January 5, 2026 • 25 mins
The best coverage of the session (and what it all means to Floridians) is right here and our expert, Sal Nuzzo of Consumers Defense, gave us a preview.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
And we begin the third hour. I was telling Jose
everything just seems right in the world when we're back
on the air, doesn't it. I mean, it's just the
birds are singing a little more loudly, the sun shines
a little bit more crisply. It just everything just it's
just a deep breath. I know, I know what you're feeling.
(00:25):
I just everything felt out of sync, even though I
was loving my time with my family and my wife
and I had a wonderful getaway. We'll talk about that
later in the week. It just we're back.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It's a great Drake White song. If you ever all
would be right with the world. Yeah, if beer and
fried chicken didn't, you know, try their best to kill me,
all would be right with the world. Okay, I've never
heard that song.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Oh, great song, familiar voice of Salnuzo from Consumer's Defense
with us.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Good Christmas holiday, Great to be with you, great holidays. Also,
really glad to be back, and kind of gearing up.
We've got about a week before the session begins. Lots
of stuff going on, not just in Florida but nationwide.
This is going to be a crazy midterm cycle. But
where're you looking forward to?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
It would it be overstating it to say this is
a critical midterm election. I don't think it would be
an overstatement. I think we buy and large have overused
certain terms in the electoral process. One of them is
the most important election of our lifetime. I think it's
(01:35):
every cycle critical election. I definitely think it is a
benchmark election in a critical way for the direction in
particular of the conservative movement in.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
The United States. A lot has happened, just even in
the last several weeks since our last time together, that
are kind of exposing the internal debates and dialogues among
different factions.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
In the movement.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
What about inside the state of Florida, Well, you've got
this question of what will the governor's final year look like?
In terms of policy dynamics. It's not an overstatement that
the governor is arguably the single most successful and accomplished
(02:23):
executive of a state in a conservative direction in our
lifetime just policy when I would agree, So what does
that last year look like? What does he do after?
And how do those kind of factions internally of this
kind of quote unquote pro DeSantis faction versus the ones
(02:45):
who have been kind of more of the traditional Trump
Maga crowd and those do those riffs continue or expand
or do they come together in the in the electoral process.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Give us it's a snapshot in a couple minutes of
the governor and the Lieutenant governor, the different cabinet officers.
What the last few weeks have been like.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Sure, so you've got a lot, especially in the cfo's
spot blazing. Golia has continued to kind of be the
John the Baptizer sort of out in the counties, pointing
out the direction that local governments in particular have gone
with respect to revenue. And he is doing his best
(03:31):
to lead the way for Governor DeSantis coming down the
pike and trying to push for that elimination of homesteaded
property taxes, which would have to go on the ballot.
And we've talked about that initiative over several months and
that's going to continue because you don't necessarily have the
legislature with him on this completely.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
What about the attorney general age.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
If you are in the business of the of the
corporate woke agenda, or you're in kind of the child
sex abuse, you better leave the stay. It is just
that man is singularly focused it seems on a couple
of different big items. One is going after people who
(04:16):
threaten or harm children, and if you are involved in
the corporate woke kind of agenda, you're gonna hear from
him very quickly.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Lastly, the Lieutenant Governor, Jay Collins, very visible, came on
this show almost every other week for a while. It
seems like things are quieting down.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
We still have not had an announcement one way or another.
When he has publicly been asked about it, the Lieutenant
Governor has been a bit cagy. He asked about running
for governor. Well, an announcement maybe coming in the near future.
Announcement will be coming in the near AEO never teases
out what specifically that might be. It is the big question.
(04:58):
But every day that passed is kind of makes it
more and more challenging to mount a real financial campaign
that's going to be required to take on Byron Donald.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Now, many of you know that we have relied on
the Heritage Foundation for years for experts on a wide
range of topics, and that may or may not change
as things changed, I mean things just you know, there
are times that our guest list evolves and we drop
(05:41):
guests and we pick up others and we are introduced
to new people. But there has been if you have
not known a seismic shift at Heritage Foundation, and Sal
I know that you for your involvement with the James
Madison Institute now with Consumers Defense, you have a lot
of intersection with Heritage. Tell our listeners what happened broadly,
(06:05):
and then go as deep as you want in your
analysis of it.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, sure, because I do think it does have an
impact on the direction of the conservative movement nationally and
in Florida. What's kind of happened in full disclosure. As
you mentioned, I have done quite a bit of work
with Heritage over the years. I continue to do quite
a bit of work with Heritage on our various issues.
Heritage Foundation is massive. It is a one hundred million
(06:29):
dollar a year operation run by Kevin Roberts, who, prior
to his role here was the head of the Texas
Public Policy Foundation, which you mentioned JMI. JMI is the
Florida version of TPPF. So what happened mechanically was Tucker
(06:50):
Carlson did an interview on whatever platform he does his
interviews to a gentleman by the name of Nick Fuentes, which,
if you're not familiar, Nick is a rabbit anti Semite
is kind of just a miscreant, a misguided youth, but
has a massive following. Tucker gave him what many called
(07:14):
a softball interview and an amplified Nick's message. Tucker has
a longstanding connection with Heritage, going back to when I
think he started as an intern when he was young,
has known Kevin for a long time. Kevin released in
a video from Heritage where he not only didn't disavow
(07:38):
Nick Fuentes in the interview, but actually praised Tucker in
a sense for having it. Now, as you might imagine,
if you have any kind of a love for Israel
or you are fighting anti Semitism in the United States,
this is going to be a problem.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Well, I wrote Heritage Foundation, and I wrote Therapy our people.
I said, until I get some better understanding what's going on,
I'm cutting off Heritage.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
And it started out with things like that in a trickle,
and then Kevin in Heritage, or at least Kevin, sort
of doubled down. They tried to clean up a little
bit of the mess and the drama that was transpiring
on Twitter and X and doubled down in some other respects.
As a result, you had a number of board members
(08:26):
from Heritage who resigned, some scholars resigned, and then last
week it was kind of like, well, the roller coaster
may have kind of ridden its course, he might have
ridden out the drama. Well, last week, an entire section
of the Heritage Foundation. It was the ed Mese Center.
Yeah that's big, Yeah, named after Ronald Reagan's attorney general,
(08:48):
who had been a longtime Heritage supporter board member. The
whole bit, that whole section departed en mass like twelve individuals,
including a couple of senior members for another think tank.
They departed and planted their flag at the it's Advancing
American Freedom, which is Mike Pence's think tank, And that
(09:12):
created another wave of all of this. And so you
had two senior members not in that center, one Hans
von Spakowsky, who's on your show all the time, they
also resigned. They didn't go to Advancing American Freedom, but
they're going to land somewhere. And this really does expose
(09:33):
kind of this debate that's popped up, and it's been
over the last three to four years in the conservative movement,
and you've got on one side what you would describe
probably as old Guard establishment, the very pro Israel in
many respects pro interventionists globally grew up in the Reagan years,
(09:53):
fought and beat communism, global War on Terror, the whole bit.
And then you have this new faction that's a evolved
sometimes it had been called alt right, and then it
kind of got some other monikers, generally younger, not exclusively male,
but definitely a majority. They've used social media as an
organizing tool. They're far more isolationists in nature. They're not
(10:17):
a fan of intervention. They're not a huge fan of
everything Israel does. Are they a fan of a Nick Fuentes? Yes,
And that is this this movement. They are embracing various
pieces of people like Nick Fuentes and others, and the
old Guards see that in you know, it's like they
(10:39):
want no part of that. And so there's this big fisher.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Right now. Sal Nuzo with us from Consumers Defense, we're
talking about the blow up at Heritage Foundation. I think
it matters. I think it matters a lot.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
But does it Yes, absolutely, this matters for the future
of the conservative movement, for conservative policy and for conservative principles,
and because Heritage is more than fifty years old and
they have been kind of the apex organization for so long.
(11:19):
Like I mentioned in a prior segment, they're more than
one hundred million dollar a year operation. They carried a
brand identity as the flag bearer for conservative principles in
policy in the United States.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
From my chair, which is not nearly as detailed in
an involvement with Heritage and its policies as yours. I
looked at Heritage as being above the fray. They were
just you know, more idealistic and expressing it in here's
why we hold these views, Here's what the Constitution says
(11:55):
about it. You figured out from their type thing and
not getting into the eats when they start working in
where I think Tucker Carlson has gone wrong. I feel
like they've lowered themselves into an area that they just
have always been above.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
And there is an argument to be made that you know,
Tucker interviewed Nick Fuentt as not at the Heritage Foundation.
He did it on his own show in his capacity
as a private person, and had Kevin Roberts and Heritage
not come out with a video either way, if they
had just done nothing. Would all of this have happened
(12:35):
in the way and transpired in the way that it did,
And I don't know that it would have which kind
of brings you into you would have we would have
thought that there might have been a better crisis management
plan laid out here. But with that in mind, I
think Heritage is absolutely going to continue to be a
(12:59):
may your player in policy. Yes, this is a bit
of a realignment of keep enough money. Oh gosh, yeah, yeah, yeah,
I mean they well, they have new leadership. Now there
is a big question now the leadership of Heritage. Kevin
serves at the pleasure of the board, and as board
(13:21):
members have been rolling off, they will appoint new board
members and Kevin will play a role in that. And
so I like a little bit of the dust has
got to settle in terms of waiting and seeing how
the board composition looks.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
I see cracker Barrel in their future. I see them
rolling people onto that board then that are going to
align with Kevin's view of things. And I'm not sure
it's going to work out well long term, but we'll see. Yeah,
it's certainly a possibility. All right, we got a minute
left in this segment. Because we ran long in the
last one. So what does this all mean to Florida.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Well, you know, as I expressed to you a bit
off air, you know, this kind of exposes kind of
the JD. Vance new right conservative mission and principles versus
the kind of Reagan Revolution, Mike Pence and kind of
establishment that's going to have a face in Florida as
(14:17):
we continue to move forward, not just in twenty twenty six,
but also looking into who really becomes the standard bearer
for the conservative movement for twenty twenty eight, and you've
got folks saying whether it should be JD. Vance or
Marco Rubio. And then back to the question, what does
(14:39):
the future look like for Ronda Santis after twenty twenty
seven when he leaves the governor's mansion. He's only forty six,
forty seven somewhere in that realm. See, young man, he's
got a lifetime ahead of him.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
With Sal Newso of Consumers Defense here on the Morning Show. So,
the legislative session starts a week from tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, it begins on January thirteenth. A week from tomorrow,
lasts sixty days, or so they tell us. At least
at this point, one requirement, as we say often pass
a balanced budget. I believe we were one of forty
eight or forty nine states that have them in the Constitution.
But there will be a couple of thousand bills filed.
(15:23):
There are particular processes and procedures and timelines that will
go over next week as we begin diving into this,
but the one that is relevant for this week is
January seventh is the bill filing deadline for the House,
So all non appropriations bills. If you're a member, you
(15:44):
get six or seven slots to file bills that are
not appropriations projects January seventh. This week is well is
that tomorrow, no Wednesday. Wednesday is your deadline for getting
that filed.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
What are the big questions?
Speaker 2 (16:00):
There are several, and I was kind of spending some
time kind of unpacking where are we going to go
over these eight weeks as we gather together on Mondays
and begin analyzing this, and so first off is what
does the relationship dynamic look like? After twenty twenty five
there was a lot of raw emotion, a lot of
(16:23):
political emotion spent up and we all saw it play out,
even if you weren't paying attention to legislative affairs. It's
something that got a lot of national headlines. What does
it look like this coming year compared to last year?
What I said earlier? Second, what is the governor thinking
(16:46):
post twenty twenty six, post his eight year term and
how does that translate into what he does politically and
legislatively this session? And just as one example, the governor
has been big on a push to do property tax
elimination for homesteaded properties. He's been calling for that to
(17:07):
be tackled in a special session. How does that look
and does he try to push for it in the
regular session because he's not as confident they'll do it
in a special So something there. Third, what does the
House do, in particular the House with Hope Florida? In
(17:27):
twenty twenty five, you had Alexandrade chairing a committee that
really dove in and investigated some of the concerns that
he had there. What does that continue to look like
in this upcoming session?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Do you think Hope goes beyond the dessantus?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
It's a great question. I think if it does, it
would have to be really reengineered in a way that
I think is that's going to be a function of
of the incoming administration in the governor's office, working with
the incoming leadership in the House and sentive to try
(18:07):
and make sense of the maza spaghetti that it's created.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
I think it's a wonderful idea that needs some significant refinement.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yeah, and again in full disclosure, I've got some tentacles
not just professionally but personally into some of our safety
net programs in the House, in the state rather and
so I can speak to yes if hope Florida I
think is going to become something that other states really
(18:35):
want to emulate. And I think the intent is there.
There does need to be some kind of figuring out
of how it plugs into a lot of these other
what does your intuition tell.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
You are going to be other significant issues.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
They've got to deal with a few, in particular the
property tax issue, which we've been talking about, artificial intelligence
a couple of months ago. We spent almost an entire
hour or talking about that. You've got healthcare that's going
to be the House Speaker's big priority. And if there
is a word that will be coined as the word
(19:10):
of the year for twenty twenty six, it will be affordability.
That's nationally, they're going to have to figure out what
their role is in things like housing costs and the
continuing trends in the insurance market, education, the threats from
foreign adversaries, and how the state kind of takes a
leadership role in combating that, which we've been doing. So
(19:32):
those are some of the big, big buckets that I
think we're going to see some action in.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
I asked you in the break, do lawmakers have to
define affordability before they start talking legislatively about it?
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Well, I think it is an amazing question. The answer
is absolutely. But I would also contend that they've got
to define a bunch of these buckets better in order
to make the sale in serch certain areas, and so,
for example, on the affordability issue. It was something I
mentioned to you offline. One of the challenges that we
(20:08):
face is the professional left. The advocacy class that has
been built up over the last twenty five years by
folks like George Soros and others, has created this kind
of advocacy class where they do this for a living.
Republicans and Conservatives, we're managing the economy, we're building businesses,
(20:33):
they're innovating, they're you know, they're so messaging is not
always the primary focus when conservatives enter a policy debate,
and it needs to be. And so, yes, defining affordability,
defining artificial intelligence is going to be a big issue.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Well, I was going to ask, perfect segue the president's
executive order on states not being allowed to do X,
y and Z as it relates to AI. What does
that do? Now?
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Well, honestly, there's an element of nobody really knows the
force of specifics within some of these executive orders and
whether or not abiding or not abiding. And this goes
to really I hate to kind of throw the patriotic
flag on but really the beauty of the framers when
(21:28):
the system works according to the way that they designed it,
which is, Congress passes the laws, the House of Representatives
starts all the appropriations and budgeting pieces, the president's duties
are clearly defined here, and nobody strays off of their lane.
It works well, It works better than any other system
(21:49):
of governance that history has seen. However, it's not completely
the case that an executive order should have the weight
of policy on other states, and so there's going to
be some figuring out on.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
This when it comes to the affordability issue. Obviously the
big one there is housing. Yeah, what can the legislature
do about it?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Well, a number of things. One is they've got they've
got carrots and sticks at their disposal, and those are
going to be in the forms of and I know
there in some years the words incentives have gotten a
bad rap, but I want us to think about this broadly,
not just like tax incentives, but incentives to getting smaller,
(22:36):
more affordable homes profitable with in development spaces, because that
is one of the big challenges where if a developer
has a bunch of space and the most profitable homes
are going to be eight hundred thousand and above, that's
a challenge. So how do you create this? And you
do this by zoning, by land use law, all of
(23:00):
these things that local governments have been kind of going
crazy with over the last couple of generations to establish
a whole lot of obstacles to actually getting smaller, more
affordable homes built. Those are the types of things where
the legislature can and likely will play a role in
(23:20):
how local governments kind of manage the types of homes
that are the most profitable to get built.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
I think too often people assume affordability means cheap, and
affordability to me is we have to recognize that a
builder must make a profit because that's how a market
system works. And you create that by creating a marketplace,
you create enough housing so that pricing can become more appropriate.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, Ultimately, at the end of the day, housing is
an economic good like anything else it is. It is
something that's going to be subject to the laws of
apply and demand. Now, over a period of twenty five years,
the state did a lot of things. Right. What they
got a little bit crazy with, mainly at the local level,
(24:11):
is managed development. And so they created a whole ton
of land use restrictions and zoning laws and all of
these things, mainly at the local level, which restricted the
supply of smaller, more affordable, less expensive homes being built.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Now, which is mismanaged development.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Which is mismanaged development. Now you've got hundreds of thousands
of people, maybe even a couple million people migrating into
the state looking to find homes the only things they
have available, or things are going to bid the price
up on yep. And that gets us into where we.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Are all right, and where we are now is counting
down seven days.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Monday of next week we kick off sixty days of
just fun and excitement. Can't wait to unpack all of
this with you.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I couldn't think of anybody better to guide us through
the storm.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
I mean I could, but you know that's that's that's
a smell.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
You kept it to yourself. Then yeah, yeah, no, we're good.
Thanks a lot, appreciate it always all right, Sala News
and with Consumer's Defense. He will be joining us on
Monday and mostly Mondays through the session. There'll be a
Tuesday thrown in here and there perhaps, But the legislative
session begins a week from tomorrow and we will be
ready for it, and we will keep you informed here
on the Morning Show with Preston Scott
And we begin the third hour. I was telling Jose
everything just seems right in the world when we're back
on the air, doesn't it. I mean, it's just the
birds are singing a little more loudly, the sun shines
a little bit more crisply. It just everything just it's
just a deep breath. I know, I know what you're feeling.
(00:25):
I just everything felt out of sync, even though I
was loving my time with my family and my wife
and I had a wonderful getaway. We'll talk about that
later in the week. It just we're back.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It's a great Drake White song. If you ever all
would be right with the world. Yeah, if beer and
fried chicken didn't, you know, try their best to kill me,
all would be right with the world. Okay, I've never
heard that song.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Oh, great song, familiar voice of Salnuzo from Consumer's Defense
with us.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Good Christmas holiday, Great to be with you, great holidays. Also,
really glad to be back, and kind of gearing up.
We've got about a week before the session begins. Lots
of stuff going on, not just in Florida but nationwide.
This is going to be a crazy midterm cycle. But
where're you looking forward to?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
It would it be overstating it to say this is
a critical midterm election. I don't think it would be
an overstatement. I think we buy and large have overused
certain terms in the electoral process. One of them is
the most important election of our lifetime. I think it's
(01:35):
every cycle critical election. I definitely think it is a
benchmark election in a critical way for the direction in
particular of the conservative movement in.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
The United States. A lot has happened, just even in
the last several weeks since our last time together, that
are kind of exposing the internal debates and dialogues among
different factions.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
In the movement.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
What about inside the state of Florida, Well, you've got
this question of what will the governor's final year look like?
In terms of policy dynamics. It's not an overstatement that
the governor is arguably the single most successful and accomplished
(02:23):
executive of a state in a conservative direction in our
lifetime just policy when I would agree, So what does
that last year look like? What does he do after?
And how do those kind of factions internally of this
kind of quote unquote pro DeSantis faction versus the ones
(02:45):
who have been kind of more of the traditional Trump
Maga crowd and those do those riffs continue or expand
or do they come together in the in the electoral process.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Give us it's a snapshot in a couple minutes of
the governor and the Lieutenant governor, the different cabinet officers.
What the last few weeks have been like.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Sure, so you've got a lot, especially in the cfo's
spot blazing. Golia has continued to kind of be the
John the Baptizer sort of out in the counties, pointing
out the direction that local governments in particular have gone
with respect to revenue. And he is doing his best
(03:31):
to lead the way for Governor DeSantis coming down the
pike and trying to push for that elimination of homesteaded
property taxes, which would have to go on the ballot.
And we've talked about that initiative over several months and
that's going to continue because you don't necessarily have the
legislature with him on this completely.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
What about the attorney general age.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
If you are in the business of the of the
corporate woke agenda, or you're in kind of the child
sex abuse, you better leave the stay. It is just
that man is singularly focused it seems on a couple
of different big items. One is going after people who
(04:16):
threaten or harm children, and if you are involved in
the corporate woke kind of agenda, you're gonna hear from
him very quickly.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Lastly, the Lieutenant Governor, Jay Collins, very visible, came on
this show almost every other week for a while. It
seems like things are quieting down.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
We still have not had an announcement one way or another.
When he has publicly been asked about it, the Lieutenant
Governor has been a bit cagy. He asked about running
for governor. Well, an announcement maybe coming in the near future.
Announcement will be coming in the near AEO never teases
out what specifically that might be. It is the big question.
(04:58):
But every day that passed is kind of makes it
more and more challenging to mount a real financial campaign
that's going to be required to take on Byron Donald.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Now, many of you know that we have relied on
the Heritage Foundation for years for experts on a wide
range of topics, and that may or may not change
as things changed, I mean things just you know, there
are times that our guest list evolves and we drop
(05:41):
guests and we pick up others and we are introduced
to new people. But there has been if you have
not known a seismic shift at Heritage Foundation, and Sal
I know that you for your involvement with the James
Madison Institute now with Consumers Defense, you have a lot
of intersection with Heritage. Tell our listeners what happened broadly,
(06:05):
and then go as deep as you want in your
analysis of it.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, sure, because I do think it does have an
impact on the direction of the conservative movement nationally and
in Florida. What's kind of happened in full disclosure. As
you mentioned, I have done quite a bit of work
with Heritage over the years. I continue to do quite
a bit of work with Heritage on our various issues.
Heritage Foundation is massive. It is a one hundred million
(06:29):
dollar a year operation run by Kevin Roberts, who, prior
to his role here was the head of the Texas
Public Policy Foundation, which you mentioned JMI. JMI is the
Florida version of TPPF. So what happened mechanically was Tucker
(06:50):
Carlson did an interview on whatever platform he does his
interviews to a gentleman by the name of Nick Fuentes, which,
if you're not familiar, Nick is a rabbit anti Semite
is kind of just a miscreant, a misguided youth, but
has a massive following. Tucker gave him what many called
(07:14):
a softball interview and an amplified Nick's message. Tucker has
a longstanding connection with Heritage, going back to when I
think he started as an intern when he was young,
has known Kevin for a long time. Kevin released in
a video from Heritage where he not only didn't disavow
(07:38):
Nick Fuentes in the interview, but actually praised Tucker in
a sense for having it. Now, as you might imagine,
if you have any kind of a love for Israel
or you are fighting anti Semitism in the United States,
this is going to be a problem.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Well, I wrote Heritage Foundation, and I wrote Therapy our people.
I said, until I get some better understanding what's going on,
I'm cutting off Heritage.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
And it started out with things like that in a trickle,
and then Kevin in Heritage, or at least Kevin, sort
of doubled down. They tried to clean up a little
bit of the mess and the drama that was transpiring
on Twitter and X and doubled down in some other respects.
As a result, you had a number of board members
(08:26):
from Heritage who resigned, some scholars resigned, and then last
week it was kind of like, well, the roller coaster
may have kind of ridden its course, he might have
ridden out the drama. Well, last week, an entire section
of the Heritage Foundation. It was the ed Mese Center.
Yeah that's big, Yeah, named after Ronald Reagan's attorney general,
(08:48):
who had been a longtime Heritage supporter board member. The
whole bit, that whole section departed en mass like twelve individuals,
including a couple of senior members for another think tank.
They departed and planted their flag at the it's Advancing
American Freedom, which is Mike Pence's think tank, And that
(09:12):
created another wave of all of this. And so you
had two senior members not in that center, one Hans
von Spakowsky, who's on your show all the time, they
also resigned. They didn't go to Advancing American Freedom, but
they're going to land somewhere. And this really does expose
(09:33):
kind of this debate that's popped up, and it's been
over the last three to four years in the conservative movement,
and you've got on one side what you would describe
probably as old Guard establishment, the very pro Israel in
many respects pro interventionists globally grew up in the Reagan years,
(09:53):
fought and beat communism, global War on Terror, the whole bit.
And then you have this new faction that's a evolved
sometimes it had been called alt right, and then it
kind of got some other monikers, generally younger, not exclusively male,
but definitely a majority. They've used social media as an
organizing tool. They're far more isolationists in nature. They're not
(10:17):
a fan of intervention. They're not a huge fan of
everything Israel does. Are they a fan of a Nick Fuentes? Yes,
And that is this this movement. They are embracing various
pieces of people like Nick Fuentes and others, and the
old Guards see that in you know, it's like they
(10:39):
want no part of that. And so there's this big fisher.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Right now. Sal Nuzo with us from Consumers Defense, we're
talking about the blow up at Heritage Foundation. I think
it matters. I think it matters a lot.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
But does it Yes, absolutely, this matters for the future
of the conservative movement, for conservative policy and for conservative principles,
and because Heritage is more than fifty years old and
they have been kind of the apex organization for so long.
(11:19):
Like I mentioned in a prior segment, they're more than
one hundred million dollar a year operation. They carried a
brand identity as the flag bearer for conservative principles in
policy in the United States.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
From my chair, which is not nearly as detailed in
an involvement with Heritage and its policies as yours. I
looked at Heritage as being above the fray. They were
just you know, more idealistic and expressing it in here's
why we hold these views, Here's what the Constitution says
(11:55):
about it. You figured out from their type thing and
not getting into the eats when they start working in
where I think Tucker Carlson has gone wrong. I feel
like they've lowered themselves into an area that they just
have always been above.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
And there is an argument to be made that you know,
Tucker interviewed Nick Fuentt as not at the Heritage Foundation.
He did it on his own show in his capacity
as a private person, and had Kevin Roberts and Heritage
not come out with a video either way, if they
had just done nothing. Would all of this have happened
(12:35):
in the way and transpired in the way that it did,
And I don't know that it would have which kind
of brings you into you would have we would have
thought that there might have been a better crisis management
plan laid out here. But with that in mind, I
think Heritage is absolutely going to continue to be a
(12:59):
may your player in policy. Yes, this is a bit
of a realignment of keep enough money. Oh gosh, yeah, yeah, yeah,
I mean they well, they have new leadership. Now there
is a big question now the leadership of Heritage. Kevin
serves at the pleasure of the board, and as board
(13:21):
members have been rolling off, they will appoint new board
members and Kevin will play a role in that. And
so I like a little bit of the dust has
got to settle in terms of waiting and seeing how
the board composition looks.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
I see cracker Barrel in their future. I see them
rolling people onto that board then that are going to
align with Kevin's view of things. And I'm not sure
it's going to work out well long term, but we'll see. Yeah,
it's certainly a possibility. All right, we got a minute
left in this segment. Because we ran long in the
last one. So what does this all mean to Florida.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Well, you know, as I expressed to you a bit
off air, you know, this kind of exposes kind of
the JD. Vance new right conservative mission and principles versus
the kind of Reagan Revolution, Mike Pence and kind of
establishment that's going to have a face in Florida as
(14:17):
we continue to move forward, not just in twenty twenty six,
but also looking into who really becomes the standard bearer
for the conservative movement for twenty twenty eight, and you've
got folks saying whether it should be JD. Vance or
Marco Rubio. And then back to the question, what does
(14:39):
the future look like for Ronda Santis after twenty twenty
seven when he leaves the governor's mansion. He's only forty six,
forty seven somewhere in that realm. See, young man, he's
got a lifetime ahead of him.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
With Sal Newso of Consumers Defense here on the Morning Show. So,
the legislative session starts a week from tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, it begins on January thirteenth. A week from tomorrow,
lasts sixty days, or so they tell us. At least
at this point, one requirement, as we say often pass
a balanced budget. I believe we were one of forty
eight or forty nine states that have them in the Constitution.
But there will be a couple of thousand bills filed.
(15:23):
There are particular processes and procedures and timelines that will
go over next week as we begin diving into this,
but the one that is relevant for this week is
January seventh is the bill filing deadline for the House,
So all non appropriations bills. If you're a member, you
(15:44):
get six or seven slots to file bills that are
not appropriations projects January seventh. This week is well is
that tomorrow, no Wednesday. Wednesday is your deadline for getting
that filed.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
What are the big questions?
Speaker 2 (16:00):
There are several, and I was kind of spending some
time kind of unpacking where are we going to go
over these eight weeks as we gather together on Mondays
and begin analyzing this, and so first off is what
does the relationship dynamic look like? After twenty twenty five
there was a lot of raw emotion, a lot of
(16:23):
political emotion spent up and we all saw it play out,
even if you weren't paying attention to legislative affairs. It's
something that got a lot of national headlines. What does
it look like this coming year compared to last year?
What I said earlier? Second, what is the governor thinking
(16:46):
post twenty twenty six, post his eight year term and
how does that translate into what he does politically and
legislatively this session? And just as one example, the governor
has been big on a push to do property tax
elimination for homesteaded properties. He's been calling for that to
(17:07):
be tackled in a special session. How does that look
and does he try to push for it in the
regular session because he's not as confident they'll do it
in a special So something there. Third, what does the
House do, in particular the House with Hope Florida? In
(17:27):
twenty twenty five, you had Alexandrade chairing a committee that
really dove in and investigated some of the concerns that
he had there. What does that continue to look like
in this upcoming session?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Do you think Hope goes beyond the dessantus?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
It's a great question. I think if it does, it
would have to be really reengineered in a way that
I think is that's going to be a function of
of the incoming administration in the governor's office, working with
the incoming leadership in the House and sentive to try
(18:07):
and make sense of the maza spaghetti that it's created.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
I think it's a wonderful idea that needs some significant refinement.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yeah, and again in full disclosure, I've got some tentacles
not just professionally but personally into some of our safety
net programs in the House, in the state rather and
so I can speak to yes if hope Florida I
think is going to become something that other states really
(18:35):
want to emulate. And I think the intent is there.
There does need to be some kind of figuring out
of how it plugs into a lot of these other
what does your intuition tell.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
You are going to be other significant issues.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
They've got to deal with a few, in particular the
property tax issue, which we've been talking about, artificial intelligence
a couple of months ago. We spent almost an entire
hour or talking about that. You've got healthcare that's going
to be the House Speaker's big priority. And if there
is a word that will be coined as the word
(19:10):
of the year for twenty twenty six, it will be affordability.
That's nationally, they're going to have to figure out what
their role is in things like housing costs and the
continuing trends in the insurance market, education, the threats from
foreign adversaries, and how the state kind of takes a
leadership role in combating that, which we've been doing. So
(19:32):
those are some of the big, big buckets that I
think we're going to see some action in.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
I asked you in the break, do lawmakers have to
define affordability before they start talking legislatively about it?
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Well, I think it is an amazing question. The answer
is absolutely. But I would also contend that they've got
to define a bunch of these buckets better in order
to make the sale in serch certain areas, and so,
for example, on the affordability issue. It was something I
mentioned to you offline. One of the challenges that we
(20:08):
face is the professional left. The advocacy class that has
been built up over the last twenty five years by
folks like George Soros and others, has created this kind
of advocacy class where they do this for a living.
Republicans and Conservatives, we're managing the economy, we're building businesses,
(20:33):
they're innovating, they're you know, they're so messaging is not
always the primary focus when conservatives enter a policy debate,
and it needs to be. And so, yes, defining affordability,
defining artificial intelligence is going to be a big issue.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Well, I was going to ask, perfect segue the president's
executive order on states not being allowed to do X,
y and Z as it relates to AI. What does
that do? Now?
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Well, honestly, there's an element of nobody really knows the
force of specifics within some of these executive orders and
whether or not abiding or not abiding. And this goes
to really I hate to kind of throw the patriotic
flag on but really the beauty of the framers when
(21:28):
the system works according to the way that they designed it,
which is, Congress passes the laws, the House of Representatives
starts all the appropriations and budgeting pieces, the president's duties
are clearly defined here, and nobody strays off of their lane.
It works well, It works better than any other system
(21:49):
of governance that history has seen. However, it's not completely
the case that an executive order should have the weight
of policy on other states, and so there's going to
be some figuring out on.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
This when it comes to the affordability issue. Obviously the
big one there is housing. Yeah, what can the legislature
do about it?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Well, a number of things. One is they've got they've
got carrots and sticks at their disposal, and those are
going to be in the forms of and I know
there in some years the words incentives have gotten a
bad rap, but I want us to think about this broadly,
not just like tax incentives, but incentives to getting smaller,
(22:36):
more affordable homes profitable with in development spaces, because that
is one of the big challenges where if a developer
has a bunch of space and the most profitable homes
are going to be eight hundred thousand and above, that's
a challenge. So how do you create this? And you
do this by zoning, by land use law, all of
(23:00):
these things that local governments have been kind of going
crazy with over the last couple of generations to establish
a whole lot of obstacles to actually getting smaller, more
affordable homes built. Those are the types of things where
the legislature can and likely will play a role in
(23:20):
how local governments kind of manage the types of homes
that are the most profitable to get built.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
I think too often people assume affordability means cheap, and
affordability to me is we have to recognize that a
builder must make a profit because that's how a market
system works. And you create that by creating a marketplace,
you create enough housing so that pricing can become more appropriate.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, Ultimately, at the end of the day, housing is
an economic good like anything else it is. It is
something that's going to be subject to the laws of
apply and demand. Now, over a period of twenty five years,
the state did a lot of things. Right. What they
got a little bit crazy with, mainly at the local level,
(24:11):
is managed development. And so they created a whole ton
of land use restrictions and zoning laws and all of
these things, mainly at the local level, which restricted the
supply of smaller, more affordable, less expensive homes being built.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Now, which is mismanaged development.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Which is mismanaged development. Now you've got hundreds of thousands
of people, maybe even a couple million people migrating into
the state looking to find homes the only things they
have available, or things are going to bid the price
up on yep. And that gets us into where we.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Are all right, and where we are now is counting
down seven days.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Monday of next week we kick off sixty days of
just fun and excitement. Can't wait to unpack all of
this with you.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I couldn't think of anybody better to guide us through
the storm.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
I mean I could, but you know that's that's that's
a smell.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
You kept it to yourself. Then yeah, yeah, no, we're good.
Thanks a lot, appreciate it always all right, Sala News
and with Consumer's Defense. He will be joining us on
Monday and mostly Mondays through the session. There'll be a
Tuesday thrown in here and there perhaps, But the legislative
session begins a week from tomorrow and we will be
ready for it, and we will keep you informed here
on the Morning Show with Preston Scott
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