Aiden Buzzetti On The Brett Winterble Show

Tune in here to this Monday's edition of the Brett Winterble Show! 

We're joined by Aiden Buzzetti from the Bull Moose Project to talk about a bold new vision for American infrastructure and the potential revival of the transcontinental railroad. Bozzetti discusses his recent Daily Caller op-ed, arguing in favor of a proposed merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads. Despite traditional concerns about monopolies, Bozzetti explains that this merger could enhance competition—not with other rail lines, but with the trucking industry, which currently dominates U.S. freight transport.

He emphasizes that the merger is not government-forced but a voluntary partnership aimed at improving efficiency, lowering costs, and boosting domestic manufacturing by streamlining coast-to-coast shipping. Bozzetti believes the project would reduce interchange delays, better connect U.S. ports, and create meaningful jobs—all without stifling consumer choice. If approved under a future Trump administration, this move could represent a significant step toward economic revitalization. He remains confident the merger will pass regulatory hurdles and deliver tangible benefits.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:13):
News Talk eleven ten nine nine three wbt's a Brette
Water Bull Show.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Great to be with you.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
I'm want to welcome into the program somebody whose work
I admire, especially in this take that he's got today,
Aiden Bizzetti.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
He's the president of the Bull Moose.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Project and he published an opinion piece over at the
Daily Caller today and it's titled Trump could restore America's
Golden Age with iconic railroad merger and Aiden, it's great
to have you on the program.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Thanks so much for spending time with us.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, thank you for having me. I've been looking forward
to it all day.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
So let me ask you this question. Okay, we are
conditioned to believe that there shouldn't be any monopolies. There
shouldn't be a total, you know, consolidation of power when
it comes to especially railroads and traffic, the you know,
the the trucking business. Why is it are you calling

(01:15):
for this to happen between two iconic railroads. Talk a
little bit about who they are and why you think
this is a good idea, of.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Course, and I mean the Bull News Project. We're very
heavily inspired by Theodore Roosevelt and we've been on the
front lines here in DC pushing for more rigorous anti
trust enforcement on behalf of the Trump administration, which they
have delivered. But with this specific merger, what we're looking
at is really fulfilling a longstanding American dream here a

(01:46):
transcontinental railroad. That's something that President Lincoln wanted over one
hundred and fifty years ago. I mean, this would be
absolutely massive for connecting parts of the country that really
haven't been in the way that you would expect.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
So when you look at this, who are the two
entities that you're looking to put together?

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Yeah, so the companies are Union Pacific in Norfolk, Southern.
They would become one of the larger railroad companies in
the United States. But there's a lot to go through
this entire approval process, and we know from their public
statements that these two companies have committed to preserving the
union jobs that they employ. But the real economic impact

(02:35):
from this merger is going to be increased competition, not
with necessarily with rail companies, but with the trucking industry.
The trucking industry is the number one shipping message across
most of the US, so this isn't just competing across
rail lines. It's competing with truck drivers, which is I
think it carries over seventy percent of the goods in

(02:58):
the United States. So this is not just a one
off consolidation here. This is not something that I believe
would be anti competitive in practice.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
So when we look at these this potential merger, and
you know, the important thing to understand about this is
it's always going to be the bottom line that it's
good for the consumer. Is it efficient enough where we
could get across the country differently than we do with trucking,
And how does that all come to play, especially with

(03:29):
the DOT.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, so this is exactly why we support the merger.
Bringing these two companies together to create a transcontinental rail
line actually makes it better for the consumer. Why does
it make it better because we eliminate interchange problems, which
is when you have to switch between rail lines at
certain locations across the US, which means, you know, you

(03:53):
add more time, you add more complexity into the process.
We're going to get rid of that. I mean, we're
going to cut that significantly, so it's actually going to
be cheaper and more efficient to send goods across the
country with rail lines. We're also going to connect our
ports from coast to coast, which is very important. It's
good for shippers, it's good for bringing in materials into

(04:16):
the US that we need to develop new products, which
we also believe will support manufacturing jobs. So we'll make
it easier to send goods to the ports so we
can export them to other countries.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
So let me ask you this, this particular question. We
saw the great failure of high speed rail exploration out
on the West coast, and we understand why that's the case, right,
because we don't have.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
The infrastructure for that sort of stuff.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
We know that Joe Biden wanted to spend you know,
seven trillion dollars on all kinds of things like this.
How much would it cost us to have this merger
take place? Would would we be forced into having to
use them as.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
The only thing?

Speaker 3 (05:05):
I mean?

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Is this a great free market answer? Tell me what
the difference is between command and control and freedom and
choice and all that sort of stuff.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, well, let me tell you this. The boards of
both companies unanimously approve the merger. Wow, this isn't something
that the government is forcing. These two companies actually want
to come together to create more official, more efficient rail
lines to invest more in their companies, in real safety,
in their infrastructure in the first place. So this isn't

(05:38):
something that the government isn't threatening to come in here
and say you need to do certain things, or we're
going to break you up, or we're going to take
away your money. Nothing changes, Yep. This is just the
government approving a settlement already agreed to by both companies.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
So will we see this actually happen?

Speaker 1 (05:56):
You end up with people who who just want to
be spoil sports, especially over on the left.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
What's your confidence level in this thing happening?

Speaker 3 (06:07):
I mean, look, if President Trump picks someone who sees
this vision that we can connect to both codes, that
we can bring back American manufacturing and actually incentivize a
ton of private investment into our manufacturing capabilities, I think
it will go through. But I also think that they
go when these companies go in front of the government

(06:28):
and they argue the merits of their case, we're going
to see that it is not actually anti competitive, that
this will be good for consumers, it'll be good for
competition across industries, and then ultimately we're going to see
a positive benefit. And I do think they will approve.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
It great stuff.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
Aiden. I appreciate you raising this, Aidan Bazetti, president of
the Bull Moose Project. This is a piece that you
can find over at the Daily Caller. Trump could restore
America's golden age with iconic railroad merger. We appreciate you
being on the show, my friend, and look forward to
catching up with you.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
You're very welcome. That's a great that's a great take,
and that's saving us money. And I like that. Isaac
likes that. We all like it.