Pretend They Are Dead Featuring Steven Eichenblatt

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Welcome. I'm Erik Fleming, host of A Moment with Erik Fleming, the podcast of our time.

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I want to personally thank you for listening to the podcast.

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make this moment a movement.

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Thanks in advance for supporting the podcast of our time. I hope you enjoy this episode as well.

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The following program is hosted by the NBG Podcast Network.

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Thank you. Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Hello, and welcome to another moment with Erik Fleming. I am your host, Erik Fleming.

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And so today, this is going to be a really, really short one compared to my

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last few episodes because the Jackson State University had their homecoming week.

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So I attended those festivities and always glad to go back to my alma mater.

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So I only have one guest, and I think you're going to like him.

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He's written a book about an experience he had growing up and how that led to

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a career that he has been doing for some three decades.

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And more particularly, the work that he is doing, the specific work that he is doing in his career.

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So I hope you enjoy that interview.

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And I know you're going to enjoy the brevity of the podcast.

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I do have a little commentary at the end, but it's going to be real quick because, you know,

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it was more about me reuniting with some friends and seeing the campus,

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see what changes had been made, all that stuff.

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So, yeah.

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So, again, make sure that you support the podcast.

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You can go to patreon.com slash a moment with ErikRFleming, or you can go to momenterik.com,

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the actual website, and do the same thing and do some bonus stuff. All right.

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So please, please, please do that. Really appreciate whatever support you can

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give. The subscription is only a dollar.

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If you want to give a one-time donation, you can do that too.

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So just go ahead and check out those platforms.

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All right, so, as I stated, we're not going to keep you long.

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So, let's kick this off with a moment of news with Grace G.

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Thanks, Erik. Israel and Hamas signed a ceasefire agreement after two years of conflict in Gaza.

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President Trump escalated his actions towards Chicago with a U.S.

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Border Patrol raid that targeted gang members, the shooting of an alleged armed U.S.

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Citizen, arresting several protesters at an ICE detention facility,

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and freezing $2.1 billion in Chicago transit funding.

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A federal judge temporarily blocked President Trump from sending any National

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Guard troops to Portland, while a lawsuit against the deployment proceeds.

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A Florida man was arrested and charged with intentionally starting the devastating

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Palisades fire in Los Angeles on January 1st. The U.S.

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Supreme Court temporarily upheld the Trump administration's revocation of temporary

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protected status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants.

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The Supreme Court also refused to hear Missouri's attempt to reinstate a state

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law that aimed to prevent the enforcement of several federal gun laws and Ghislaine

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Maxwell's appeal to overturn her conviction for aiding financier Jeffrey Epstein

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in the sexual abuse of teenage girls.

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A coalition for unions, employers, and religious groups filed the first lawsuit

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to block the Trump administration's newly imposed $100,000 fee on H-1B visas

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for highly skilled foreign workers.

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FBI Director Kash Patel announced the agency had cut ties with the Southern

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Poverty Law Center, accusing the organization of becoming a partisan smear machine.

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The family of Andrew Smyrna, an unarmed African-American father killed by a

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Georgia state trooper during a 2020 traffic stop, reached a $5.5 million settlement.

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And the city of Atlanta has launched an Atlanta Reparations Study Commission

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to explore unconventional non-financial forms of reparations for descendants

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of those historically displaced and set back by events like the construction of I-85.

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I am Grace G. And this has been a Moment of News.

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All right. Thank you, Grace, for that moment of news. And now it is time for

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my guest, Steven Eichenblatt.

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Steven Eichenblatt is a graduate of Florida State University and the University

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of Florida College of Law.

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A practicing attorney and father of five, he has spent over 30 years advocating

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for children as a pro bono guardian ad litem and representing families of first

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responders killed on 9-11.

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As a founding partner of Page and Eichenblatt, he has received multiple awards

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for legal excellence and community work supporting children.

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He lives with his wife in Orlando, Florida, and he is the author of the memoir,

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Pretend They Are Dead, A Father's Search for Truth.

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And so we're going to talk about that book and we're going to talk about just

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the experience of being a guardian ad litem.

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And so, ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct honor and privilege to have

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as a guest on this podcast, Steven Eichenblatt.

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All right, Steven Eichenblatt. How you doing, man? You doing good?

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I'm good this morning. Absolutely.

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Doing well. Well, I'm glad to have you. and I'm going to pick your brain a little

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bit and we're going to talk about a book that you wrote.

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But before we do all that, I do a couple of icebreakers.

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So the first icebreaker is I want you to respond to a quote.

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It is not flesh and blood, but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.

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What does that quote mean to you?

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Well, I could go on quite a bit about that quote, known what the subject of

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my book is, but it means a lot, actually. So it's like the heart is love.

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You said the heart is love or the heart is love? Heart is love.

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Yeah, yeah. And we're going to dive into the book because I know that the gist

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of the book is about your relationships and, I guess,

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struggle with your biological father and even your stepfather.

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So I need you. The next icebreaker is a game we call 20 questions.

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So I need you to give me a number between one and 20.

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18. All right. That mean I have to answer 18 questions? No, no,

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no. You get one question.

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What is one thing we might all agree is important, no matter our differences?

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Integrity. Living life with integrity. Okay.

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All right. Well, I would agree with that. I hope that, you know,

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in this climate, we can get back to it.

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But, yeah, I think the majority of the people in America stand on that statement.

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I hope so. I hope so. I've been worried about it.

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You know, I've got five kids myself, including one I adopted.

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And I look at the leaders of the country right now and putting politics aside,

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you want people with character that tell the truth, that don't call other people names.

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I mean, what kind of role model, what kind of examples are we setting for my

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kids, for everybody else?

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I mean, you know, Eric, I could, I'm a Democrat, but I will vote both sides.

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And this isn't a political discussion, but when the Attorney General of the

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United States is attacking anybody who asks a question personally,

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it's out of bounds. And I don't consider that leading with integrity or character.

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You know, I can disagree with you on lots of things and we won't fight.

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We'll respect each other. We'll have an intelligent, intelligent discussion about it.

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It's funny you bring that up because I remember when I was in the legislature.

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And we had a hearing, me and a gentleman from Clarksdale, Mississippi,

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introduced bills to try to abolish the death penalty in Mississippi.

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So by virtue, I guess, of our personalities or whatever, we were able to force

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the committee to actually have a hearing on the bill.

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And the assistant attorney general for the state of Mississippi,

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we were all, we were still Democrats primarily then.

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And as far as elected officials, and so he was a Democrat, but he was testifying

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as to why, because he was in charge of the death penalty cases.

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So he was testifying why we still needed it.

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And he made, in his comments, he said that the legislation was stupid.

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And I asked to be recognized, and I lit into him.

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You know, and I told him, I said, look, nobody on this panel was elected because

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we were stupid. We were elected because we wanted to make changes and da-da-da

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and this, that, and the other.

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And so I gave him a ride for about five minutes.

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And I just sat there and thought about what you were saying about Attorney General

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Bundy and how she was dealing with, especially the Democratic senators.

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There's a couple of Republicans she jumped into too, but I just said, there's no way.

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There's no way. I mean, that meeting, that thing would have been shut down.

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Because the minute she said something to me, I probably would have responded

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the minute that she did it to somebody else. It would have been like,

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you know, we're going to have to change that or something.

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We can ask her to leave because this is not going to happen.

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Not on national TV. That's not going to happen.

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So, yeah, I feel you on that.

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We got to get back to some kind of.

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That's right. And recognizing, you know, during, I know during COVID I'd have

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these, I'd have these, you know, I'd have these debates with friends of mine

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who may have been on the other side or still on the other side.

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And they would be attacking the judges, like the federal judges and saying,

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well, this judge would do that. And as a lawyer who has practiced in federal

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court and who's done a lot of litigation, those judges are, most of them are brilliant.

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Forget about their politics. To get to that level, you know,

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whether you're a Supreme Court justice or a federal court judge,

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all those people are really qualified.

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Most of them put politics aside at the upper levels. I'm not talking about your local county judge.

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And, you know, it's frustrating because we have a leader who attacks the justice system.

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And my son is a lawyer, and he went to the University of Florida,

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and he was on MootCourt, which for the people who are listening,

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it's an organization where you argue against other schools. It's sort of like debate.

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And Justice Clarence Thomas came to the school to speak to the class,

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which is a big honor, no matter what you think of politically.

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And my son got to meet him and spend time with him, and he loved him.

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He's like, Dad, he is so charismatic. He's so different than what you see,

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like, you know, as far as personality and, and,

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you know, these are smart people that the, the judges and, and,

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and the people at that level, but they, yeah, it's frustrating.

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Yeah. Yeah. All right. So let's talk about your book.

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And I want to start with you telling the audience about the title of the book

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and how you got to that title.

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The title of my book is called Pretend They Are Dead, and Pretend They Are Dead,

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A Father's Search for the Truth.

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The title came from my biological father gave me up for adoption when I was

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about seven or eight years old.

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He disappeared out of my life. He was a veterinarian, lives in the same town.

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And over the years, I never saw him. There was one incident where I saw him.

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And eventually, I reconnected with him when I was in college.

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He had a major drug problem.

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And he wound up passing away in a drug-related issue. Let's put it that way.

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Anyway, I write about all that. I found out at his funeral, I went to his funeral,

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that he had been a writer himself.

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Not just a veterinarian, but a writer. and he had written, kept a journal and

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wrote letters virtually every day of his life between 1960 and 1990.

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Political stuff, anything you can think of, he wrote about and he wrote a lot

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about what happened with his kids and his family.

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And I got all that. And then several years later, my cousin,

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who is the one who gave me the boxes of his writing, sent me a story.

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And the story was called Hello Yellow, and it was about the last night that

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my biological father spent with me.

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And in that story, which was published in a national magazine,

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he explains that the reason he left us and the reason he wouldn't see us,

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even though he lived right down the street virtually,

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was because the psychiatrist told him to pretend they are dead.

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And that's exactly what happened. And so it felt like that was a really compelling title.

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It was horrible advice to pretend your kids are, because of course he couldn't pretend we were dead.

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You could sell through all of his 30 years of journaling. It killed him.

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You know, it really, it did. But that's where the title comes from.

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Yeah. So you mentioned that he was out of your life when you were about eight years old.

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But you had a chance encounter.

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I don't know. It wasn't really an encounter, but it was an experience where

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you saw him, I think about eight years later.

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And I know you want people to read the book and all that, but kind of,

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kind of, cause you kind of hit us with it at the beginning. So kind of talk

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about that, that, that encounter.

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Yeah. And I, and I don't mind talking about it. This is my members on the shelves.

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It's a, I hope people buy it. I hope they listen and they like me.

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And, and, but you know, there's no, you know, there's lots of stuff in there

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that I can't talk about because I don't have time, but this is such a crazy shit story that.

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When I was 16, I was working at a tennis club, and I was the only person there at the club.

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It was July 4th, 1975, so a lot of your listeners probably weren't alive.

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I was alive, and I was there, and I was working. I was the maintenance guy at

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the club, and I hear this stream, tires screeching.

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Car hits a telephone pole about 50 feet from where I am.

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Now, I'd never seen anything like that. I've never been in a serious car accident.

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I'd never seen a car accident. I'd never seen somebody bloodied and all that,

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but my heart's thumping. I run to the front of the car.

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There's a guy that went through the windshield.

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I run back to the pay phone, dialed zero because back then there wasn't 911.

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And the police come and all the ambulances come. And this guy,

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his face is basically split in two, blood all over, was unconscious when I saw him.

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They bring him in. They bring him, went back up by the car.

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They had him leaning against the side of the car as the ambulance was coming. I mean, it was 1975.

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Got a bunch of gawkers and onlookers. And I had left my Schwinn Varsity 10-speed,

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which I was very proud of, my bicycle.

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That was my transportation. I didn't have my own car. I left it by a tree.

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And I started walking to the tree, and I felt this presence on me.

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I felt somebody looking at me.

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You get that feeling of somebody looking at you, even though you're not looking

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at them, like their energy.

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And I turned, and I could see this man had regained consciousness,

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and he literally, his eye was split in two, and his good eye was looking at me.

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And this feeling came over me. And at that time, the police officer pulled out

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his wallet and said, does anybody know this man?

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And I didn't say anything. I got on my bike. I rode away.

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And I didn't tell anybody for 40 years that that man was my biological father.

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Wow. Wow. How crazy was that? That, you know, just a circumstance.

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What did you take from that? Did you have a sense of...

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When you look at it in hindsight, did you think that that was like a moment where he was trying to.

00:18:41.677 --> 00:18:45.617
Inadvertently trying to connect and, and, and, you know, or reaching out for

00:18:45.617 --> 00:18:49.937
help or I, you know, I just, what, what was your thoughts?

00:18:50.057 --> 00:18:53.877
And then why did you feel that you had to keep that bottled up for all those years?

00:18:54.637 --> 00:19:00.177
Um, you know, well, I look like learning two years later, I learned that he,

00:19:00.237 --> 00:19:04.857
he, he, you know, He had actually heard that I worked at the club,

00:19:05.037 --> 00:19:08.237
so he was probably due to a drive-by.

00:19:08.417 --> 00:19:11.177
Whether he would have actually stopped to talk to me, probably not,

00:19:11.197 --> 00:19:14.757
because it turned out that he'd stalked me for a number of years,

00:19:15.057 --> 00:19:17.337
didn't have the courage to actually talk to me.

00:19:17.477 --> 00:19:24.377
And in that situation, he'd had a few drinks and taken some Valium or whatever.

00:19:24.377 --> 00:19:28.957
He was not coherent when he hit the telephone pole, which maybe that saved him.

00:19:29.077 --> 00:19:33.037
But you know what's interesting, Eric? And, you know, cause I went through a

00:19:33.037 --> 00:19:35.997
lot of stuff as a kid and lots of people go through lots of things and,

00:19:36.177 --> 00:19:37.837
you know, you're just, these are the cars you're dealt.

00:19:38.097 --> 00:19:42.197
This is the house you live in. You know, you have no idea what your neighbor,

00:19:42.317 --> 00:19:43.537
what's going on in your neighbor's house.

00:19:43.757 --> 00:19:48.097
I had seven brothers and sisters, you know, their lives were totally different

00:19:48.097 --> 00:19:54.997
than mine, but I, I had been so traumatized prior to that by living in the house

00:19:54.997 --> 00:19:57.877
and some of the things that happened that I really didn't feel,

00:19:58.037 --> 00:20:01.397
I felt very little. I mean, it was like, okay, that happened.

00:20:01.657 --> 00:20:04.657
And the reality is I didn't go cry in the corner.

00:20:04.857 --> 00:20:10.697
I didn't even think about that. I didn't go tell my mother or my adopted father or anybody else.

00:20:10.837 --> 00:20:14.057
It's just, this is another day. I mean, it sounds crazy, but it's like,

00:20:14.117 --> 00:20:18.737
you know, you just, I mean, it's like when you just put that stuff down, push it down.

00:20:19.037 --> 00:20:23.417
And I was going to my buddy's house because we were probably going to smoke

00:20:23.417 --> 00:20:29.197
some dope or get in trouble with teenagers in New Jersey. did at 17 years old, 16 years old.

00:20:29.377 --> 00:20:33.017
And I just, I just pushed it aside.

00:20:34.097 --> 00:20:39.657
Yeah. So that experience, how did that,

00:20:40.479 --> 00:20:45.899
impact you one, well, let's, let's break it down three different ways.

00:20:46.099 --> 00:20:53.679
You're a lawyer by profession and, and you're a guardian ad litem as well.

00:20:54.139 --> 00:20:55.839
And you're also a father.

00:20:56.439 --> 00:21:03.119
So how did the, how did the events that, that shaped your life from the time

00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:08.699
you was eight years old impact those three different aspects of your life?

00:21:09.479 --> 00:21:15.879
Well, I can tell you, as a person, I'm a trial lawyer, I'm a competitive person,

00:21:16.019 --> 00:21:21.039
and I'm a fighter, not physically, but I mean just for what's right.

00:21:21.459 --> 00:21:25.259
And that's why being on guardian ad litem, like helping children,

00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:29.019
I mean, people are not aware, they don't realize, or maybe they do,

00:21:29.099 --> 00:21:33.339
and they don't care how many kids out there, underprivileged,

00:21:33.559 --> 00:21:38.399
have no services, have no adults leading them, are just stuck either on the

00:21:38.399 --> 00:21:40.599
street or in the system with no mentorship.

00:21:40.959 --> 00:21:44.439
And so going through and living in the house that I went through,

00:21:44.539 --> 00:21:48.739
and I went through this horrible, I was in the middle of this horrible divorce custody battle.

00:21:48.979 --> 00:21:53.619
And my mother shows up with another man who's not a nice person.

00:21:53.959 --> 00:21:59.119
And I get thrown in a house, the seven kids, and we all get adopted, you know, together.

00:21:59.679 --> 00:22:06.859
And back then in the 70s, you know, it was probably pretty common for fathers to hit their kids.

00:22:07.099 --> 00:22:10.299
And, you know, that wasn't a big deal back then. It wasn't.

00:22:10.359 --> 00:22:16.359
And I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but I did not want that to happen to anybody else.

00:22:16.519 --> 00:22:22.259
And I felt by my experience growing up like that and then seeing some other

00:22:22.259 --> 00:22:26.239
things in the world and doing a lot of reading about helping underprivileged people,

00:22:26.239 --> 00:22:34.119
I really dove into helping kids and families that needed it.

00:22:34.399 --> 00:22:36.199
I think the experience of.

00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:40.900
Of learning how to fight back from having a childhood like that,

00:22:41.500 --> 00:22:43.020
you know, you have a choice, right?

00:22:43.120 --> 00:22:47.960
You can, and I have siblings that you can just be a victim and walk around and complain.

00:22:48.120 --> 00:22:54.580
I got dealt a bad hand and, you know, and my father abandoned me and this person was beating me.

00:22:54.680 --> 00:22:57.280
And so I'm just going to walk around with my head down. But,

00:22:57.620 --> 00:23:01.400
you know, I chose to use that as energy or fuel to, to fight back,

00:23:01.400 --> 00:23:02.460
you know, for other people.

00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:07.080
Yeah. So what, and what about fatherhood? Cause you, you, you,

00:23:07.080 --> 00:23:08.900
You're a father of five children?

00:23:09.520 --> 00:23:13.200
Yes, right, right. And the last one, adopted. Yeah, I mean, well,

00:23:13.320 --> 00:23:19.040
I think that it made me too easy as a parent, probably.

00:23:19.280 --> 00:23:24.560
Like, you know, I just, I spent every, listen, I had two fathers and neither

00:23:24.560 --> 00:23:28.200
of them totally, they probably said 10 minutes in their entire lives with me alone.

00:23:28.580 --> 00:23:32.840
I wanted to make sure I was at all my kids' games, that they knew I was there for them.

00:23:32.840 --> 00:23:35.760
You know i was i was probably much too easy on

00:23:35.760 --> 00:23:38.580
as far as them taking advantage of me and in some

00:23:38.580 --> 00:23:41.320
ways and you know i was i didn't have a great

00:23:41.320 --> 00:23:47.340
role model as as parents i had pretty bad role models and so it was certainly

00:23:47.340 --> 00:23:52.940
it was certainly you know it certainly affected how i how i parented but i think

00:23:52.940 --> 00:23:59.760
i can say that i was probably too easy and in some ways and enabled them in some ways.

00:23:59.960 --> 00:24:05.820
And then in other ways, I was shut down emotionally and maybe not as loving as I could have been.

00:24:05.960 --> 00:24:13.200
So those, those two things, I wound up in divorce twice and I wound up adopting my, my third wife.

00:24:13.680 --> 00:24:18.420
I adopted her son and he is a fantastic, is a fantastic kid.

00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:20.360
And, and I had more love in my heart.

00:24:20.500 --> 00:24:25.000
You know, I, I learned, I learned how to be more of a hugger, you know.

00:24:26.157 --> 00:24:29.037
Yeah. Well, I understand that journey.

00:24:30.137 --> 00:24:41.077
I had one biological child and I inherited, let's see, five boys in three marriages.

00:24:41.857 --> 00:24:51.757
And so it was a little different as far as my dynamics compared to you. But I get it.

00:24:52.137 --> 00:25:00.037
And it was like, you know, the older I got, the more attached I got with the children.

00:25:00.437 --> 00:25:04.997
You know, a couple of them didn't respond, you know, because they were older, per se.

00:25:05.617 --> 00:25:12.937
But, you know, yeah, all of us are very critical about how we are as fathers.

00:25:13.477 --> 00:25:17.537
And I talk to my child a lot. He's actually back.

00:25:17.537 --> 00:25:25.717
I grew up in Chicago. And so they're actually back in Chicago and, you know, and, you know,

00:25:26.177 --> 00:25:32.097
had some real kind of conversations and, you know, they always try to say,

00:25:32.257 --> 00:25:36.057
well, you were, you were good, you know, don't, don't beat yourself up.

00:25:36.237 --> 00:25:39.857
And you didn't have this or you couldn't do that. Don't worry about all that.

00:25:40.017 --> 00:25:43.277
So, you know, all of them seem to be doing okay.

00:25:44.937 --> 00:25:49.397
So that's all I can say you know as a dad I get that,

00:25:50.193 --> 00:25:54.573
So let's get into some issues, because I wanted to take advantage of the fact

00:25:54.573 --> 00:25:56.293
that you are a guardian ad litem.

00:25:56.713 --> 00:26:02.733
And one of the committees I served on in the legislature was juvenile justice.

00:26:03.353 --> 00:26:07.373
And so, you know, that was those issues.

00:26:07.833 --> 00:26:14.933
We were caught up a lot in the state facilities that we were dealing with these young people.

00:26:16.073 --> 00:26:19.853
And but we had to deal with guardian ad litem issues as well.

00:26:19.853 --> 00:26:21.993
So I just want to ask you some questions.

00:26:22.453 --> 00:26:27.353
As a guardian ad litem, do you think there is enough clarity in the laws and

00:26:27.353 --> 00:26:32.893
procedures concerning the role or scope of authority of a guardian ad litem?

00:26:34.413 --> 00:26:40.053
You know, probably not. I know that in Orange County, Orlando,

00:26:40.233 --> 00:26:46.353
Florida, where I am, I volunteer as a pro bono attorney doing that as a guardian ad litem.

00:26:46.353 --> 00:26:51.753
And they have started structuring it a lot, you know, a lot more as far as what

00:26:51.753 --> 00:26:56.493
the rules are and what guardian items can do and how much power we have or don't have.

00:26:56.673 --> 00:27:01.953
But they're mainly trying to get lawyers to actually do it, to,

00:27:02.173 --> 00:27:09.153
you know, perform the role because otherwise DCF, which is Division of Children and Family Services,

00:27:09.633 --> 00:27:14.133
they have to find somebody to, you know, to fill that spot.

00:27:14.133 --> 00:27:17.633
And, you know, Orange County Legal Aid does a good job in trying to get the

00:27:17.633 --> 00:27:19.333
guardian ad litemps, trying to train them.

00:27:19.473 --> 00:27:23.953
So when I started out, because I've been doing it so long, there was very little structure.

00:27:24.233 --> 00:27:28.393
You know, you just, you're helping that kid and, you know, that's your job.

00:27:28.513 --> 00:27:33.413
But it's definitely in Florida, it's gotten more structured and we got more

00:27:33.413 --> 00:27:35.713
responsible, more responsibility.

00:27:36.433 --> 00:27:43.833
And the guardian in Florida you're put on the hot seat by the judge when it

00:27:43.833 --> 00:27:50.293
comes to helping the judge at the court in average to make a decision about where the kid should go.

00:27:51.166 --> 00:27:55.906
Yeah. So I guess before we get too deep in the weeds on this,

00:27:56.166 --> 00:28:00.166
define exactly what a guardian ad litem is for the audience. Sure.

00:28:00.506 --> 00:28:05.286
A guardian ad litem is basically an independent person, generally a lawyer,

00:28:05.466 --> 00:28:08.406
who's appointed to serve the best interests of the child.

00:28:08.626 --> 00:28:14.886
So if, for example, there's a sexual abuse case and the state is trying to take

00:28:14.886 --> 00:28:16.086
the kids away from the parents,

00:28:16.266 --> 00:28:21.586
the court will appoint a guardian ad litem to be involved in helping make the

00:28:21.586 --> 00:28:24.126
decision on what's the best thing for the child.

00:28:24.126 --> 00:28:32.706
So my role as a GAL, I can't say GAL, is solely to push all that aside and try to help the kid.

00:28:33.266 --> 00:28:38.546
So that's, and in some states, in some counties, you do not have to be a lawyer.

00:28:38.786 --> 00:28:40.246
You can be a psychologist.

00:28:40.486 --> 00:28:42.286
You have different levels here.

00:28:42.586 --> 00:28:46.706
But, you know, it's, so that's what our role is.

00:28:46.746 --> 00:28:51.426
And it's really, it's a really important piece. Yeah, it was like the young

00:28:51.426 --> 00:28:55.766
lady that that succeeded me in the legislature.

00:28:55.886 --> 00:29:00.926
She she was a family attorney and she was a guardian ad litem.

00:29:01.326 --> 00:29:07.586
And, you know, a lot of stuff that she did legislatively was trying to fix that

00:29:07.586 --> 00:29:09.146
in the state of Mississippi.

00:29:10.295 --> 00:29:15.635
It's hard to learn. I mean, you can definitely, like last year,

00:29:15.755 --> 00:29:20.715
a couple years ago, I had two boys from the same mom.

00:29:20.835 --> 00:29:24.795
The mom was 13 and had already had like five children.

00:29:25.135 --> 00:29:29.335
I mean, it's very, very, you know, it's very sad. And she was on the street.

00:29:29.695 --> 00:29:34.335
And she was on the street. And, you know, one of the kids was born with a lot

00:29:34.335 --> 00:29:38.475
of intellectual issues because she had been on coke and all that.

00:29:38.475 --> 00:29:40.915
And there's so many stories like that out there.

00:29:40.955 --> 00:29:44.815
And then you have to look at where do those kids, where those kids go and who

00:29:44.815 --> 00:29:49.135
helps them and how do they get direction and, and, and who's going to do that

00:29:49.135 --> 00:29:51.635
for them. And it takes work.

00:29:52.515 --> 00:29:57.775
Yeah. So you, you had mentioned in your state that they, they have training.

00:29:57.915 --> 00:30:04.755
What specific training should a GAL have that is not required now, in your opinion?

00:30:05.075 --> 00:30:15.655
Sure. I think a GIL should have some background in dealing with domestic abuse, domestic situations,

00:30:16.015 --> 00:30:21.915
understand a little bit about family law and not being lawyers,

00:30:22.055 --> 00:30:27.275
but understanding some of the issues related to custody, custody battles.

00:30:28.875 --> 00:30:32.675
Maybe, you know, learn a little bit about, depending on the age of the child,

00:30:33.235 --> 00:30:37.215
some of the psychological or, you know, mental health issues that go along with it.

00:30:37.875 --> 00:30:41.615
I think that's, it's certainly a case-by-case thing.

00:30:41.815 --> 00:30:46.115
I think that they should, you know, it takes a lot of time. So my wife is a

00:30:46.115 --> 00:30:49.215
volunteer guardian ad litem in Seminole County, which is next county over.

00:30:49.435 --> 00:30:53.875
And then she spent like a month going out with some of the public defenders

00:30:54.215 --> 00:30:58.895
or some of the lawyers for the DCF, you know, going on calls to see what they do.

00:30:59.115 --> 00:31:03.195
I mean, those caseworkers, I'm sure you see in Mississippi, they are,

00:31:03.315 --> 00:31:06.875
that is the toughest job in the world. That is the toughest job in the world.

00:31:07.676 --> 00:31:15.196
Yeah, it is. Should a guardian ad litem's report be admissible evidence in court,

00:31:15.196 --> 00:31:23.976
or is it better that a GAL testifies and submits themselves to cross-examination? Definitely testifies.

00:31:24.276 --> 00:31:29.496
I think it's, well, first of all, like in the law, the traditional sense,

00:31:29.816 --> 00:31:34.916
anything the GAL says, if you can't cross-examine them, could be considered hearsay.

00:31:34.916 --> 00:31:40.796
A lot of the things that we gather to make our decisions are based on other information out there.

00:31:40.976 --> 00:31:45.876
So it's really important for both sides to be able to, because there's a certain

00:31:45.876 --> 00:31:49.676
standard that you have to meet when you're testifying if the kids are going

00:31:49.676 --> 00:31:51.016
to be taken away from the parents.

00:31:51.456 --> 00:31:58.536
And when you testify, it's important that the parents' attorneys get the opportunity

00:31:58.536 --> 00:32:03.356
to ask me why I made the decision that I made and to cross-examine and question it.

00:32:04.436 --> 00:32:08.116
But that's a great, that's really an excellent, really is an excellent question.

00:32:08.316 --> 00:32:12.816
And I've been cross-examined a few times where, you know, this is a really tough thing.

00:32:12.936 --> 00:32:18.116
Sometimes it's really clear where a child should be placed, but sometimes it's not.

00:32:18.676 --> 00:32:23.356
Or maybe there's allegations out there of abuse, but no one's ever proved it.

00:32:23.576 --> 00:32:26.516
And, you know, do you want, my father left me, man. You know,

00:32:26.576 --> 00:32:28.576
I don't like taking kids away from their family.

00:32:28.776 --> 00:32:36.716
That's really rough. And those are hard, hard cases and really, really is. Yeah.

00:32:37.156 --> 00:32:39.416
You know, I think people...

00:32:39.976 --> 00:32:44.396
I don't, I don't, you know, I just, when, when I started doing research and

00:32:44.396 --> 00:32:46.656
trying to, you know, ask that question,

00:32:46.936 --> 00:32:52.696
you know, I'm kind of like you, I think it makes sense to actually have the

00:32:52.696 --> 00:32:57.196
guardian ad litem present and be able to answer questions and,

00:32:57.196 --> 00:33:04.636
and scrutiny and maybe clear up some things that you might've seen or observed, excuse me.

00:33:05.336 --> 00:33:09.936
And, you know, in a cross-examination, those things could be clarified, right?

00:33:10.476 --> 00:33:16.976
And so I don't understand what would be the motivation to just say,

00:33:17.136 --> 00:33:22.836
well, okay, this is my report and, you know, and it's admitted.

00:33:23.116 --> 00:33:28.616
What would be the motivation to just do it that way as opposed to going under the scrutiny?

00:33:29.076 --> 00:33:32.636
Yeah, I think, well, some people are just lazy.

00:33:36.116 --> 00:33:40.496
And that's the easy way to do it. You know, some of the cases are so straightforward.

00:33:41.256 --> 00:33:45.696
There's not much to really to say, but there's... Listen, I was appointed,

00:33:45.976 --> 00:33:46.956
Erik, this is interesting.

00:33:47.336 --> 00:33:51.596
About five years ago, I got a call from Orange County Legal Aid.

00:33:51.756 --> 00:33:55.176
And listen, I've been doing this probably longer than anybody in Central Florida,

00:33:55.236 --> 00:34:00.136
not because I'm a god, but because I'm old, because I've been practicing law for 30 years, right?

00:34:00.316 --> 00:34:04.916
So they wanted... And he said, we need somebody experienced because there's

00:34:04.916 --> 00:34:11.716
a woman, female lawyer, and she wants to adopt these kids, and she is really

00:34:11.716 --> 00:34:13.696
difficult, really difficult.

00:34:14.016 --> 00:34:17.736
And then she must have said, when they asked me, like four times,

00:34:17.796 --> 00:34:21.196
be prepared. She wants somebody experienced, so we're asking you to do it.

00:34:22.136 --> 00:34:27.596
And this, and so the, what was, and she was, she was really difficult.

00:34:27.596 --> 00:34:31.476
But once you realize that I knew what I was doing and I wasn't going to necessarily

00:34:31.476 --> 00:34:36.196
put up with some of what she was complaining about, she had this woman,

00:34:36.536 --> 00:34:37.496
I mean, really incredible.

00:34:37.636 --> 00:34:39.676
And she was a really incredible lawyer, but...

00:34:40.859 --> 00:34:44.879
She had adopted two—she had been a GAL for two teenage girls,

00:34:45.379 --> 00:34:51.279
guardian ad litem herself. She was unmarried, and she adopted those two girls, which was incredible.

00:34:51.659 --> 00:34:58.139
But they're teenagers, two teenage girls, and that's not easy.

00:34:58.439 --> 00:35:04.359
And one of the girls got pregnant, and she's 16.

00:35:04.559 --> 00:35:10.679
And so you have a 16-year-old girl who's having a baby, And now this attorney

00:35:10.679 --> 00:35:14.659
who had adopted these two wants to adopt the child,

00:35:14.799 --> 00:35:19.639
wants to adopt the child that her daughter, adopted daughter, was going to have.

00:35:19.979 --> 00:35:26.079
It turned out, when I started looking into things, that the teenage girl who

00:35:26.079 --> 00:35:29.579
was pregnant was running like an escort service out of there.

00:35:29.759 --> 00:35:33.079
They lived in this beautiful neighborhood, like beautiful neighborhood.

00:35:33.079 --> 00:35:35.939
And this teenage girl, you know,

00:35:36.059 --> 00:35:39.819
she didn't grow up there, but she'd been adopted when she was a teenager,

00:35:40.119 --> 00:35:43.339
was basically when her mom was going to practice law, you know,

00:35:43.459 --> 00:35:49.279
she was making money doing whatever it was she was doing, and the mom didn't know.

00:35:49.279 --> 00:35:55.159
And so I had to try to explain, you know, to them what was, you know, what was going on.

00:35:55.239 --> 00:35:59.219
And I wasn't, but we actually did get through the adoption. She adopted the

00:35:59.219 --> 00:36:03.759
little girl and, but, you know, crazy scenarios. And there's some really,

00:36:03.919 --> 00:36:09.179
there's some saints out there, people who take on really hard situations. Yeah.

00:36:10.116 --> 00:36:13.996
So how did, well, I don't want to dwell too much on that, but,

00:36:14.016 --> 00:36:18.656
but so how does that work? Is like, if she adopted a mom and then she adopts

00:36:18.656 --> 00:36:21.896
the daughter legally, that makes them sisters.

00:36:22.216 --> 00:36:25.616
How does that, how does that? Yeah. Yeah. Well, she's, she would be like the

00:36:25.616 --> 00:36:29.616
grand, basically she's the grandmother. She has a grandmother. Okay. Okay. I got you.

00:36:29.996 --> 00:36:35.616
Yeah. And it's, you know, that girl, I think the girl, the teenage girl who

00:36:35.616 --> 00:36:39.076
had the child, I think she wound up disappearing, you know.

00:36:39.076 --> 00:36:45.616
So, you know, because they come from, think about it, a teenage girl where they,

00:36:45.836 --> 00:36:48.096
you know, who knows what they come from.

00:36:48.376 --> 00:36:52.996
And, you know, it's really hard when you adopt somebody in that age.

00:36:54.096 --> 00:37:04.176
I had a family that adopted a black, little black child and a white child at the same time.

00:37:04.196 --> 00:37:06.676
And these guys, and I was a guardian

00:37:06.676 --> 00:37:10.856
of life for them. And these guys are brothers, man. It is the most.

00:37:11.196 --> 00:37:17.916
And when I adopted my son, they came to the adoption hearing because I had been there in GAL.

00:37:18.076 --> 00:37:23.196
And it's nice because there's some sort of colorblindness there between the boys.

00:37:23.396 --> 00:37:27.736
I mean, they are brothers, man, just like you are made with your brothers or whatever it is.

00:37:27.976 --> 00:37:31.836
And you get great stories and great things like that, too.

00:37:32.556 --> 00:37:35.016
Yeah, yeah. All right, final question.

00:37:36.496 --> 00:37:41.076
Should GALs be held to the same standard as a judge or an attorney?

00:37:42.856 --> 00:37:48.356
Wow, that's great. That is a great and that's a tricky question because there

00:37:48.356 --> 00:37:51.556
are times when I say to myself, man, I'm volunteering.

00:37:51.836 --> 00:37:54.756
The judge shouldn't be giving me such a hard time. But yeah,

00:37:54.816 --> 00:37:57.596
I think they have to be held to a standard.

00:37:57.656 --> 00:38:01.736
Maybe if they're a lawyer, if they are a jail and a lawyer, they absolutely

00:38:01.736 --> 00:38:06.476
should be held to the same standard. You know, if it's a volunteer who's not

00:38:06.476 --> 00:38:09.356
a lawyer, you know, maybe they get a little bit of grace, but,

00:38:09.456 --> 00:38:11.896
you know, you have to keep those rules in place.

00:38:12.076 --> 00:38:15.656
I mean, you really—and judges, most of them, it's situational.

00:38:15.676 --> 00:38:18.456
The good judges are—there's a practical reality.

00:38:18.716 --> 00:38:21.396
I know you were a police officer at some point in your life,

00:38:21.416 --> 00:38:26.396
and, you know, there are times not everything is that clear, you know, not—.

00:38:27.284 --> 00:38:29.444
Person has to be arrested. Maybe they just need to be talked to.

00:38:29.664 --> 00:38:32.704
You know, maybe you're a deputy who would give people a chance,

00:38:32.864 --> 00:38:36.904
but another deputy in the same situation might, you know, never bend the rules.

00:38:37.104 --> 00:38:41.024
And so, so I think it's my, I guess the answer to the question is that they

00:38:41.024 --> 00:38:45.084
definitely need to be held to a standard, very similar to maybe that of a lawyer,

00:38:45.224 --> 00:38:46.304
but it's, it's situational.

00:38:47.084 --> 00:38:50.384
Yeah. I, I'm glad you brought that up because that's one thing,

00:38:50.924 --> 00:38:54.744
I think people need to understand about law enforcement, you know,

00:38:54.864 --> 00:38:58.544
despite the crazy ones that are out there and all that and what we're seeing

00:38:58.544 --> 00:39:05.084
on TV now, most officers are unlicensed social workers.

00:39:05.344 --> 00:39:10.804
And, you know, their job is to diffuse the situation if possible.

00:39:11.544 --> 00:39:14.964
If you don't have to make an arrest, don't.

00:39:15.324 --> 00:39:20.664
If you've got to bring somebody in, then doing it the most professional and

00:39:20.664 --> 00:39:25.124
the calmest way possible, the scenarios that we see on TV.

00:39:25.804 --> 00:39:28.764
Yeah. That's, that's not really happening all the time.

00:39:28.864 --> 00:39:33.064
That's just, even in, even in the biggest cities, it's, it's,

00:39:33.224 --> 00:39:36.624
that's not, if anything in the, in, you know,

00:39:37.124 --> 00:39:41.704
there was a show called Southern justice and I loved it because,

00:39:41.704 --> 00:39:44.244
you know, it's rural sheriffs and all that.

00:39:44.444 --> 00:39:47.364
And, you know, it's like, he's trying to solve a crime

00:39:47.364 --> 00:39:51.344
and he pretty much knows who's done what he knows what trailer

00:39:51.344 --> 00:39:54.184
what house they live in and all them by

00:39:54.184 --> 00:39:56.884
the first day they you know i know you

00:39:56.884 --> 00:39:59.824
had something to do with this this atv being stolen or

00:39:59.824 --> 00:40:02.464
something like that you know i'm saying he's out i have to put you in

00:40:02.464 --> 00:40:05.804
the car come on you want me to put handcuffs on you or not and you're gonna

00:40:05.804 --> 00:40:10.224
be a problem but i mean you know but it's but it's it's that kind of relationship

00:40:10.224 --> 00:40:15.564
you know i'm saying and and and i I think that's important for people to know

00:40:15.564 --> 00:40:20.404
that most of the times when police officers are doing their work.

00:40:21.153 --> 00:40:24.833
It's, you know, we're just trying to defuse the situation.

00:40:25.113 --> 00:40:30.133
So look, how can people get your book? How can people reach out to you,

00:40:30.593 --> 00:40:32.913
Stephen, and, you know, go from there?

00:40:33.573 --> 00:40:36.553
Sure. Yeah, my book is called Pretend They're Dead.

00:40:36.813 --> 00:40:41.813
And, Erik, maybe you can put a link, you know, at some point whenever you post this.

00:40:42.033 --> 00:40:49.053
But you can reach me also, www.pageandeichenblatt. that's my law firm,

00:40:49.233 --> 00:40:54.353
or Steve Eichenblatt, E-I-C-H-E-N-B-L-A-T-T, and you'll find me.

00:40:54.573 --> 00:40:58.373
And listen, if anybody's listening and they have questions or concerns,

00:40:58.913 --> 00:41:00.733
I would love everybody to buy my book.

00:41:00.813 --> 00:41:05.073
That would be fantastic. But if you just have questions about what being a GAL

00:41:05.073 --> 00:41:09.613
is, or what's going on in family court, or how do you not make your kids collateral

00:41:09.613 --> 00:41:13.413
damage, or any of those things, you know, you can, I don't, I mean,

00:41:13.453 --> 00:41:15.053
I'll talk to anybody and try to help him out.

00:41:15.233 --> 00:41:20.093
Or contact Erik, and Erik will call me, and we'll try to figure something out for you.

00:41:20.253 --> 00:41:24.873
So, you know, that's really, it's an underserved community out there when it

00:41:24.873 --> 00:41:27.473
comes to some of these kids, and, you know, we'd like to help.

00:41:28.213 --> 00:41:33.953
Well, Steve Eichenblatt, I am really glad that we had the time to talk about this.

00:41:34.133 --> 00:41:38.433
I hope that your book continues to do well. It's a very, very compelling story,

00:41:38.433 --> 00:41:42.793
and it's something that, you know, a lot of people can relate to,

00:41:42.913 --> 00:41:45.573
whether they openly admit it or not.

00:41:46.033 --> 00:41:50.653
And, you know, but even, even if you didn't go through the drama,

00:41:51.273 --> 00:41:55.493
the concept and the, and the desire for a father's love is universal.

00:41:55.833 --> 00:42:01.013
And so I think you did a great job with that. And I, and again, I wish you much success.

00:42:01.433 --> 00:42:05.413
And the rule is, is that now that you've accepted an invitation,

00:42:05.413 --> 00:42:08.393
you've been on the show, you have an open invitation to come back.

00:42:08.573 --> 00:42:11.953
So you You don't even have to wait for me to ask you if there's something going

00:42:11.953 --> 00:42:15.593
on. It's like, yeah, I need a platform. Erik, can you help me out?

00:42:16.193 --> 00:42:20.033
We'll make that happen. So, Steve, thank you so much for coming on, man. I appreciate it.

00:42:20.613 --> 00:42:24.113
Yeah, you're welcome. If a time comes up and you need to bounce something by

00:42:24.113 --> 00:42:26.193
a lawyer, you know, just give me a buzz.

00:42:26.453 --> 00:42:30.733
Give me a call. I've got my cell phone number and we'll talk. Thank you so much, Eric.

00:42:31.233 --> 00:42:35.333
Have a great weekend, too. Have a great weekend. Well, thank you. Thank you so much.

00:42:35.653 --> 00:42:39.813
All right, guys, and we're going to catch you all on the other side. .

00:42:51.446 --> 00:42:57.346
So I want to thank Steve Eichenblatt for coming on the podcast,

00:42:57.346 --> 00:43:03.466
and I greatly appreciated him taking the time to do that,

00:43:03.666 --> 00:43:11.606
and just him having the distinction of being the only guest that I have.

00:43:11.766 --> 00:43:16.886
So I greatly appreciate that. Please go get his book, Pretend They Are Dead.

00:43:17.486 --> 00:43:23.066
It's very, very powerful. and he's very, very transparent in that book.

00:43:23.506 --> 00:43:31.206
And you can tell by the interview what kind of solid dude he is.

00:43:31.326 --> 00:43:32.406
I mean, nobody's perfect.

00:43:33.526 --> 00:43:40.046
And I don't know him well enough to basically say that he's whatever flaws he's got.

00:43:40.206 --> 00:43:43.186
But as far as I'm concerned, he's a stand-up dude.

00:43:43.746 --> 00:43:52.406
And based on his experiences, You know, he has done the most with what he had to overcome.

00:43:53.166 --> 00:43:59.566
And, you know, so I greatly appreciate Steven and I admire him.

00:43:59.686 --> 00:44:04.686
And I hope that his book takes off, continues to take off or something,

00:44:05.286 --> 00:44:12.126
and that he continues to keep doing good work and helping children in the state of Florida.

00:44:13.306 --> 00:44:17.226
All right. So now I got that out of the way. Let me say something really,

00:44:17.306 --> 00:44:21.086
really quick. You know, so last week we talked about character.

00:44:22.486 --> 00:44:28.666
So, you know, now we want to talk about courage, even if it's an illusion.

00:44:28.666 --> 00:44:32.266
I think we need to address courage.

00:44:32.686 --> 00:44:41.386
So Marjorie Taylor Greene has taken a courageous stand in going against the

00:44:41.386 --> 00:44:48.646
president and leadership of the House Republicans to side with the Democrats

00:44:48.646 --> 00:44:50.466
on the issue of the shutdown.

00:44:51.306 --> 00:44:55.186
Now, I know she's not in favor of shutting down the government.

00:44:55.426 --> 00:44:59.126
She has made that apparently clear.

00:44:59.726 --> 00:45:05.566
But in this particular case, she understands what's at stake.

00:45:06.246 --> 00:45:13.526
So, and it's catching a lot of people by surprise, but the reality is that at

00:45:13.526 --> 00:45:17.866
some point in time, people's humanity has to kick in.

00:45:17.866 --> 00:45:23.266
And in her case, it was about the health care of her children, right?

00:45:23.606 --> 00:45:28.906
When she realized that her children who are still under her health insurance.

00:45:29.846 --> 00:45:32.766
Right, that their costs were going to go up, right?

00:45:33.667 --> 00:45:41.347
And I think one of her children is still under her plan, from what I understand, and if not both of them.

00:45:41.927 --> 00:45:46.587
But either way it goes, she realized that it's going to cost more to take care

00:45:46.587 --> 00:45:48.467
of them, make sure that everything is okay.

00:45:49.327 --> 00:45:56.387
And we have insurance because this is just in case. It's not we're expecting to get sick.

00:45:57.127 --> 00:46:01.567
It's inevitable that something will happen to us, but we want to have the peace

00:46:01.567 --> 00:46:05.687
of mind, right? That's what the insurance is for, and we want to be able to

00:46:05.687 --> 00:46:06.887
afford that peace of mind.

00:46:07.067 --> 00:46:14.627
And so her, even though she's a member of Congress, she wants to have that peace of mind.

00:46:14.727 --> 00:46:19.987
She wants her children to have that peace of mind, right, for their kids or

00:46:19.987 --> 00:46:21.687
if they have kids. I don't know.

00:46:22.707 --> 00:46:27.887
I have no idea what's going on. I know she was alarmed when she realized that

00:46:27.887 --> 00:46:32.507
the subsidies were going to end and also that she's in a state where,

00:46:32.767 --> 00:46:41.267
in the wisdom of the state, they decided not to do the Medicaid expansions, right?

00:46:41.627 --> 00:46:47.227
See, all these red states that support Donald Trump, y'all broke. Y'all broke people.

00:46:48.367 --> 00:46:51.687
And the reason why you're broke is because the citizens are broke.

00:46:52.407 --> 00:46:57.287
Yeah, you got low cost of living compared to other states, but you don't pay

00:46:57.287 --> 00:46:59.307
anybody anything, right?

00:46:59.627 --> 00:47:04.047
And then, even then, you're losing jobs.

00:47:04.327 --> 00:47:08.967
Even then, the recessions and all this stuff, the tariffs, all that still hits you.

00:47:09.127 --> 00:47:14.647
And it hits you harder because you don't have as much disposable income as other folks.

00:47:15.547 --> 00:47:22.087
Anyway, so in these places where they have higher rates of poverty as well,

00:47:22.367 --> 00:47:29.727
they play politics instead of pragmatics and didn't expand Medicaid when they

00:47:29.727 --> 00:47:34.167
had the chance when the Affordable Care Act was passed because they didn't want

00:47:34.167 --> 00:47:36.227
to give credit to a black man being president.

00:47:37.027 --> 00:47:40.307
You can debate it all you want to. That's what it is.

00:47:40.507 --> 00:47:43.967
Because there's no logical reason why some of the poorest states,

00:47:44.127 --> 00:47:48.267
hello, Mississippi, some of the poorest states didn't expand Medicaid,

00:47:49.067 --> 00:47:51.207
right? When you had the chance.

00:47:51.787 --> 00:47:55.507
Mississippi is the biggest, you know, largest match of any state,

00:47:55.527 --> 00:48:01.107
and they could have got more money to make sure at the very least in a state

00:48:01.107 --> 00:48:05.907
with the highest rate of child poverty in the United States,

00:48:06.107 --> 00:48:09.307
at least those kids could have gotten taken care of health wise.

00:48:10.739 --> 00:48:15.299
They want to play politics. So anyway, fast forward to now. Argentine Green

00:48:15.299 --> 00:48:17.979
is in one of these states. She represents Georgia.

00:48:18.399 --> 00:48:21.179
She's one of the U.S. representatives from Georgia.

00:48:21.719 --> 00:48:26.499
And so she did the math and basically came out and said, yeah,

00:48:26.539 --> 00:48:27.899
I think the Democrats are right on this.

00:48:28.499 --> 00:48:31.639
I think we need to do something about these subsidies.

00:48:32.459 --> 00:48:38.059
And the quicker we knock that out, the quicker we can end the government shutdown and keep it moving.

00:48:38.819 --> 00:48:43.179
If that's all they're asking for, I'm with that, right?

00:48:44.319 --> 00:48:49.219
So, you know, the cynical people in politics are saying, well,

00:48:49.299 --> 00:48:52.179
you know, she's looking at poll numbers and all that stuff. But that's never

00:48:52.179 --> 00:48:53.599
really affected her before.

00:48:54.899 --> 00:48:59.359
She's taken positions that have not been popular with the masses of people.

00:48:59.519 --> 00:49:03.359
Now, in her district, she keeps getting reelected. So, obviously,

00:49:03.359 --> 00:49:09.599
she's connecting with them, despite my criticism, despite anybody else's criticism, right?

00:49:10.219 --> 00:49:13.279
But in this case, I don't think she's looking at it.

00:49:13.379 --> 00:49:16.639
So, if she's not looking at poll numbers, and she's definitely not looking at

00:49:16.639 --> 00:49:18.339
poll numbers now, in my opinion.

00:49:19.059 --> 00:49:26.199
I think she's looking at bills. And although she makes a good salary being a

00:49:26.199 --> 00:49:31.859
member of Congress, still money, right? But just because you make more money

00:49:31.859 --> 00:49:34.019
doesn't mean you want to spend more money.

00:49:34.439 --> 00:49:36.299
Right? Just saying.

00:49:37.659 --> 00:49:43.879
You have more of a range to work with, but you're still trying to get the best deal.

00:49:44.619 --> 00:49:46.399
She's been late nonetheless.

00:49:47.319 --> 00:49:51.939
So I actually, all the criticism that I've done with her,

00:49:52.539 --> 00:49:57.879
you know, with this particular stand and then the stand she's taken with trying

00:49:57.879 --> 00:50:05.939
to help the victims or the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein in his sex trafficking ring,

00:50:06.559 --> 00:50:09.819
I have to commend her for that, and it's only fair.

00:50:10.719 --> 00:50:16.279
If I was in her position, I would be voting the same way on those same issues.

00:50:16.719 --> 00:50:18.279
So I commend her for that.

00:50:19.039 --> 00:50:27.759
Now, we got ways to go, and we're not going to be 100% amenable going forward, but fair is fair.

00:50:28.219 --> 00:50:35.419
As much as I criticize her, as much as I've, you know, just been frustrated

00:50:35.419 --> 00:50:40.219
with her, I have to give her credit for taking the right stand on this.

00:50:40.879 --> 00:50:45.479
Now, the flip side, the lack of courage example is the leader of the House,

00:50:45.619 --> 00:50:47.739
the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson.

00:50:48.359 --> 00:50:51.719
So, you know, some people are saying, well, he's overwhelmed and all that kind

00:50:51.719 --> 00:50:53.779
of stuff, and he never was really a leader.

00:50:55.019 --> 00:50:59.819
He's not overwhelmed. He's underwhelming. He's not even trying.

00:51:00.659 --> 00:51:02.619
He's not even asserting himself.

00:51:04.167 --> 00:51:10.187
Speaker of the House is the second in succession to the president of the United States.

00:51:11.007 --> 00:51:14.967
So if something happens to the president, something happens to the vice president,

00:51:15.727 --> 00:51:18.787
Speaker of the House is next in line.

00:51:19.387 --> 00:51:22.667
And I'm looking at if something happened to President Trump,

00:51:23.347 --> 00:51:25.427
and then the next in line is J.D.

00:51:25.547 --> 00:51:29.807
Vance, Vice President Vance, and then the next in line is Speaker Johnson,

00:51:30.667 --> 00:51:38.367
As much as I despise the character and the tenor and the unprofessionalism and

00:51:38.367 --> 00:51:42.087
the lack of respect for the Constitution that President Trump has,

00:51:42.367 --> 00:51:44.207
I am praying for his health.

00:51:44.647 --> 00:51:52.087
You best believe I do not want that man to die any moment in this term.

00:51:53.087 --> 00:51:57.967
If he gets impeached, well, that is what it is. But dying? No,

00:51:58.087 --> 00:52:00.967
sir. I do not want to see the line of succession work.

00:52:01.267 --> 00:52:07.267
And I don't want to be in a situation where something happens to the president and the vice president.

00:52:07.467 --> 00:52:12.027
Because then Mike Johnson would become the president of the United States.

00:52:12.587 --> 00:52:19.467
A man who acts like he can't even tie his shoes. And as Donald Trump says, you can do that.

00:52:20.993 --> 00:52:24.773
Be the president. Somebody that doesn't even have the courage to just swear

00:52:24.773 --> 00:52:28.213
somebody in and let the chips forward in May, right?

00:52:28.633 --> 00:52:31.573
And I'm not going to butcher that because I'm limited on time.

00:52:31.673 --> 00:52:34.813
I'm not going to butcher the young lady's name from Arizona,

00:52:34.813 --> 00:52:38.573
but most of y'all who follow the news know what I'm talking about.

00:52:38.673 --> 00:52:40.413
The young lady's been elected now.

00:52:40.693 --> 00:52:45.613
It's been two weeks and she still hasn't been sworn in yet, right?

00:52:46.113 --> 00:52:50.633
Her senators came to her defense and showed up. Mike Johnson,

00:52:50.793 --> 00:52:53.653
they were actually having a press conference in front of his office,

00:52:53.693 --> 00:52:56.993
and then Johnson showed up, so they confronted him right there.

00:52:57.593 --> 00:53:02.453
Like, basically, you have nothing else to do at this point.

00:53:03.193 --> 00:53:07.373
And it's like, well, we got to do this. We got to be in session.

00:53:07.533 --> 00:53:10.273
It's like, you say, man, this is what's going to happen.

00:53:11.153 --> 00:53:15.073
See, because I wouldn't have had the press conference. This is just me now,

00:53:15.133 --> 00:53:19.773
strategist. I wouldn't have had the press conference unless she was physically there.

00:53:20.633 --> 00:53:25.993
Just on the off chance that that situation happened, where Mike Johnson was

00:53:25.993 --> 00:53:29.133
standing right there, and it's like I would have called her and said,

00:53:29.213 --> 00:53:32.573
hey, you can swear in right now in front of all these people.

00:53:33.273 --> 00:53:39.013
I got a Bible. You can swear in right this minute and keep it moving.

00:53:39.973 --> 00:53:44.173
You know, if you worried about her being the deciding vote to make sure that

00:53:44.173 --> 00:53:45.613
the Epstein files is released?

00:53:46.053 --> 00:53:51.853
Well, the House is not in session, so you can't do that then.

00:53:52.233 --> 00:53:54.413
You have to wait till you come back in session.

00:53:55.273 --> 00:53:58.813
And I know you want to go back in session. You have no choice because you're

00:53:58.813 --> 00:54:02.093
the Speaker of the House. You eventually have to come back in.

00:54:02.713 --> 00:54:09.033
But to disrespect the people of Arizona, because you're too cowardly to deal

00:54:09.033 --> 00:54:14.653
with the chips as they may fall, because you don't want to get the president angry.

00:54:16.393 --> 00:54:20.713
That's the most, I mean, the cowardly lion will look at you and say,

00:54:20.833 --> 00:54:22.453
what is your problem, dude?

00:54:23.613 --> 00:54:29.313
What's going on with you? Because the Speaker of the House and the Vice President,

00:54:29.653 --> 00:54:33.973
they run the Congress on paper.

00:54:34.873 --> 00:54:39.513
They're the heads of each branch of the Congress.

00:54:41.093 --> 00:54:47.693
So they're supposed to be autonomous of the president. Doesn't matter what party the president is.

00:54:48.213 --> 00:54:54.373
Yeah, if you're of the same party, you want to try to get the stuff that y'all

00:54:54.373 --> 00:54:56.273
mutually agree with, that y'all are random.

00:54:56.853 --> 00:54:59.333
There's going to be some times where you're not going to agree.

00:55:00.193 --> 00:55:03.753
And you're going to have to hash that out. Doesn't matter if the president is

00:55:03.753 --> 00:55:05.553
of your party or not of your party.

00:55:06.093 --> 00:55:10.073
That's the beauty of the legislative body. Like, when I served in the legislature,

00:55:10.073 --> 00:55:15.373
I had the privilege of serving under two Republicans and one Democrat during my time.

00:55:16.613 --> 00:55:19.813
And I fought with all of them at some point.

00:55:21.193 --> 00:55:27.033
I mean, it was the Democratic governor that we had to override his veto.

00:55:27.833 --> 00:55:33.193
And we were a majority Democratic legislature. We were like the last one in the South.

00:55:33.933 --> 00:55:40.333
So, you know, I just can't deal with somebody who has a position of power.

00:55:42.518 --> 00:55:50.898
You can't deal with somebody that's in a position of power like that and they have no courage, no.

00:55:51.878 --> 00:55:58.898
So I want to end with this. Speaker Johnson, you might need to look at your

00:55:58.898 --> 00:56:02.758
fellow colleague, the lady from Georgia.

00:56:02.758 --> 00:56:09.018
And I understand that it is politically okay for you to look the president in

00:56:09.018 --> 00:56:11.738
the eye and say, not this time.

00:56:12.098 --> 00:56:15.338
You on your own. I'm not toting the water for you.

00:56:15.938 --> 00:56:21.458
Because if we don't get a handle, if we don't get Congress to get their spine

00:56:21.458 --> 00:56:24.018
back, if we don't get Congress to be autonomous,

00:56:24.498 --> 00:56:31.358
then we're one step closer to that dreaded reality that the majority of us do not want.

00:56:32.018 --> 00:56:35.798
We do not want to slip from being a democracy into an autocracy.

00:56:36.498 --> 00:56:38.438
But Congress has to do their part.

00:56:39.478 --> 00:56:43.938
And, you know, Dune may or may not come around. He's had moments.

00:56:44.578 --> 00:56:49.458
But Mike Johnson has not shown me any ounce of courage whatsoever.

00:56:50.478 --> 00:56:59.158
And at some point in time, if you want to be the Moses that God supposedly envisioned

00:56:59.158 --> 00:57:04.078
you with, told you in a dream that you were it, you were a modern-day Moses?

00:57:04.978 --> 00:57:10.298
Moses had no equivocation about leading. Moses had no equivocation about courage.

00:57:12.298 --> 00:57:17.158
Moses looked at no other authority but God, even his own brother,

00:57:17.338 --> 00:57:19.678
who tried to say, hey, you can't do that.

00:57:20.858 --> 00:57:22.158
We're going to have to have a discussion.

00:57:24.258 --> 00:57:30.178
If you're going to be Moses, you're going to have to lead. and cowards can't lead.

00:57:31.158 --> 00:57:36.378
Bottom line. All right, guys. Thank you all for listening. Until next time.