Why Miami Mayor Francis Suarez Is Running For President
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Well, welcome to the Jason in the House podcast. Really glad you could join us. This is going to be fun. We're going to talk a little bit about the news. We're going to highlight the stupid because, you know, there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. And then we have somebody I'm guessing probably haven't heard a whole lot from. Francis Suarez is the mayor of Miami, but he's also thrown his hat into the ring for

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He's certainly rising in the ranks and there being the mayor of one of the biggest, most important cities in our country. And we're going to talk to the mayor and learn a little bit more about him and what he wants to do, where he's going and how he got there. I'm always fascinated by the journey people take in order to get to, you know, that degree of

of a level in politics. And so we're going to talk to the good mayor of Miami here in just a moment. But I would like to comment a little bit on some of the things that are happening in the news. So let's get after that first. And this is kind of Western news, this part. You know, we've had a couple of so-called attacks, or as one person said, a freak accident,

of bison that attacked people.

Now, I got to tell you, living out west in Utah, we have native bison. We have bison down by the Henry Mountains. Obviously, if you've heard or know anything about me, I love spending time up in the Tetons and up in Yellowstone there in Wyoming and Montana, where these bison, as they did hundreds of years ago, roam free.

and they are some of the most majestic, amazing animals. I mean, I think if you had to find an animal that is symbolic of America in the American way, you have the bald eagle, and in my mind, you have the American bison. They're not buffalo, by the way. If you call them a buffalo, they're not buffaloes, okay? Buffaloes are the things you find in Africa. These are bison, and the bison, they're big, they're ominous animals,

And but when they decide to run and they decide to move, look out because they are way faster than anybody can give it credit for. And they'll just sitting sitting there chewing some grass as serene as can be.

It looks like, you know, maybe you could go up and approach them. Don't do it. Don't be one of those idiots that does that. Well, we had a couple of these people who got a little wee too close, evidently, to these animals. And now it gets phrased as, oh, it's a freak accident. Like, I don't want anybody to get hurt. I'm trying to say this because I'm not trying to mock somebody. Maybe somehow, some way, it was a freak accident.

But you get too close to these animals, they have a propensity to come after you. Even when you sit in a vehicle sometimes, they give you that look and that grunt. And their rut, which is their mating season, when the rut is going on from the kind of end of July through some part of August, oh, they get ornery. Those big bison, I'm just telling you, look out. Keep your distance. And don't tell me it's a freak accident.

All right, the other thing I want to comment on, because I can't get enough of this story. I know it happened a little while ago. But the idea that people are coming unglued on Jason Aldean's song, Try That in a Small Town. I mean, I've listened to this. Jason Aldean is one of the most popular country music recording artists that there is. He's got a tough image. Him and his wife, they're pretty vocal about things.

And if you compare that, and I saw Charlie Kirk, I saw some others do this as well. If you compare the lyrics of what Jason Aldean is saying in that, compared to some of these other genres, which are so bad, so out of control, so X-rated in terms of their approach, I'm just telling you there's no comparison here.

And I actually think he makes that. I think he actually makes a good point. Try that in a small town. There's a lot of parts of America, good old-fashioned small towns, who the residents know who's there. You're just not going to blow into town and start shoplifting and doing all this stuff and bullying your way around. You do that in a small town. The small town people are going to take care of business and make sure it doesn't happen anymore.

And I'm not just talking about the local sheriff or, you know, the local law enforcement, which is the proper way to do things. But I'm just saying, I just don't think the residents would tolerate it the way things are happening in big cities, right?

It's an interesting discussion. I think Jason Aldean has a hit on his hands because he's tapped into something, but that's just my take on it. All right, time for the stupid because you know what? There's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. All right, so I don't know who to categorize this right in. I think it's more actually a reflection of reality. But when Joe Biden decided...

or somebody smart at the White House decided, hey, you know what? Those big, long stairs up to the front of Air Force One, the president's just not able to negotiate that anymore. Let's have him get on the back of the plane where we can create a very short staircase. Now, maybe that's just one or two times, but it doesn't look like it, folks. It really looks like Joe Biden can't handle...

the big stairs. So they're going to give him the short stairs and all the metaphors and the comparisons to how symbolic this is of his presidency. It is inability to negotiate simple stairs and

The concern isn't his age. It's the concern that he doesn't have the vim and vigor to complete the job and do so as a compelling leader around the world. That's the concern. His cognitive capability has dwindled. His physical capabilities have dwindled. And...

Just admit it. And maybe that's what the White House is doing, is just admitting that he doesn't have the gumption to even climb one flight of stairs and do so in a safe, coherent way. But I don't know. I don't know. So that's my take on it. That's a little bit of the stupid. All right, time to move on. So, you know, we have a number of people running for president, but Francis Suarez, who

His tagline is, it's time we get started. So I think the best way to do that is to connect with them and dial them up. And let's give a call to the mayor of Miami. Hello. Hey, Mayor, it's Jason Chaffetz.

Hey, Jason, how are you? Good to hear from you. Thank you so much for joining us on this Jason in the House podcast. Really do appreciate it. Hey, I don't think I've had a chance to meet you. Shake your hand. I know who you are from afar, but...

We really want to get to know you, understand you. I want you to help introduce yourself and explain. Go way back like I was born in and walk us through your journey. I'll interrupt you from time to time while I have a discussion, but I appreciate you joining us. You got it. Look, thank you for the opportunity. I think I've always said you never really know someone until you know their story.

Yeah, I think it's important to understand people's story because that shapes how they think how they feel how they make decisions how they lead And obviously when they're running for president you want to go as deep as you can to understand People's motivations and how they're going to make decisions in the future so I was I was born in Miami, Florida and

I am the oldest of four. I have three younger sisters. I'm surrounded by powerful women. My sisters are a lawyer, a doctor, and a human resource director. And I was, you know, born to two Cuban exiles. My parents were kicked out of their country of birth at 12 and 7 by a leader who

said to his people, "Give us all your property, give us all your businesses, and don't worry, we'll make everybody equal." And he did. He made everybody equally poor and equally miserable. And so that's what shaped not just my story, but so many other people's story in Miami that have come from, you know, formerly, that have come from communist, current communist countries, but that were formerly from those countries.

And that's part of the reason why I think Miami is doing so well when other cities across America are struggling. I think the fact that we were born out of that adversity, the fact that we had everything taken from us, we appreciate even more intimately the idea of living in a country of freedom,

of living in a country where your effort and your education and your ingenuity and taking risk is what drives the success or failure of yourself and your family. And so that's sort of the beginning point for me. Born and raised, like I said, in this community, I'm the first mayor of Miami that was actually born in the city of Miami in over 120 year history. Really? Yeah, my dad was the first Cuban mayor.

And we're the first father and son. So it's a really beautiful legacy. And it's one I'm really proud of. So growing up in those early days, young sisters along with you, they kept coming along. Were you playing sports? Were you a...

tech geek. I mean, what was life like early? Were you playing baseball? I mean, what were you doing when you were a little kid? I was a basketball player. My dad also played basketball growing up. Actually,

His brother, who was a Division I basketball player, unfortunately just passed a few days ago. Sorry about that. Yeah, it was a basketball-playing family. And I played ball all four years in high school. I was all-counting the last two years, my junior year and my senior year. And, you know, really enjoyed that. What did you learn from basketball? What did basketball teach you?

You know, it taught me a lot about leadership. Right. I was a point guard. So, you know, I helped run the offense. I tried to make other people better. So for me, I felt that the team was playing its best when I was able to elevate the play of the other players as well.

because then they're more motivated to play defense, they're more plugged in on offense, and there's just generally a higher level of enthusiasm and effort. And so I think one of the things I learned was certainly to try to help other people get better. I think the second part was I think when you're a leader, you have to be comfortable taking the last shot and the pressure

that come to that and that's certainly something that I was comfortable with and understanding that in a leadership role there's a lot of pressure and you have to manage pressure as a means of being successful. So you're going along you're playing basketball but you know as you start to get into teen years you know your interests you start to think I like this I like that where was life taking you at that point? You know I I

kind of was rambunctious as a young man. You know, I enjoyed obviously playing basketball, like I said. I worked particularly in the summers and my parents always put an emphasis on working, which I thought was important to create a work ethic early on. But I like to have fun, you know, I had

the same friends, many of the same friends that I had in high school have still today, which I think is important because I think that says something about

the kind of person you are. It says things regarding loyalty. It says things regarding the ability to maintain friendships over a long period of time. And not everybody who runs for office can say that. Not everyone who runs for office has those lifelong friendships that they bring to the table. And I think, again, in politics, loyalty is important. Building relationships is very important, particularly when you consider foreign policy.

You have to understand how to be a friend, right? Friendship is a two-way street. It's not a one-way street. And I think oftentimes in diplomacy, we fail to realize that there's got to be a reciprocal relationship for it to work.

Yeah, you got to create a win-win or somebody's going to jump off and they're not going to do with, you know, some of that's done with coercion sometimes. But let's go back to your friends, though. What would they if they sat around the table and we had them here on this podcast and he said, all right, tell me, tell me about France. Tell me what what's he really like? What would they say? I think they would say that I'm very hardworking.

I think they would say that I'm someone who's focused a large part of my adult life trying to help other people. I would hope that they would say that I'm someone who's ethical and someone who they can rely on, someone who's always there in a time of need.

Yeah, you're not going to have long-term friends if you can't count on a buddy, you know? Yep. And, all right, so you're going through high school. You got your buddies. You're having some fun. I mean, every teenager, I want them to have fun, right? Explore life, you know? It's all new. You're having fun, especially in a place like Miami, right? You got great weather. You got a beach. You got beautiful. I mean, it's just beautiful there, right? Yeah.

But as you turn the corner and you're getting done with high school, then what did you decide to do? Oh, I went to college in Miami at FIU, which is Florida International University. It's a large public university.

university in our city. You know, like most college students, the first couple of years, you know, wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do, what I wanted to be. Decided to study finance. Certainly did well in the second half of my

academic career at FIU. I started off, like I said, you know, in high school was kind of a bit of a rebel and, you know, probably didn't focus as much on academics as I did later on in college. And then I sort of turned it on midway through when I understood that, you know, for me to have a career, I had to really apply myself. And so,

Started doing that. Graduated at a top 10%. Sorry to interrupt, but was there a particular teacher or a course? Sometimes in life there's a spark or there's something like, hey, I'm pretty good at that. I actually do like this. You can't fake your way through something you don't really like. Yeah, I remember the moment exactly. So I was looking through the –

I decided I wanted to be a lawyer and study the law and that it would be a good profession for me and wanting to be a real estate lawyer. My father was also a lawyer, but he was a litigator. And I remember going through the books of what it would take to get into a good law school. And I was always pretty good at math. And I started doing the calculations on my GPA and what it would take to get into this particular school that I wanted to get into. And I realized that I had to get...

basically a 4.0 every single semester between that moment and my graduation to make it in the range of GPA that they were accepting. And I had never done that before. I had never actually gotten a 4.0 that I could recall academically. So I decided at that moment that I was going to overdo it in terms of what I needed to do to prepare myself for the classes.

and as a means of ensuring that I would get a 4.0 because I couldn't get anything below that. And, you know, so I actually recorded, tape recorded the classes. So I would actually go to the class, tape recorded the class, and I would listen to the class again

And I just remember getting very, very close to a 4.0 from that point forward. And I remember one particular class, which was anatomy, where I set the curve on a class of like 200 plus students. And it was like a huge delta between the grade that I got and the next highest grade. It kind of messed up the curve for everybody. But I remember just believing and understanding that, A,

you don't have to be successful. You know, not every success story is one that begins like at adolescence. And B, you know, if you apply yourself and you decide you want to be successful and you go above and beyond and you put in the work, oftentimes you will be successful. And I think that those are two big lessons that I learned at that moment. Yeah. You know, and part of success is, you know, falling down, right? And learning to overcome obstacles and get back up.

Did you have like in the early formative years, did you have experiences like that? Like that they were hard and difficult at the time, but boy, did you learn from those? Yeah. You know, I think, I think you always have moments like that. I'm a, I'm a religious person. And so for me, I remember many moments of wanting to spend alone time with God and sort of

you know, say, hey, you know, I'm not sure I understand exactly what's going on in this particular moment or, you know, I'm not sure that I understand exactly what your path is for me, but I'm here to listen. I'm here to follow it, you know, do with me as you will. And I think there were moments like that. The first one that I can recall politically was when I decided to run for mayor in 2013 for, you know, I was a councilman.

And I was young, I was 34 years old. And I was running against the incumbent who was popular, but he was in my dad's generation. And I thought he was kind of unspectacular. He's just a guy that would go to meetings and he didn't really have any innovative ideas. And I just thought I could do a better job. And we were doing well in that year, in that campaign. And all of a sudden we had a stumble.

And, you know, it was tough. And my wife and I at the time had been dealing with infertility. And we had decided, you know, that we weren't going to use certain methods that our religion didn't allow us to do. And so that week that we had that stumble, the following Sunday was Father's Day. And we found out that day on Father's Day that we were going to have our first child.

which turned out to be my son, Andrew. And it just was one of those moments where, you know, you realize that you have a plan for yourself and oftentimes God has a different plan. And

The second part of it is when you stumble, like you're saying, you know, that stumble may seem like something really bad at the moment. It may seem like something insurmountable or just incredibly intense. But oftentimes when you look back on that moment, you're A, thankful that it happened. You B, learn a tremendous amount. And C, you realize that God had another plan.

And so it's just a matter of accepting that. And it's hard sometimes because when you're in the moment, it's hard. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more right after this. Precise, personal, powerful. It's America's weather team in the palm of your hands. Get Fox weather updates throughout your busy day every day. Subscribe and listen now at Fox News Podcasts dot com or wherever you get your podcasts. It is difficult sometimes to.

to understand and then, and then just like, Oh, you know, you just want to kind of give up or throw it away or, you know, move to something else and find the path of least resistance. But, you know, that's not where grit and, um, fortitude and everything else is born. It's, it's, it's born in, in those, in those tough moments. Help me understand those discussions with your wife. Um,

about deciding to run i mean now you've you know bitten off the big one right let's go run for president but you know running for your first political office um and running for mayor um those are big jumps too what was that discussion like did you come home and say hey honey guess what i got a good idea let's do politics you know and how did that go over with her so it's interesting you know um

We were married for a short period of time before I decided to run the first time, right? I was 30 years old and we had been married. I think I was 29 when we were married. So we were, we were only been married for about a year. I mean, she knew, you know, my, my, my dad was in politics and it wasn't something that I particularly always loved because I had seen how difficult it can be for someone. My dad was, is a great, great story. And, uh,

so it wasn't like something that i was predestined to do or that i knew for sure that i wanted to do in many many respects i didn't want to do it but i felt like i was a member of my community you know i had had some things happen to me that are you know emblematic of what most people go through um you know when they think about running for office you know someone had broken into my house um

You know, I had been involved at the neighborhood association level on a zoning issue as a pro bono lawyer for the association. So I got involved and I remember just getting to an inflection point in my life. I was a small business owner. I had a business with my cousin and I didn't have children at the time, obviously. And I just remember thinking to myself, you know, in life you have two choices. You can complain about problems or you can do something about it.

And I just had the conversation with her. And I think we've always had the kind of marriage. We're actually tomorrow going to be having our 16 year anniversary tomorrow. Congratulations. Thanks. So, you know, we've always had the kind of marriage where we've,

try to fulfill each other's hopes and dreams. And it's kind of like one of the deals that we made with each other, right? And so we never want to stand in the way of things that we're excited about doing. And I feel like that's a promise we both try to keep to each other. And so when I decided to do this or think about it, she was hugely supportive when I first ran. And, you know, when I first ran, I was...

uh you know I was unknown uh like like now not nationally sort of relatively speaking and I ran against someone who was well known um better uh of establishment candidate right I remember my first poll he was at 35 or 34 and I was at nine

So it was a, you know, 25 point difference. And I had actually been running for a year prior to that. And this is, you know, he was union endorsed. I had no union support, no establishment support. And I had to come back from that. And I ended up beating him by 260 votes. So I was that close.

Whoa, 60 votes. So I tell people all the time, listen, if 131 people would have changed their mind, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. Yeah. No, that's true. And look, Miami's a big city. What, why do you think you ultimately were able to pull it off? I mean, that's the tough part, right? You know, building name ID, making sure you have the money that you need. What was the difference? So that was my council election. And then, like I said, in 13, that was in 09. And then, you know, the city was bankrupt. Right.

um and i led the charge to cut expenses um by 20 to balance our budget which is exactly what we need to cut now at the federal level and uh you know so i i've often said that the courage that it takes to make some tough choices doesn't depend on the number of zeros so we so i did that and i led that charge we balanced our budget um and then

Like I said, I was going to run in 2013. I ended up, we ended up getting pregnant. I decided not to stay in that race because my wife had gotten pregnant. And then I ran in 2017 when that particular mayor was termed out.

which was my predecessor, and I won by 85%. So that race was different. But what I learned from 13 was, look, again, in 13, I was in a dogfight. And maybe I would have won, maybe I would have lost, who knows. But the fact that I had the patience and God gave me the wisdom to wait, he had something far greater in mind for me

than what I would have pushed myself through ambition for. So I think you've got to listen. Sometimes it's hard to listen because we always, as leaders, we want to talk. We're A-type personalities. We want to do instead of reflect. But I think reflection and listening is a huge part of leadership and good decision-making.

Why the I mean, you're you're outside of Florida. You're pretty well not known in the United States. It's like that short fuse until so we have the election here. How do you think you can pull this off in running for president? My view and vision of this race was the following. Right. Obviously, the former president is in the.

sort of poll position in the driver's seat, if you will. Right. And then I think for me, the question was and it always comes down to this question, what do voters want? Do the voters want a repeat of the 2020 election? Right. The same two candidates. And I think when you when you look at the polling on that, oftentimes you see that the answer is they don't, even though the former president is in the dominant polling position.

And then the question is, if you don't want that, what are you looking for? And so I think for me, what I saw in my candidacy and my unique set of qualifications was a contrasting offering to the voters that I believe nobody else offered. And I think that was from the perspective of A, experience,

B, vision, and C, ability to grow the party in a way that will not just win the 2024 election, but could win a generational election. So when you start with experience, like I said, I'm the only candidate that has cut a public sector budget by 20%.

which is where we have to cut the federal budget. I'm the only candidate that has created an ecosystem of prosperity at any level that is significant, right? In terms of being a great, running a city that has, we just grew 14% last year, right? We have the lowest unemployment in America,

We have the highest wage growth in America. And so we're a city and that has had implications for safety, right? We have the lowest per capita homicide rate since 1964. And this year we're 40%. I just looked at the numbers today. We're 40% below

last year's number. So we have an incredible story to tell. And if we're able to get the volume, which is why I always ask people to go on my website at francissuarez.com and just donate a dollar because that puts me on the debate stage potentially to get the volume to tell the story, then we can focus on the future of America. And the future of America is balance our budget,

solve the immigration crisis, confront China. And I think I'm also the best candidate to do all three of those things. And I think, you know, in any election, your hope is that your message penetrates, right? And listen, I can say for every single candidate that's running,

that's their strategy too, right? They think my unique message is the one that should penetrate and it's the one that should win. Obviously some are in a better position than others, but listen, some have started in a better position than I did and are going in the wrong direction. And some, you know, are starting in a position like I did. And my job is to push this candidacy in the right direction. So I think the next big opportunity, like I said, is, um,

the August 23rd debate where we'll get volley and then I have to execute, right? I have to execute in every opportunity that I have. And I'm very grateful to you for this opportunity because this is an opportunity for me to get better known with your audience and for them to say, hey, we like what this guy has to say. We think it's very reasonable, very logical. He's got a great track record. Maybe we should give him a chance. Maybe we should hear some more about

about what he thinks he can do for our country. So if you're a voter in, say, Iowa or New Hampshire or South Carolina or Nevada, you know, states that go early on in the process, and you're out there looking at, you know, Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis or Vivek Ramaswamy, and then they see Francis Suarez or

How do they negotiate those four and be able to say, yeah, this is this is the person that I think can help lead our country? What what are they going to what what would you. To me, it's easy. To me, it's easy. And I'll tell you why. Vivek and DeSantis both are kind of are kind of like they're drafting Trump. Right. They have the same essential qualities.

as Donald Trump. They're not that distinguishable in terms of their positions. I see them having a hard time contrasting themselves

uh with the former president uh in my particular case you know i take some of what's uh the best of vivek in terms of having a private sector background um because i can be a working mayor and then and then a lot better public sector success than the governor because you know i've actually cut taxes right i've actually dealt with a financial crisis and turned my city around i've actually built

an ecosystem, I can actually expand the party, right, in terms of being able to potentially get urban voters like I've done in Miami or young voters because I'm young and project to the youth, which we lost, by the way, to Joe Biden by 26 points, voters under 30. And then Hispanics, right? I'm the first candidate that's going to Puerto Rico, going now in early August.

And I think there is a tremendous opportunity for Republicans to get more Hispanics if we understand how to communicate with them. We know that Democrats have been extremely negligent in how they've communicated to Hispanics by calling them Latinx. And then, you know, with the first lady going and saying that they're as unique as San Antonio tacos, right? That obviously does not resonate.

I still can't believe she said that, but she did. It was written out in advance. That's what's amazing to me about it. No, it is. And it's amazing that somebody would have put her in that position and that she actually went through with it. Right. But I think it goes to show the disconnection. Right. I mean, there's a disconnection for someone to write that, for someone to say that.

means that there is a significant disconnection between how you communicate with Hispanics and what Hispanics want to hear. Which, by the way, Jason, I think is just a great opportunity for us as Republicans. Hispanics are law-abiding, they're pro-family, they're pro-America, and they want someone who, A, can communicate with them, who, B, understands the nuances of their culture,

and C, can articulate a vision for the future so that they and their children can be prosperous. I think that's really what Hispanics want. And I think if the Republicans put up a candidate like that, they're going to be successful. Let's say you're able to prevail. What are the first maybe two or three things you want to see done there at the White House? I think the first thing we need to do is we need to balance our budget. So we need to have a serious conversation on how we balance our budget. We have...

inflation, historic high interest rates, you know, or historic growth in interest rates over the last,

you know, the last few months. And it's all based on bad policy. So I think we need to start living back in reality, which is what every single homeowner does in this country, which is what every single government other than the federal government does. Like I said, I inherited a broken and bankrupt city. And now today, under my leadership, we have reduced taxes. We have grown by double digits.

We have the highest annual surplus and the overall surplus and the highest bond rating in history. So it takes discipline, tough choices, but it's all doable. Then I think we need to focus on the border. The border is a human trafficking and fentanyl crisis area.

In terms of fentanyl, it's the equivalent of a 747 crashing every single day. And we're not treating it as that kind of a crisis. And then number three, I think we need to reestablish, start reestablishing relationships

across the world, we have fractured all of our relationships in the Middle East. Obviously, we've projected weakness, which has led to aggression by both Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, which is creating all kinds of dynamic problems for us in terms of what we do with Taiwan and Ukraine.

But I think it starts, frankly, for me, in the Middle East. I mean, we're in a place in the Middle East where we have almost no friends, which is not the way that it was. We're at odds with, you know, the Biden administration's at odds with Bibi in Israel.

He went and called the prime minister of Saudi Arabia, the crown prince of Pariah, and then went over and asked him to increase oil production so that they could reduce gas prices in advance of the midterms so he could do better in the midterms. I mean, that's not true friendship. This is when I talk about friendship, right?

um in terms of uae you know uh i asked them to criticize iran while while obama was back during the iran nuclear deal so it's just the kind of stuff that you don't do with your friends so i would i would immediately try to jump start abraham accord talks between saudi and israel which would help us in our relationship with israel and with saudi we established america's

position as a broker of peace. We just saw recently China broker peace between Iran and Saudi. That's not where we want to be in terms of what we see China doing. And of course, we've got to deal with the fact that China has gone from a spy base in Cuba to

you know, a military training base and using the ports that they've been investing in through the Belt and Road Initiative to potentially have forward looking bases, which would create bases in places as close as the Bahamas. That would be completely untenable. And again, it's a very, very scary world that we live in. And we're going to need strong leadership that understands how to create bases

a prosperous generational economy for us to continue to compete and not go backwards as, you know, the world's most powerful economy. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more right after this.

Listen, I wish you nothing but the best in this quest. I really think you're a voice that needs to be listened to, and you've earned that. But I also know that we can't get you through the end of this podcast without asking you some rapid questions. This is just fun stuff, okay? Just fun stuff. If you...

Haven't heard the podcast before. We have a little fun with this. Let's just kick things off with what's the first concert you attended? First concert I attended probably was Phil Collins. It's probably my guess. In Miami? I'm guessing in Miami? Yes. See, that's the nice thing about being in Miami, right? You get all the big acts coming to town. That's good. What was your high school mascot?

The Royal Lion. The Royal Lion, huh? Yeah, a lot of lions, I guess. The Royal Lion was royal, but it was a Royal Lion. That's what they call them, the sow's, the Royal Lions. All right. Favorite vegetable? Favorite vegetable? I'd have to go with broccoli or, yeah, I'd have to go with broccoli. That's good because most of the people we interview on this podcast can't name a vegetable. So that's impressive right there. Okay.

If you're going to be a president, you know, you get asked every question. And, you know, that's right. George H.W. Bush, he hated broccoli and you like broccoli. So that's it. There's a distinction right there. Makes it very, very, you know, nowadays I think they've made it more tasty. You know, it is. I actually like broccoli. I don't I don't have a problem with broccoli. I like Brussels sprouts. But, you know, that's a Brussels sprout. I like Brussels sprouts.

First job. Like, first one. Not your mom and dad saying, hey, Francis, go take out the garbage. I'm going to tell you the first two because the first one is not glamorous, but the second one is a little more glamorous. Okay. So the first one, I was 14. I don't know if it's even legal, you know, but I was –

working at a law firm in an accounting department um so that wasn't particularly glamorous but um my second job which was really cool was working for something down here called the sequarium which is like a sea world type of yeah yeah i used to feed uh the crocodiles the manatees um the sharks the parrots i mean it was a lot of fun i love animals and um

uh it was just i mean it was you know when you work in a one of those uh theme parks you know it's fun it's a happy-go-lucky kind of experience for a 15 year old who's trying to make a little bit of money

During the summers. Yeah. Put on your boots, strap on and get that smelly fish in front of the seaweed or whatever else they're eating. What does a manatee eat? Spend 30 minutes washing your hands after work. Yeah. It still probably lives with you. Exactly. That's right. What's your superpower? And what I mean by that is something that you can do. Like, I'm actually pretty good at this. Like, what is that for you? So I love weightlifting, working out.

You know, I've been into CrossFit for my age. I think, you know, I think I'd surprise people by my bench press. What would it be? On a one rep max? Yeah. I think I'm like in the 295 to 315 range. That's good. That's impressive. Yeah. I weigh about 180 pounds. So that's really impressive. Almost two times my body weight. Yeah. Yeah. Did you have a pet growing up?

I had all kinds of pets growing up, dogs, snakes, you know, probably had birds at one point or another. But yeah, I've had all kinds of pets growing up. If you could meet, if you could call up your wife and say, hey, honey, guess what? We got a special treat. Anybody in history, dead or alive. Okay. You can invite them over to have a meal. They're coming over for dinner. You're going to break some bread together. Who would you invite to come join you?

Uh, more than one person or just one person? Yeah, it's open-ended. Okay. So obviously Jesus, uh, that would be a number one, you know, probably a lot of great biblical figures, uh,

Peter, Moses, Samson, a lot of the great biblical leaders. Certainly Winston Churchill would be one who I would want to meet. And I'm sure I probably would invite John Paul II, even though he was alive during my lifetime. I actually never personally got to meet him.

But yeah, there's those are probably some of the people that I would have that I would. That's good. That's interesting. Pineapple on pizza. Yes or no? No. Yeah. Good answer, Mayor. I'm just I'm really impressed. You know, so many people get this question wrong, but you got it right. The judges like this answer.

Good on you. And it was like a firm answer there. Yeah, exactly. Be definitive. No wishy-washy. There was conviction. There was conviction behind that one. Yeah. All right. Last question. Best advice you ever got. Best advice I ever got. Yeah. I think the best advice I've ever gotten is sort of related to my religious conversion. And, you know, it was probably when I was in high school and it was –

Essentially, to maintain a connection with God, Jesus, through prayer is probably the best advice I ever got. I mean, there's a lot of, I mean, if you go anywhere on social media, you're constantly getting advice, right? It's like social media has become like a, so there's a lot of interesting things, good sayings, you know, inspirational stuff. But I think the best advice I ever got was to build a relationship with God.

spiritual relationship. I think that's

That's what's driven my success. That's what's driven my resiliency. That's what's led me to my wife, who I now am going to celebrate 16 years of marriage with. That's what's allowed me to persevere and have faith that I would eventually have children and now really try to enjoy them on a day-to-day basis. And that's what kind of tries to keep me humble and grounded in a world that's obviously super materialistic and always pushing you to focus on material things.

you know, and helps me focus on things that are more meaningful. So I think that's the best advice I ever got. No, I think it's great advice. Get down on your knees, pray. Amen. It just brings a spirit that is helpful. Hard times, good times, just your average day. I mean, it's just, it's...

And you get in that pattern and it's so helpful and you never know. You know, it's sometimes like, whoa, that was, that was, that's interesting. I would say one thing I would, I would tell your listeners to do two things. One is read Rudyard Kipling's poem. If,

okay and i would and i would tell them to i'm sure they've already read this many times but a theater roosevelt's man in the arena you know i think those two um the poem and and the man and of course robert frost's uh road less traveled um is another good one but but but the if one in particular when you just sort of touched on something that that struck with me which is to treat triumph and disaster as the same imposters

Right. The high achievement and and and defeat. Right. Those are just moments and things that happen to you. But, you know, you can determine what they do for you or to you. And I think that's part of that is obviously a spiritual journey for sure.

Well, Mayor, I really appreciate you joining us and spending the time. I really am very sincere. I wish you nothing but the best here. Thank you, Jason. Francis Suarez, you go to – I see that your website also goes to itstimewegetstarted.com, but we can also go to francissuarez.com, is that right, as well? Yeah, and we have a special promotion, I think, that we're doing until tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken, which is if you Venmo a dollar at –

Suarez 2024, you can enter into a giveaway of two tickets to Messi's first game, which is tomorrow. Wow.

Wow. Yeah, Messi coming to town. You got some things going on in Miami. Yeah, a lot of things going on, brother. We could talk for a long time. No, Messi coming to play in Miami is awesome. I got to tell you, it's great for U.S. soccer. I'm a huge soccer fan. Yep, it really is. Yeah, it's great. Mayor, thank you again. We really do appreciate it. And thanks for joining us on the Jason in the House podcast. All right. Thank you.

All right. I can't thank the good mayor enough for taking the time and making the effort and sharing his perspective and his stories and his, you know, his history and his energy with us on the Jason and the house podcast. Really do appreciate that.

I'm hoping you can rate this podcast, subscribe to it. I want to remind people that they can listen ad-free with a Fox News Podcast Plus subscription on Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Prime members can listen to this show ad-free on the Amazon Music app.

Uh, really do appreciate you, uh, you, uh, joining us. And, uh, also want to remind you that you can go over to Fox news podcast.com. Check out some of my colleagues podcasts. There's some good ones out there. Will Kane and, and, uh, Trey Gowdy and Ben Dominic, uh,

There's all sorts of them. Shannon Bream's got one out there. So please have a look at those. And again, rate this one if you can. We'll be back with more next week. Hope you're able to join us. I'm Jason Chaffetz, and this has been Jason in the House.

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