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Speaker 1: This is a podcast from wor Now the wr Saturday

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Speaker 1: Morning Show.

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Speaker 2: Here's Larry Minty.

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Speaker 1: Welcome this Saturday morning. On this week's show, the NASA

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Speaker 1: County executive, a now candidate for New York Governor, Bruce Blakeman,

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Speaker 1: talks about what led him to his decision to jump

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Speaker 1: in the race. Bruce, thank you so much for talking.

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Speaker 1: I've seen you everywhere over the past couple of days.

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Speaker 1: You've been busy. Congratulations.

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Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much. It's been a very exciting

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Speaker 2: twenty four hours.

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Speaker 1: Now you hit the ground running. I think you heard

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Speaker 1: what the governor said about you and Alista Phonic running

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Speaker 1: against each other. Do you want to respond?

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Speaker 2: Sure, Listen. I'd rather be a fan of Donald Trump

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Speaker 2: than a fan of Zorn Mndami, which seems to be

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Speaker 2: Kathy Hokeel's new pal. She endorsed him, she's embraced him.

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Speaker 2: And you know what's really funny, Larry, what's really funny

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Speaker 2: is she has a primary by her trusted lieutenant who

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Speaker 2: turned on her because even her lieutenant governor thought that

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Speaker 2: she was doing a terrible job as governor of the

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Speaker 2: state of New York. So I find that very funny.

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Speaker 2: And if she wants to attack the Republicans for having

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Speaker 2: a primary. I think she needs to look in the

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Speaker 2: mirror first.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's funny. I thought she made a huge mistake

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Speaker 1: politically by coming out so effusively and endorsing Zora and

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Speaker 1: Mom Donnie and appearing with him and speaking for him

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Speaker 1: on some regards. I thought that was a mistake. I

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Speaker 1: think most Democrats tried to keep some distance because he's

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Speaker 1: a great campaigner, no question, a great candidate. I'm not

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Speaker 1: sure he's going to be a great mayor because half

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Speaker 1: the things he says he's going to do he just

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Speaker 1: can't do. And now she's going to have to own that.

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Speaker 2: Well. I agree. Look, she's done a terrible job governing

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Speaker 2: this state. When I go to places like Texas and Florida,

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Speaker 2: South Carolina, North Carolina, people there are happy. They're happy

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Speaker 2: with their government. As I traveled throughout New York State

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Speaker 2: for the last two weeks and met with people in

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Speaker 2: virtually every part of the state, people are miserable, and

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Speaker 2: they're miserable because of Kathy Hochel. They're miserable because their

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Speaker 2: communities aren't safe. They're miserable because taxes are way too high.

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Speaker 2: They're miserable because there's no opportunity for their children and

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Speaker 2: grandchildren in New York State. I want to do for

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Speaker 2: New York State what I did to Nassau County. Nasau

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Speaker 2: County is the safest county in America according to US

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Speaker 2: News and World Report. We're the most desirable place to

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Speaker 2: live in New York State. According to Niche magazine. I

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Speaker 2: haven't raised taxes one penny in four years. We have

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Speaker 2: the lowest poverty rate of any county in New York State.

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Speaker 2: People are prosperous out here. I met with union leaders

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Speaker 2: last night and they were complaining about the fact that

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Speaker 2: there isn't the opportunity that they want for their men

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Speaker 2: and women who are working here, and a lot of

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Speaker 2: them aren't working because there's no job created. So I

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Speaker 2: want to create economic prosperity, work to create a better

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Speaker 2: future for the young people here in the state, and

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Speaker 2: have people come back to New York State, bring businesses

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Speaker 2: back to New York State, and to keep the people

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Speaker 2: here by making this a place where people are happy

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Speaker 2: and proud to call New York State their home.

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Speaker 1: Now, you responded to Kathy Hochel, do you want to

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Speaker 1: respond to Elise Stafonik, who said you couldn't control your

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Speaker 1: own raging ego and that's why you got in the race.

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Speaker 2: Well, listen, I'm not running against Elise. I'm running against

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Speaker 2: Kathy Hochel. I'm going to keep my eye on the ball.

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Speaker 2: I feel that my record speaks for itself. I run

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Speaker 2: a county that's larger than eight to ten states. I

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Speaker 2: have the tenth largest municipal police department in the United

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Speaker 2: States that I run. I have a four point three

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Speaker 2: billion dollar budget that I've managed in a way that

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Speaker 2: I've gotten seven bond upgrades from Wall Street, which is unprecedented.

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Speaker 2: I'm going to run on my record.

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Speaker 1: Are you surprised, though, that she took that ten Ti?

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Speaker 1: I was. I thought that the two of you could write,

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Speaker 1: run a great campaign, show the problems with Kathy Hokeel,

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Speaker 1: and may the best person win. I was surprised that

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Speaker 1: she came right out with a shot at you.

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Speaker 2: Well, again, I don't know what her thought process was.

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Speaker 2: It doesn't bother me in the least. I gotta tell

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Speaker 2: you each and every day, I'm going to get up

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Speaker 2: and I'm going to bring my case to the people

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Speaker 2: on how I would be a better governor than Kathy Hockel.

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Speaker 1: You're going to have a debate, I'm sure, and you're

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Speaker 1: going to have going to be out in the campaign trail.

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Speaker 1: And Kathy Hockel did have one point in her statement,

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Speaker 1: you are the two of you are a lot a

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Speaker 1: like politically, a lease in yourself, and you would expect

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Speaker 1: that you're both conservatives, you're both part of the MAGA movement,

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Speaker 1: you're both Republicans and proud Republicans. How do you differentiate

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Speaker 1: yourself from each other or is it just who presents

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Speaker 1: themselves the best that people will vote for.

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Speaker 2: That's a great question. And here's what I would say

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Speaker 2: to you. In a county with one hundred and ten

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Speaker 2: thousand more Democrats, I won in a landslide by over

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Speaker 2: thirty six thousand votes. I won every key demographic, independent women,

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Speaker 2: I won Hispanic American, Latino voters, I won Asian American voters.

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Speaker 2: I won. And a typical Republican candidate gets about nine

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Speaker 2: percent of the African American vote. I got a record

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Speaker 2: high of thirty two percent of the African American vote.

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Speaker 2: Now you ask yourself, why are they voting for me?

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Speaker 2: He's a Trump guy, He's a maga, guy, why are

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Speaker 2: they voting for Bruce? Because I'm not a phony. I

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Speaker 2: never backed away from Trump. But what I did do

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Speaker 2: is I reached out to those communities and I said, listen,

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Speaker 2: we may not be able to agree on some things,

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Speaker 2: but let's talk about what you need for your communities.

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Speaker 2: Let's talk about how we can make a better life

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Speaker 2: for your children and your grandchildren. That's what I'm all about.

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Speaker 2: And we did things in those communities that had never

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Speaker 2: been done before, especially by a Republican, and I think

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Speaker 2: people like that kind of leadership. You can't win a

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Speaker 2: state election by getting only Republican votes. You've got to

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Speaker 2: get independent voters, and you've got to get crossover common

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Speaker 2: sense democrats. I've already done that, and I've demonstrated that

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Speaker 2: I can do that, and that's what you need to win,

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Speaker 2: and that's how I would differentiate myself from any other candidate.

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Speaker 1: It sounds like Donald Trump's going to stay out of

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Speaker 1: the race completely. He says, you're both great. I'm sure

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Speaker 1: you heard that. He wasn't going to say a bad

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Speaker 1: thing about either of you. He was glowing. Have you

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Speaker 1: talked to him about your decision? And since you made

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Speaker 1: the decision.

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Speaker 2: Yes, we've talked, and I talked to the President on

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Speaker 2: a fairly regular basis. He is somebody that I admire

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Speaker 2: very much. He's done more in the last eleven months

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Speaker 2: as president than any president in my lifetime. But I

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Speaker 2: don't talk about my conversations with the President. They're confidential,

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Speaker 2: and I keep that confidentiality because I respect his position

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Speaker 2: and basically I'm not speaking for him, and I don't

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Speaker 2: think anybody should speak for him.

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Speaker 1: Well, I'm gonna keep trying. Thanks a lot for coming on, Bruce.

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Speaker 1: I really do appreciate your time. I hope to talk

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Speaker 1: to you again, my friend.

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Speaker 2: It's always a pleasure.

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Speaker 1: NASA County executive Bruce Blakeman, now Republican candidate for governor.

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Speaker 2: This has been a podcast from wor