Ep. 395 - Chris Banweg talks about his campaign for congress, bridging the political divide and more

US Congressional candidate Chris Banweg joins the show to talk about his run for congress, how he plans on bridging the political divide in a 50/50 district and more.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
This is the FCB podcast Network.Great when they trunk job foot change at
top n We don't listen to y'allthis d out We don't listen to y'all
this d hotel. Make um screamout now. I gotta sound dun because

(00:22):
the rockets in the crowds like tunein the charge for the Outdoor. Tune
in the charge for the Outlaw.Welcome to the Outlaws. This is darfy
old King Benmorrow alongside Robert and Valleyand Daunte Brian. Don't forget too like.
It's on Facebook and Facebook dot comFlayers the Outlaws Radio. Follow us
on Twitter and Instagram at d OutlawsRadio. Dante, how you doing,

(00:47):
sir? I am doing very well, very well. I'm excited for this
interview we got coming up. Uhbut yeah, I'm happy. It's Friday.
Good to be back. Just acrazy week, so you know,
all things from enter Man. We'redoing well again. Uh. I hear
that you're ready to go for yourhot tases. Man, I'm jack Man.

(01:08):
I'm so fired up. Man.I just I've been stealing on this
for the longest ever since you know, some of this news has been and
I'm just like I don't understand howyou know certain politicians in our city can
just like not get it. Guys, this is a a very big deal.

(01:29):
You need to you need to buckleup, and you have willing participants.
Let's just keep going. Stay tuned, y'all, Stay tuned DNA.
Later on in the show, missO'Malley, Hey, how are you?
I I'm cool. I am gettingover a cold that my daughter decided to

(01:53):
give me, and I also amhealing from a double root canal yesterday.
Oh oh my god, I didn'tknow that. Yeah, so how are
you? How are you able totalk? Oh? My god, I've
finished. It's actually not but youknow, I've actually been in bed,

(02:19):
just laying down, resting all day. I did have a horrible, horrible
headache, and it's like I'm likeI've been starving, but I'm like,
God, I want to eat,but I can't eat. All right?
How long is your what do youwant a liquid diet or something? Well?
I just ate, but like yesterday, like right after like last night,
I couldn't really eat. I've actuallymade like kind of like how Panara

(02:40):
does it, like the bread bowlsoup. So I got the bowles and
I went and bought the soup fromB Jay's yesterday and made some bread bowl
soup and stuff like that. Butit's like it wasn't enough. I'm like,
I'm starving. So I finally wasable to eat today like more man.
That is like that is the word. It is two things on your

(03:00):
body like you don't want your stomachto hurt or your mouth. Oh those
of them, those I will tellyou that. That Dennis, he had
no mercy on I like so badlywanted to grab his hand and shove him
away. And I had to squeezethe headband that I had, like the

(03:23):
the ear muffs headband kind of thing. I was squeezing it because otherwise I
definitely would have pushed him. Becauseit wasn't the ghetto Dennis, you guys,
it was very the dentistry, allof them ghet um. No.
They numbed me really well. Andhe was like, do you feel like

(03:45):
you need to be numbed more?I'm like, yes, please, like
because I can feel it, youknow. And he's like and then he
you know where they pull it wherethey're lifting it up and pulling the two
up, and the dude like hehit my top teeth with the thing that
he was trying to pull the bottomteeth up with. He hit my top

(04:06):
teeth on accident, really like kindof hard when he like, you know,
when you're pulling on something in yourhands and accidentally hit something. Oh
man. And I just wanted tobe like you mother, like I couldn't
speak though, I couldn't speaker.Yeah, And I think that I might
have turned pale when they did itbecause the lady she kept asking me,

(04:30):
She's like, are you okay?Are you okay? And I'm just sitting
there staring at her, like,yo, I feel like I'm about to
pass out right now. Oh mygod. Oh man, that's an awful
experience. Man, And I didn'teven know we had a whole conversation on
the phone. Yeah that's because youknow what, I actually just took some
IV pro from like maybe probably anhour or so before that. Yeah,

(04:53):
because you sound you sounded normal,then you sound normal now. But that's
oh man, man, I feelfor you there. Girl, that's living
life other than that, just beenworking, you know, except yesterday is
called off right, all right,we have a very special interview that we're

(05:15):
going to get to right now.All right, we have a very special
guest on the show today. Heis running for Congress. Chris, Chris
Bandwig, Welcome to the show.How you doing, sir? I am
doing great, w and thank youto you and Dante for having me on
the show. Absolutely absolutely so First, before we get into your run for

(05:39):
Congress, talk a little bit aboutyour background, what you were doing with
the world that you were in beforeyou entered into politics. Yeah, that's
a that's a great question, andI'll say that most of your listeners have
probably never heard the name Bamwick before, and in truth, that's because there
are only six Badwigs in the UnitedState, and five of them live in

(06:00):
my house. My dad lives outsideof Chicago, and my family came here.
My grandfather at the end of WorldWar Two, escaping a communist prison
camp in Yugoslavia, made his wayto Austria to meet up with his fiance.
They had married, had my dadthere and they applied for refugee status

(06:21):
in the United States. They werethere a couple of years, were granted
status, and then they came overhere and started life in Stow in some
county out of three wooden boxes.So growing up with those stories and that
family like my grandfather. For example, he escaped the starvation at work camp,

(06:43):
but he didn't just escape the onetime. He used to escape regularly
to bring back food for the otherprisoners. See, you don't grow up
around folks like that and not feelthat responsibility to do hard things for other
people. So for me, thatled to to one truly appreciating what this
nation offers to the people that livehere. So I was able to pursue

(07:10):
business as a part of my life. I've had parts or holes of small
business. I've worked at Fortune fivehundred companies at executive levels and have really
been able to enjoy that success sincemy grandfather started here working in an entire
mold factory. But at the sametime, I valued this country and what
we stand for enough that I joinedthe Marine Corps and I've spent the last

(07:31):
just about twenty four years serving bothactive and reserve in the Marine Corps.
Just this past week had my promotionceremony to the rank of colonel. Now
most, if not well most ofmy time in the Marine Corps has been
overseas, helping to stabilize other governmentsnations in combat zones, and conducting counterinsurgency

(07:58):
to get rid of the forces thatwould undermine a government. So I can
tell you, Dario, that whenI came back here in twenty eighteen,
twenty nineteen and I saw what washappening in our country, it disturbed me
a great deal. Having had twentyyears of trying to manage other destabilized,

(08:24):
dangerous countries, seeing those same thingshappen here in the United States was very
disturbing. So that that's a bitof my background. After three combat tours
in the counterinsurgency and government stabilization,I could tell we were on a bad
path here. So let's talk alittle bit more about that. Because you're

(08:45):
a serious person doing serious work,and now you're in the wacky world of
politics. What made you decide tocome into this cesspool and try to make
a tiffling? Well, you know, it was not not something I aspired
to in truth and politics is notsomething I am drawn into. But in

(09:07):
that background of seeing the struggle ofour nation, it I think opened my
eyes up to it a little andI was approached by one of our state
leaders and asked to run for theposition. Now, to your point,
I said, no, I'm nota politician. I don't want to be
involved in this, and they askedme to think about it and pray about

(09:28):
it because they were feeling as thoughmy skills might be a benefit to our
nation here in the political realm,being an elected official. So I went
back to my family and I said, hey, you know, was asked
to run for this. I wasasked to think about it and pray about
it. I wanted to see whatyou think. And they, my wife

(09:48):
and my kids, all said no, you know you've been gone too long.
Kids going into high school. Wereally want it around. I said,
well, you know, we needto consider it, pray about it,
think about it. It's not anaspiration of mine, but if it
is a calling to serve, ifthis is God working in our lives,

(10:09):
we need to be obedient. Weneed to answer it. And so they
took it away and they were thinkingabout it about it, and I was
surprised that my kids actually came backand said, hey, you need to
do this. When we look atthe world and we know what you can
do, we want you to tryto help fix this. I said,

(10:31):
okay, well we'll start the process. I don't know how to do it,
but we'll figure it out, rightright, So we're talking with Chris
Bandwig, who's running for Congress.So let's talk a little bit about your
district first. For people who don'tknow what is your district, talk a
little bit about what's in your district. No, a very good question,

(10:54):
and because of all the redistrict it'shard to keep up. But I am
in District thirteen, and that willbe Summit County, all of sum County,
the top half of Stark County,and a little piece of Portage County
which includes Magador and Western Suffield Township. It is It's an interesting district in

(11:15):
that it's a fifty to fifty district, meaning fifty percent Democrat fifty percent Republican.
So it is a toss up districtcurrently held by a Democrat representative,
and I'll be running, as youknow, as a Republican. It is
the kind of place where hard workand connecting with the people can make a
difference. It's a diverse district.We've got some rural, lot of suburban,

(11:39):
and even a little bit of urban. When you think about Akron.
There are a lot of different peoplewith a lot of different priorities in this
district, right, absolutely so,And speaking of that, your district is
very competitive politically. It's actually oneof the most competitive in the state,

(12:03):
which means in order for you towin in November, not only are you
going to have to be, ofcourse talking to Republicans, but you're going
to have to talk to independence andDemocrats as well. What is your message,
You're unifying message to these the peoplewith diverse political views in your district.
No, you're absolutely right, Andwhen I think about that fifty to

(12:26):
fifty district, it is as aRepublican, you're going to have to be
able to appeal to all the Republicansright, and then you're going to have
to win a majority of independents andmoderates. And the message for me from
the beginning when I said, yeah, we're going to do this, but
we're going to do it right.We're not going to be the polarizing effect
you see in the world of justnarratives. For me, this is all

(12:50):
about the American working family, andwe need to get our policies prioritized back
to what benefits the people that inthis nation, and what I mean by
that is our communities, our neighborhoods, the families that live there need to
be able to work a job thatcan provide for their family. They need

(13:11):
to feel safe in the neighborhood thatthey live in, and that goes across
all neighborhoods. They need to feellike the justice system is there to protect
them from persecution or wrong and isn'tthere as a weaponized system to punish them
for their political ideas. To me, it's about getting away from these fringe,
divisive ideas and focusing not just themessage, but the actual effort of

(13:37):
the position on the eighty percent ofthings that we all agree on right the
things where we can make an impact. And I know I'm not ignorant to
the fact that we're very divided rightnow as a nation, and I've seen
that in many of the nations thathave been to I've seen a lot of
the challenges we're going through right nowlive out in other countries. I have

(14:01):
to, and anyone in this positionis going to have to navigate that professionally
and set the example of where wewant to go in the way that I
behave. So it's got to bea message about the American working family,
and it's got to be lived outin everything that I do. We're talking
with Chris Banwick, who's running forCongress. Don't take her ready, Hey,

(14:22):
Chris, and I just wanted tocircle back really quick to when you
were deciding to get into the race. Was there a specific issue that you
were approached about that that people thoughtyou would have had a specific area of
expertise, or was there a specificissue that kind of pushed you over the
top to make you think about it, because I know you said you were

(14:43):
hesitant at the beginning and flat outrejected it in the beginning. So I
was just wondering if there was somethingspecific that you saw within our country or
within the district that made you say, you know what, I gotta I
gotta you know, I gotta thinkabout this a lot more. Yeah.
Yeah, there were a couple thethings that have been weighing on me and
just not knowing what I could doabout it as an individual, I certainly

(15:05):
didn't think politics would be the wayI do. Serve on Hudson's City Council
as an that large member, andwhat got me into that was with my
civil affairs background, it's a lotabout how to make communities work, economic
development, the governance and the legislativeprocess, how to help people find solutions,
right. So when I was approached, part of what tipped me over

(15:28):
is it might be unique for meis one that background we need in Northeast
Ohio economic development, and I've beendoing that in the nations that I've been
to, from microeconomics and bread shopsto produce in river valleys, right and
then connecting that through infrastructure in theregion to increase trade and really develop the

(15:52):
lives of the people there. Butone thing that hit me square in the
face, and that this conversation,was the number of regional conflicts around the
globe right now and the way thatour foreign policy has led us to the
precipice of a number of global Iwant to say, global disasters. If

(16:14):
we're not managing these things right,we're going to be in for a world
of hurt. And my background providesover twenty years of national defense and foreign
policy experience, and in truth,I don't think you're going to find that
in a lot of the career politiciansor the traditional profile you see run where
they're coming out of state legislature orthey've gone to be kind of lobbyist so

(16:38):
they know how to work the anglesand work deals. But maybe they don't
have the same perspective on the risksrelated to our foreign policy decisions. We're
talking with Chris Banwig, who's runningfor Congress, So talk a little bit
about, man, what it's beenlike so far on the trail. I

(16:59):
mean, it's a huge undertaking,of course, and you know, many
people who are listening may have never, you know, done anything like that
before. Talk a little bit aboutwhat it's been like since you've gone into
the race. Now. It whenI describe it to my kids, I
said, this is going to belike a deployment, and they know what
that means. Said, I'll stilllive here, but I will not be
home if we're going to do thisright. And that was before they said,

(17:23):
yes, do it. I wantedthem to understand what it would mean.
So it's been on the road everyday, every night, a couple
times a night, because, asI said in the beginning, if I'm
going to do this, it's goingto be done right. If I'm going
to represent the near eight hundred thousandpeople of this district, I need to
know where they're at and what isimportant to them. I don't want to

(17:44):
trust a whole or you know,a narrative to tell me what the most
important things are. So it's busy, but it's also incredibly rewarding to hear
from people what's on their mind,what their priorities are, and how much
they appreciate you. Somebody who's comingin as a citizen legislator, you know,
somebody who I have every intent togo back to my job after at

(18:10):
most a couple of terms, andthat'll be up to the voters. But
I'm not going to DC to bea career politician. I want to work
go there provide solutions that are goingto create a better environment for the families
that live in our communities that I'mgoing to go back to and have to
live in. To me, that'swhat it should be about. And I

(18:32):
see the excitement in the people thatI've met with about new leadership in DC,
leadership that has that attitude, andI'm seeing it pop up in a
lot of other candidates, people whoare coming grassroots, outsider candidates who maybe
didn't get groomed by the system forthis, And honestly, I think that
that's going to be refreshing for us, both as Ohio thirteen and of a

(18:56):
nation. So let's fast forward here, Let's say you know, you win,
you win the nomination, and youget elected. What's your priorities?
Give me three, two or threeof your top priorities should you get to

(19:17):
Washington. Again, good, goodquestion and clear in that one. I
hope I don't have to still dealwith it when I get to Washington.
But the most imminent threat we havetoday is the open border, and it
feeds the challenges we have in ourcommunities, particularly in Northeast Ohio. Before
the open border, the border crisisthat we have, I would have told

(19:41):
you that, you know, it'sthe economy, jobs, inflation, the
cost of everything in our community,from the cost of a box at Cheerios
to the fact that today you've gotto make about one hundred thousand dollars a
year as a young family to afforda home, whereas three years ago it
was about sixty thousand dollars. Thehidden tax inflation is eating us alive.

(20:04):
But right now, the border isthe biggest challenge we've got because we're we
are allowing risk into our communities inthe form of illicit drugs, criminals,
potentially terrace has been validated, andthat makes our communities unsafe. Now I
can tell you to connect it tothe economic side. Even the less like

(20:29):
scary part of it is when youbring in folks who are going to flood
your working population, it's going todrive down the average wage. And in
a normal set of circumstances, wewould be managing immigration to the point which
it wouldn't upset the apple card turnover our employment world. But the way

(20:52):
it's happening today, the average workingAmerican is going to be competing against somebody
who may be getting, you know, is five thousand dollars visa card.
Well, he can work for alot less and maybe it's under the table,
maybe it's over the table, buthe can accept a lower wage because
he's getting a stipend from the governmentto just be here and settle. And
that may sound like a fanciful idea, but I watched the same thing happen

(21:15):
during the Syrian refugee crisis when therefugees went to live in Jordan, and
they ended up being more non Jordaniansin Jordan than there were Jordanians, and
they were the refugees there that displacedpeople were subsidized by food and a payment

(21:37):
to keep them and their families floating, and they were not supposed to go
work in the economy, but theydid, and they could accept a half
wage and still lived because they hadtheir stipend. But it eliminated or reduced
the jobs that the Jordanian citizens couldhave because you know, they didn't get
a stipend and they had to competewith that lower wage. I think there's

(22:00):
a lot coming out of the borderand the crisis we've got going on there,
and I'm not even diving into thefentanyl and the human trafficking that we've
already heard a lot about. Nowsecond, I'll link it into It is
the economy. It is having jobsthat could support a family. It is
cutting the spending, stopping the exso that we can control inflation, so

(22:23):
the wage you earn represents your abilityto buy at least the basics in life.
I think statistics came out just thisweek that just to buy the basics,
an average family is now spending overone thousand dollars more per month.
And for somebody who's making over onehundred thousand dollars, maybe that's painful,

(22:44):
But for somebody who's making thirty tosixty thousand dollars a year, that's a
huge impact. So when we talkabout my priorities, One, I hope
I don't have to deal with itbecause we've already fixed it by then.
But it's the border crisis. Twois our economy, is the inflation and
jobs in Northeast Ohio. And thenthird, I would say it's probably crime

(23:07):
and justice. And I put thosetwo things together because it's about public safety.
We've got to be able to believein our criminal justice system. We
have to have you know, lawenforcement supported so that they can do their
job and do it well. Wealso need to address, you know,
issues of breaking the law, whetherit be career criminals or somebody who's not

(23:29):
a career right. We need touphold the law so that people have a
good expectation that they'll be treated fairlyin their community. All Right, As
we get ready to wind down,here a couple more two more questions.
One for people like you said,you're you're not a career politician, this

(23:52):
is this is a new experience foryou. Serving isn't a new experience,
but serving in this way is.Yeah. For people who are listing that's
a name who maybe thinking about doingthe same, what advice would you give
them? Yeah, I would say, talk to the people around you,
learn the system a little bit,and then prepare yourself. I think there

(24:19):
are a lot of people who wantto dip a toe into it and don't
understand the burden that it will beand like the administrative maze that you have
to navigate. And that's why Isay prepare yourself, because if you know
what you're getting into and you appreciatehow much work it's going to be,
you're much more likely to succeed ingiving your best to the people you're trying

(24:42):
to represent. And that second pieceof go out and talk to them,
know what you're offering. Too manypeople today are living in social media and
they think they know what everybody's thinking, but when you get out there,
you may find that it's different thanwhat you've been hearing. And for me,
you need to be able to representall of the people that you're going

(25:04):
to represent, not just a nichegroup that you feel particularly inclined to.
Right, That's what elected officials aresupposed to do. That's America, right,
right, absolutely. And last questionhere is something we periodically ask people
who are running for office, justbecause of our own curiosity, just to

(25:30):
get a little bit more of ataste of the personality of the person.
If I had Chris Bandwig's phone rightnow and I went to his spotify,
what's in his partless? What areyou? What are you listening to?
What's in your playlist? Give mea couple of songs. Yeah, I'm
going to open it up. ButToby Mack, generally speaking, if it's

(25:51):
a Toby Mac song, I loveit. Help Us on the Way is
probably the last one that I've beenlistening to a lot. Uh huh.
It's an encouragement to me, rightright, Okay, okay, I liked
that. I like Toby Mac.I like like a couple of his songs.
Everything by Toby Mac is one ofmy favorite songs. Yeah, that's

(26:11):
a that's a pretty good one.So man, thank you so much for
coming on the show man spending timewith us, and good luck on the
campaign. TRUP and I appreciate it. And if your listeners want to learn
more, I'm at Bandwig b A, n W E, G f O
rcongress dot com and you can findme on Facebook and Twitter x as well.

(26:32):
But thank you jo much for havingme on today. Absolutely, I'm
glad you did that too. Iusually I usually give an opportunity for the
candidate to plug that at the end, but I forgot for a second.
So glad you did that. You'realready picking up the ropes of this new
world. You're here for you,all right, Thanks, all right,
stay tunered. We have more tocome here on the Outlaws. These days,

(26:53):
it seems like everybody's talking, butno one is actually listening to the
things they're saying. Critical thinking isn'tdead, but it's definitely low on oxygen.
Join me Kira Davis on Just Listento Yourself every week as we reason
through issues big and small, critiqueour own ideas, and learn to draw
our talking points all the way outto their logical conclusions. Subscribe to Just

(27:15):
Listen to Yourself with Kia Davis andFCB Radio podcast on Apple, on Spotify,
iHeart, or wherever you get yourpodcasts. Real Talk, Creel Conversations,
We got the heat. Hell Yeah, this is the Outlaws Radio Show.

(27:41):
Welcome back, Welcome back, andlisten to the Outlaws. And that
was the time to show that welike to call it tea time with row,
Turn it up, yell, seeout the infectation, relatest to celebrity
news and gossip. You bet thatexplanation. It's tea time with Row on
the Outlaws radio show. All right, y'all. So there's like actually a

(28:04):
lot that was going on, andwe were kind of away for a while,
and I'm like, oh my gosh, I have so much to talk
about, but so let me justgo ahead and started off with we all
talk about Beyonce first. I knowthat the guys do not like to talk
about her because they like to avoidthe Beehive, but we go go ahead

(28:26):
and talk about this real quick.So Beyonce did switch over to doing country
music, and honestly, so there, I mean, I haven't heard them
to her songs too much. Ididn't listen to it, the whole songs,
but I do know that a coupleof her fans wanted these songs played

(28:48):
on a certain radio station, andthe radio station was like, yeah,
we only play country music, etcetera, et cetera. And then literally
within twenty four hours, I tellyou this, the Beehive does not play.
They made sure that her songs werebeing played on that country the country
station, and it definitely like theymade have happened in twenty four hours.

(29:12):
Well, I'm like this I don'tsee I don't see it as that big
of a deal. Men, She'sfrom the South. If she's making country
music, they should play it,you know what I'm saying. I don't,
you know, I'm kind of withthe behive on this one, so
they ain't gotta come for me.I'm kind I'm kind of bad, tay,

(29:37):
I'm I'm pro Beyonce, and Ithe reason why I'm pro Beyonce just
as an artist is because none ofher albums sound the same anyway, So
it doesn't surprise me that she's youknow, moving into a different genre,
you know, and it's probably justfor this one album, right Like,
if you look at all of hersolo albums, they're all none of you
cannot say any of them really soundthe same, which speaks to sort of

(30:00):
her versatility, you know, asa as an artist. Right So I
think I think it's actually pretty cool. Now. You know, that's not
my lane or my favorite genre ofmusic, so you know, I probably
not I'll probably listen eventually, butI mean I'm not rushing to go listen
to it now. But it doesn'tsurprise me. I think it just you
know, speaks to who she ismore right, like she she's always been

(30:22):
somebody who's taking risk and decided towait in the new artist. And plus,
like you said, it's part ofwho she is, right, She's
Southern, right, So what's theyou know, I think the country station
refusing to play her music, theywere just being fuddy duddies anyway about it,
you know what I'm saying, Stopit all right? Okay? So

(30:45):
next Wow, we are going totalk a little bit about the Super Bowl
halftime show. I mean you guys, and there is first I would like
to say, there was before Iget deep into everything all the happy stuff,
I do want to say you knowthat there was a shooting that happened

(31:06):
during the Super Bowl celebration parade.Uh, and there was a lot of
people that were shot in pill Yeah, so uh my condolences to those those
families. So now during the halftimeshow, so let's start off with Usher

(31:29):
uh and Alicia Keys. So alot of people were like cracking on her
well because her voice cracked literally inthe beginning of starting singing. And you
can hear during their the performance thather voice was a little you know,
raspy and cracking, but she soundedgood. However, I think that a

(31:51):
lot of people don't take into considerationthat these celebrities are very much human.
You know, they do either straintheir voices or they do actually get sick.
I mean, wow, who knewlike they get sick. Maybe she's
getting over a cold, but youknow, she was doing her thing following

(32:13):
that Usher during their performance, hewrapped his arms around her, and everybody's
like, oh, her husband ain'tgoing like that. You know he gonna.
They're making all kinds of memes andgifts about him, and he turns
around and he was like, youknow what, you guys are focused on
the wrong stuff. Did you seethat that dress was bigger than that stage?
Like, did you even see anyof the performance? And I'm just

(32:35):
like, you know what, randomapplause to him? I mean, I
mean, I'm sure compared to whatwe talked about before with Usher, when
Kiki and him, you know whenthat happened, you know what, her
her baby daddy lost it. Yeah. He he's a little handsy, right,

(32:57):
yeah he did. He warned everybody, watch your girl around me through
playing for real. But that waslike fifteen years ago. He's grown ass
and now he just got married too. He got married the Super Bowl.
Wee kid as well. He didman your hands away from other like look,

(33:21):
man, he just he ain't raninto the right one, And like
look, I got love for Usher. Usher is a part owner of the
Cleveland Cavaliers, so he wanted us. As far as I'm concerned, I
got love for Usher, But comeon, man, you're a little too
handy. Brother, You're a littletoo handsy. Otherwise, other than that,
I thought the performance was good thegame, which at first I wasn't

(33:46):
even interested in watching it. I'msorry, y'all. I know we got
fans of kidsas City, but Ijust wasn't interested in the matchup. Man.
But I'm glad I watched it becauseit was a hell of a game.
It was a really good game.Halftime show was good. Just everything
was good. But Usher is alittle too handsy. Dante. Your thoughts

(34:06):
on the halftime show and on thegame itself. I look at halftime show
was pretty good. Uh, Iwas. I was entertained, you know,
in the moment, I was kindof like, I wasn't really feeling
it. But you know, whoreally who really got me there. I

(34:27):
was a little hype to see Alicia. She's always been a you know,
a crush. I was kind ofbut uh, she was pretty good,
I thought, but then, ohno, her name is escaped her.
I thought her performance was when shecame out on the guitar, I was
like, oh, you know whatI'm saying, Like, I thought that
was pretty dope. You know,bringing out Little John was was pretty cool

(34:52):
too. So, you know,I thought it was a pretty good halftime
show all the way around, andit was entertaining. I uh, you
know, the game itself was kindof wild, man. You know,
it started very very slow, asthe Super Bowls tend to do, and
then it you know, it reallypicked up. Man. It was one
of those games like you know,one and lost in the margins. I

(35:14):
thought it was. It was avery very interesting game, especially you know,
in the second half. It wasa fun game, and it still
has people talking. Right, overtimerules, overtime strategy going forward and fourth
down, right, all the stuff. I think that Super Bowl had pretty
much everything that we wanted or thatwe could won in the Super Bowl.

(35:34):
Right. It was a good gametoo, evenly matched teams, no real
controversy as far as like who thewinner was or should have been, strategy,
conversations, The refs didn't involve themselves, and it was a good halftime
show, so I think all aroundthem was a w for the NFL.
So I got to ask you thisbefore we go to rivals last topic.
I was talking to my homeboy,who who also tends to you know,

(35:59):
and at the game a little bitby you know, some little extracurricular activities.
But he was like, he wasn'tputting no money on the game because
the odds makers had it so close, like I think it was like Pansas
City plus two or something. Yeah, underdog, Yeah, did you put
an you put any money on it? I had. I had some some

(36:22):
different wagers. The best one obviouslywas getting Kansas City as an underdog.
I didn't take him to win thegame, just take them as an underdog
to cover they want out right,So there was that one. But I
had season long or futures on bothsides, so it wasn't something that I
was gonna win either way because Ihad a super Bowl future on the Niners

(36:44):
and I had a super Bowl futureon the Chiefs, So it wasn't you
know, I didn't need to toreally do much because I was gonna walk
away from the game with something anyway, because I had already I think,
I want to say in November Iplaced the Chiefs future because I was I
mean it was they had lost acouple of games that maybe they should have
won, and you know, theywere kind of struggling and people were like,

(37:07):
they're gonna have to go on arow. So they were the markers
kind of down on them. SoI played them, and I had I've
had a Niners ticket all year,so I didn't really need to do much
in that game. But yeah,yeah, it was a if you like,
if you're a believer that you know, the better quarterback should always you
know, if you get points withthe better quarterback, just take them.
You know. That was, youknow, a game for you. You

(37:28):
got the Chiefs as underdogs in threestraight games to close the season, all
right, so so you made out, you made out, all right?
Yeah. Yeah. It was agood season and a good close and I
was very again, I thought thegame was fantastic. Man, it was
a good game. It was betterthan I thought it was gonna be.
Absolutely and well I was I kindof believe that the forty nine Ers were

(37:50):
the best team in the NFC allyear. So they, you know,
should have been there in the chiefs. I mean, you know, you
got the best coach and the bestquarterback and you know maybe in the league.
So I mean they you know,they're obviously one of the best too.
And now that people are gonna talkabout Mahomes as being one of the
greatest, right Robin Matt. Sobefore I jump off of that topic,
actually I have to say, didyou guys see Jermaine deprise socks? Yeah?

(38:20):
And you know what he tried toHe tried to clean it up instead
of looking like an old schoolgirl.He was like, don't play with me.
And it showed. I think theywere Louis Vuitton and it's like Louis
Vaiton. Just because of Louis Vatandoes not take away the fact that it
looks like you got little frillies around. I think they're like five hundred dollars.
Those are like so what you stillI can buy the same looking socks

(38:43):
and they got little frillies. Listenas a little girls. It's not in
that brain people, clown man,listen. I mean, I don't know,
but he did. He had heunderstanding. Hold on, Nah,
he showed, he showed the sidewhere said Louis Batan, And I think

(39:04):
somebody looked it up and think thosethose socks are like they're like four hundred
and ninety five, five hundred dollarssomething like that. I just sent a
picture just so you guys. Youknow, you guys can see in the
group chat on Instagram. Uh aprime example of what people were clowning him
about. You have to know,they made it look like it was like
one of the little uh like oneof those uh baby dolls. It's a

(39:30):
courtoon character with the big old babyalone. I'm gonna leave him alone.
That's that's that's one of those andthat's one of the us. All right,
we go, we go, okay, but uh so next? Uh
So. Kanye West has actually beenpretty quiet lately, you know, kind

(39:53):
of to himself. I mean,I mean outside of I think him and
his daughter actually created us just recentlytoo, but he dropped an entire album,
actually, him and Tie Dallas signed. They dropped an album and I
think it's called Vultures, and probablywithin just a day or so after dropping

(40:17):
it, Apple Music actually removed theentire album. And it's like, basically,
so is it like, is thisthis this is whole to cancel culture
kind of thing, just because youknow, of what happened prior, Like,
you know, I don't know,I don't know. I've been I've

(40:39):
been trying to figure that out.I heard about that, but yeah,
I don't I don't know. Idon't know. So it says by just
to see. The album was removedfrom Apple Music and iTunes. Rolling Stone
also reported uh yuga am I sayingthat right uh with the music distributor.

(41:05):
Or distributor told the news that theydeclined to work with uh work with Kanye
just last year, but they theyhe up they uploaded the album anyway.
So, I mean, I thinkthat Kanye said a lot of wild disrespectful
things and he's trying to you know, I heard him apologize on the post

(41:31):
that he made on Instagram a whileback. But you know, he got
to make amends, man, Imean, well, right, I mean,
and he does, but that's gonnatake some time. But also at
the same point, it's like,what if Kanye just comes out and he
just creates his own platform, thatwould be that would be something big and

(41:52):
different because honestly, during the youknow, with Cancel Culture and you know,
just these big companies. A lotof these companies like they may never
give you. I mean, forprime example, like you know, look
at Chris Brown. You know he'sa lot of the a lot of these
places won't work with Chris Brown.You know, he'll never be able to
perform like at a super Bowl kindof thing, like type of thing like

(42:15):
once you once you reach that level, it's like can you get back there?
Mm hmm. Okay, So allright, I'll see what happened.
All right, So I'm reading hedid get a new distributor. So what
happened was the reason why it waspulled off an Apple to Apple Music and

(42:36):
iTunes was because of the distributor.So the distributor didn't want to put out
his music, so they removed it. And I guess apparently it's back one
now now that he he got anotherlabel. So so he went switched it
over. Okay, Well, becauseI'm like, like, is it due

(42:58):
to like And it's due to whathe had went through and what he had
said last year. I'm sure thathas a lot to do with it.
I'm sure it has a lot todo it. And once again, I
mean, he didn't say this suffhe said also he has another issue.
On Wednesday, Spotify removed the songgood Don't Die from Vultures after Donna Summer's

(43:24):
estate complained it sampled the singer's workwithout permission. So you know, he
has a couple of issues on thisalbum. But they said the song Carnival
is number one on Spotify's daily TopSongs Global chart, and the song burn

(43:45):
and F Something, I guess he'snot doing gospel music anymore. F something
in the top twenty. So yougot anything else? You're good? Yeah?
Yeah, I think that I mightactually be good. Yeah, I'm

(44:07):
all right, doctor, Any thoughtson that? Yeah, I don't really
think anything that happens to Kanye iscancel culture. I mean, if a
platform says we like your brand hurtsus, or what you've done in the
past can hurt us, and wedon't want you or anything to do with
you on our platform. Like Imean, I don't really think that's cancel

(44:30):
culture. I mean, I youknow, I personally would feel the same,
not necessarily in Kanye's situation, butjust like I mean, if somebody
came on our show, I wouldn'twant to have somebody on my platform if
they said racist things about you know, black people, and I don't think
that would be like, for example, if I own, if I was
a CEO Apple, or I wasa large shareholder in Apple, large enough

(44:52):
shareholder to make a difference if youwere if you were a musician and you
had things negative things to say aboutblack people, your music ain't coming on
my platform. Correct, I don't. I'm not about to You're not about
to make money off my platform,and you don't say it disrespectful things about
my people. So like, Iyou know, personally, I don't think

(45:14):
that's canceled culture. I just thinklike, I mean, hey, you
you obviously don't want to be onmy platform. You do. You got
these feelings towards towards people that looklike me, so you know that you
know that's you know, that's Kanye'sbed. I mean, if he he
apologized for those things. So youknow, right before the album dropped,
of course, which was you know, very interesting timing of you know,

(45:36):
right the anology is coming out.When the apology went viral, it was
like, okay, so why ishe doing this now? Right? And
everybody's like, oh, he's he'sprobably back on his med occasion. It's
like, no, man, Kanye. You know, Kanye is not stupid.
He knows what he knows, right, So he decided to play buddy
buddy so far to one side andthen came back was like, oh shoot,

(45:57):
I kind of oh oh shoot.All those label execs and all these
you know, bad people I wastalking about, Oh I kind of need
them. So let me apologize,right, let me try to get let
me try to get back in goodgraces. And you know people don't forget
so quickly and easily, man,right, especially when you say something like
that. And that's that's always beenmy argument as well. We'll close on

(46:21):
this Dante's I totally agree. Likewhen people will say, hey, you
know he's being canceled because he saidsomething bad about Jewish people and this Jewish
person didn't like it. I'm like, dude, you couldn't come on our
platform and say something anti black.I'm not go let you be on this

(46:44):
platform and trash black people. Whydo you think that you should be able
that that your Jewish manager, thatyou've managed, your Jewish manager for dropping
you because you said something that getsJewish people. You know what are we
talking about up? Oh, that'scancel culture. It's like no, man,
these people don't want to be associatedwith you no more because you you

(47:06):
aard. You you harming them.People don't want to Yeah like you you
you're not as You're not as lucrativefinancially as you think you are, especially
not anymore right Ada Adidas showed youthat, and yeah, man, like
as creative as you are and asincredible as you are in that creative space,
you know you ain't above it,right, because that's what you want.

(47:29):
And a lot of these guys,man, they forget what they actually
are. Kanye is not super dynamicin terms of finance or business. He's
talent. He's talent, that's right. And a lot of times people get
out of try to get out oftheir lane, try to do the you
know, oh I'm bigger than music. Oh I'm bigger than X Y and
Z, or I you know,I'm the business myself. It's like,

(47:51):
actually, you know, you needpartners and you need distributors, and you
need people to help you do XY and Z. Because at the end
of today, he's talent, andtalent needs to be managing. Talent needs
to be distributed and that's not hisarea of expertise. And you know,
don't piss off people that you needto distribute and manage your talent and then

(48:14):
go and then get mad at themwhen they get ready. Oh they canceled
me. Yeah, no, theydon't want to do business with you,
right, Like, come on,man, like to stop it? All
right? On that note, staytuned. You're gonna hear more from Dante
coming up next here from the Yellowswalcome back, walcome back. Now is

(48:45):
the time of the show to belike call Dante's Hot Takes, telling the
truth whether you like it or not. It's Dante's Hot Takes on the Yet
Lawns Radio show. All right,So we have a situation going on in
Cleveland here where the Cleveland Browns wanteither a new stadium or they want Cleveland

(49:10):
brown Stadium to be renovated and updated. The problem is is, as it
is in all you know cities thathave pro sports, who's gonna pay for
it? Usually the team and theownership group has so much leverage that it's

(49:30):
not even really a discussion. Youknow, the city can push back a
little bit, but usually, likewhat we see in Oklahoma City for the
Thunder, they're building a new ninehundred million dollar arena for the Oklahoma City
Thunder and the ownership group is payingfifty million dollars while the taxpayer is gonna
put eight hundred and fifty million dollarsof the bill. The City of Cleveland

(49:52):
is very different because the Haslms haveproposed a fifty to fifty deal where they
they would put up half of themoney still not on the building, of
course, but they would put uphalf of the money, and the city
would have to come up, youknow, with financing for the rest.
Right of course, we know thatwould be through taxing. As of right

(50:13):
now, the City of Cleveland iskind of pushing back and we're sort of
at an impasse to the point wherethe Haslums have made a leverage player looking
into I don't know if that bythat purchase of one hundred and sixty one

(50:35):
hundred and seventy six acres of landin brook Park, which is not in
the city of Cleveland, it's thesuburb has gone through, or if that
was something that they were looking at. But they could be looking to take
the Browns outside of the city ofCleveland, which would be a disaster.
So let's point the finger where itneeds to be pointed. And that's at

(51:00):
the Mayor's office, who doesn't seemto understand a the economic disaster that it
would be if the Browns left thecity of Cleveland. He also doesn't understand
from a business standpoint that someone withleverage like the Browns and the Haslms have
here don't often or ever after afifty to fifty deal when they don't have

(51:24):
to. Because here, again thedirty secret about pro sports is it's not
really a negotiation. The Browns leavingthe city would be devastating from a tax
standpoint, it would be they wouldstill be in the area, they would

(51:46):
still be in the region. ButSundays not having the Browns in Cleveland,
not only is it a tax problemfor the city, it's also a depression
level problem for local bars, restaurantsand different businesses that profit and benefit from

(52:07):
the Browns being in Cleveland eight ornine times a year. So the city
of Cleveland is trying to play hardballwhere they have absolutely no leverage. The
Haslams are giving you an out here. They are trying by saying we will

(52:34):
put up half of the funds here, which, again, if you follow
pro sports, or if you justfollow this from a business standpoint. They
don't need to do that. Theyhave all of the leverage because they can
move outside of the city. Theycan go to Brook Park, they could
try to find land elsewhere. Theyall they really would need to do is

(52:54):
to stay in the region. Theyhave the money to put the bill and
go sowhere else. So the problemthat I see with, you know,
the mayor is I don't think hefully understands the economic impact that this would
have. I don't think that heunderstands from a morale standpoint on from this

(53:15):
based on like the city of Cleveland, I don't think he has a fundamental
understanding of how serious this is andhow serious the haslms are here. I
don't think this is a threat becauselet's just be honest, the stadium does
need to be renovated. We canlook back in the late nineties and say,
Okay, they just threw the youknow, they just threw Cleveland Brown

(53:37):
Stadium together, and you know,highsight is twenty twenty. But you can't
look back twenty five years in thepast and blame anybody that was involved with
that project because they were just sodesperate to get the team back. But
twenty five years later, almost thirtyyears later, it's time for renovations or
a new stadium with a dome,because that will also generate revenue for the

(54:02):
city of Cleveland, who would stillown the building, which is the most
important part here. So they justhad a Beyonce concert last summer at Ford
Field in Detroit. You can dostuff like that here in the winter time.
Right right now, Cleveland Brown Stadiumis home to the Cleveland Browns for

(54:29):
eight games maybe nine depending on theschedule, per year, and that's pretty
much all we use it for.You know, sometimes you may have a
hockey game or a high school footballgame there. That's about it. If
the city's gonna own the building,why not be able to use the building
for more stuff all year round.You're paying for it regardless, you might

(54:52):
as well get your money's worth.You're gonna get a Final Four here.
Do you know what's happened to everysingle team that built a dome stadium,
They got a Super Bowl? AndCleveland has the infrastructure as we've had the
RNC, we've had NBA All StarWeekend, we've had the Major League Baseball
All Star Game. You have theinfrastructure to host a Super Bowl if you

(55:14):
build a dome stadium. You're gonnaget one in the next seven years.
That state, all of that isgoing to pay for itself. So I
just want people in the city,and I want the mayor's office to see
the forest from the trees here andsay, this is much bigger than just

(55:34):
we got to hold these billionaires accountable. This is so much bigger than that.
This is a revenue play that willbenefit the city for the next thirty
years. Maybe go ahead, Darbia. Yeah, I agree with every syllable
of what you said. You knowthis, the Browns moving to the suburbs

(56:01):
cannot happen. It would be amajor blow to the city. I think
it's important to keep these three majorteams in the city. You and and
then and let me just address thisthis part real quick. And then we're
gon clubs. So you hear alot of people saying we couldn't get really

(56:25):
ten dollars to the stadiums and therich, the rich billionaireves and Webb prob
problem. But I want to makea couple of points. One. First
of all, like Dante mentioned,the city of Cleveland owns the building.
The Browns are, so the factthat they're that they're willing to put up

(56:52):
half of the money and still notown the building in and of itself says
a lot about their desire to stayin the city of Cleveland. Second of
all, the only reason you havea Browns and that they're not the Baltimore
Browns, which is what Art Modelwas originally going to do. The reason

(57:15):
why you still have the Cleveland Brownsis because the city sued the team for
breaking the lease. That's how yougot the team back. So without the
city owning the building and being ableto have a say via the lease,

(57:37):
you're screwed. Thirdly, there's alaw. There was a state law that
was passed after Art Modell did whathe did that essentially said any team that
takes public money before they can moveoutside of the state, before they can

(58:00):
team somewhere else outside of the state, they have to first negotiating good faith
with the city that they're located in, and if that doesn't work, they
have to negotiate in good faith witha to sell it to a willing buyer
who's willing to keep it in thesame city before they can consider moving.

(58:28):
That's how the Haslms got the ColumbusCrew. They own the Columbus Crew.
They got that because the ownership wasgetting ready to move the Columbus Crew,
the Major League soccer team, fromColumbus to Austin, Texas, and because
of state law, Jimmy Haslam andhis team was able to swoop in and

(58:52):
get control of that team and buythe team. Do you think, obviously,
if some one who's already benefited fromthat law, you think they don't
know how that law works. Solet's say they have enough money. They're
billionaires already and they just made tenbillion more from selling from the cell of
Polot Flying j going through. Ifthey were to say, all right,

(59:15):
you know what, screw it,the city doesn't want to play ball.
We're gonna move to brook Park andwe're going to pay for it ourselves with
no tax money, guess what happens? Then you can't tell them nothing.
You could be ten or fifteen yearsaway from the from the Nashville Browns for

(59:40):
the Chattanooga Browns if that were thecase. The only leverage, since Dante
was talking about leverage, the onlyleverage that you have is the fact that
you own the stadium and the factthat you've given them tax money. Because
that's how the state law came.So if you force them to leave and

(01:00:05):
go to a stadium where they payfor it all by themselves, they can
do whatever the hell they want todo. So people need to think a
little clearly. They need to bea little smarter. Stop being so damn
stupid. Oh, we don't needto get this money to these exact cats.

(01:00:27):
You'll be sitting there looking stupid andthe team say, all right,
what's good. We out that moneythat you give to them. Teams is
the only leverage that you have withthose teams. Donte last words and let
them not the follies. Yeah,I just want to let them be known
that any sports fan that lives ina major city that has pro sports,

(01:00:53):
you have to pay to play.You have to pay something in order to
play these leagues. Uh, ourbillion dollar entities and these franchises are billion
dollar entities. You're gonna you're gonnapay something. You're either gonna pay and

(01:01:13):
keep them there or you're gonna paythe taxes to you know, cover the
revenue that was lost. So uh, because let me tell you something.
If the Browns were to leave thecity of Cleveland and go to Brook Park,
if you live in the city ofCleveland, your taxes are gonna go
up. They're just sorry because there'sgonna be a massive, massive hole in
the budget. So you know,you gotta pay the play. And the

(01:01:36):
fact that the matter is is thatthe haslms are saying, you don't even
have to pay as much. Right, We're not gonna do you like other
other cities do, right because wedon't need to. The HASLMS and Dan
Gilbert specifically, have done tremendous workin the city of Cleveland, tremendous work
in the city of Cleveland with theirwith with their dollars, so they're not

(01:01:57):
even doing you like they could doyou. Right. The HASLMS could say,
you know what, we want anew stadium and we don't want the
city and we don't want to payfor none of it. They could do
that because certain certain cities have havehad to go through that, and guess
what, most of the time,cities are gonna say, Okay, we'll
do it otherwise. Otherwise you're gonnaget situations like you're just not gonna have

(01:02:20):
pro sports in that city. Right, It's gonna be the Cleveland Browns that
play in Brook Park, or youknow, I know in Detroit. It
was a bit. It was abig problem when the Detroit Pistons were in
Auburn Hills. Right now they're youknow, they're finally back now, but
you know certain things. You know, we talked about this off the era,
but it's like, are any ofthe pro sports teams actually in Dallas?

(01:02:43):
Right? We know the Cowboys arein Arlington, right, So in
that certain cities can can handle that. The city of Cleveland cannot. So
recognize where your leverage is, understandthat, and also understand that you're gonna
pay one way or another. Youcan follow me on Instagram and Twitter at
T Brian t A E B R. White, Miss O'Malley. You can

(01:03:07):
follow me on Instagram at Real RobinO'Malley and Facebook at Robin O'Malley. And
you can follow me at D DKing print area where it is D T
H E K I N G pI N One more time. Thank you
to Chris Van Wicks for coming onthe show. Really appreciate it. We
are out of here, see younext time. This has been a presentation

(01:03:37):
of the FCB podcast Network, whereReal Talk Lifts. Visit us online at
Fcbpodcasts dot com.