're able to actually ask those questions
• 11:57
  and to make sure that the real people
• 11:59
  that are the victim are protected,
• 12:00
  not that everybody becomes a self-diagnosed victim,
• 12:04
  obviously.
• 12:05
  So there is that.
• 12:08
  What was interesting though,
• 12:09
  is that there's two things
• 12:11
  and this is what's going on right now.
• 12:14
  is it revealed or exposed the huge disconnect
• 12:19
  versus social media and the real world.
• 12:22
  And a lot of people who bury their eyeballs into the screen
• 12:27
  and bury their heads into social media,
• 12:30
  especially on X,
• 12:31
  they believe that that is the sentiment
• 12:34
  and that is the narrative
• 12:35
  and that is the belief of everybody
• 12:38
  who has paid attention to politics.
• 12:39
  But in this case, for example,
• 12:42
  with your documentary,
• 12:43
  I noticed that wasn't what was happening.
• 12:46
  People were easily able to separate and realize what they're saying here on X is not what's
• 12:52
  happening out here in the real world.
• 12:53
  And we live in New York and we going to tell you that all bullshit So that what was interesting I think a lot of people need to realize that put the damn phone down have a conversation with real people face and figure out what really happening
• 13:09
  So what I liked about your documentary is it did expose that.
• 13:12
  And I don't know if it was intentional or not, but that's what I got out of that when
• 13:16
  people were talking about the narratives, for example, when they're talking about media
• 13:18
  and social media.
• 13:20
  So how is it, in your opinion, though...
• 13:25
  How do you feel about America?
• 13:28
  Because in terms of politics,
• 13:29
  after doing this documentary,
• 13:30
  because it's like,
• 13:32
  we even say that.
• 13:33
  I say this as well.
• 13:34
  Many of the people that I talk to say this.
• 13:36
  It's like you're being conditioned.
• 13:38
  You're being conditioned to believe a certain thing.
• 13:40
  And we're always being told,
• 13:42
  wow, there's no bad actors
• 13:43
  and there's no one behind the curtain, for example,
• 13:45
  or anyone manipulating the strings
• 13:48
  to what's happening.
• 13:50
  But yet, when you watch a documentary,
• 13:52
  you can clearly see there is something going on.
• 13:55
  So in your opinion, is that truth?
• 13:59
  Do you think that's factual or is it people's perception?
• 14:02
  Because here's the deal.
• 14:04
  Andrew Cuomo on one side was loved, correct?
• 14:08
  It was loved by many.
• 14:09
  And all of a sudden, these allegations came out.
• 14:10
  And we're going to get back to what you keep bringing up about not questioning a woman
• 14:13
  because I did hear that.
• 14:15
  But I'm going to get to that a little bit later.
• 14:16
  And then these accusations came out.
• 14:19
  And now all of a sudden, he fell from grace.
• 14:21
  I mean, he was on track to possibly be, possibly be the Democratic nominee for president because at the time Biden was failing.
• 14:28
  And then all of a sudden he wasn't.
• 14:30
  It was almost like there was a concerted effort to get him out.
• 14:33
  Now, reality is he's not really a Democrat.
• 14:35
  He's more of a centrist.
• 14:36
  You know, he probably leans left.
• 14:38
  So in your opinion, is there really someone behind the curtain, for example?
• 14:43
  Is there someone pulling the levers, someone manipulating everything?
• 14:46
  Do you think that that was possibly the situation here with Andrew?
• 14:50
  because it seemed like that was what was happening.
• 14:53
  It seemed like his own party was working against him at that time.
• 14:56
  Yeah, I mean, that's what it was.
• 14:58
  It was mainly like his own party that wanted to get rid of him.
• 15:01
  So I think there are like different levels.
• 15:04
  A lot of people had a lot of different interests.
• 15:06
  And I think it's very much connected to where we are today
• 15:09
  with the socialists actually in New York City.
• 15:12
  Because like he was always, yeah, you're saying like he's more a centrist
• 15:16
  and that's what everybody perceives him right now.
• 15:19
  At least, yeah, he's more moderate for sure.
• 15:20
  Yeah, because obviously he's someone who believes you have to be conservative in the way you spend your money.
• 15:25
  You definitely need to have programs, but not just waste money.
• 15:29
  He had more like a private organization type of mentality, more than public.
• 15:36
  So he wanted to make government work and not waste money.
• 15:40
  So obviously he's not about random spending.
• 15:43
  So in that sense, yeah, he's more similar to Republicans.
• 15:46
  And he's like one of those people that still believe that you need to work for everybody.
• 15:51
  Like even if you're on the left, you should not just do what the left say.
• 15:55
  Like you're technically represent everybody.
• 15:57
  You have to make left and right work because that's the only way to actually have a good society.
• 16:01
  We're like, we get a balance in between the two poles.
• 16:05
  So definitely he was that type of person, but he was clashing a lot with the very left wing of the party,
• 16:12
  which was like people like AOC,
• 16:14
  like they always talk a lot about
• 16:16
  he was trying to get a deal in New York City
• 16:20
  to have Amazon to build like warehouses
• 16:23
  so they could bring like,
• 16:25
  I think it was 15,000 jobs.
• 16:27
  Right, the distribution centers?
• 16:29
  Yeah, so like that way he would build jobs
• 16:31
  so that like we talk about
• 16:32
  we need more opportunities for people,
• 16:34
  but then the far left was against that
• 16:37
  because they didn't want Amazon and all of that.
• 16:40
  So there were a lot of like these clashes.
• 16:42
  and now like the the democrats i think they hated cuamo anyway like the the regular democrats like
• 16:51
  the chuck schumer and all of that they had issues with cuamo and so i think they just wanted to get
• 16:57
  rid of him because they couldn't stand the way he was working in government how he was pushing
• 17:01
  people to to get the job done so there was all of that and then the far left i mean you saw the
• 17:08
  documentary there is a second like there's not much more there was a time also the political
• 17:12
  reported on this group of people on the far left that they were meeting on one of those clubhouse
• 17:20
  so they were trying to find ways to get him down like to to get rid of them and this was i think
• 17:26
  march of 2021 so not around the time there were the accusation of sexual harassment so there was
• 17:34
  a lot going on behind the scenes for sure and i think also like the that's the point of like the
• 17:40
  the sa the working family party like the sa is an organization it's not a party but the people that
• 17:46
  are endorsed and all of that like aoc and everything so i think they wanted any way to
• 17:53
  to get to get the power i think it's the power that they want but so now we see how much they've
• 18:00
  been taking a different position around the country, like city council and everything.
• 18:04
  And now they got the first big position with Mamdani in office.
• 18:09
  So I think it was a lot of that too.
• 18:12
  Let's, okay.
• 18:12
  So let's, let's go there then, uh, since we're, we're already kind of talking about that
• 18:17
  democratic socialists, your opinion, like why, why is it, why is it that the left seems
• 18:24
  to be so accepting of socialism and you could put Democrat in front of it, but it's still
• 18:28
  socialism and it's still, you know, it's still something that was a bit of an idea of Karl Marx.
• 18:36
  It's basically directly related to communism in general. So, in your opinion, what is going on
• 18:42
  with that? What do you think of American politics right now, the Democratic Party, and why is there
• 18:49
  such a push for socialism, which really seems to be a movement towards communism?
• 18:55
  Yeah, I mean, I agree with you.
• 18:57
  Like, I think it's just a fancy name,
• 18:59
  democratic socialism.
• 19:00
  I think like a lot of people,
• 19:02
  it's just like something intermediate
• 19:03
  before you get to that point.
• 19:06
  Right.
• 19:06
  And so, yeah, I mean, to me as an immigrant,
• 19:10
  I see that like, I think American people
• 19:13
  like to create their own definitions about everything.
• 19:17
  So it's like, doesn't matter what actually something means,
• 19:20
  doesn't matter what something actually is,
• 19:22
  we're going to make it our own thing.
• 19:23
  And so I think a lot of people think that socialism just means whatever they wanted to believe
• 19:29
  and doesn't mean what actually meant in a lot of ways.
• 19:33
  Well, I think it's intentional conditioning.
• 19:35
  It's like if you say it a certain way enough, you get people to accept it, right?
• 19:39
  Yeah.
• 19:39
  So it becomes familiar.
• 19:41
  For example, just saying the word socialist, but if you put democratic, make it democratic
• 19:44
  socialist and it becomes more accepting.
• 19:46
  It's like, well, it doesn't sound so bad.
• 19:48
  It's democratic, right?
• 19:49
  Maybe it fits our system.
• 19:50
  So I think it's just really a matter of conditioning people to accept what is to come.
• 19:54
  But the problem is they don't realize that socialism is very detrimental to our system
• 20:03
  here in the West, especially our system in the United States, Democratic Republic.
• 20:07
  And so compared to, for example, Italy or other countries that you've been to and where
• 20:12
  you have experienced politics in general, why do you think these Americans,
• 20:20
  obviously Americans
• 20:21
  are being so accepting
• 20:25
  of this change
• 20:26
  like what is their real ire
• 20:27
  because here's the deal
• 20:28
  everyone's complaining
• 20:29
  about capitalism
• 20:30
  while using capitalism
• 20:31
  to go ahead
• 20:32
  and push the messaging
• 20:34
  so that they can now
• 20:35
  turn the country
• 20:36
  into something
• 20:36
  that is anti-capitalist
• 20:37
  it just doesn't make
• 20:38
  any sense to me
• 20:39
  I mean I think it's
• 20:42
  it's just safe
• 20:44
  it's just easier
• 20:45
  to believe
• 20:46
  that the problem
• 20:47
  is the system
• 20:48
  like obviously
• 20:49
  I'm coming from Italy
• 20:50
  Italy has a very strong safety net.
• 20:53
  And if I came to this country and left Italy,
• 20:56
  it's probably because I didn't think it was a good idea.
• 20:58
  Because obviously, I'm here.
• 21:01
  And even the way I was able to make my documentary,
• 21:03
  it's thanks to capitalism.
• 21:05
  And so people here, I think they think,
• 21:07
  okay, we can build the system that we have
• 21:12
  and maintain the good things of it
• 21:14
  when we change the structure.
• 21:16
  But changing the structure is going to improve the things
• 21:18
  that we're not happy about it.
• 21:20
  But I mean, even like when I hear the conversation about the free healthcare, like obviously I come from a country that has healthcare.
• 21:28
  So yes, I can see how much you can benefit from healthcare to be public, but it's not the solution that people think it is.
• 21:35
  Once you actually go and you see how the system works, and a lot of people, they still go to a private clinic.
• 21:41
  They don't go to the public very often.
• 21:44
  So it's a very complex topic.
• 21:45
  Obviously, we're not going to cover this in two seconds, but that's the same thing.
• 21:50
  they think that it means something.
• 21:52
  When actually you see the implementation, it's not.
• 21:56
  So some people, and I think even there,
• 21:58
  there is a split between like in those people on the left,
• 22:01
  there are some that are really like, okay, socialism,
• 22:04
  they want to go Marxism and everything or fully socialist.
• 22:08
  Other people think that democratic socialism
• 22:11
  is a capitalism with safety net.
• 22:14
  That's what they think.
• 22:15
  That's what they think.
• 22:16
  Which is not what it is.
• 22:17
  Right.
• 22:18
  Right. But I mean, you know, it's like taking China as example.
• 22:22
  It was a full-on communist country.
• 22:23
  Now it's really more authoritarian.
• 22:25
  They had to abandon communist ways, especially when it came to economics,
• 22:28
  because they were not keeping up with the rest of the world economically.
• 22:32
  So they had to resort to a capitalist system in terms of trade and commerce
• 22:36
  so that they can get the money they need to expand and be who they are.
• 22:39
  So they're not even full communist anymore.
• 22:41
  They're authoritarian for sure.
• 22:43
  But, you know, in the end, I mean, it's been proven more often than not
• 22:46
  in every single instance around the world
• 22:48
  that communism doesn't work,
• 22:49
  socialism doesn't work.
• 22:50
  But yet, maybe America's had it too good.
• 22:52
  Maybe they don't know any different.
• 22:54
  Yeah.
• 22:54
  I mean, that's the thing.
• 22:55
  Like, if you have never seen anything different
• 22:57
  than this country,
• 22:58
  and I think that's a problem in general
• 22:59
  because a lot of these people
• 23:01
  that hate this country
• 23:02
  because they say they hate the country,
• 23:04
  it's not just like,
• 23:04
  we're making it up.
• 23:05
  Like, they hate whatever,
• 23:07
  how it was founded.
• 23:08
  Everything is wrong about this country.
• 23:10
  Those people don't actually go outside.
• 23:13
  They don't live.
• 23:13
  They don't have experience in other countries
• 23:15
  where actually they can see how it functions.
• 23:18
  And probably they're rationalizing it in their mind anyway,
• 23:22
  because they're like, oh, but the other people are doing it bad
• 23:24
  because they don't know how to do it, because they are corrupt.
• 23:28
  But once we'll do it, it's going to be better.
• 23:32
  So I think there is a lot of bad.
• 23:34
  And unfortunately, it's also a lot of people that think about that.
• 23:37
  I'm thinking about the Mandani people, like people like Mandani.
• 23:40
  They're incompetent people too.
• 23:42
  It's people that don't even have experience.
• 23:44
  they never done anything in their life
• 23:46
  but they're like oh but if I
• 23:48
  in charge of government if I'm in charge
• 23:50
  of a company I would do it better
• 23:52
  yeah
• 23:53
  I like what you said because
• 23:56
  to be honest you know I think people
• 23:58
  hold politicians
• 24:00
  up on a pedestal
• 24:02
  they put them up on a pedestal too often
• 24:04
  and not even realizing they're just humans
• 24:06
  they're not doing anything any different than you and I could do
• 24:08
  and they're in position
• 24:10
  the position they're in because they just won a popularity
• 24:12
  contest not because they're necessarily good at what they do and and i think ma'am danny was a
• 24:17
  very good example of that like what did he do with his life i mean yeah that's the thing outside of
• 24:22
  campaign good i guess i don't know yeah i mean he didn't like beside what he was like an assembly
• 24:27
  member obviously for four years he passed only three bills so it didn't really do much he had a
• 24:34
  career as a rapper.
• 24:38
  Yeah, so he worked a few months
• 24:40
  here and there,
• 24:41
  like in advocacy
• 24:42
  and like some campaigns.
• 24:44
  Yeah, definitely,
• 24:45
  he never even did the job.
• 24:47
  Like he never even worked
• 24:48
  as a waiter
• 24:50
  or something like that
• 24:51
  because people think
• 24:52
  that he's the voice
• 24:53
  of the working class,
• 24:55
  the face of the working class.
• 24:56
  He's never had a real job
• 24:58
  like most people.
• 24:59
  Well, Sarah,
• 25:00
  that's the absurdity of it.
• 25:01
  That is the example
• 25:02
  that we were just talking about
• 25:03
  or at least the example I was trying to make,
• 25:05
  you have someone who came from a rich family,
• 25:07
  never had a real job,
• 25:09
  was handed everything to him.
• 25:10
  I mean, come on.
• 25:11
  If your parents are going to be good enough
• 25:13
  to fund your rap career,
• 25:14
  which you failed at from the beginning
• 25:16
  and never even got off the ground,
• 25:17
  and then suddenly you're this politician
• 25:20
  who's going to change the world
• 25:21
  and you hate capitalism
• 25:22
  and you hate the system
• 25:23
  and you want to introduce socialism into America.
• 25:27
  And this is true
• 25:27
  because I've already done many shows
• 25:30
  where I've discussed him
• 25:31
  And I have old video clips of him with the DSA where he's actually literally in the interview saying, my goal is to introduce socialism into America and basically destroy the system.
• 25:45
  Literally.
• 25:46
  Yeah.
• 25:46
  Yeah.
• 25:46
  I mean, that's the thing.
• 25:48
  People are just like, don't understand this.
• 25:50
  They're just rationalizing it in their mind.
• 25:53
  They just want to believe whatever they want to believe.
• 25:55
  A lot of people So but that the thing And that sad because I mean like a you gonna vote for someone that like we can also talk about like the individual policies that he offers first of
• 26:09
  all even if he was able to achieve those those are not the thing that can change the life of people
• 26:14
  like no like i i'm in la so i'm not his policy will not affect me whatever but i'm in a rent
• 26:21
  control apartment is like my apartment is already controlled so my my rent doesn't go up as much as
• 26:29
  other apartments so it's already protected so is it freezing the rent every year is going to change
• 26:36
  my life not completely not completely over there like it's a little different because half of the
• 26:43
  apartments are like rent stabilized so it's more units over there than here but still it's it it's
• 26:51
  already like there is already a cap to how much you can raise it and they're not going to be able
• 26:55
  to raise it as much as other apartments too free bus i take public transportation in la yes it's an
• 27:02
  expense but that's not not paying for the bus is not what's going to change my life having more
• 27:08
  opportunities actually and get better paid jobs that can also give you like a growth possible
• 27:15
  growth and everything. That's what it is. So yeah, you can also make better safety net,
• 27:21
  but at the end of the day, it's having the opportunities to actually find the job when
• 27:27
  you don't have one, better paid job. That's really what makes life, like better life for people.
• 27:34
  Yeah, but here's, again, let's go back to the ridiculousness of it all, Sarah.
• 27:39
  free buses, rent control, everything Mamdani is saying,
• 27:46
  he realizes can't happen without funding from somewhere.
• 27:49
  So regardless of whether or not you make transportation free
• 27:52
  or that you control rents, they have to be subsidized in some way.
• 27:57
  You can't…
• 27:58
  Oh, yeah.
• 27:58
  And he doesn't have the power to do a lot of that stuff.
• 28:00
  So I'm saying even if he could, it wouldn't really be that change
• 28:05
  that people think it is.
• 28:06
  He hasn't even taken office yet,
• 28:08
  And he's already making videos where he realizes, oh, I need more funding.
• 28:12
  Like, come on, man.
• 28:14
  And then the thing about rent control, like I get it, you know, because like you're in
• 28:20
  LA, San Francisco, for example, is absurd when it comes to rents.
• 28:23
  And there does, I get it needs to be, it needs to make sense.
• 28:27
  It absolutely should not outpace your income to the point that you have to work three or
• 28:31
  four jobs just to live.
• 28:33
  You know, and I just discussed this with my brother on another show we do where like the
• 28:36
  average cost of a house, like if you're going to buy in California and we take, for example,
• 28:41
  let's say an average income, I'm just going to throw this number like 70,000 a year. And I don't
• 28:45
  even know if that's the average, but that's the number we use. The average cost of a house is 12
• 28:50
  times the average salary. That is ridiculous. Why should it be 12 times your average salary?
• 28:56
  It's unattainable. How are you supposed to live? You're not going to be able to purchase.
• 29:00
  But what I'm going to say is this, if you're an owner of an apartment complex and you do have
• 29:05
  rent controls and your costs of ownership keep going up, but yet you can't recoup those costs,
• 29:11
  someone has to do something. So in general, what Mamdani doesn't understand, or maybe he does,
• 29:16
  he just doesn't want to say it, is that he's going to have to subsidize these owners of these
• 29:20
  buildings so that they can actually afford to keep them and upkeep them. You can't just tell
• 29:24
  them you can't recoup your costs. Yeah. And already they passed a law in 2019 that already
• 29:31
  caused a lot of issues, they're saying, about that.
• 29:34
  Because now before you could recoup,
• 29:37
  you could do more stuff to write off your expenses and everything.
• 29:42
  And so because of that, a lot of apartments,
• 29:44
  they need renovation,
• 29:46
  but because it's not convenient for the landlord to renovate them
• 29:49
  because they're going to just lose money.
• 29:50
  Because even if you renovate them,
• 29:52
  then it's still rent-stabilized,
• 29:54
  so they cannot charge you as much as they would want to
• 29:57
  for that renovated apartment.
• 29:59
  So they just don't renovate them.
• 30:01
  Because it's not convenient.
• 30:02
  So now you have a lot of apartments.
• 30:04
  I don't know if they were saying it was like maybe 50,000 apartments,
• 30:07
  that it could easily be fixed.
• 30:09
  But because it's not convenient for a landlord,
• 30:11
  because of all this regulation for the rent stabilization.
• 30:15
  So now you're creating another issue.
• 30:18
  But so that's the problem.
• 30:19
  It's okay.
• 30:20
  We can do something that is nice in the short term for people,
• 30:24
  which is like rent stabilization.
• 30:26
  But then are you sure you're not causing a bigger issue in the long term
• 30:30
  because yes, now you're saving maybe,
• 30:33
  I don't know how much it is for me
• 30:34
  when they increase their rent,
• 30:36
  it's like $50 or whatever.
• 30:39
  So, okay, now you're saving $50.
• 30:40
  I'm sure in New York might be like more,
• 30:42
  maybe it's $100, $150
• 30:43
  because they're so expensive.
• 30:45
  So now you're saving that money.
• 30:48
  But okay, now there is already a problem,
• 30:51
  like a crisis in New York
• 30:52
  with the amount of available units.
• 30:57
  So it's already a crisis
• 30:58
  because there are not enough units.
• 30:59
  so now your supply goes down and so in the long term like the prices are going to be crazier higher
• 31:08
  in all the other units so yeah like in the short term you might have like some benefit
• 31:14
  as for you as a person as an individual but then yeah as you're saying someone else needs to pay
• 31:19
  for everything else and that's going to be the government yeah need to bail out at this point
• 31:23
  the landlord and everything.
• 31:27
  But I think a lot of people don't really understand,
• 31:29
  a lot of like mom-diaming supporters
• 31:31
  don't really understand the economy in general,
• 31:36
  how the system works.
• 31:37
  Because even when they say tax the billionaires,
• 31:40
  they don't really understand how,
• 31:42
  like you cannot just like increase,
• 31:44
  even if you increase 1%,
• 31:45
  but the billionaires don't pay the taxes
• 31:46
  in the same way as people that are salaried.
• 31:50
  It's not W2 employees.
• 31:51
  so you're not going to increase anything for them and you don't have the power as a local official.
• 31:59
  Yeah, that's ridiculous too because, I mean, everyone likes to cry that billionaires don't
• 32:04
  pay enough. Well, I'm sorry, but 1% of 1 billion is a lot more than 1% of 40,000 or 50,000.
• 32:10
  That's what I say too. It's like you're still paying more than everybody else.
• 32:14
  And most billionaires, most of them, to keep their income, they have to have other sources.
• 32:21
  they have to keep that revenue stream going.
• 32:22
  So what do they do?
• 32:23
  They have businesses that do what?
• 32:24
  Employ people.
• 32:25
  And I've been an employer.
• 32:27
  I've had six businesses in my life.
• 32:28
  And I'll tell you right now,
• 32:29
  it doesn't just run itself.
• 32:31
  And it's not free.
• 32:33
  You know, you do have to pay a lot
• 32:35
  to keep things moving.
• 32:37
  So yeah, I think people just misconstrue the facts
• 32:42
  because all they know is they have so much angst,
• 32:46
  especially younger people, for example,
• 32:48
  because they don't feel they are
• 32:50
  where they need to be in life.
• 32:51
  They want to fast track everything.
• 32:52
  They just want the six figure salary, the big house, the dream job, everything.
• 32:58
  And that doesn't just happen.
• 33:00
  It takes a lot of time.
• 33:03
  It really does.
• 33:04
  But that's the difference.
• 33:05
  I see a lot of my friends, even here, maybe when they live in the house of their parents,
• 33:13
  the parents have a big house with the yard, with everything.
• 33:17
  They have their own individual bedroom.
• 33:19
  So, of course, if you then move to a big city and you're in the server, maybe you go to a big city, then you have to share an apartment.
• 33:26
  You have to make sacrifice.
• 33:27
  You have to live a very different lifestyle than what you're used to.
• 33:31
  So I think a lot of people, because of that, they have a lot of resentment towards society because they're like, oh, my parents were able to do it, but I cannot.
• 33:41
  So it must be politicians' fault.
• 33:43
  but I say also like I'm a millennial but my parents didn't live the same lifestyle that I'm
• 33:49
  living they never went out for dinner they never went on a vacation they would save and just stay
• 33:55
  home work the whole time now everybody is always going on vacations everybody's always eating
• 34:02
  outside so we're living a very different lifestyle than our parents were so even if the economy was
• 34:08
  better for them, but also the opportunities that we have. So my life is still very messy.
• 34:15
  My parents added like they started being more stable when they were young, but their life
• 34:20
  remained the same. So maybe I started like in a way that is messier. Maybe I didn't have the
• 34:25
  same opportunity to get base until my 30s. But by the time I will be 40 and 50, I will have way
• 34:32
  more opportunities than they ever did. So you have to put things into consideration how like
• 34:38
  perspective. Yeah. And here's, you know, here's the thing though. I'm going to be quite honest
• 34:45
  with you. Yes, it's harder. It is harder for the youth. I'm not going to lie. You know,
• 34:50
  things are crazy, but I'm going to also say this, and people don't want to hear this, but
• 34:55
  regardless of generation, we're all living through this in real time. I'm not in a position,
• 35:01
  I'm just talking about me, but most people are in a position right now where they can just go
• 35:05
  buy a $2 million house. You know, if you're looking at, if you're looking at the rates right
• 35:10
  now, if you're looking at the rates, mortgage rates, you're looking at the housing costs,
• 35:14
  there's two, there are two things that can't happen here that are making it hard for people.
• 35:18
  High mortgage rates and high cost of housing. Those two things can happen. Either cost of
• 35:24
  housing has to go down if you have a high mortgage, high interest rates or interest rates got to go
• 35:28
  down if your cost of housing goes up. The problem is they're both high. So there's really no way to
• 35:33
  really make it happen. And the banks right now, I mean, they're demanding, you know, you got
• 35:37
  $800,000 house. They want to see, I mean, think about it. You do 20% of that. I mean, you're
• 35:41
  looking at a few hundred thousand dollars more just to have a down payment that they would accept.
• 35:45
  And that's the demand, or at least that's a perception, right? So not everybody can afford
• 35:50
  to do these things, except maybe the ultra rich. And maybe that's why people feel the way they do.
• 35:54
  They're like, I can't get ahead, but this rich guy can, and that's not fair, but life isn't fair.
• 36:00
  It's just not, unfortunately.
• 36:02
  I mean, it's also like, to me,
• 36:04
  like I see here in Los Angeles,
• 36:06
  the apartments are pretty cheap built.
• 36:08
  So to me, it's ridiculous that they're so expensive
• 36:10
  when the material is very cheap.
• 36:13
  That's an issue too.
• 36:15
  Yeah, so that's where I was like,
• 36:16
  yeah, I'm going to spend $2 million for something
• 36:19
  that it can just be borrowed away or something.
• 36:22
  So there are issues.
• 36:23
  I'm not saying there are no issues.
• 36:25
  There are so many issues that should be fixed.
• 36:26
  There is, but let's talk about LA though,
• 36:28
  because you're talking about Mamdani.
• 36:30
  You were talking about socialism.
• 36:31
  You're talking about New York,
• 36:32
  but LA, Karen Bass.
• 36:33
  I mean, what's going on with that?
• 36:35
  She is, and I can confirm this,
• 36:37
  she is a communist.
• 36:41
  She literally is.
• 36:42
  She was part of a party that supported communism.
• 36:46
  She was part of all of that.
• 36:48
  And here she is in power as the mayor of LA.
• 36:53
  And she hasn't done much for the city.
• 36:56
  Not really.
• 36:57
  Do you think that maybe, you know,
• 36:59
  some of her communist or socialist leanings
• 37:02
  are part of the problem in terms of policy
• 37:04
  and how that whole city is being handled?
• 37:07
  Because honestly, I mean, homelessness is crazy.
• 37:11
  It's not getting fixed.
• 37:12
  And that's a combination of Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom,
• 37:14
  which we can get into if you'd like.
• 37:16
  You know, we have funds in California
• 37:19
  that were allotted or put aside for homelessness,
• 37:21
  but we don't even know where they're going.
• 37:22
  I mean, they always increase them.
• 37:23
  It's not about money.
• 37:24
  It's not about money.
• 37:25
  No, it's not about money.
• 37:26
  and we don't even know where the money went.
• 37:28
  You live in California,
• 37:29
  so that's why I'm bringing it out.
• 37:30
  I do too, by the way,
• 37:31
  so we're both in California.
• 37:32
  But Gavin Newsom doesn't even want to reveal
• 37:36
  where the money is that went to the homeless programs.
• 37:39
  And there's other things going on.
• 37:40
  You can't even audit it, apparently.
• 37:42
  So in your opinion, I mean, New York is bad.
• 37:45
  Yeah, it's going down the wrong track,
• 37:46
  but how soon will it be before LA, for example,
• 37:49
  elects their Mamdani?
• 37:51
  I mean, very soon,
• 37:53
  because I think like the DSA is like,
• 37:55
  now they have their perfect candidate in New York.
• 37:58
  So now they're going to just try to replicate that everywhere else.
• 38:01
  The only thing different in Los Angeles is that the mayor of Los Angeles city
• 38:06
  doesn't really have as much power.
• 38:08
  So I think like I was reading that also the DSA,
• 38:11
  because they were talking about,
• 38:12
  I was reading an article about DSA and Karen Bass,
• 38:16
  but I think here they were more interested about like city council
• 38:18
  and like maybe the supervisors.
• 38:22
  so it's a little different here it is it is but you also got to look at the fact that the mayor
• 38:28
  is the face right and that's a power i mean that's a position of influence and with influence there is
• 38:34
  power so yeah maybe maybe on the surface it doesn't look like it can do much but i mean if you're if
• 38:40
  you have someone who is always seen as the face of la for example and every day this person is
• 38:46
  pushing the narrative of socialism or going down the path thereof, then how hard is it
• 38:52
  to then be in a position where the people are going to vote the way that you telling them to vote or going to accept the programs that you want them to accept yeah i mean i don even hear that much about carambas like honestly like i feel like la is
• 39:08
  kind of like a city where like they don't people don't talk as much maybe she's hiding right now
• 39:14
  but it was it was very hot for a long time in fact i mean obviously there was the big issue
• 39:17
  when like there were the fires at the beginning of the year like i can't believe that it was
• 39:21
  the beginning of this year if it's like 10 years ago uh when there were the fires obviously and she
• 39:26
  was outside of the country.
• 39:29
  Yeah, her name still comes up.
• 39:31
  She is who she is regardless,
• 39:33
  but still what is happening in New York
• 39:35
  applies to LA.
• 39:36
  It applies to Chicago, for example.
• 39:39
  Wherever there is a Democratic
• 39:41
  or left-leaning stronghold,
• 39:43
  and it doesn't mean that all Democrats
• 39:44
  believe this way, by the way.
• 39:45
  I'm not saying that,
• 39:46
  but it seems like this movement
• 39:49
  of socialism,
• 39:50
  which I'm just going to call communism
• 39:52
  because that's where it's going to go.
• 39:53
  I mean, that's what's really going on.
• 39:56
  and it seems the left is more accepting of that for some reason.
• 40:00
  I don't know why.
• 40:01
  I don't know if you can explain to me why.
• 40:03
  I think the problem is the crisis within the Democratic Party
• 40:08
  is that there are these two wings within the Democratic Party,
• 40:12
  which is the moderate, the classical people from the Democratic Party,
• 40:20
  people like Chuck Schumer and everything.
• 40:22
  But then you have all this left wing.
• 40:25
  They are the ones.
• 40:26
  And the problem is that, I mean, a lot of young people, because I think they're against capitalism again, but also it's like it's what it is.
• 40:36
  Like these people, again, maybe it's the school they're teaching that or it's just like the pop culture or whatever it is.
• 40:45
  It's called to be very far left. So there could be so many reasons why that is.
• 40:49
  But so the young people now, they are big like voting bloc. And that's what happened in New York City, obviously. A lot of young people that didn't vote before, they went and they voted and they're all like very much left.
• 41:04
  So then the other part of the Democratic Party needs to pick their fight.
• 41:09
  Because at this point, you know, you have a loud amount of people.
• 41:14
  It's not the majority, obviously, but it's a very loud amount of people that they want the Democratic Party to go to the left.
• 41:25
  So because the Democratic Party right now hasn't won the election, obviously, so they're trying to survive.
• 41:31
  They are trying to be an alternative to Trump.
• 41:34
  But at the same time, I mean, it's the Gavin Newsom.
• 41:38
  Gavin Newsom is trying to be the person that is more center at this point, right?
• 41:44
  Well, he's a joke, in my opinion.
• 41:47
  Yeah, but that's where he's being more center because he's trying to propose.
• 41:51
  Because I'm also, locally, yeah, you can win an election being like DSA, far left,
• 41:58
  but you kind of win the country, obviously, because the country in general is more moderate.
• 42:01
  And even as a governor, it's more likely that you win as a moderate than if you're very far left.
• 42:07
  But local election.
• 42:09
  You do.
• 42:10
  Okay.
• 42:10
  Well, that may be true.
• 42:12
  We can say that the country is more moderate.
• 42:14
  I mean, I think the perception is more people might be moderate.
• 42:18
  But in the end, they vote either left or right.
• 42:21
  Nobody votes for an independent.
• 42:23
  Nobody really accepts a third party necessarily.
• 42:27
  It's either you're a Democrat or you're a Republican.
• 42:29
  And a lot of people look down the register and when they're looking to vote, they just go, I'm voting this way because I back Democrat or blue or I back red.
• 42:38
  What you're saying about the Democrat party is very true though.
• 42:40
  But listen, it's not just that they lost the election.
• 42:43
  They've been fractured for a very long time.
• 42:47
  Started with Obama.
• 42:48
  Okay.
• 42:49
  Obama, the darling of the Democrat party.
• 42:51
  But the reality is not everybody was lockstep with Obama.
• 42:55
  It started there.
• 42:56
  and ever since then it just slowly has disintegrated now let's talk about the right
• 43:03
  they have power at the moment perceived power but now we're seeing exactly what happens when
• 43:09
  the republicans gain power they're eating their own they're fighting each other just like just
• 43:13
  like in the documentary when we're talking about and what happened to andrew cuomo with with the
• 43:18
  democrat party the same thing is starting to happen within the republican party right now
• 43:22
  and so now we have two parties right now that are split it's almost like they should all just
• 43:28
  separate maybe we should have three or four separate parties because i believe like you
• 43:30
  should have four parties like not even not even the independent but for like the the socialists
• 43:36
  they should have the wrong party and not hijack the democratic party so you can have the democratic
• 43:42
  party that is like the center left the dsa can have the wrong party the working family party
• 43:49
  whatever they can create their own far left and then the same thing for the republican the
• 43:53
  republican should have like the conservative moderate and then you can have the far left too
• 43:57
  because yeah at this point i think the country doesn't really benefit from this because um
• 44:03
  no even even if you're like the governor like you like and part of your party tells you that
• 44:10
  you have to do more left policies when you're more center then you're fighting the whole time
• 44:15
  with everything.
• 44:17
  So I think it would be healthier.
• 44:19
  And the DSA, the socialists,
• 44:22
  they don't care about the Democratic Party.
• 44:25
  Like, to me, it was so bad.
• 44:28
  Like Mamdani,
• 44:29
  so he ran to be the face of the Democratic Party, right?
• 44:33
  He won the primary.
• 44:34
  And then on election night,
• 44:36
  he voted for himself,
• 44:37
  not as a Democratic Party candidate,
• 44:40
  as a working family party.
• 44:42
  So to me, that just represents
• 44:43
  how much disrespect you have for the party.
• 44:46
  And like, they gave you,
• 44:47
  like, they voted you
• 44:48
  for that as the face of the Democratic Party.
• 44:51
  And that's, you're going to slap them in the face
• 44:53
  by voting yourself to the other one?
• 44:55
  Yeah, but it's like,
• 44:57
  they backed him.
• 45:00
  And the only reason they did,
• 45:01
  look, we know that the DSA
• 45:03
  and the DNC don't align.
• 45:04
  We know Democrats don't align
• 45:06
  with socialists necessarily.
• 45:06
  They like some socialist policies,
• 45:08
  but they're not straight socialists,
• 45:10
  the Democrats, not at all.
• 45:11
  So the funny thing is,
• 45:12
  the only reason they got behind Ma'am Donnie
• 45:14
  is because he had the traction.
• 45:17
  He was getting fired.
• 45:18
  He was getting eyeballs, right?
• 45:20
  They absorbed him in.
• 45:21
  They supported him.
• 45:22
  But now that he's there,
• 45:24
  he's not getting the full support anymore.
• 45:26
  It's like, wait a minute.
• 45:27
  You guys back this guy.
• 45:28
  You put him here.
• 45:29
  And now you're trying to rein him in?
• 45:31
  I mean, they didn't really support him
• 45:33
  because a lot of people,
• 45:34
  they took time to actually endorse him
• 45:36
  even after he won the primary.
• 45:39
  And I think Kathy Ockel, the governor,
• 45:42
  like she eventually endorsed him
• 45:44
  but I think that was a very bad decision
• 45:46
  because next year there is the election for governor.
• 45:49
  And so a lot of people...
• 45:51
  I'm sorry, but I'm not trying to cut you off
• 45:54
  but listen, an endorsement is backing.
• 45:57
  An endorsement is you saying
• 45:58
  I back this person.
• 46:00
  I believe in this person.
• 46:01
  But originally she, like everybody was like
• 46:03
  trying to avoid to endorse him, the person.
• 46:07
  But now that she endorsed him
• 46:09
  a lot of people are pissed in New York
• 46:11
  because, okay, now they don't like socialism.
• 46:15
  Like 50% of the people voted against Mamdani in New York.
• 46:18
  He didn't win a big percentage.
• 46:20
  He barely made the cut in that sense.
• 46:23
  Well, good point.
• 46:23
  Do you think, though,
• 46:25
  do you think that maybe the Democrat Party
• 46:29
  felt that they could change him?
• 46:31
  Like they could turn him into what they wanted
• 46:33
  because he was a fresh new face?
• 46:35
  Do you think maybe they thought that that was possible?
• 46:37
  I don't think so.
• 46:37
  I think they're just trying to survive
• 46:39
  and they thought that was their best option.
• 46:41
  But again, you're trying to survive, hoping that he's going to save you when he just wants to destroy them.
• 46:48
  That's the thing, the DSA.
• 46:50
  And they were talking about eventually Mamdani didn't endorse Ossé.
• 46:57
  He wanted to run against another DSA candidate, was planning to run against Hakim Jeffries.
• 47:06
  But even Mamdani said, don't do it.
• 47:09
  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 47:09
  I remember, yeah.
• 47:10
  Even that, it's like, okay, now you're making it too obvious.
• 47:13
  But again, they're still going, challenging other people.
• 47:18
  Obviously, people that are not Israel.
• 47:20
  They're too Israel, not Palestine enough.
• 47:23
  They're like the DSA.
• 47:24
  They're all trying to primary all those people out.
• 47:28
  Can I ask you a question?
• 47:29
  Yeah.
• 47:30
  As someone who immigrated to this country and from Italy,
• 47:36
  what is your opinion on the polarization of American politics?
• 47:39
  i mean that that's pretty crazy like it's i mean it's in general like i think politics it's very
• 47:45
  polarizing nowadays but obviously here uh it's uh everything is very black and white here in this
• 47:52
  country in general the culture is very much that so and what you're saying also people that are
• 47:58
  voting blue just because they always voted blue red because they voted red instead of actually
• 48:03
  looking at the candidate. I think that's part of the problem too. It's about like not being able to
• 48:09
  accept the gray areas in this country. So now there is this polarization because obviously
• 48:14
  there is a lot of division. And that's also what I wanted to do with the documentary,
• 48:18
  just to force people to listen to what others are saying. Because you don't have to agree with
• 48:23
  everybody what they're saying, but just listen, just being able to have a conversation. And that's
• 48:29
  what's very scary for me here, that
• 48:30
  people are not even able to
• 48:33
  listen, or you're not even able to have
• 48:34
  your own opinion, because otherwise you're a fascist.
• 48:37
  Which, by the way,
• 48:38
  that's closer to fascism to
• 48:41
  me, when you're not even allowed to have your
• 48:42
  own opinion.
• 48:45
  It's a pretty crazy
• 48:46
  time, and I think also,
• 48:49
  again, a lot of people talk
• 48:51
  and they don't even understand the system, but they
• 48:52
  want to be against the system, they want to
• 48:54
  destroy the system, or they talk about
• 48:56
  we need to be more like Europe.
• 48:58
  yeah but you've never been to Europe
• 49:00
  but you don't exactly know how a thing works
• 49:02
  so you cannot just like cherry pick
• 49:04
  things and
• 49:06
  and yeah there are just
• 49:08
  like so many so many things
• 49:10
  obviously what's crazy though is
• 49:12
  we're polarized
• 49:14
  here very polarized but
• 49:16
  I mean reality life is great there's
• 49:18
  there's a lot of there's a lot of meeting in the middle
• 49:20
  you know every day you wake up
• 49:22
  go to work whatever you do you're
• 49:24
  compromising you're always meeting in the middle
• 49:26
  somewhere just to get through
• 49:27
  I don't understand why when it comes to politics, it's got to be so hard left, right?
• 49:32
  Like why are people in America, as maybe compared to other places, from your experience anyway,
• 49:38
  why do you think they gravitate to being such a hard left, right?
• 49:42
  It's always a yes, no.
• 49:43
  So binary.
• 49:44
  When in real life…
• 49:45
  It's very…
• 49:46
  It's funny because the people that are against binary, they're very binary people.
• 49:50
  Right.
• 49:51
  It's crazy.
• 49:52
  You know, we live in the grave.
• 49:53
  It is crazy.
• 49:54
  What is…
• 49:54
  Like, why do you think Americans are that way?
• 49:57
  I mean, it probably starts like in how your schools are set up, not to build critical thinking.
• 50:06
  They used to be.
• 50:07
  Yeah, they used to be.
• 50:08
  And I think also like, well, the educational system is very different.
• 50:14
  Like in Italy, like here you have a lot of, what do you call it?
• 50:18
  The multiple choice question.
• 50:20
  So you learn that every question has the right answer and the wrong answer.
• 50:25
  when like actually in Italy,
• 50:27
  we have a lot of like open questions
• 50:29
  and like we have oral,
• 50:31
  like even when you're like in middle school,
• 50:33
  you have oral questions.
• 50:35
  So you are in front of the class
• 50:36
  and the teacher asks you a question
• 50:38
  and like you have to figure out how to respond.
• 50:41
  So you'll learn more about the gray areas,
• 50:46
  I guess, to try to figure out.
• 50:48
  So I think that starts also in school,
• 50:51
  how you set the system.
• 50:53
  And so people just start thinking,
• 50:54
  okay, there is a right answer and the wrong answer.
• 50:57
  Well, I think the education system in America is horrible at the moment.
• 51:01
  And you're right.
• 51:02
  I mean, I remember at one time, I went to school anyway,
• 51:05
  and it could be just the schools, the teachers,
• 51:07
  but critical thinking was a thing.
• 51:09
  We did have open discussions.
• 51:11
  These days, I don't know what's going on.
• 51:13
  But let's go ahead and compare and contrast a bit.
• 51:16
  Well, not compare and contrast,
• 51:17
  but let's just talk about, as you're saying,
• 51:19
  the education system in Italy,
• 51:20
  how it is better because it does...
• 51:24
  lead you to think more, right? You have to think about your statements, what you're saying,
• 51:29
  your opinions versus in America, it's more like, here are your choices, pick one.
• 51:34
  Like you don't get to expand on it. It's also like a less specialized system in a way. Like,
• 51:40
  like here you learn the job and you do only that. Like even when you work in a company, right? Like
• 51:48
  they hire so many people for each position. So you just do your homework while in Italy,
• 51:54
  for a company, they try to hire the least amount of people,
• 51:57
  so then you end up having to do everything.
• 52:00
  That makes sense, yeah.
• 52:01
  But here's...
• 52:02
  Here's the question.
• 52:04
  Here's the question.
• 52:05
  All that being said about the educational systems,
• 52:07
  America versus Europe, whatever,
• 52:10
  why do people want to go to higher education institutions in America?
• 52:15
  There's so many foreigners, people or immigrants,
• 52:18
  people that want to come to learn at the universities in America.
• 52:23
  But why?
• 52:24
  If the education system is so horrible,
• 52:26
  why is higher education in America so sought after?
• 52:28
  um i mean i can tell you for that uh for my personal experience i came here and i studied
• 52:36
  business in a cheap school not the ones the not the fancy one that you have to get into that
• 52:42
  uh so i got a degree in business and i studied also like ucla extension so the school system in
• 52:50
  italy like elementary school through high school is amazing like i learned a lot of real stuff
• 52:57
  in there. And also, we get
• 52:59
  major. You can pick a major. So, I got
• 53:01
  a degree in electronics and telecommunications
• 53:04
  in high school. So, that's
• 53:05
  very different. So, yeah, I learned
• 53:07
  actually to make real electronic
• 53:09
  stuff.
• 53:11
  But then, university
• 53:13
  was very theoretical
• 53:15
  in Italy. So, then I went to engineering
• 53:17
  and to me, it was just like,
• 53:19
  what is this? I learned much
• 53:21
  more in high school than actually I did
• 53:23
  in university because university is very
• 53:25
  much about theory and not actually doing things where it should be the opposite.
• 53:30
  So here, until you go to high school, your system doesn't even teach you much, obviously.
• 53:36
  And then university, actually, then you learn more.
• 53:39
  So I enjoy university here in this country, for sure.
• 53:43
  It's a more practical mindset.
• 53:46
  Is it?
• 53:47
  Because it seems to be infiltrated with leftist think tanks that literally lead to people
• 53:52
  voting for socialism.
• 53:53
  Yeah.
• 53:53
  I mean, I've never been into those schools.
• 53:56
  Like, I hear people talking about that.
• 53:58
  I studied business, obviously, so that wasn't my experience because my school was more like
• 54:03
  international people.
• 54:05
  So it wasn't that type of teachers.
• 54:08
  And I think it probably, it's more like liberal arts, those kind of major.
• 54:12
  We probably get more like left-leaning.
• 54:15
  I mean, I come from like a communist region of Italy.
• 54:19
  Like, obviously.
• 54:20
  Oh, I know.
• 54:20
  Yeah.
• 54:21
  Yeah, like obviously Italy is not a communist country.
• 54:24
  No, but it definitely has an origin.
• 54:25
  It has a definite history.
• 54:27
  Yeah, obviously we have history.
• 54:29
  Obviously in each country, it's all different.
• 54:31
  But my region, I have a lot of people that are very much on the left.
• 54:36
  So for me, I was always mad in love with this country.
• 54:39
  So I can feel how people reacted to me being in love with this country over there.
• 54:45
  Because of course, even internationally, I mean, that's the thing.
• 54:48
  Like this country has a lot of enemies and there are a lot of people that are going to be very happy if this country goes down anyway.
• 54:56
  And probably it's because of success and people feel resentment more than anything else.
• 55:01
  So, but I'm not arguing with you, by the way.
• 55:03
  I'm really wanting your opinions based on someone who lived in a completely different country or a different system.
• 55:09
  But what I'm finding when we're talking about higher education, for example, in Italy is theoretical.
• 55:14
  Well, if we're talking about theoreticals and we're talking about a system here in the United States, as far as higher education comes or goes, everything's theoretical.
• 55:23
  Honestly, I mean, how do people, how is it that a university, we're just talking in the open.
• 55:30
  There's no right or wrong answer here, obviously.
• 55:31
  But how is it that it attracts, for example, higher education is considered to be that of only people of the left or of the Democratic Party?
• 55:41
  it's always been said that,
• 55:44
  in America anyway,
• 55:45
  people of the left are the educated
• 55:46
  and the people of the right are the idiots.
• 55:49
  And when it comes to the universities,
• 55:50
  professors tend to gravitate towards leftist thinking
• 55:53
  and they have conversations.
• 55:55
  So if you want to talk about theoreticals,
• 55:56
  if you're taking philosophy
• 55:57
  and you're taking all these other things
• 55:58
  like liberal arts, et cetera,
• 56:00
  the conversation always steers towards leftist thinking.
• 56:04
  And then, so who are behind most of protest?
• 56:06
  People from universities
• 56:08
  that are being trained and indoctrinated
• 56:10
  to think of the left.
• 56:12
  So while maybe your experience
• 56:14
  where you were learning,
• 56:16
  you know,
• 56:16
  about business,
• 56:18
  basically getting your degree
• 56:19
  in business,
• 56:20
  it's much more rigid.
• 56:21
  I mean, there isn't really
• 56:22
  much left thinking in businesses.
• 56:23
  It works or it doesn't.
• 56:25
  There's a system.
• 56:25
  And it's about business.
• 56:26
  Business is not the very
• 56:27
  left-leaning business, obviously.
• 56:28
  It can't be.
• 56:29
  I mean,
• 56:30
  if you try to apply
• 56:31
  those principles to business,
• 56:32
  you're going to fail, period.
• 56:34
  So,
• 56:35
  and that's what I find interesting
• 56:36
  because,
• 56:37
  you know,
• 56:38
  for example,
• 56:39
  So a lot of people from overseas, I would say anyway, find higher education America desirable,
• 56:46
  even though our education system from in elementary through high school is horrible, which is weird.
• 56:54
  And when you're talking about the Italian universities, for example, or higher education
• 56:58
  to Italy being theoretical and here more rigid, but then again, all we're doing is pushing people
• 57:04
  out of universities that are doing nothing but coming out with an idea of destroying America
• 57:10
  for some reason. It's not people like me that are pushing these ideas. So, it does raise the
• 57:18
  question, like, what's behind that? I mean, that's a very good question. I'm sure it's a
• 57:24
  very complicated answer. Of course it is. Yeah. I mean... Now we're getting theoretical.
• 57:29
  yeah i mean i mean people coming from other countries to this country to study university
• 57:37
  it's i mean that doesn't necessarily means because the school is better like also like when
• 57:44
  when like when you go even if you come just here to study and i know a lot of people that were
• 57:50
  studying with me they studied for one year they went back to their countries like the philippines
• 57:55
  Thailand. It means a lot in those countries that you studied in the U.S. Now, whether your school
• 58:00
  was good or not, it doesn't matter. But because you studied in this country, it looks cool for
• 58:06
  resumes. So, a lot of people are definitely just coming for that. I get it. But, I mean,
• 58:10
  why would you upend your life or uproot your life and spend all that money and come to America for
• 58:16
  that experience just to say, I did it? I mean, I get it. You have the experience.
• 58:20
  but there were i mean and a lot of people that first of all if you have if you come here to study
• 58:25
  you must have money you cannot just come here like even if you don't have like i didn't have
• 58:30
  personal money but you need a sponsor and like when you have to get a that's how i came to this
• 58:34
  country i got a student visa and so you have to prove that you have a sponsor who has a specific
• 58:41
  amount of money in their bank account so and that and you need to get the signature from the bank
• 58:46
  obviously to show that you can't just do like a self-attestation so you have to prove to this
• 58:50
  country to get a visa that you have enough money to pay for you so if someone also comes from like
• 58:57
  a country like india or like people might be poor the people that come here are not the poor ones
• 59:03
  obviously because in order to get the visa you need to prove that you have money to pay for that
• 59:09
  so so yeah i don't know if we're getting distracted here from the original yes and no
• 59:16
  No, I mean, it's all related.
• 59:17
  I mean, honestly, everything that we're talking about affects society.
• 59:21
  And then, you know, what you learn and what you come out of and what you are also skews
• 59:25
  or drives your view of politics and what policies you're going to vote on and what you're going
• 59:30
  to do.
• 59:31
  So I don't think we're getting off course necessarily because also now we're going down
• 59:35
  the other road to the other questions that I was going to ask when it came to immigration.
• 59:39
  He was an immigrant, for example.
• 59:41
  What do you think of the situation right now in America?
• 59:44
  what the sentiment when it comes to immigration i mean it's complicated because like it's it's not
• 59:50
  simple like i'm not like yet people on the left they're like okay everything is horrible we should
• 59:54
  have like some people say you should have open borders and people coming to these countries and
• 1:00:00
  immigrants like we all like look at like this is crazy like you should not have open borders no one
• 1:00:06
  should have open borders like you need to have a system and also when you are a legally immigrant
• 1:00:12
  that came here legally, like it's a lot of work that you have to do.
• 1:00:16
  It's a lot of like money that you end up spending that or whatever it is.
• 1:00:20
  And so you go through a very complex system because you believe that's the right way to do it.
• 1:00:26
  So when you hear like, oh, we should just allow anyone like illegally to come everything with no checks, no nothing.
• 1:00:34
  OK, that's for an immigrant.
• 1:00:36
  and also like the more
• 1:00:38
  the more like
• 1:00:40
  a situation like this you have
• 1:00:42
  or like people are coming illegally
• 1:00:44
  the more like obviously people
• 1:00:46
  like get mad at immigrants
• 1:00:48
  then it's not going to benefit me
• 1:00:50
  even if I'm a legally immigrant
• 1:00:51
  like I'm here legally
• 1:00:52
  like and the system is going to get worse
• 1:00:55
  for everybody
• 1:00:56
  and like I mean even now the H1BVs
• 1:00:59
  I mean that needed to be reformed anyway
• 1:01:01
  I don't believe Trump
• 1:01:03
  is the solution
• 1:01:05
  I'm not.
• 1:01:06
  I don't believe he's the solution for anything.
• 1:01:08
  But even the left, they never said anything about reforming the legal immigration that
• 1:01:13
  always needed that.
• 1:01:15
  So it was always a conversation about the illegals.
• 1:01:18
  So they undocumented it, however you want to call them.
• 1:01:22
  So that's the thing.
• 1:01:24
  Then, of course, then it's going to be worse for people like even people like me, because
• 1:01:28
  the system, like if you don't have a system in place, then people are not going to be
• 1:01:33
  happy with immigrants in general and then it's going to benefit no one so it's a complicated
• 1:01:39
  situation so i think i think the problem is i think the narratives in the media that are being
• 1:01:44
  driven is that america hates immigrants and that's not the truth um there's always this there's always
• 1:01:51
  the push for um not the push but the uh talking points of how you know conservatives hate immigrants
• 1:01:57
  or MAGA hates immigrants.
• 1:02:00
  And the reality is, no.
• 1:02:02
  They have no problem with legal immigration.
• 1:02:06
  And why, in your opinion,
• 1:02:08
  is it seen or looked down upon
• 1:02:10
  to enforce immigration laws
• 1:02:12
  for people who do enter illegally
• 1:02:14
  or take advantage of the system?
• 1:02:17
  I mean, that I never understood.
• 1:02:18
  Even when I tried to talk to,
• 1:02:20
  I mean, being in Los Angeles,
• 1:02:21
  a lot of my friends are very much on the left.
• 1:02:24
  I don't understand that mentality.
• 1:02:27
  Like you need to have enforcement,
• 1:02:29
  you need to have laws
• 1:02:30
  and not just be like,
• 1:02:31
  oh, whatever, well, you're here, whatever.
• 1:02:35
  So open borders,
• 1:02:36
  you don't believe they work?
• 1:02:39
  No, I mean, especially this country
• 1:02:40
  that has so many enemies.
• 1:02:42
  Like a lot of people want to have
• 1:02:44
  this country go down.
• 1:02:45
  I think it's very naive of these Americans
• 1:02:48
  to just believe let's have everybody
• 1:02:50
  because everybody is lovely.
• 1:02:51
  That's not the reality.
• 1:02:53
  Like, it's not the reality of the world.
• 1:02:55
  There are a lot of, like, as we were saying, good actors, bad actors.
• 1:02:59
  Is it just about people who hate America?
• 1:03:02
  Is that why we should not have open borders?
• 1:03:04
  Or is it about protecting our sovereignty as a nation?
• 1:03:07
  Because without borders, you really aren't a nation.
• 1:03:09
  You're not defined.
• 1:03:10
  I mean, that's a good question.
• 1:03:11
  It's interesting because coming from Italy, I always took a lot of things for granted.
• 1:03:18
  So now that I'm here in this country and I see how the conversation is different,
• 1:03:23
  about a lot of things So I always questioning everything And now I like oh okay should we have a closed border completely Should we have like I don have the answer at this point because I like okay yeah let talk about it
• 1:03:34
  Let's think about how much,
• 1:03:37
  obviously like I think immigrants are obviously,
• 1:03:40
  I'm an immigrant.
• 1:03:41
  So obviously I want the borders to be open enough
• 1:03:43
  so that people, all kinds of people come here,
• 1:03:46
  not just the rich ones, not just like it.
• 1:03:48
  That's the beauty of this country.
• 1:03:50
  And I think what you were saying,
• 1:03:51
  if you're an immigrant in Italy, France,
• 1:03:55
  you're not going to have such a good time
• 1:03:57
  as an immigrant in America.
• 1:03:59
  So when people say that like this country hates immigrants,
• 1:04:02
  yeah, of course, there is a lot of Americans,
• 1:04:05
  but I think on the left,
• 1:04:07
  they look down at immigrants all the time.
• 1:04:10
  But I think the people on the left do it all the time.
• 1:04:12
  So I think when people on the left want to say,
• 1:04:16
  let's do these policies,
• 1:04:18
  it's just because you make them feel good about themselves,
• 1:04:20
  more actually doing something that works for society.
• 1:04:24
  And I think the problem is really narcissism of people
• 1:04:27
  that is the problem more than actually.
• 1:04:29
  Do you think that's what it is?
• 1:04:30
  I think that's what it is.
• 1:04:32
  Because you see, like even for someone that I'm tech,
• 1:04:35
  I'm not on the left, I'm more in the center, I guess.
• 1:04:38
  When I talk to people,
• 1:04:39
  like people are not interested in having that conversation
• 1:04:42
  or like questioning things.
• 1:04:44
  So I think they just like believe,
• 1:04:45
  okay, if I believe this, I'm a good person.
• 1:04:48
  If I believe that, if I question that,
• 1:04:50
  I'm a bad person.
• 1:04:51
  And so no one wants to be a bad person.
• 1:04:53
  So I'm going to just say this,
• 1:04:55
  whether I believe it or not.
• 1:04:57
  So the problem I see too, though,
• 1:04:59
  is when it comes to immigration,
• 1:05:02
  okay, let's just say this.
• 1:05:04
  If you have an opinion on it
• 1:05:05
  and you believe that we should control our borders,
• 1:05:07
  you're called a racist or a xenophobe.
• 1:05:10
  That seems to be the words they sling around
• 1:05:13
  and people don't want to be labeled
• 1:05:15
  a racist or xenophobe.
• 1:05:16
  now how's that contrast for example to how immigration is looked at and handled in Italy
• 1:05:25
  like I mean how is it over there compared to here there is much less integration in Italy
• 1:05:31
  for immigrants like even there we have a lot of conversations obviously about because
• 1:05:36
  even there there are not many controls the government but in general like it's the far
• 1:05:42
  West in some ways over there, because like even like the police is really not protecting.
• 1:05:48
  There is crime that always keeps going up in general, not just immigrants.
• 1:05:52
  It's in general.
• 1:05:53
  There is a kind of like a lawless system in Italy.
• 1:05:56
  So things are way more structured here.
• 1:05:59
  And even if we complain about Los Angeles, New York, it's so much better than actually
• 1:06:05
  it is in cities in Italy, because like that's the thing, like they don't even try to get
• 1:06:09
  people to respect the law.
• 1:06:10
  So a lot of people are mad at immigration too because of that situation.
• 1:06:15
  Like here you have people coming like crossing the border from Mexico.
• 1:06:19
  We have people coming from with a boat over there situation.
• 1:06:24
  Then so there is a lot of, it causes a lot of division, obviously,
• 1:06:27
  because there are people that want to regulate that.
• 1:06:30
  And other people that are like, oh, they're just running away.
• 1:06:33
  Let's just be nice and do that.
• 1:06:37
  But that again causes more division between people in the country.
• 1:06:40
  instead of like like it's obvious that there should be a system for everybody so you know who
• 1:06:45
  they are you know what they're doing uh giving visas whatever visa you want to give to these
• 1:06:50
  people there has to be a system to account for people and what it is so and again countries like
• 1:06:58
  italy it's it's way more difficult to integrate as an immigrant than it is for someone here in
• 1:07:04
  this country like here like i i have friends that they're all americans and i have friends that are
• 1:07:09
  from the left i have friends that are trump supporters and so like it's yeah it's it's very
• 1:07:17
  easier way easier here than actually if you're an immigrant in other countries so i was reading the
• 1:07:23
  dsa website and i was reading this thing i was saying that immigrants live in an upper side state
• 1:07:29
  in the united states and like what upper side state what are you talking about okay
• 1:07:36
  Okay. Well, look, here's the thing. I don't disagree with you. Look, I have no problem with
• 1:07:42
  people looking for opportunity. The problem we have in America so far that people are seeing is
• 1:07:46
  we have people coming in, creating their own sub-communities, not trying to integrate into
• 1:07:51
  American culture. And I think that's what people are getting upset about. That plus they're heavily
• 1:07:56
  subsidized by taxpayer money. And then it's like, hold on, I'm working. And then this person's
• 1:08:01
  getting free healthcare, free housing, free phones. And I'm sure you have your opinion on that,
• 1:08:05
  but this is all facts.
• 1:08:06
  You can look it up.
• 1:08:07
  It's not hidden.
• 1:08:08
  You can go to any government,
• 1:08:09
  organization, website,
• 1:08:11
  anybody who's tracking stuff
• 1:08:12
  and you will find
• 1:08:12
  this information to be true.
• 1:08:15
  But this raises another
• 1:08:17
  interesting question
• 1:08:18
  and I don't know
• 1:08:19
  how you feel about it,
• 1:08:20
  but are all cultures compatible?
• 1:08:24
  Should we accept everyone
• 1:08:25
  from everywhere?
• 1:08:28
  I've been thinking about that a lot.
• 1:08:30
  I don't have an answer, obviously.
• 1:08:32
  I think in every culture,
• 1:08:34
  there are amazing people.
• 1:08:35
  But obviously, but every situation is different.
• 1:08:41
  And I don't disagree that this country needs to do what's best for this country and for its people first.
• 1:08:49
  So obviously, it's not as simple as being like, like, obviously, I want opportunity to be available for immigrants.
• 1:08:57
  I'm an immigrant. I'm not going to benefit from like if this country like close its borders.
• 1:09:01
  But at the same time, should definitely prioritize what's best for this country and not best for other countries.
• 1:09:10
  So, and this country is very generous.
• 1:09:12
  Yes, taking people that are running away from tough situations like war and everything.
• 1:09:18
  But I mean, yeah, I mean, even as an immigrant, it's like you like I see I see a lot of people that want to take advantage of this country just for their own purpose.
• 1:09:32
  And maybe they're good immigrants, too.
• 1:09:34
  Obviously, I'm talking about.
• 1:09:35
  But but even that, like it pisses me off.
• 1:09:38
  Like I know some people that they got there because not many people want to get the proper procedure to get the visa.
• 1:09:46
  so I know even some people that they could have applied for a visa like my like work visa like
• 1:09:52
  mine and everything but because it's so inconvenient to do this process because even there you like you
• 1:09:58
  spend a lot of time money just to qualify for work visa you the money is not even for the government
• 1:10:05
  the money is more for the lawyer that you need to hire to actually get the process and then you get
• 1:10:10
  a temporary visa like like mine where like you have it for like three years and you can only do
• 1:10:15
  certain jobs so if for any reason then you cannot find a job like with some some visa maybe you have
• 1:10:21
  to go home other visa you can still stay you can work freelance all visas are different but I know
• 1:10:27
  so many people that prefer to skip that process because if you just marry your friend then you
• 1:10:33
  don't have to worry about that you can just get the right to to work any kind of job and you get
• 1:10:38
  the citizenship in like two years.
• 1:10:41
  So you can be married to someone for two years for free,
• 1:10:45
  like a friend, and then divorce in two years.
• 1:10:48
  And then you got the citizenship.
• 1:10:49
  For me, I've been in this country for 10 years
• 1:10:52
  and I'm still not even close to becoming a citizen
• 1:10:56
  because I'm doing the right path.
• 1:10:57
  My friend, okay.
• 1:10:59
  So I just want you to understand where I'm coming from too.
• 1:11:01
  My father was an immigrant.
• 1:11:03
  He came from the Azores and he came here when he was seven.
• 1:11:07
  His father brought him here.
• 1:11:08
  So on my dad's side, we're all immigrants.
• 1:11:12
  And all of my friends, most of my friends, a lot of them in the industries I'm in anyway,
• 1:11:16
  I have a lot of friends from Mexico.
• 1:11:18
  They're families from Mexico.
• 1:11:19
  And one that always comes to mind is, I won't say his name because of reasons, but anyway,
• 1:11:24
  very successful.
• 1:11:26
  He came here young, had to come here.
• 1:11:28
  Family brought him here for his grandfather.
• 1:11:30
  And he went through school.
• 1:11:33
  He worked with me when just out of high school, to be honest.
• 1:11:35
  And he put his nose to the books.
• 1:11:38
  He went to university, came out with a computer science degree, and he works for a utility
• 1:11:44
  company now, doing stuff in the background.
• 1:11:47
  Very successful.
• 1:11:49
  And he finally got a citizenship this year, actually.
• 1:11:52
  And it took him a long time.
• 1:11:55
  And you're right.
• 1:11:55
  The money, the lawyers, it's ridiculous.
• 1:11:58
  But there's one thing I can say about the American system.
• 1:12:00
  It's like, it does need to be reformed.
• 1:12:02
  It shouldn't be as backlogged.
• 1:12:03
  It shouldn't take as long.
• 1:12:05
  You shouldn't have to jump through as many hoops.
• 1:12:06
  But he stuck it out.
• 1:12:08
  and he's trying to bring his wife over here
• 1:12:09
  and they're on a waiting list.
• 1:12:11
  And even the consulate in Mexico,
• 1:12:13
  it's like they're on a waiting list.
• 1:12:14
  He has to wait till next year
• 1:12:15
  to even see someone there.
• 1:12:17
  And it's just ridiculous how hard it is.
• 1:12:19
  So I can get the frustration for sure.
• 1:12:22
  I do.
• 1:12:24
  It's unfortunately the system we have to go through
• 1:12:26
  and I respect anybody who comes here
• 1:12:28
  looking for a better life,
• 1:12:29
  looking for opportunity.
• 1:12:29
  But I got to say,
• 1:12:32
  you still have to understand the country to live in,
• 1:12:34
  integrate into the society and contribute.
• 1:12:36
  I mean, I don't understand people
• 1:12:37
  that are saying like,
• 1:12:38
  oh, simulation is bad.
• 1:12:40
  Like, I know people
• 1:12:42
  that also like,
• 1:12:43
  they come to this country
• 1:12:44
  even from Italy
• 1:12:45
  that obviously like,
• 1:12:45
  we're not a third world country.
• 1:12:47
  But like even there,
• 1:12:49
  like my friend of mine,
• 1:12:50
  he got,
• 1:12:51
  became a citizen
• 1:12:51
  and then he doesn't even speak English.
• 1:12:54
  And so like,
• 1:12:55
  that's not right.
• 1:12:56
  Like, of course it should be,
• 1:12:58
  of course.
• 1:12:59
  But I'll say in turn,
• 1:13:00
  Americans are really bad
• 1:13:01
  about learning other languages there.
• 1:13:02
  Yeah, but you're not like,
• 1:13:04
  but if you go to France,
• 1:13:05
  you're going to have to learn that.
• 1:13:07
  You better.
• 1:13:07
  ridiculous that Americans would have to say, oh, you don't have to learn the language when you live
• 1:13:11
  here. Like, obviously, and you have to assimilate, obviously. And I don't like when people put
• 1:13:16
  themselves like they just go out with the people from their own country. So I never understood
• 1:13:21
  those kind of immigrants either. So I, and, and again, it shouldn't be like, okay, you're racist
• 1:13:28
  just because you're bringing the point. So that's where I disagree a lot with people. Like you can
• 1:13:33
  have all the different opinions. I don't have the truth about anything. I have a lot of questions,
• 1:13:38
  but you cannot just label someone names just because they're asking a question. Honestly,
• 1:13:43
  that's where I agree. I mean, you and I agree about that. I, I, I find it interesting. I, I,
• 1:13:48
  I like what you had to say, but even if I didn't, it doesn't matter. You gave me your opinion based
• 1:13:52
  on your experiences and that's all I can ask for. Um, so let's, let's circle back to something
• 1:13:58
  though. Let's switch this back up because
• 1:14:00
  I did
• 1:14:02
  not forget. I want to ask you
• 1:14:04
  about your statement.
• 1:14:07
  Why
• 1:14:07
  it is seen that
• 1:14:10
  a woman can do no wrong
• 1:14:11
  and can accuse somebody of something
• 1:14:14
  and it's just that we just believe a woman.
• 1:14:16
  Destroying someone's career or their life
• 1:14:18
  just based on their accusation of what they say.
• 1:14:20
  What do you mean by that? What were
• 1:14:22
  you getting at when you brought
• 1:14:24
  that up a couple times in the beginning?
• 1:14:26
  So,
• 1:14:27
  What is your opinion on that?
• 1:14:29
  Where are you coming from?
• 1:14:31
  I mean, in general, I believe you should be able to question everything.
• 1:14:34
  The only way to get to the truth of something or to have a good system,
• 1:14:37
  you should be able to question everything,
• 1:14:39
  whether it's an accusation by a woman or whether it's something else.
• 1:14:44
  So, I mean, again, there are good people and bad people.
• 1:14:47
  So there will always be someone taking advantage of any system Doesn matter if you a man if you a woman a citizen or an immigrant or whatever there is always someone is going to take advantage of the system the only way is to to make a good society is to have a system in place where like you can
• 1:15:04
  make sure that everybody okay you're making an accusation we're going to investigate on that
• 1:15:08
  that's and you need due process everybody deserves due process so if a woman makes an accusation
• 1:15:13
  she should have the opportunity to prove that what she's saying is true.
• 1:15:19
  But at the same time, even the other person deserves to have due process
• 1:15:23
  so that the other person doesn't become a criminal just because you said so.
• 1:15:27
  And again, we need to put everything also into perspective.
• 1:15:30
  Even if you're saying, okay, this person made me uncomfortable
• 1:15:34
  because he asked me a personal question,
• 1:15:37
  asking personal questions is not a crime.
• 1:15:40
  So you should not have to risk your livelihood.
• 1:15:42
  You should not risk your life or your reputation in public life
• 1:15:47
  just because someone said that you make them uncomfortable.
• 1:15:51
  So I'm just like a fan of having a system in place and questioning things.
• 1:15:59
  Fair.
• 1:16:00
  It seems these days, though, that it started with the Me Too movement
• 1:16:05
  that it has become weaponized.
• 1:16:09
  Yeah.
• 1:16:10
  It has become a tool to destroy another person.
• 1:16:13
  And in this country, we've always felt a certain way about a woman.
• 1:16:17
  Like the dynamic man and woman.
• 1:16:20
  It's like, you know, for so long, women didn't have as many rights as men.
• 1:16:23
  And I finally got to the point where women can earn the same money, get the same positions.
• 1:16:27
  They could vote.
• 1:16:28
  And I think the country probably still has a soft spot.
• 1:16:32
  Or not a soft spot.
• 1:16:33
  For maybe feel guilty about the fact that women were mistreated to a degree in the past.
• 1:16:39
  and so now it's like
• 1:16:40
  you know women can never speak up
• 1:16:43
  before now they can and then
• 1:16:45
  we want to just right away
• 1:16:47
  hey you know what we know men can be horrible
• 1:16:49
  we got to believe this woman because
• 1:16:51
  these things happen and we've
• 1:16:53
  never never believed them before
• 1:16:55
  but at some point it became a
• 1:16:57
  weapon how do we get
• 1:16:59
  around that because even if you're investigating look
• 1:17:01
  if you're in a courtroom and you see a woman crying
• 1:17:03
  you're in America crying they're
• 1:17:05
  bawling their eyes out they look beautiful and let's
• 1:17:07
  just not negate the fact that your look has a certain thing to do with it as well. If you're
• 1:17:13
  a beautiful woman, you're going to be more accepting or more accepted, more believable,
• 1:17:17
  et cetera. Everything's going to go in your favor when it comes to that situation. They're going to
• 1:17:22
  look at the guy and go, this pig, look what he did. So how do we combat that? Even if we can
• 1:17:28
  investigate it properly, how can that be combated? And I'm not talking down about women. I'm just
• 1:17:36
  trying to talk about this topic because what you said is right. It's like a lot of times
• 1:17:40
  they can just throw an accusation out a woman, for example, not everyone, but they could throw
• 1:17:45
  an accusation out there. And it's like, before even questioning the other person is guilty before
• 1:17:50
  proven innocent, it's like they like right away, you're the bad person. You're fired.
• 1:17:55
  You're, you're, um, you're looked down on your, your socially, you socially become a pariah right
• 1:18:01
  out the gate before anyone asks you your side of the story. So how do we combat that? I mean,
• 1:18:07
  it's even worse than that because like even Cuomo, he's been fighting for his process for like years.
• 1:18:12
  Still today, he's still in lawsuits and two of his accusers, what was that?
• 1:18:21
  Yeah, like one of his accusers, so she sued him and she was in litigation with him for two years
• 1:18:28
  and like the week before she was supposed to be deposed on the rolls,
• 1:18:33
  she dropped the lawsuit against him right when she was supposed to answer the question.
• 1:18:38
  So what should you believe about that?
• 1:18:40
  Like, is that like because you were trying to avoid answering questions?
• 1:18:45
  But at this point, because he countersue her at this point,
• 1:18:48
  like he's, I don't know if he actually started the thing, the process,
• 1:18:53
  or he just like sent a notification that he would actually...
• 1:18:56
  I don't recall.
• 1:18:57
  Yeah.
• 1:18:58
  I mean, I think it's just not clear.
• 1:18:59
  But so again, because now he's suitor, people are like, oh, you're a horrible human being
• 1:19:04
  because you're suing a woman.
• 1:19:06
  So you're traumatized one time, you're traumatizing again.
• 1:19:09
  So there is no way for him to prove that he's innocent because people decided that that
• 1:19:15
  is he's guilty no matter what.
• 1:19:18
  And so whether if a lot of investigations were dropped for people in the public opinion,
• 1:19:25
  it's not enough.
• 1:19:26
  it's not enough.
• 1:19:27
  Even though the investigation was dropped,
• 1:19:29
  it's like, oh, well, I guess the problem
• 1:19:31
  is that the system is built wrong.
• 1:19:33
  Yeah, but damage has been done.
• 1:19:35
  The damage is still done,
• 1:19:36
  but people are not willing to change their opinion.
• 1:19:38
  I mean, even if someone's not convicted
• 1:19:40
  in a case like this, right?
• 1:19:42
  Let's say someone throws the case out.
• 1:19:44
  The fact that you were accused
• 1:19:45
  and you had to go through that,
• 1:19:47
  it stays with you.
• 1:19:48
  It doesn't go away.
• 1:19:49
  Oh, yeah.
• 1:19:50
  Yeah.
• 1:19:51
  But that's the point.
• 1:19:52
  That's where people just want to thank black and white.
• 1:19:54
  I think it's just safe for them to be in that mentality that the word works in a specific way.
• 1:20:01
  And especially in this situation, people want to believe that he's the bad guy because he's a white politician.
• 1:20:08
  Kind of white because he's Italian.
• 1:20:10
  But I always say like, but...
• 1:20:14
  You can say it.
• 1:20:15
  But that's the thing.
• 1:20:17
  It's like people want to believe this kind of like word.
• 1:20:22
  We're like, okay, every immigrant here is going to be a good person.
• 1:20:26
  So it's not possible that there are like bad people.
• 1:20:28
  Every politician is bad because he's corrupt.
• 1:20:33
  And every woman is good person.
• 1:20:36
  It's like if you actually live real life and meet a lot of people,
• 1:20:40
  you eventually start seeing those shades, I guess.
• 1:20:44
  It's crazy because they say justice is blind, but it's clearly in this case, there's no equality in justice.
• 1:20:51
  Yeah.
• 1:20:52
  Yeah.
• 1:20:53
  And I'm like, I don't know exactly how you fix that problem.
• 1:20:56
  And a lot of people, like obviously in this country, there is a lot of guilt towards your past.
• 1:21:01
  So even like dealing with racism, it's hard to have a real conversation because obviously people just want to feel guilty about the past.
• 1:21:11
  And of course, the past was terrible.
• 1:21:12
  but then you're so focused on living in the past that then you're hijacking your future and like
• 1:21:19
  people take decision who they support as politicians based on guilt based on whatever
• 1:21:25
  like it's going back to karen bass too a lot of people would have not have voted for caruso at the
• 1:21:31
  time because he's a white politician from that background but maybe he would have done a better
• 1:21:37
  job for the fires.
• 1:21:40
  In the 10 years
• 1:21:41
  you've been here,
• 1:21:43
  since you brought up racism,
• 1:21:45
  do you think that is a real
• 1:21:47
  thing in America or is that something
• 1:21:49
  driven by the media?
• 1:21:52
  I mean, racism
• 1:21:53
  is a real thing, but
• 1:21:55
  people here,
• 1:21:57
  I think that's what I'm saying
• 1:21:59
  in the left. People
• 1:22:01
  want the problem to exist
• 1:22:03
  so they can
• 1:22:05
  validate themselves so they have a like something to do with their life to it gives them meaning
• 1:22:13
  the fact that they are fighting for racism the fact they are fighting for immigrants it's not
• 1:22:19
  it's they i don't think they really care necessarily about obviously i'm generalizing
• 1:22:25
  but obviously i see a lot of people that they want to believe in like they need to feel meaning
• 1:22:33
  in their life and so having this some something evil to fight for so i i don't know if the people
• 1:22:41
  on the left would be able to even fight the racism that there is because i think it's kind of
• 1:22:46
  convenient for them to have that kind of like it's the the revolution that someone said it perfectly
• 1:22:53
  i don't remember who it was but that some people want to be in a forever revolution because it gives
• 1:22:58
  the meaning. So obviously there is racism, but at the same time, I think people are exaggerating
• 1:23:06
  in the situations very often. Is it always racism though? Like if we're going to have the
• 1:23:12
  conversation, like you said, a lot of people don't want to have these conversations. Is it
• 1:23:15
  really always racism? If you're describing a certain people group or the way they are,
• 1:23:22
  is it racist all the time? Oh no. I mean like that cultural appropriation thing,
• 1:23:27
  I, as an immigrant, I hate when people talk about, oh, you cannot do this.
• 1:23:31
  You cannot say that because it's cultural appropriation.
• 1:23:34
  I'm really against that.
• 1:23:36
  And, but yeah, I mean, now I forgot what I was about to say, but.
• 1:23:43
  Sorry.
• 1:23:45
  But yeah, it's.
• 1:23:47
  You were talking about how it's like we're in a forever war when it came to racism.
• 1:23:51
  Like they want to be in this perpetual forever.
• 1:23:55
  Forever revolution.
• 1:23:56
  Yes.
• 1:23:56
  Yes.
• 1:23:57
  Yeah. I mean, like I've seen, like, even like now, like, that's the thing.
• 1:24:02
  I don't believe people, I don't take what people say at face value because I think, again, people just say whatever they think you want to hear for some.
• 1:24:10
  So I try to really get to know people in general and see where they come from, what they mean and everything.
• 1:24:18
  So I just don't take everything.
• 1:24:20
  But even now there were the protests against the No Kings protest.
• 1:24:26
  And I see a lot of people in my life that are very much on the left.
• 1:24:29
  And so there were all this situation, like Trump was doing policies against immigrants.
• 1:24:36
  And I'm an immigrant and they know I'm on a visa.
• 1:24:38
  How many people do you think even ask me, how am I doing?
• 1:24:42
  Right.
• 1:24:43
  No one.
• 1:24:45
  That's where it makes me question.
• 1:24:46
  It's like, okay, they're all supporting the protest.
• 1:24:52
  They're all donating money to charity.
• 1:24:54
  They want to speak with you before asking you how you feel about the situation, right?
• 1:25:00
  Yeah.
• 1:25:00
  I mean, they have an immigrant around them and they really cared about me,
• 1:25:06
  but they didn't even ask me, how am I doing?
• 1:25:08
  What my visa situation is?
• 1:25:10
  None of them.
• 1:25:11
  Zero.
• 1:25:12
  Zero people.
• 1:25:12
  And I keep seeing like notification donating on Instagram to organizations pro-immigration.
• 1:25:18
  They didn't even ask me a question.
• 1:25:20
  So that's where I am.
• 1:25:24
  That's where like I'm very like I'm going to say I'm a broken soul because, yeah, I mean, I see if you really care about immigrants, first of all, you should care about the ones in your life first before actually like showing off on social media how much you care or whatever it is.
• 1:25:41
  And I'm not saying that.
• 1:25:42
  I'm not seeing that from the people on the left.
• 1:25:45
  So it seems always very much about the performance.
• 1:25:48
  And so, yeah, I'm a broken soul.
• 1:25:51
  I don't trust anyone.
• 1:25:53
  It's fine.
• 1:25:53
  I think you spoke to one thing that is wrong with America, and that's people are self-absorbed.
• 1:25:59
  And they're chasing the idea of being a famous, popular person, whether that's through social media as an influencer or within their own little circle.
• 1:26:10
  But I find lately these days that not as many people care as they make themselves out to care or say they say they do It become a very cold society I think It not what it used to be and that unfortunate
• 1:26:25
  When it comes to immigration, look, I want everybody to succeed.
• 1:26:28
  I don't care.
• 1:26:29
  I personally don't care if you want to come to this country.
• 1:26:31
  I just say, we're going to come to this country, live in the country, respect the country,
• 1:26:35
  and basically integrate.
• 1:26:37
  I expect the same myself.
• 1:26:39
  If I decided, look, I'm done with America or I want to go live somewhere else, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that I'm supporting that nation.
• 1:26:48
  Wherever I am, I'm going to respect it.
• 1:26:49
  We're respecting the rules and respecting everything.
• 1:26:52
  Whether you like the rule or not, you're supposed to follow the rules and the process.
• 1:26:57
  Well, what I don't understand is how can you say you're running?
• 1:27:00
  How can you say you're a refugee and you're looking for something better to come here and create exactly what it is you were running from?
• 1:27:09
  Yeah, I don't think it's the immigrants that want the socialism.
• 1:27:13
  I think it's very much the American people who have never lived abroad.
• 1:27:18
  Because, yeah, if you're an immigrant, it's very unlikely that...
• 1:27:23
  I mean, depending on which countries you're coming from.
• 1:27:26
  Obviously, if you're coming from France, it's a different thing than if you're coming from Venezuela, obviously.
• 1:27:30
  But I think that's very much American left that they think they want to build socialism.
• 1:27:37
  And again, a lot of people...
• 1:27:39
  People, the average person,
• 1:27:41
  they understand that they have to work
• 1:27:43
  for having a better life.
• 1:27:45
  They don't think it should be given for free
• 1:27:47
  by the government.
• 1:27:49
  And people understand it.
• 1:27:51
  What's your warning to America then?
• 1:27:54
  As someone who's speaking
• 1:27:56
  pretty plainly against socialism,
• 1:27:58
  what's your warning?
• 1:27:59
  What are you going to say to everybody
• 1:28:00
  as an immigrant,
• 1:28:01
  someone who's lived in a country
• 1:28:02
  who had a history
• 1:28:03
  of communism and socialist policies?
• 1:28:05
  I mean, I wouldn't say that
• 1:28:06
  my country's history.
• 1:28:09
  it's like it's it's it doesn't work it's like strong safety net but i wouldn't say it's a
• 1:28:14
  socialist or communist though no i'm talking about his past that could had its it had its time
• 1:28:19
  you know where america never experienced it really right yeah i mean we also had fascism we had all
• 1:28:24
  those kind of things really so i mean i mean i think it's just like people need to question
• 1:28:32
  that that's the point of my documentary too like i'm not here to give you the answer because i don't
• 1:28:37
  have all the answer but it's really about giving people to question things and don't just accept
• 1:28:44
  what people are saying or like but sarah after doing your documentary do you question yourself
• 1:28:51
  i've been questioning myself all my life i mean because that's where i'm like now i'm questioning
• 1:28:58
  myself even more i'm just like i don't have the answer for anything because like yeah i saw how
• 1:29:06
  things were done in Italy.
• 1:29:07
  So when you were born in a country,
• 1:29:10
  you just see that's all you know.
• 1:29:12
  That's all you know what you see there.
• 1:29:14
  And so it's very like,
• 1:29:16
  but when you go to other countries,
• 1:29:17
  you start questioning everything
• 1:29:19
  that you actually learned.
• 1:29:21
  I very much liked your approach,
• 1:29:23
  your documentary.
• 1:29:24
  I did.
• 1:29:25
  I liked how you presented it
• 1:29:26
  fairly unbiased,
• 1:29:28
  at least from my perspective.
• 1:29:29
  You know,
• 1:29:30
  and I would encourage people
• 1:29:32
  to watch it for sure.
• 1:29:34
  My question for you,
• 1:29:36
  Because it sounds like you're here to stay in America and you really love American politics.
• 1:29:42
  And look, it's fun.
• 1:29:43
  It's entertaining.
• 1:29:43
  But at the same time, there is a real question about the future of America, especially as
• 1:29:49
  we're approaching 2028.
• 1:29:50
  Look, once Trump is done, he's done.
• 1:29:51
  He's out, right?
• 1:29:52
  Last term.
• 1:29:53
  We don't know what we're going to look forward to.
• 1:29:55
  So for you as a documentarian, someone who's trying to get down to the bottom of things
• 1:29:58
  and really expose the truth, or at least let people have access to the truth, right?
• 1:30:04
  what's next for you?
• 1:30:07
  What's your next project?
• 1:30:08
  What are you working on?
• 1:30:10
  I know you have to have something else
• 1:30:11
  that you were probably like,
• 1:30:13
  look, I need to dive into this next topic
• 1:30:15
  or this next thing.
• 1:30:17
  What is it for you next?
• 1:30:18
  What do you think?
• 1:30:19
  I mean, I'm very stuck with New York politics
• 1:30:22
  at this point of my life.
• 1:30:24
  So yeah, New York,
• 1:30:25
  like my heart is there.
• 1:30:26
  Especially now, right?
• 1:30:26
  Especially now, yeah.
• 1:30:28
  So I mean, I'm still dealing with this project.
• 1:30:31
  I'm still in debt from this.
• 1:30:32
  so I'm not really planning my future anytime soon.
• 1:30:36
  So it's hard to say, but it's a mini-series now,
• 1:30:41
  so I could always do a second season
• 1:30:43
  and just expand to different topics or anything.
• 1:30:46
  So we'll see what's in the future.
• 1:30:48
  But obviously, there is more in this country.
• 1:30:51
  Obviously, yeah, the division is not getting better.
• 1:30:55
  All the issues are not getting better.
• 1:30:57
  And again, I think people need to question more,
• 1:31:00
  think more, accept other people more, listen to what other people are saying instead of like
• 1:31:05
  putting themselves in a vacuum. So I think you have a lot of talk, like, for example,
• 1:31:10
  if you just stay down the road, you are, you know, this is what New Yorkers say, for example,
• 1:31:13
  and you do a second season, it's easy to keep going. You know, I mean, look, Andrew Cuomo's
• 1:31:19
  situation done. Now, now we're talking about what's going on with Mount Donnie, what's going
• 1:31:22
  on with the acceptance of socialism, what's happening with the way people perceive immigration
• 1:31:27
  and immigrants,
• 1:31:28
  I mean, there's so much
• 1:31:29
  to talk about.
• 1:31:29
  I mean, you could definitely,
• 1:31:31
  I mean, this could be
• 1:31:31
  an ongoing thing for you,
• 1:31:32
  for sure.
• 1:31:33
  Yeah, definitely.
• 1:31:34
  Yeah, I'm not doing
• 1:31:34
  a documentary
• 1:31:35
  in a positive light
• 1:31:36
  about Mandani.
• 1:31:37
  That's not happening.
• 1:31:39
  I know some friends are like,
• 1:31:40
  oh, you should make
• 1:31:40
  a second season about Mandani.
• 1:31:42
  No, I'm stuck in with Cuomo.
• 1:31:43
  Thank you.
• 1:31:44
  Very much.
• 1:31:46
  Stuck with him.
• 1:31:47
  And I'm like,
• 1:31:47
  I'm not doing anything
• 1:31:48
  positive about Mandani,
• 1:31:50
  for sure.
• 1:31:51
  Well, maybe you should,
• 1:31:51
  maybe you should expose
• 1:31:52
  Mandani for what he is anyway.
• 1:31:54
  Maybe that could be
• 1:31:55
  another project of yours.
• 1:31:56
  Yeah, hopefully.
• 1:31:56
  he'll expose himself soon
• 1:31:58
  eventually
• 1:31:58
  I think he already has
• 1:31:59
  you know
• 1:32:00
  we're going to wrap up soon
• 1:32:01
  but I
• 1:32:01
  I never asked you
• 1:32:03
  because when you talk about
• 1:32:04
  Mamdani
• 1:32:04
  what did you think
• 1:32:05
  what did you think of that
• 1:32:06
  interaction between
• 1:32:07
  Trump and Mamdani
• 1:32:08
  in the White House
• 1:32:09
  I mean I
• 1:32:09
  it was so bad
• 1:32:11
  like honestly
• 1:32:12
  like it looked to me
• 1:32:13
  he looked so bad
• 1:32:14
  for Mamdani
• 1:32:14
  honestly
• 1:32:15
  like I've seen a lot of people
• 1:32:16
  having different opinion
• 1:32:17
  about it
• 1:32:18
  but he looked like
• 1:32:19
  he was Trump's intern
• 1:32:21
  that's what he looked like
• 1:32:22
  to me
• 1:32:23
  like
• 1:32:23
  yeah like he looked like
• 1:32:24
  his son or anything
• 1:32:25
  so
• 1:32:26
  So, like, I don't know.
• 1:32:29
  Like, I can see Trump's strategy, obviously.
• 1:32:32
  Yeah.
• 1:32:33
  He had to show that he was, like, good with him,
• 1:32:36
  that he was not a crazy person.
• 1:32:37
  And I think people overestimate.
• 1:32:40
  Like, they always think bad things about Trump,
• 1:32:43
  that they think he's crazy.
• 1:32:44
  He does everything bad.
• 1:32:45
  But when you actually see the full video,
• 1:32:47
  you see a different picture, honestly.
• 1:32:49
  He's not as crazy and irrational as sometimes.
• 1:32:53
  What I saw was, you know, a lot of good opinion, like you said, where Mamdani made fun of Trump and, you know, showed Trump to be the idiot he is.
• 1:33:02
  But reality is, is he made the statement, hey, we're here to see you succeed.
• 1:33:06
  We're here to support you.
• 1:33:08
  Well, now Mamdani's stuck.
• 1:33:09
  He's in a position that he has to move forward with his crazy ideas and policies.
• 1:33:15
  And if it fails, Trump could go, hey, we were there for you.
• 1:33:18
  Yeah, yeah.
• 1:33:18
  Like he cannot blame Trump.
• 1:33:19
  But also, it was funny because Mandani was acting as if he would fight Trump here and there.
• 1:33:25
  The reality is, first of all, you're the mayor of New York City.
• 1:33:30
  You need the president.
• 1:33:31
  And anyway, whoever is the president, you need to work with that person to get things done.
• 1:33:36
  Because you need funding from state, from the federal government, and everything.
• 1:33:42
  So he needs Trump more than Trump needs Mandani anyway.
• 1:33:45
  but that proved that he was all
• 1:33:48
  like barking and not being
• 1:33:50
  the real threat
• 1:33:52
  that he kept promising he would be
• 1:33:54
  so I think it was embarrassing for his people
• 1:33:56
  I don't think Mamdani honestly
• 1:33:58
  expected to win
• 1:34:00
  I think he just wanted to disrupt
• 1:34:02
  things I think that
• 1:34:04
  I don't think he really
• 1:34:06
  thought he would win because when he won
• 1:34:08
  I don't
• 1:34:10
  believe that he really believed it himself
• 1:34:12
  yet and here he is realizing
• 1:34:14
  oh wait
• 1:34:15
  I got this position of power here
• 1:34:18
  that's going to affect people.
• 1:34:19
  And I'm trying to get them to accept my socialist ideas
• 1:34:22
  and at the same time,
• 1:34:24
  trying to figure out how to make them work
• 1:34:27
  in our system of government.
• 1:34:30
  And I think he's stuck.
• 1:34:32
  I think it's the old saying,
• 1:34:34
  like sink or swim, right?
• 1:34:35
  Yeah, I didn't perceive that.
• 1:34:37
  I think he thought he would win
• 1:34:39
  and because he has all the support
• 1:34:40
  of the network of the DSA.
• 1:34:42
  I don't think he did in the beginning.
• 1:34:43
  To me, Trump was more that in 2016.
• 1:34:45
  to me, Trump was like,
• 1:34:47
  oh my gosh, I won.
• 1:34:48
  I didn't believe I would win.
• 1:34:50
  That one, I believe.
• 1:34:51
  Yeah, I can agree on that one.
• 1:34:52
  I don't know if he believed
• 1:34:53
  he was going to win,
• 1:34:54
  but he was just doing it
• 1:34:56
  out of spite in the beginning for sure.
• 1:34:57
  But again, I'm going to go back to Mamdani.
• 1:34:59
  I don't know if the play was him
• 1:35:01
  thinking he was going to win.
• 1:35:02
  I think once he picked up momentum,
• 1:35:03
  he leaned into it,
• 1:35:04
  but I don't think in the beginning
• 1:35:05
  he thought that's what was going to happen.
• 1:35:08
  But it did.
• 1:35:09
  And like you said,
• 1:35:10
  now they have a roadmap
• 1:35:11
  of how to push another socialist candidate
• 1:35:13
  somewhere else.
• 1:35:14
  you know
• 1:35:15
  so
• 1:35:16
  let's
• 1:35:17
  let's wrap up
• 1:35:18
  Sarah
• 1:35:19
  it's been a while
• 1:35:19
  but
• 1:35:20
  I know it's dark here
• 1:35:22
  it's like the lights
• 1:35:22
  kept going down
• 1:35:23
  it's like it was
• 1:35:25
  daytime before
• 1:35:26
  well that's
• 1:35:26
  that's what happens
• 1:35:27
  you get to talking
• 1:35:28
  look it's like you said
• 1:35:28
  in the beginning
• 1:35:29
  I love having these
• 1:35:31
  long conversations
• 1:35:31
  with people
• 1:35:33
  because you get to see
• 1:35:34
  who you are
• 1:35:34
  honestly
• 1:35:35
  and I think you're
• 1:35:36
  you're great
• 1:35:37
  I like what you're doing
• 1:35:38
  I don't even know
• 1:35:40
  if you're a Democrat
• 1:35:41
  I don't know
• 1:35:41
  you see more modern
• 1:35:42
  I don't even know anymore
• 1:35:43
  I say I'm in the center.
• 1:35:46
  I think there are good policies on each side.
• 1:35:49
  But yeah, at least I can see this.
• 1:35:52
  It sounds like you're someone who's always going to come at things with an informed perspective.
• 1:35:56
  And that's exactly what we need.
• 1:35:58
  You question things.
• 1:35:59
  I think what you're presenting in your documentary challenges people to see it the same way.
• 1:36:04
  Not see it your way, but basically see it to the degree that I can't just accept the narrative or the headline.
• 1:36:10
  I have to think past it.
• 1:36:12
  I have to think critically.
• 1:36:13
  And I think that is,
• 1:36:14
  we need more of that.
• 1:36:15
  So that's why I was asking,
• 1:36:16
  like, look, what's next?
• 1:36:17
  Are you gonna do something else?
• 1:36:18
  And whatever you decide to do,
• 1:36:20
  I think people should check it out.
• 1:36:21
  I think they should support you.
• 1:36:23
  Tell everybody about your website,
• 1:36:25
  where they could find you,
• 1:36:26
  everything.
• 1:36:26
  I mean,
• 1:36:27
  if they want to check out my documentary,
• 1:36:29
  it's now on Apple TV.
• 1:36:32
  It's on Tubi.
• 1:36:33
  It's on Google Play,
• 1:36:35
  YouTube,
• 1:36:35
  and Zoom.
• 1:36:37
  And so you can just go to
• 1:36:38
  thisiswhthenewyorkerssay.com.
• 1:36:40
  And that's the website
• 1:36:41
  where there is the information
• 1:36:42
  you can find the link to watch it there.
• 1:36:45
  You can read more about me.
• 1:36:45
  You can follow me on social media.
• 1:36:47
  And yeah, just write me.
• 1:36:49
  Let me know what you think about the documentary.
• 1:36:51
  I'm always interested in hearing what people think about that.
• 1:36:55
  Yeah, I feel that we can keep talking.
• 1:36:57
  So we'll have to schedule something again because...
• 1:37:00
  Yeah, anytime.
• 1:37:00
  I think it'd be great.
• 1:37:02
  All right.
• 1:37:03
  I appreciate your time.
• 1:37:04
  And I encourage everybody to watch your documentary
• 1:37:07
  and support your work.
• 1:37:08
  I really do.
• 1:37:09
  Thank you.
• 1:37:12
  Kind redemption, honesty is a one way gate to hell
• 1:37:42
  Thank you.