RITCHIE TORRES Talks Zionism, LGBT, The Bronx

Summary

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The Adam Friedland Show — RITCHIE TORRES Talks Zionism, LGBT, The Bronx

Date: August 28, 2025
Guest: Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY-15)

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Overview

This episode of The Adam Friedland Show features an in-depth, often tense conversation between comedian-host Adam Friedland and Rep. Ritchie Torres. The dialogue explores Torres’ personal story as a groundbreaking openly gay, Afro-Latino congressman from the South Bronx, his relationship to public service and identity, the challenges of representing the poorest district in America, the shifting politics of the Bronx, and his strongly pro-Israel stance in Congress amid the ongoing Gaza war. The discussion becomes heated and emotional when the topic of Israel/Palestine, antisemitism, and US foreign policy comes to the fore.

Adam intended the episode to be less adversarial, but acknowledges mid-show that it "fell off the rails" due to the fraught nature of the topics and his own emotions. The episode thus offers a raw, unscripted look at the personal, political, and generational tensions shaping American discourse today.

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Key Topics and Insights

1. Ritchie Torres’s Origins and Personal Journey

[03:00–14:00]

• Upbringing: Torres discusses growing up in Bronx public housing with a single mother, emphasizing poverty and resilience.

  “He grew up in public housing, single mother… realized he was gay in elementary school… attempted to take his own life in college, and he came back from a mental health crisis and became a member…” – Adam Friedland [01:06]

• Identity: Torres is the first openly gay, Black, and Latino member of Congress.

  “Let's assume...after [Santos] was expelled...I became the most prominent Jewish, gay, Latino congressman from New York. How's that?” – Torres, joking about the oddities of identity politics [07:29]

Notable Moment

• Humor amidst heaviness: Torres compares the Bronx Zoo to Congress:

  “I consider the Bronx Zoo indistinguishable from the United States Congress.” – Ritchie Torres [04:39]

2. The Reality of Congressional Life

[09:00–13:00]

• Learning Curve: Torres describes Congress as “the best university in the world,” with absurdity and brilliance coexisting.

  “The problem with DC is not that it’s corrupt. The problem with DC is that it's stupid.” – Torres [12:24]

• On Fundraising: Candidly finds fundraising “nauseating,” and acknowledges the corrosive role of money in politics:

  “Too much time is spent on fundraising...you could be spending more than half your time every week at a banquet. Or just call time.” [38:51]

3. Representing NY-15: Poverty, Policy, and Mandate

[22:45–25:25]

• Public Housing Advocacy: Torres frames his run for office as a direct response to NYCHA’s chronic underfunding and public housing’s humanitarian crisis.

  “The most formative experience of my life was growing up in public housing…NYCHA…has a capital need of $80 billion and counting.” [22:45]

• District Demographics: Poorest in America, large immigrant population, high rates of SNAP and Medicaid enrollment.

4. Shifting Political Allegiances in the Bronx

[29:58–31:25]

• Explains the dramatic 22-point swing toward Trump in 2024 as driven by inflation and immigration anxiety among working-class people of color:

  “The simplest explanation is inflation and immigration…if you're paying double or triple the cost for groceries...you're going to lash out at those in power.” – Torres [30:29]

5. Identity and Outness in Congress

[16:00–19:00]

• On being out and the ethics of outing others:

  “No, you have to go through the...yeah, it’s a process.” – Torres on coming out [17:31]

• Debate as a turning point: Came out as gay during a high school debate competition and later decided to be fully out when running for city office.

  “It was the first time I ever had acknowledged my sexuality to someone.” [19:40]

6. Israel, Zionism, and US Policy — The Emotional Heart of the Episode

[41:26–66:00]
The conversation becomes tense and deeply personal as Adam grapples with Torres’ unwavering pro-Israel advocacy:

Torres on Israel and his First Visit

• Significance:

  “The first time I ever went to a foreign country…it was life changing. But also, you know, when you go to, when you experience the complexity of Israel…” [42:33]

• Describes empathy for Israelis living under rocket fire, equates South Bronx violence to perpetual threat in Israel:

  “In America, we don’t worry about Canada or Mexico firing rockets...Israel’s a tiny democracy…literally surrounded by actors intent on wiping it off the map.” [44:01]

On Anti-Semitism on Campus

• Describes an incident at CUNY where Jewish students were harassed by a mob near a kosher restaurant:

  “Harassing people simply for being pro-Israel Jews, to me, is wrong.” [46:15]

• Adam challenges the narrative—suggests antisemitism in the US is also driven by far-right elements (Proud Boys, Holocaust denial), not just campus leftists.

  “The last two years have felt different in America…now a ton of people are questioning the validity of the Holocaust…” – Adam [48:08]

The Gaza War and "Genocide" Debates

• Adam voices anguish over the Jewish community’s connection to Israel amid the Gaza crisis, accusing Torres of minimizing Palestinian suffering:

  “For kids to be starving right now and why is my government…I don’t want to do this fight...” – Adam [50:03]

• Torres remains adamant:

  “My view is, no justification for antisemitism. I think there’s zero justification for antisemitism.” [49:35]

• Tension peaks: Adam says what’s happening in Gaza is a genocide, and links US policy/funding to rising antisemitism; Torres disagrees strongly.

  “You’re blaming Israel for Holocaust denial.” – Torres [58:22]
  “I’m blaming our government for supporting a genocide…but it is unfathomable in my heart…” – Adam [58:28]

• Torres’s Red Line:

  “But you’re suggesting that it is the policy of the Israeli government to murder civilians. And that is a notion that I reject.” [64:07] “If you remove Hamas…” – Torres (arguing Hamas is the root problem) [64:30]

7. Broader Reflections and Closing Emotional Moments

[66:08–68:11]

• Adam expresses regret about the adversarial turn, articulates pain and confusion as an American Jew:

  “This is so embarrassing…rambling about Israel and being a Jew and the Holocaust. It’s the most embarrassing stuff to talk about in public.” [66:58]

• Torres:

  “Every Jewish American should have a right to be who they are…to wear a kippah, to display a Star of David, to be proudly, invisibly Jewish without fear…” [67:09]

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Notable Quotes by Timestamp

• On Congress’s Absurdity:
  “The problem with DC Is not that it's corrupt. The problem with DC is that it's stupid.” – Torres [12:24]

• On Coming Out:
  “I realized I was gay in middle school.” – Torres [17:35]
  “I was browsing through MySpace…and I ran into the profile of a teacher…who identified as gay. It was the first time I knew of a person in my social universe who was openly LGBTQ…And I just spontaneously came out.” – Torres [19:04]

• On the Unpopularity of Congress:
  “We're less popular than colonoscopies…there was polling...we're more popular than cockroaches but with less [popularity]...and more popular than Ebola.” – Torres [31:32]

• Israel Support & Criticism

  “I left Israel with an empathy for the unique security situation that Israel faces.” – Torres [44:01] “You keep telling me that the problem is someone’s getting yelled at at a restaurant. I’m sorry.” – Adam [53:14] “The war began on October 7th.” – Torres [54:55] “If Palestinians were governed not by a terrorist organization like Hamas…the situation would be fundamentally different.” – Torres [55:47] “I continue to believe the two-state solution…is the inevitable path forward.” – Torres [60:41] “You’re suggesting that it is the policy of the Israeli government to murder civilians. And that is a notion that I reject.” – Torres [64:07]

• On the Debate’s Tone:

  “Works for me.” – Torres, on being “the best elected official I can be” [22:31]
  “It’s just been a gotcha interview.” – Torres [65:01]
  “Not in the South Bronx. People are not talking about Israel. People are talking about how to put food on the table and pay the bills.” – Torres [65:26]

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Timestamps of Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | | --------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------- | | Opening, intros, and Torres’ background | 00:00–14:00 | | On life in Congress, fundraising, DC’s absurdity | 09:00–13:00 | | NY-15 district, poverty, public housing | 22:45–25:25 | | Swing toward Republicans in the Bronx | 29:58–31:25 | | LGBT identity, coming out | 16:00–19:40 | | Israel, Zionism, Torres’s first trip | 41:26–44:00 | | Antisemitism & campus politics, Gaza debate | 45:47–66:00 | | Emotional closing exchanges, regrets | 66:08–68:11 |

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Overall Tone & Takeaways

• Raw and Unscripted: Adam brings deep personal pain and skepticism to the Israel debate, confronting Torres who remains steadfastly pro-Israel.
• Generational Discomfort: The episode showcases generational and communal rifts among American Jews and liberals over Israel, antisemitism, and US policy.
• No Resolution: The conversation is a microcosm of American debates—passionate, partial, and unresolved. Both men leave somewhat battered by the exchange.

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If you listen for:

• Torres’s personal arc: Start at [03:00]
• Shift in Bronx political alignment: [29:58]
• Israel and Zionism, campus debates, Gaza: [41:26 onward]
• Most emotional, confrontational moments: [50:00–66:00]

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Summary prepared in the original tone and with attributions to speakers throughout.

Transcript

[Richie Torres]

Foreign.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm sorry, dude. You're bummed. Your consultants told you not to do it. This. I like this guy a lot, too. I'm sorry. I, I, I, I appreciate your time. Listen, I don't, I don't get to talk to someone in the government that's, that's taking part in these big decisions.

[Richie Torres]

Like this, and, well, only one of 535.

[Adam Friedland]

So which one is, Would like me? Virginia Fox?

[Richie Torres]

I don't know.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you have her number?

[Richie Torres]

I don't have her number. No. All right.

[Adam Friedland]

Welcome to the Adam Friedland Show. I'm Adam Freeland. As always, thank you to our members and our patrons, the people that support our show. If you'd like to support our show, there's a link in the description of this video below to become a member, which gives you early access to all of our episodes. And there's also a link if you prefer to use Patreon in the description as well. And as always, guys, there are two additional tiers for those of you who'd like to get your name in the credits. This week, my guest was Richie Torres From New York's 15th district in the House of Representatives. I'd heard of Representative Torres, but before I researched for this episode, I never heard of his backstory. And frankly, it's kind of inspirational. I mean, he grew up in public housing, single mother, a minimum wage. He realized he was gay in elementary school. He attempted to take his own life in college, and he came back from a mental health crisis and became a member of the New York City Council and a member of the United States House of Representatives. He's the first gay black man in Congress. I mean, it's kind of like a movie. This is like a. I don't know what this is. It's kind of like it becomes. It was unexpected. Representative Torres has been referred to as Israel's loudest advocate in the House of Representatives. And when, prior to this interview, I wanted to have a conversation that didn't resemble like a point counterpoint, you know, just screaming match like we see online all the time. I wanted to try and get something different. And to be honest with you, when I expressed, I became emotional, and it fell off the rails. And I wasn't able, as an interviewer to get it back on the rails. I mean, there were, like, multiple topics that we didn't cover at the end. Frankly, it was exhausting for both of us. Yeah, it felt like it was a gotcha. And I'm an activist. You know, this is how this conversation goes nowadays. And so while I didn't get what I was initially, you know, looking for, I kind of still feel like it's important I stand by what I said. And even if I'm like, being. My voice is high. Don't like. I mean, I think it's important to say what I said in the interview. And so I don't know what it is. I mean, at a certain point, I don't even know if it's an interview. But I hope you, you know, make of it what you will and, you know, next week we're going to have, like, really, it's going to be so funny. But this one, I think is going to be a different tone and, you know, enjoy. Ladies and gentlemen, Congressman from New York in the US House of Representatives, Richie Torres. Everyone make some noise. I can. Hello.

[Richie Torres]

What's going on?

[Adam Friedland]

Hello. Well, I got two issues. First of all, you. Your district is Yankee Stadium. That is one of your. That's one of your.

[Richie Torres]

I represent Yankee Stadium. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

And I asked you how the Yanks were and you were like, I'm not. You didn't.

[Richie Torres]

So I love the Yankees, but I'm not a. I'm not a huge baseball fan. You just turned and I'm not going to pretend to be a baseball.

[Adam Friedland]

What about the zoo?

[Richie Torres]

I love the Bronx Zoo.

[Adam Friedland]

Okay.

[Richie Torres]

Botanical Gardens.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you consider the animals your constituents?

[Richie Torres]

I consider the Bronx Zoo indistinguishable from the United States Congress. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, does that crush, like, if you say it to another guy in Congress?

[Richie Torres]

It crushes nowhere. Cause I, you know, if I were actually, if I had any comedic talent, I probably wouldn't be in Congress.

[Adam Friedland]

What do you mean? You want to be a stand up comedian?

[Richie Torres]

You know, when I was a kid, I was a fan, not of baseball, but professional wrestling.

[Adam Friedland]

Really?

[Richie Torres]

Yeah. I was a huge fan of the attitude era. So I started watching in 1998. We had it so stone cold steep Austin the Rock. I thought that was golden age mankind.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, so was I. Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

I did a huge rock impersonation when I was a kid. Like, I was. I used to.

[Adam Friedland]

I, like, knew of you as a congressman, but I didn't know your backstory. And I mean, God damn. Wow. I mean, it's an incredibly inspirational story that you have.

[Richie Torres]

And unlike George Santos, I have a true story that you.

[Adam Friedland]

That's your op.

[Richie Torres]

I have. I have no OnlyFans account, but I do have a actual.

[Adam Friedland]

Did he have an OnlyFans?

[Richie Torres]

Oh, yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

In Congress.

[Richie Torres]

I'm not sure if he had it, but certainly it was generating Income.

[Adam Friedland]

He would have been the first. I mean, who knows?

[Richie Torres]

I mean, I'm not. He would have been the first. Following the OnlyFans accounts of every member of Congress.

[Adam Friedland]

So. I can't stand this guy.

[Richie Torres]

No, just, you know, just. I wanna.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you miss him? He's pretty funny.

[Richie Torres]

You know, he was a source of comedic enjoyment.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, his tweet right before jail was amazing. He's like, the curtain closes like the, you know, she walks off stage. He was a real ham, George.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, but he was a. He was a complete fraud, right?

[Richie Torres]

Total fraud. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, because he bought, like, Birkin bags with campaign funds.

[Richie Torres]

Well, also, he fabricated every aspect of his biography. It was not like he told one lie here or there. It was like the whole story was a complete fabrication.

[Adam Friedland]

I feel like in this day and age, that's kind of like, that's part of. That's in play. I feel like you could do it.

[Richie Torres]

It's, It's. I've never.

[Adam Friedland]

I feel like it's such a chaotic time. Like. Yeah, like, I, I went to Harvard Law School and I, I, I used to be the, the coolest guy in my school. And I'm. I'm also Brazilian and Jewish and. What did he say?

[Richie Torres]

No, he said that his, you know, he had, his, his parents were Holocaust survivors.

[Adam Friedland]

I like that.

[Richie Torres]

Ukrainian, because of the war in Ukraine.

[Adam Friedland]

He was also Ukrainian and he had.

[Richie Torres]

You know, he was. His friends who died in the mass shooting in Orlando.

[Adam Friedland]

He's amazing.

[Richie Torres]

He, like, incorporated every current event into his life story.

[Adam Friedland]

Pathological liars are great, but he took it all the way to the freaking. To the show.

[Richie Torres]

Although I, you know, he inspired me to introduce a bill because I think it's the greatest acronym in the history of pathologists. The Santos Act.

[Adam Friedland]

And what was it?

[Richie Torres]

Stop Another non Truthful Office seeker Santos.

[Adam Friedland]

Am I sensing that there's, like, Santos Act, Two of you guys as, like, young New York gay, like, Latino congressman. He's naturally like your foil. He's your Darth Vader.

[Richie Torres]

Let's assume, like, after he was expelled from Congress, I became the most prominent Jewish, gay, Latino congressman from New York. How's that?

[Adam Friedland]

You're Jewish.

[Richie Torres]

No, I'm Jewish.

[Adam Friedland]

You're Jewish. Oh, come on. I wouldn't wish this upon my greatest enemy. You don't want any part of this. My brother.

[Richie Torres]

You never heard this comment? He's Jewish, not Jewish.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, I've heard a lot of people say that. But you don't. I'm just.

[Richie Torres]

No, but he invented the term about you. I don't know, he invented the term about himself.

[Adam Friedland]

It's just a word with it. Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

About him when he was confronted, you know, why did you lie about being Jewish? He said, I never said I was Jewish. I said I was Jewish.

[Adam Friedland]

I would say that I'm. That I'm.

[Richie Torres]

But you're actually Jewish.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah. It's tough. Yeah. I can't quit.

[Richie Torres]

No.

[Adam Friedland]

I wrote a letter to Bibi and they reject it. They don't let you out. It's like the mafia. You know that. You know how you join is when you're a baby.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Your parents have a party, and then this, like, old wizard walks in, and then he pulls your. Your. Your diaper off. Yeah. And then your whole family looks at your beautiful baby penis. And then he cuts the. The part that, I guess gives one pleasure later on in life and during sex and. And then there's like a deli tray there and stuff. That's. That's how you join the club. Yeah. But we've been doing it for a while, though. I don't know. I don't mind it. You really didn't like my crude humor?

[Richie Torres]

I mean, you've endured for thousands of years, so something's going right.

[Adam Friedland]

We're. Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. It's the. It's definitely the wizard and the baby's penis part.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, yeah, I know I'm being crude with a member of the legislature.

[Richie Torres]

These are important decisions that parents have to make.

[Adam Friedland]

Rude is that we're in an era where, like, talking to someone in the legislative branch is. It's a privilege because it's so fucking crazy.

[Richie Torres]

The privilege is mine. You're the one with the massive following and audience. You were in the New Yorker. You know, I know that because you told me, not because I read the profile, but you told me you were in the New Yorker, so congratulations on the profile. You know you would be considered young in the United States Congress.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. I mean, I've only been able to be.

[Richie Torres]

My dating profile says I'm congressionally young. Congressionally young and congressionally attractive. Just in case you're disappointed.

[Adam Friedland]

That gets some action.

[Richie Torres]

Is it A plus? It's not clear. It's not clear.

[Adam Friedland]

It has to be.

[Richie Torres]

I mean, I work seven days a week, so it has a crowding out effect, but.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. And you're with the worst people on earth. Well, what are you doing to yourself? It must be tough.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah. One of my colleagues said to me that Congress is the best university in the world.

[Adam Friedland]

Really?

[Richie Torres]

Because you just have access to some of the brightest minds, you can learn a tremendous amount.

[Adam Friedland]

They're the smartest guys.

[Richie Torres]

Some of the.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, yeah.

[Richie Torres]

We certainly have access.

[Adam Friedland]

It's like the Sorbonne or something.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

In Congress. How boring is it like to be in the government? Sometimes. What's the most boring part of it?

[Richie Torres]

I mean, I love it. You love it because of the variety.

[Adam Friedland]

You like parliamentary procedures.

[Richie Torres]

I feel like no position has more variety than a House member, because one day you get to be local, state, national, and international at the same time. So one day I'm receiving a pothole. A complaint about a pothole on Fordham Road or pressuring the mayor to crack down on an open air drug market in the South Bronx.

[Adam Friedland]

And the next day in Congress about that.

[Richie Torres]

And then the next day I'm receiving, like, a briefing from the CIA about rising tensions between the United States and China.

[Adam Friedland]

So what do you do about the pothole in D.C. though? I'm just sorry.

[Richie Torres]

I use my platform to pressure the mayor to solve problems or the governor.

[Adam Friedland]

Adams. Yeah, let me. Can I guess who you were in school growing up?

[Richie Torres]

Sure.

[Adam Friedland]

You were like. Were you student government?

[Richie Torres]

No, not studio.

[Adam Friedland]

Governor. You were like a debate club or.

[Richie Torres]

I was the captain of the law team.

[Adam Friedland]

Law team. Oh, so you wanted to be a lawyer?

[Richie Torres]

Yeah, I had dreams of becoming either a lawyer or teacher.

[Adam Friedland]

So you did mock trial, right?

[Richie Torres]

I did moot court and mock trial, but I was the. I was like a master of moot court.

[Adam Friedland]

And what did you like? You liked, like, the Atticus Finch style, like, closing argument.

[Richie Torres]

So that's more. That was mock trial. Moot court is modeled after the Supreme Court or an appellate court. So you deliver an argument before a panel of judges who interrupt you with questions, speeches.

[Adam Friedland]

The one that's less like.

[Richie Torres]

No, because it teaches you to think on your feet. Yeah, it's less. It's less theatrical, so.

[Adam Friedland]

But that was your prep for the game?

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You went to the show.

[Richie Torres]

It was the first time when I discovered I had a talent for public speaking. Or I thought I had a talent.

[Adam Friedland]

For talking early on. You grew up in a single mother home. You have a twin brother.

[Richie Torres]

Twin brother?

[Adam Friedland]

Identical.

[Richie Torres]

He's biologically older. I'm temperamentally older.

[Adam Friedland]

Identical or.

[Richie Torres]

No, fraternal. We're fake twins.

[Adam Friedland]

That's all right.

[Richie Torres]

Five minutes apart.

[Adam Friedland]

I was on a date once with a girl who told me, first date, she said, I have an identical twin. I can't do it. How about I can't tell her secrets she has. Her brain is connected to some other. Another one of her. You can't trust these people.

[Richie Torres]

It was funny when I was a kid.

[Adam Friedland]

That's a prejudice of mine.

[Richie Torres]

People would ask me, where's your brother? I'm like, we're fraternal twins, not Siamese twins. Like, I don't know his whereabouts at every moment.

[Adam Friedland]

But you're good at D.C. right?

[Richie Torres]

I'm learning D.C. you're still learning. Yeah, of course. I've only been there for three terms. It's the most complicated legislature on earth. No one's gonna master it in three terms. The problem with DC Is not that it's corrupt. The problem with DC Is that it's stupid. There's just so much absurdity in D.C.

[Adam Friedland]

I thought you said it's the smartest place in the world.

[Richie Torres]

We can't. You have access to some of the brightest minds. So, like, if you. If you want to learn more about artificial intelligence or quantum computing or energy, you can reach out to some of the best minds.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Yeah. You can call any CEO right now, but call Zuck right up.

[Richie Torres]

People generally will take your. I'm not calling now. So, you know, I don't know. I don't know.

[Adam Friedland]

Your boys was up. You said, I'm not calling him now. You have his number.

[Richie Torres]

Well, I don't know.

[Adam Friedland]

So.

[Richie Torres]

Never met him.

[Adam Friedland]

What CEO is your best friend?

[Richie Torres]

What's the best one mention? Who's my best friend?

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. How many CEO friends do you have?

[Richie Torres]

I don't have many CEO friends.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, you said you could call anyone on the phone at any time.

[Richie Torres]

If I. If I. If I had a question about, like, AI policy, I probably could get a meeting with a CEO. Yeah, that's true of any member of Congress.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Did you grow up in the District you represent?

[Richie Torres]

My father's from this. From Mott Haven. I'm from Throgs Neck Houses, So I grew up in a public housing development in Throgs Neck Houses, right across the street from what was formerly Trump Golf Course.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

And I kid you not, as the golf course was undergoing construction, it unleashed a skunk infestation. So I tell people Project. So I tell people I've been smelling the stench of Donald Trump long before he became president, but they were. It was infested with skunks.

[Adam Friedland]

What's. So, like, you grew up in New.

[Richie Torres]

York City, so born and raised in the Bronx.

[Adam Friedland]

Our president is an outer borough New Yorker. Effectively, yeah.

[Richie Torres]

From Queens.

[Adam Friedland]

Right. He wants to present that he's a. That he's like Mr. Like Goldman Sachs, but really he's a New York City real estate guy.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Is that correct?

[Richie Torres]

He was never respected in the real estate industry. He was known to, like, rip off his contractors and he was seen as a joke within the industry.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, he. He figured out that if you keep someone in a lawsuit, he was more.

[Richie Torres]

He was more known for his self promotion and marketing than he was for his actual effectiveness in real estate.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Have you ever. What have your interactions been with the President?

[Richie Torres]

No interactions.

[Adam Friedland]

You've never met.

[Richie Torres]

Never met him, have no desire to meet him?

[Adam Friedland]

Let's practice it. Right now.

[Richie Torres]

I feel like he's the worst person on earth.

[Adam Friedland]

You know what to meet him was. You're in the government, though. You got to be the president.

[Richie Torres]

He's the devil.

[Adam Friedland]

He's the devil.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You got to say. You got to have a good burn for the. For the President. Let's practice. Trump. What's up, Trump? Nice to meet you. Yeah, that's your. No, you just bombed.

[Richie Torres]

So what should I do?

[Adam Friedland]

Like that, with some weird smile, I'm.

[Richie Torres]

Going to shake Donald Trump's hand.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. You have to say, like, you're, You've. You're. You're doing like the, like the Holocaust right now in this country. Like, you're, you have to say, like, you're ruining this country right now. Like, seriously, why don't you say something like that? You're an asshole. You've said the Marines.

[Richie Torres]

Okay, well, we'll practice. Okay.

[Adam Friedland]

Okay. Go ahead.

[Richie Torres]

Okay.

[Adam Friedland]

Let's get it. Let's. Come on, dude.

[Richie Torres]

Mr. President.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

How are you? I'm looking for. Hopefully you can release those files.

[Adam Friedland]

Epstein, that's your. No, come on, dude. First of all, you guys already lost on Epstein.

[Richie Torres]

You think we lost on Epstein?

[Adam Friedland]

You guys lost.

[Richie Torres]

He's obviously in the files.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, half of the files is your guys too. Right? You know, but half the files is your guys, too, so that's why you guys didn't do this.

[Richie Torres]

My view is release the files and let the dice fall. But they may.

[Adam Friedland]

Huh? Huh? You guys lost on epc.

[Richie Torres]

Why do we lose his crappy excuse?

[Adam Friedland]

Like everyone. His whole base doesn't really care.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah, they moved on.

[Adam Friedland]

What we found is that they actually don't care. Maggot didn't really care.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. You guys really are having a rough one right now, I think.

[Richie Torres]

What's your advice for us?

[Adam Friedland]

I don't know. I mean, you're the. You're. You're one of the guys, so I'll tell you what I'm seeing. Yeah, right. I really wanted to give you your whole story about where you want Me.

[Richie Torres]

To tell my story?

[Adam Friedland]

No, no, no, because I want to talk about this.

[Richie Torres]

Okay, you clearly don't want to hear my stories.

[Adam Friedland]

I've been trying to toss it to your story, which is fucking. That's a Hallmark movie. We'd open this up like this guy's. You're the first black gay guy to be in the government. Gay guy, gay man to be in the government. Gay guy is. You can't say that to a first.

[Richie Torres]

Latino and black gay member of Congress.

[Adam Friedland]

First Latino. It doesn't roll off the tongue, that one.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah. Too many identities.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

First black president. Obama crushed it with that one. Yeah. First Latino and black gay.

[Richie Torres]

Once you have a first black president, everything else becomes less impressive.

[Adam Friedland]

How many LGBT members of the of Congress are there?

[Richie Torres]

There are quite a few. Like, more than 10.

[Adam Friedland]

More than 10, yeah. And there's 100 Senate. How many House?

[Richie Torres]

435.

[Adam Friedland]

435.

[Richie Torres]

So 535 in total.

[Adam Friedland]

Are there any. No Republicans. Right.

[Richie Torres]

Who are openly lgbtq? Oh, you're saying none of them.

[Adam Friedland]

You're spilling the tea right now.

[Richie Torres]

Well, my. My running joke is the LGBTQ caucus is the only caucus that can expand without winning an election. We just have to take members out of the closet.

[Adam Friedland]

Would you do that as you were in the closet, your life? Right. Like, what are the ethics there? It's really interesting because, like, would I out members?

[Richie Torres]

No.

[Adam Friedland]

If you see a closet gay Republican, like, advocating for something that is.

[Richie Torres]

Would I out him?

[Adam Friedland]

Well, it's advocate for, like, taking away gay marriage or something. Like, what's the rule there? Because you were in the closet yourself as a young man, and it's a painful thing, I would imagine.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah. No, you have to go through the. Yeah, it's a process.

[Adam Friedland]

You found out in middle school.

[Richie Torres]

I realized that I was a gay in middle school.

[Adam Friedland]

When was it? Titanic? Leo DiCaprio. No, I didn't realize at all when I was not Leonardo DiCaprio. How was it? What was it?

[Richie Torres]

I forget exactly how I realized, but you forgot.

[Adam Friedland]

No, you don't forget. You gotta have a better story. You're a politician. Titanic Leonardo.

[Richie Torres]

I'm not often asked about my coming out story in the Bronx, so.

[Adam Friedland]

Why not? It's an interesting story. Right. And like, you're Puerto Rican. Was it. You were afraid of experiencing homophobia in your community?

[Richie Torres]

I grew up in the project, so it's a machismo environment.

[Adam Friedland]

And what about in your family? Was there, like, when did you come out to them?

[Richie Torres]

16.

[Adam Friedland]

16.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

And was that when you came out.

[Richie Torres]

No, then. Then I came out gradually over time. And then when I ran for office when I was 24, I decided to be out to everyone to run as an openly LGBTQ candidate. But that was back in 2000, when.

[Adam Friedland]

You were at school and stuff. You didn't tell people that you were gay.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah, I was telling more and more people over time.

[Adam Friedland]

I thought you were at an assembly or something.

[Richie Torres]

Yes, I was at a debate competition where I said I was a gay marriage.

[Adam Friedland]

So that's coming out.

[Richie Torres]

Isn't that like a Jim McGreevey moment, though? Remember he said, as a gay American.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

Gave this speech. That's such a dated.

[Adam Friedland]

You're a kid coming out of the closet. Don't diminish that experience.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah, it was back in.

[Adam Friedland]

No, that's your story. Why. Why would you say that? That was just a debate competition. It has to be scary.

[Richie Torres]

No, I agree. It was terrifying.

[Adam Friedland]

What led you to do it at debate?

[Richie Torres]

Know, I felt. It just felt, you know, it's interesting.

[Adam Friedland]

Did you see something that you were like?

[Richie Torres]

Yeah, so I was. I was browsing through MySpace.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

And I ran into the profile of a teacher.

[Adam Friedland]

Uh huh.

[Richie Torres]

Who identified as gay. And it was the first time I knew of a person in my social universe who was openly lgbtq. And so I approached him.

[Adam Friedland]

And your social universe, you chilled with.

[Richie Torres]

Your teachers or people in the world I knew.

[Adam Friedland]

I guess you were. You were. You hung out with adults and not socialize.

[Richie Torres]

My teachers?

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

No.

[Adam Friedland]

So it was the first adult or person that was openly gay.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah. In my. Yeah. Because I grew up in a world where no one was openly gay.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

And I just spontaneously came out. It was the first time I ever had acknowledged my sexuality to someone.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you feel like sharing your story, like, and making it all the way to Congress? That has to be an inspiration to people that grew up in a place like that. No. That must feel good.

[Richie Torres]

No, it does.

[Adam Friedland]

So why are you diminishing it on the show?

[Richie Torres]

Not diminishing it, but I feel you.

[Adam Friedland]

Should be proud of that. I was in the New Yorker yesterday. You were.

[Richie Torres]

I was in the New Yorker as well, back in 2016.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, okay. I was in it yesterday. So both of us are probably the.

[Richie Torres]

Same, but you're at a much higher level than I am, so.

[Adam Friedland]

No, you were 2,016. You were Bernie Delga.

[Richie Torres]

I was 2016.

[Adam Friedland]

So wait, so go back to that because it's. It's interesting to me. So, like, you had this mental health crisis in college.

[Richie Torres]

Right.

[Adam Friedland]

And did it stem it stemmed from being gay. Is that what it was?

[Richie Torres]

Not only from my. I mean, I had a sexual identity, but I had a severe struggle with depression.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

Which began in high school.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

But then became worse in college. And I dropped out of college and at some point, even thought of committing suicide. Underwent hospitalization. Felt as if the world around me had collapsed. But then I began taking an antidepressant. Going through psychotherapy, and it just gave me a fighting chance to rebuild my life. So after a few years of hospitalization, I rebuilt my life and became the youngest elected official in America's largest city. I ran for the council and then ultimately ran for the United States Congress, and here I am.

[Adam Friedland]

And it was a few years that you were going through that.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. And so. And what did you do once you got out? How did you restart your life?

[Richie Torres]

Well, instead of going back to school, I went into politics. So I was a housing organizer. I was a housing organizer for New York City Council member. And then I ran for public office myself.

[Adam Friedland]

I would have moved to, like, France or something.

[Richie Torres]

I couldn't afford to move to France.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

I grew up poor.

[Adam Friedland]

You could figure it out. You get a ticket, you get to France. I don't know. Busk. Do you know a guitar? No, you get a guitar. Put the. I don't know. Obviously, to run for office, you have to have a call to public service. You guys all say that, but you have to have an ambition, like, as well. Right. There has to be part of it. Right. Like I want to do, I think.

[Richie Torres]

An ambition to make a difference.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, but you. You want to be. I want to be the president, you know, Come on.

[Richie Torres]

I have no desire to be present.

[Adam Friedland]

Is your ambition purely just to make a difference? I mean, it's a very abstract term, too.

[Richie Torres]

My. My dream, you know, my goal is to be the best elected official I can be and then let the rest take care of itself.

[Adam Friedland]

That doesn't work for me.

[Richie Torres]

Works for me.

[Adam Friedland]

You could say, like, I want to. Like, I want to make sure that.

[Richie Torres]

I mean, I would love to be.

[Adam Friedland]

Say a better thing, like, I want to make sure the kids in my neighborhood could, like, you know, have a better life or something. Saying the best that you could be is so abstract. You could vote for anything.

[Richie Torres]

I mean, I can tell you why I ran into public office, which is what it was really about, public housing. So, you know, born and raised in the Bronx, spent most of my life in poverty and raised by a single mother. He raised three of us on minimum wage, which in the 1990s was $4.25 an hour. It's ridiculous, but the most formative experience of my life was growing up in public housing. And in New York City there's an institution known as the New York City Housing Authority, nycha, which manages the largest stock of public housing in the country. It houses about a half a million people and it's been so chronically underfunded by the federal government that it has a capital need of $80 billion and counting.

[Adam Friedland]

And is that issue something that affects your constituents? Because you represent the poorest district and.

[Richie Torres]

I represent one of the largest concentrations of public housing in the country. And so you have like asthmatics who are struggling to breathe in their homes.

[Adam Friedland]

You live in the face of safe circumstances as well, right? Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

I mean, I grew up without heat and hot water. Molded conditions, leaking conditions like these conditions, you know, the living conditions of public housing have become a humanitarian crisis. Crisis.

[Adam Friedland]

Uh huh.

[Richie Torres]

And I think, I think, you know, if NYCHA were a city unto itself, it would be the largest city of low income black and brown Americans in the United States. And it's the forgotten city of New York.

[Adam Friedland]

In representing the poorest district in America, one of the smallest districts too, right?

[Richie Torres]

The most contiguous and compact district. Yeah. And it was even more so before redistricting.

[Adam Friedland]

And you have a third of your district lives under the poverty line, is that correct?

[Richie Torres]

It's the lowest income district. About a third of the district is enrolled in SNAP. 70% is enrolled in Medicaid.

[Adam Friedland]

About a third are born in other countries. Is that correct?

[Richie Torres]

Significant immigrant population. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

What does that. What is the mandate that you have in D.C. representing those people?

[Richie Torres]

It's to make government work for the Bronx to protect critical programs like Medicaid, snap, Medicare, Social Security.

[Adam Friedland]

Is that what you carry with you when you're in Congress? Is that what you consider when you're like in a committee hearing or something?

[Richie Torres]

Everything should be centered around the Bronx.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

And for me, the Bronx is not only where I live, it's who I am.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

I tell my constituents, even when I leave the Bronx for Washington D.C. the Bronx never leaves me. The most important lesson my mother taught me is never forget where you came from. And I'm from the Bronx and I will. I lived in the Bronx my whole life and I probably will die in the Bronx.

[Adam Friedland]

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[Richie Torres]

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[Adam Friedland]

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[Richie Torres]

One of the largest. In 2012. Obama won. Barack Obama won 96% of the vote in New York. 15 in the Bronx.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

Flash forward to the 2024 election. There's a more than 22 point swing toward Donald Trump.

[Adam Friedland]

Why is is the Democratic Party losing the most vulnerable people in America then? What do you attribute that?

[Richie Torres]

Well, the Democratic Party is hemorrhaging support among working class people of color throughout the country.

[Adam Friedland]

Why is that?

[Richie Torres]

You know, Occam's Razor holds. The simplest explanation is almost always the best. The simple explanation is inflation and immigration. We had the highest inflation in more than four decades. So if you're paying double or triple the cost for groceries and gasoline, you're going to lash out at those in power, at the establishment.

[Adam Friedland]

You say that the incumbency is just bound to lose that election?

[Richie Torres]

Biden, the incumbency is perceived as failing. Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

Was there a way to win that election against Trump? If inflation is so bad, is it impossible to win that election?

[Richie Torres]

The odds were stacked against Us because inflation and the mismanagement of the migrant crisis. But if we had the benefit of a full primary process and if we had a stronger general election candidate, maybe we could have won. But I don't know for sure. But Donald Trump is a fatally flawed candidate, so maybe we could have won.

[Adam Friedland]

You're a member of the least popular Congress probably of our lifetime.

[Richie Torres]

I think we are.

[Adam Friedland]

Probably.

[Richie Torres]

We are more. We're less popular than colonoscopies.

[Adam Friedland]

It sucks, dude. Yeah. Does it suck to be the.

[Richie Torres]

I think there was polling that said we're more popular than cockroaches, but with less and more popularly more popular than Ebola.

[Adam Friedland]

You guys are losing Hamas for sure.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah, well, you guys are getting crushed by Hamas. Might be more popular on college campuses than Congress.

[Adam Friedland]

Oh, okay. Okay. Anyway, but I. I looked at a Gallup poll the other day. Dude, this is. I was actually sort of laughing. You just have to laugh at this. You guys are 23 right now. That's pretty. That's not bad.

[Richie Torres]

Higher than I thought.

[Adam Friedland]

That's high.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

You guys, what is this? Oh, my God. May 2024.

[Richie Torres]

13 means we have room for growth.

[Adam Friedland]

13. That's you and the Republicans. 13.

[Richie Torres]

Well, the institution at large.

[Adam Friedland]

13 is you. Poop your pants in front of the whole school. February 2024. 12%.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah. So it sounds like what was happening that month. If Congress were not. If Congress were a woman, you probably wouldn't go on a date with her. Is that why she's unpopular?

[Adam Friedland]

I don't know. No, I. What? She could be, like, beautiful, you know, like. What do you mean?

[Richie Torres]

No, you seem to hate Congress, so.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm saying everyone does, Right? I'm looking at the Gallup poll.

[Richie Torres]

Are you part of the 13% that approves or.

[Adam Friedland]

I think that we have to recognize the Runway a little bit. And what got us here, maybe, you know, seeing the Marine Corps entering the second largest city in America and seeing the most vulnerable people in society just taken away from their children and kidnapped. And there are facilities in our country right now surrounded by alligators. There are facilities where there are cages with human beings in them who have not been afforded any due process. And the sad thing is that you guys are. You're polling behind Donald Trump right now.

[Richie Torres]

And that's not true.

[Adam Friedland]

The Democratic Party has lower approval ratings than Donald Trump.

[Richie Torres]

I think the story's more complicated there.

[Adam Friedland]

What is that?

[Richie Torres]

Yeah. So the latest polling from CNN shows that the most important issue to Americans is inflation, the cost of living. And on the most important issue, Donald Trump is 25 points under war. And since the November election, there's been a 34 point swing against him and that we as Democrats are more trusted on inflation than he is. That's a huge swing.

[Adam Friedland]

Why are you guys not killing him right now? That is a cherry pick. Come on. You know, that's a. I mean, that's.

[Richie Torres]

Inflation is the most important issue.

[Adam Friedland]

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[Richie Torres]

After you win an election, you start immediately. It's like you're in a constant state of campaigning.

[Adam Friedland]

Is campaigning and going to fundraisers doing all this stuff, is that a distraction from the work that you have to do?

[Richie Torres]

It can, but I feel like if you're effective at governing, then it improves your ability to get reelected. So if you're a good congressman, you're gonna be popular in your district and you're gonna be well positioned to be re elected.

[Adam Friedland]

Does it suck that you have to fundraise?

[Richie Torres]

Right, it sucks. Fundraising Sucks.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. And like, because of Citizens United, like.

[Richie Torres]

It'S nauseated to ask people for money. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you feel like it's eroded people's like, faith in the institution? Right.

[Richie Torres]

I feel like too much money is. Too much time is spent on fundraising. Especially if you're a frontline member who has a fiercely contested general election every two years where tens of millions of dollars are spent. You could be spending more than half your time every week at a banquet. No. Or just call time. Just dialing for dollars.

[Adam Friedland]

You were criticized, I saw, for Blackstone donation. Right. And it's understood that they are the architects of the housing crisis. Pretty much, yeah.

[Richie Torres]

I mean, there are. I mean, you receive contributions from thousands of people.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

Or employees from all over the place.

[Adam Friedland]

You can send it back and say fuck off.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah. I'm not.

[Adam Friedland]

So they're giving you a check just.

[Richie Torres]

Cause I decide issues on the merits. I don't know what others do, but I decide issues on the merits.

[Adam Friedland]

So it's a just cause check. Just cause they're just giving you money just because they think you're nice.

[Richie Torres]

I'm pretty sure that even there are lefty candidates who have gotten money from people who are employed. Yeah. Rank and file employee is sure.

[Adam Friedland]

I figure like it. You could maybe. If you're like this guy.

[Richie Torres]

You do know that you know, this.

[Adam Friedland]

Guy'S making my constituents lives worse. You could. You could be like you. I don't want. I. I'm in a safe blue district. Right.

[Richie Torres]

People should judge me by my record. So.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

By the legislation I pass.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

I work seven days a week. I'm visible in my district. I'm on the ground. I'm happy to. If you ever want to take tours of my district, I'm happy to walk you through my district.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, I like to. I mean, I've been to the zoo in Yankee City.

[Richie Torres]

Right. Well, not the actual projects, not the amenities, not the institutions.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

I can give you a sense of racially concentrated povertiness in a place like the.

[Adam Friedland]

So that's what my question is.

[Richie Torres]

Where do you live? Which borough?

[Adam Friedland]

I live in Brooklyn. Okay. Yeah. And that's my question. Like, so you.

[Richie Torres]

You might be divorced from the experience of racially concentrated poverty, but what does.

[Adam Friedland]

That have to do with taking money from blacks? Like, I just feel like that's a deflection. Well, I think you and I don't want to come.

[Richie Torres]

No.

[Adam Friedland]

Because I don't want to cut like an argument right now.

[Richie Torres]

If you. If you want to question my ability to represent my district, I'M happy to show you what I do. I'm happy to bring you to my district. What I'm calling an introduction to my constituents.

[Adam Friedland]

What I'm calling you question is the institution. Right. I'm, I'm calling into question the system. And you're functioning within a system. Right.

[Richie Torres]

I've received contributions from tens of thousands of people. I can't keep track of every person. I'm not responsible for every person.

[Adam Friedland]

You forgot.

[Richie Torres]

I'm only responsible for what I do.

[Adam Friedland]

Okay.

[Richie Torres]

So you can, you know, you can play the gotcha game, but that's not.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm not trying to play the gotcha. I think you're used to like Anderson Cooper360 and I'm a guy, I'm from Cumbtown podcast.

[Richie Torres]

I'm not. I'm happy to answer whatever question you have.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, yeah, whatever. Here's a question for you. I think, like, I think you've established yourself as the fiercest champion of the state of Israel in Congress.

[Richie Torres]

I've never described myself in those terms. I'm pro Israel, but I. Those are terms.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, I think maybe you've been dubbed that.

[Richie Torres]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

Okay, listen, like, I'm a Jewish person. Like, I have my own opinions on this. You have your own opinions, and this is a really frustrating conversation to see people have on the Internet. I don't get an opportunity to talk to someone that's making decisions and supporting these things that are a huge deal to people right now. One thing that I thought was interesting, and I want to start with you, is that you described your first trip to Israel in 2015 as a life changing experience. And I just wanted to, just to follow the narrative of like, you growing up and your struggles and then going into the government. Like, what was that experience like and what bred that passion for Israel in you?

[Richie Torres]

Well, since I grew up poor, my whole life, I never had an opportunity to travel abroad.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

The first time I ever free trip, went to a foreign country, so it was life changing.

[Adam Friedland]

Because you went on a trip.

[Richie Torres]

Part of the reason, went abroad for the first time. Life. Life changing. But also, you know, when you go to, when you experience the complexity of Israel, you go to the old city.

[Adam Friedland]

What did you see? Like, what did you witness?

[Richie Torres]

Like, well, go to the old city.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, yeah, I've been there.

[Richie Torres]

Yad Vashem, which is the Holocaust museum.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah, yeah.

[Richie Torres]

Go to the Masada where, you know, Jews committed mass suicide to escape enslavement. I've hiked up Masada, the Gaza envelope.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

Went to State Road, spoke to the local mayor who said that you went to Gaza. I did not go to Gaza, no.

[Adam Friedland]

Would you say Gaza envelope?

[Richie Torres]

No. Gaza envelope. Which is, which is. Which is right on the border with. It's Israel, but it's right at the border with Gaza.

[Adam Friedland]

It's right next to the fence.

[Richie Torres]

It's in the proximity to.

[Adam Friedland]

What, what's it. What's at the Gaza envelope? Like, I've never heard that term.

[Richie Torres]

Stay road.

[Adam Friedland]

Stay road? Yeah. With the rockets.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Going in. Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

How far is State road from Gaza? It's like a mile or something.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah. Within a mile.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. It's right next to it.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah. Striking proximity, this small place. Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

The whole thing. Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

I mean, that's why Hamas was able to so easily penetrate on October 7, the.

[Adam Friedland]

By getting over the fence.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah. And it's so close.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. No, I mean, I just want to know because it seems like it was powerful and it seems like it's informed your record. And I. That's what's interesting to me. It's like your story and how you got here. And like, I think it's narratively what fascinates me.

[Richie Torres]

Maybe one day you'll give me a chance to tell it. So why are you, by this question, Kidding. I'm kidding. So I spoke to local mayor of state.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

And he said to me that the majority of his children struggle with post traumatic stress because families like his live under the threat of relentless rocket fire. And I remember seeing these bus stops doubling as bomb shelters. You know, I come from the Bronx where people live in fear of bullets and guns. But, you know, we in America do not worry about Canada and Mexico firing rockets into American homes and communities. You know, we're a country of 330 million people. We're surrounded by oceans, and Israel's a tiny democracy the size of New Jersey that's literally surrounded by both state and non state actors that are intent on wiping it off the map. So, yeah, you know, I left Israel with an empathy for the unique security situation that Israel faces.

[Adam Friedland]

Did you visit the occupied territories while you were there?

[Richie Torres]

I went into the. Not Gaza, but I went into the Palestinian Ramallah.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Ramallah.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

And what did you see when you were there?

[Richie Torres]

We spoke to Palestinians who obviously have a much more critical view of Israel. And.

[Adam Friedland]

And that didn't resonate as much as, like, what, what was your takeaway from hearing?

[Richie Torres]

Look, I, I hearing the mayor of.

[Adam Friedland]

State, his children have ptsd, and then this guy's like, israel's screwing with me.

[Richie Torres]

Well, look, I'm in Favor of a two state solution.

[Adam Friedland]

Sure.

[Richie Torres]

I feel like the just outcome lies not in the existence of a Jewish state to the exclusion of a Palestinian state or the existence of a Palestinian state to the exclusion of a Jewish state. It's the coexistence of both. So I think I want to see the struggle, both the Israeli and the Palestinian struggle for self determination to be reconciled in the form of a two state solution.

[Adam Friedland]

A big topic nowadays is campus anti Semitism. You spoke it out against it. I just want to know what you identify as the examples of this type of anti Semitism in elite academic institutions.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah. So there were students at a cuny, Halal.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

Where you had a violent. What I thought was an aggressive mob following them to a kosher restaurant in the heart of New York City.

[Adam Friedland]

What were they doing? The mob? What was the mob doing?

[Richie Torres]

Just following them and then barricaded the restaurant and they were like chanting, hurled insults at the patrons and slamming the windows. You know, much of it is captured in video footage, you know, harassing people simply for being pro Israel Jews to me is wrong.

[Adam Friedland]

Is there any other examples? Like there's a restaurant. I mean, it's just like all we're hearing about is campus anti Semitism. Radical. Radical. Like, is there a link between Hamas and the protests? Like, is that established?

[Richie Torres]

There are students who have faced harassment and intimidation because of their beliefs. There are students who feel inhibited from expressing their Jewish or Zionist identity because of the atmosphere of intimidation or harassment on college campuses. You should speak to the students. Are you denying that there's any campus anti Semitism or.

[Adam Friedland]

I. Well, I'll give you an example. I know a younger person that went to UCLA and was attacked. And it's Jewish. It was with a group of Jewish people at a protest and they were attacked by the Proud Boys.

[Richie Torres]

Okay, that's an anti Semitic incident.

[Adam Friedland]

No, but the Proud Boys were there for Israel and those are the guys that did. Charlie.

[Richie Torres]

The Proud Boys are there for Israel.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

I think the Proud Boys is like white nationalists and white supremacists. I'm telling you right now we're anti Israel.

[Adam Friedland]

But okay, listen, I'm a. I'm like a comedian, right? Like, I hate when comedians, especially on the Internet, like speak with, from a position of authority with like, about crap that they don't know about. You know, this is one topic I feel like I can speak on and.

[Richie Torres]

It on college campus. Antisemitism.

[Adam Friedland]

No, on anti Semitism in general.

[Richie Torres]

Because you haven't been in college how long? Probably two decades. Right?

[Adam Friedland]

I'm telling you my experience of anti Semitism the last two years. But the last two years have felt different in America. And I don't know if you've been on Twitter recently. Now a ton of people are questioning the validity of the Holocaust having happened.

[Richie Torres]

Yes.

[Adam Friedland]

Can you tell me with a straight face that that's. Those are the 18 year old kids at Columbia that are doing that.

[Richie Torres]

The 18 year old kids at Columbia.

[Adam Friedland]

Are they doing those posts about the Holocaust never having existed? You know who's doing it?

[Richie Torres]

No, we disagree here.

[Adam Friedland]

You think that it's the.

[Richie Torres]

So I didn't. Don't put words in my mouth.

[Adam Friedland]

It's. It's. It's people on the right. Let me tell you.

[Richie Torres]

You're suggesting that there's. You're suggesting. Are you suggesting there's no one on the far left that denies the Holocaust or downplays the Holocaust? That's an absurdity.

[Adam Friedland]

What are you. You're doing moot court right now? I'm telling you what it's like to be Jew. My experience being Jewish.

[Richie Torres]

But there are other.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm trying to see. You're. Why. Why is one better than the other? Why is one more important than the other? I'm trying to share with you. You're in the government. I don't get a chance to talk.

[Richie Torres]

Of course.

[Adam Friedland]

Okay. I think hatred of Jewish people has exploded in this country. And I don't think it's. I think it's because it's of our support of what looks to be an absolute brutality. And I think that you think that's.

[Richie Torres]

A justification for anti Semitism.

[Adam Friedland]

Here's the thing.

[Richie Torres]

You think Israeli government policies are justification for anti Semitism. My view is no justification for anti Semitism. I think that there's zero justification for anti Semitism.

[Adam Friedland]

Okay, you're deflecting again.

[Richie Torres]

I'm not deflecting. That's my position.

[Adam Friedland]

What does it look like to have a flag with a Jewish star and I'm Jewish and for kids to be starving right now and why is my government. I don't want to do this fight. Let's not do like a yelling at each other thing. I really. Just for me. It's. For me. I had the experience of.

[Richie Torres]

It just sounds like you're justifying anti Semitism, which making me feel.

[Adam Friedland]

Are you crazy right now?

[Richie Torres]

Okay.

[Adam Friedland]

Why would I do that? You're telling. You're doing the I'm Hamas thing.

[Richie Torres]

I'm not saying you're a Hamas.

[Adam Friedland]

It's not a winner.

[Richie Torres]

But it's. I'm not. I think they should.

[Adam Friedland]

We'll do a different tact.

[Richie Torres]

The Israeli government policy should have been bearing on. If you have disagreements with the Israeli government, you should voice your criticism of the Israeli government. But there is no justification for intimidation or harassment against American Jews.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm telling you as a Jew right now that we are receiving a lot more hate because of what the people with a flag that has a Jewish star on are doing to other people right now. And I'm telling you as a Jewish person how painful it is for us to say. And it hurts my stomach to say this, and you're going to say, I disagree. I disagree that this is a genocide. And that hurts to say that a Jew could do that. It hurts because we grew up with learning about what hatred is. We grew up learning about this. And the same year the state of Israel was established in 1948, the world saw the Holocaust and they established standards for what a genocide is. It was the same year. And the world said that this shouldn't be a thing that happens, you know? And I just wonder, like, it doesn't make sense to me. Like what? Like, I don't know. It doesn't track to me why there's this fixation with kids at a school that. And two examples of people at a restaurant that there was banging.

[Richie Torres]

Two examples. I mean, there are. There are surveys on it.

[Adam Friedland]

Give me the.

[Richie Torres]

Read the EDL surveys on it.

[Adam Friedland]

It's hard for me to talk about this in public.

[Richie Torres]

I mean, you're.

[Adam Friedland]

You're being dick. That's mean.

[Richie Torres]

No, no, I'm not being mean. Clear. It's an emotional topic.

[Adam Friedland]

All right, I'll share with you what happened.

[Richie Torres]

I'm not with.

[Adam Friedland]

I lived there.

[Richie Torres]

I don't intend to be mean, so.

[Adam Friedland]

Sir, I lived there when I was 18, and I grew up in Zionist. And we were told, and our whole community in this country is told, that we have to defend Israel and love Israel, because it will stop the Holocaust, it will stop another Holocaust from happening. And I. My parents. My dad was born in 1951. That was six years after these atrocities. His friends, parents. He knew these people that had been through this hell, these skeletons. And it terrified us. And the understanding in our community is that we have to defend Israel. But I lived there, and I went to a settlement at the end of my year there, and I looked down a hill at a Palestinian village and I saw how they lived. And I turned back and I looked at the settlement and saw how they lived. And people live in a world where they're demeaned and dehumanized and surveilled constantly by people in. And this isn't in Gaza. By people in SWAT team outfits with semi automatic weapons. And that's what the world is seeing. And you keep telling me that the problem is someone's getting yelled at at a restaurant. I'm sorry.

[Richie Torres]

You're conflating two different issues.

[Adam Friedland]

Please, just. Please. Me saying this to you right now will hurt people in my own family. Okay? Because this is a very important thing to us. And the fact that I still fucking care about being Jewish is embarrassing. I should just be a guy. But this feels like a stain on our history. And it feels like it's changed what being Jewish is. Because what being Jewish is, isn't Israel. Judaism has existed for 4,000 years. This is a country for 75 years. You know, like it is the oldest, one of the oldest monotheistic religions. Anti Semitism is one of the oldest forms of hatred. People in my life are going to be mad at me about this, but I'm saying this because I am Jewish, you know, And I don't understand why you would be.

[Richie Torres]

Look how you define. I feel like I'm here to be lectured, not shut up.

[Adam Friedland]

That's not nice. You can't talk that way. Why are one set of Jews but more important than others?

[Richie Torres]

No one's saying any. Your.

[Adam Friedland]

What happened? You went to the beach in Israel? What? You went to a restaurant or something? A nice restaurant.

[Richie Torres]

Listen, never even been to the Tel Aviv pride parade.

[Adam Friedland]

This is the year 2025.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

The world is seeing something that looks terrible and it's being done in my name, and I don't know what to do.

[Richie Torres]

But the war began on October 7th.

[Adam Friedland]

No, it didn't.

[Richie Torres]

Yes, it did. Yes. When Hamas systematically murdered and made. You can. You know, we're going down a rabbit hole. We fundamentally disagree. But Hamas murdered and maimed and mutilated and abducted and tortured thousands. That's not television. That's a fact. That's reality. You can deny it. You can downplay it.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm denying October 7th.

[Richie Torres]

Well, you seem to be.

[Adam Friedland]

October 7th you're doing. I'm pro Hamas.

[Richie Torres]

I never said you were pro Hamas. You're putting words in my mouth. It is, but you seem to be downplaying it there.

[Adam Friedland]

For the last 17 years, people have been under a blockade where they cannot leave. If you were born in a place and there's a fence there and there's a guy with a gun on the other side, and he says you can't go anywhere. Would you like that guy? If you treat people like animals, sometimes they're going to lash out.

[Richie Torres]

Look, I sincerely believe, maybe I'm wrong, that if, if, if Palestinians were governed not by a terrorist organization like Hamas and Gaza, but by a regime that was able and willing to make peace with Israel, the situation would be fundamentally different.

[Adam Friedland]

The preconditions for this happening are undeniably something that the Israeli government was fully aware of. Why would Bibi Netanyahu. Okay, here's what.

[Richie Torres]

Do you think October 7th was justified?

[Adam Friedland]

No.

[Richie Torres]

Okay, I'm happy you said that.

[Adam Friedland]

Are you listening to what I'm saying right now?

[Richie Torres]

I am listening to what you're saying.

[Adam Friedland]

Why would the Israeli government. Hamas wants to eradicate the Jewish people and the Jewish state. Is that right?

[Richie Torres]

That's what Hamas has said? Yeah.

[Adam Friedland]

Okay, then why would they directly give Hamas money, literally bags of cash in suitcases, through the Qataris? Billion. Nearly, I think over a billion dollars in cash during this last 17 years.

[Richie Torres]

That's a fair point. It's a great question.

[Adam Friedland]

If one of those kids at Columbia wrote a $5 check to Hamas, you'd say, send them to Gitmo for being a terrorist.

[Richie Torres]

It's a fair point.

[Adam Friedland]

Does that make Benjamin Netanyahu a terrorist? He's supporting terror.

[Richie Torres]

The United States. It seems to me the United States and Israel could have shut off the spigot and did not do so. I don't know why, but that was a failure. There's no question.

[Adam Friedland]

I think that what I see is the reason why our government provides $25 billion to something that looks this horrific to people. I think is the same reason. I think it makes it look like the Jews control the government. But really what it is, is the more boring answer. It's the reason why the government and you guys don't get shit done. It's the reason why Sandy Hook could happen. You guys can't do gun reform. It's because.

[Richie Torres]

Why can't we do gun reform?

[Adam Friedland]

Because. Because special interest groups can buy influence in our government.

[Richie Torres]

Which political parties against gun reform?

[Adam Friedland]

The NRA has a power.

[Richie Torres]

It's the Republican Party.

[Adam Friedland]

We allow government, our government to be flooded with cash and money. And it's. What's scary to me is that it looks that people are starting to question the Holocaust ever happening. How could Jews. Maybe they invented the Holocaust.

[Richie Torres]

You're blaming. You're blaming Israel for Holocaust denial.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm blaming our government for supporting a genocide. But it is unfathomable in my heart, and it breaks my Heart that we could be capable of it.

[Richie Torres]

I think we should move on.

[Adam Friedland]

Why is that?

[Richie Torres]

We just fundamentally disagree.

[Adam Friedland]

So I don't think that. I think I'm talking to you like about where I come from and, and that it feels different. And maybe I have a different perspective.

[Richie Torres]

You have a different perspective. But I know people have a perspective that's different from yours.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

With a much smaller platform than you.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm not. I hate this conversation.

[Richie Torres]

I know.

[Adam Friedland]

You know, I have it with my family. You know, it's. It's not something. And I love my family.

[Richie Torres]

If it were optimi, we would not be having this because we're speaking a foreign language.

[Adam Friedland]

My family grew up in South Africa. Right. We were like Jews from Eastern Europe that literally we thought we were going to Ellis Island. My grandma, all the grannies stayed and my parents, whole generation of South African Jews left. And when I was a kid, like growing up, I used to write all my who's my hero essays on Nelson Mandela. And he was like a hero of mine. Right. And he was also, you know, in prison, you know, for terrorism too. I don't want to get it. You're going to go. Hamas is what I don't want. I'm not debating. Hamas is good. He was called that. And he went to my synagogue after he got out of prison, Madiba. And he. And he spoke to like all the grandmas who like were still there. They didn't have to fucking move because black people could vote. And he said, tell your kids to come back because we need them to build our country. I don't know. I think that I don't see what's wrong with people being afforded the right to vote.

[Richie Torres]

Do you think that's what Hamas means when it says free Palestine from the river to the sea.

[Adam Friedland]

To me it seems like maybe if there's a recognition that people were cleared off their land in 1948.

[Richie Torres]

But there are those. And there are those who only want a Jewish state and there are those who only want a Palestinian state that.

[Adam Friedland]

They could fuck off.

[Richie Torres]

And we should be advocating for the coexistence of Jewish state and a Palestinian state. I continue to believe the two state solution ultimately is the inevitable path forward. That is fine.

[Adam Friedland]

It's stupid.

[Richie Torres]

There were a thousand Jews who were murdered before the establishment of Israel. Like half a century before the establishment of Israel. Half is a thousand Jews.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. They were killing each other. Jews and Palestinians. Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

The Hebron massacre.

[Adam Friedland]

It doesn't make sense to me this in 2025.

[Richie Torres]

The only point was there was violence against Jews before the establishment of the state of Israel.

[Adam Friedland]

There was violence against Palestinians and there was an ethnic cleansing in 1948.

[Richie Torres]

I mean, the Hebron massacre.

[Adam Friedland]

What are you talking about? Right now? You're in the government. Listen, I didn't want to argue.

[Richie Torres]

I'm sorry, you're not familiar with the Hebron massacre in 1929?

[Adam Friedland]

Well, you're saying that that justifies an entire ethnic cleansing in 1948?

[Richie Torres]

Israel was a further.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, this is such a. This is even a good argument.

[Richie Torres]

Hold on. Israel?

[Adam Friedland]

What are you talking.

[Richie Torres]

I didn't realize we were debating.

[Adam Friedland]

I don't want to do it. But you say so.

[Richie Torres]

The Jewish state was established by international law, Right? The UN passed a resolution that recognized the establishment of a Jewish state. And there were a number of Arab countries, including Egypt, that declared war on Israel. There was the war of independence, and Israel won the war.

[Adam Friedland]

The Palestinians didn't declare war then. There were just people that were living there, and they were kicked off their land.

[Richie Torres]

By the way, there were 800,000 Jews that were ethnically cleansed from the Arab world.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you know there were Jews?

[Richie Torres]

You know how many Jews there are?

[Adam Friedland]

Not the Palestinians.

[Richie Torres]

I'm not talking about the pal. I'm talking about the broader Arab world.

[Adam Friedland]

So why do the Palestinians have to bear the responsibility of the Algerians kicking the Jews out? Why do the Palestinians bear the responsibility of Egypt invading?

[Richie Torres]

Israel's been a state for 77 years, bro.

[Adam Friedland]

It's so depressing.

[Richie Torres]

You're proposing to undo an established state.

[Adam Friedland]

No, I know people that live there. I have family that live there.

[Richie Torres]

I don't think that they should live. What are you proposing?

[Adam Friedland]

I'm proposing a democracy. I'm proposing an extensive demographic study of what was taken and what was lost, extensive reparations for what was taken, and a truth and reconciliation process where we could end this shit. What we're seeing right now is that members of the Israeli government are talking about clearing that shit out. And Trump, our president, is talking about putting a fucking jet Ski museum there. And you're. That's the reality.

[Richie Torres]

The far right. Yes, that's the view that I reject. So what?

[Adam Friedland]

The far right. I'm talking about the government and the generals that are. That are in charge of Israel.

[Richie Torres]

The Ben Gavirs, the small troops of the world. That's a view that I reject.

[Adam Friedland]

Cabinet?

[Richie Torres]

Yes, and I reject them.

[Adam Friedland]

That's what Hamas is saying they want to do to Israel.

[Richie Torres]

I'm sorry.

[Adam Friedland]

I mean, Hamas murdered.

[Richie Torres]

I mean, Hamas murdered thousands of people. So there's no.

[Adam Friedland]

So what does that mean?

[Richie Torres]

That Hamas is a terrorist organization for murdering innocent children and civilian citizens.

[Adam Friedland]

How many civilians have been killed in this war?

[Richie Torres]

The war is a tragedy, but 90%.

[Adam Friedland]

Of them have been. 90% of them have been killed. They've killed journalists, They've killed journalists.

[Richie Torres]

People have been killed in a war. It's been a tragedy.

[Adam Friedland]

They've killed people waiting for aid.

[Richie Torres]

But you're suggesting that it is the policy of the Israeli government to murder civilians. And that is a notion that I reject.

[Adam Friedland]

You gotta, like, listen, man, you gotta be like a human being about this.

[Richie Torres]

People who are dying in the war, which to me is a tragedy, because war is a tragedy.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you feel in your heart that this is what you're doing, what you're saying is right?

[Richie Torres]

If Hamas. If you remove Hamas.

[Adam Friedland]

Don't actually think that.

[Richie Torres]

Well, I told you what I believe. Don't tell me what I believe. I've told you what I believe.

[Adam Friedland]

Why would you believe that?

[Richie Torres]

Because I. Because there are people who see the world differently. I know it's a shock to you, but. There are people who see the world differently from you, but why? I know that's a shock to you.

[Adam Friedland]

Like, it seems a little bit like.

[Richie Torres]

The humanitarian crisis has deteriorated.

[Adam Friedland]

I don't want to be disrespectful like this, but like it.

[Richie Torres]

You've been at various points.

[Adam Friedland]

In what capacity?

[Richie Torres]

You've just been hostile.

[Adam Friedland]

In what capacity?

[Richie Torres]

It's fine, don't worry. It's just been a gotcha interview.

[Adam Friedland]

I think that my conscience is clear, especially as someone that's lived there and seen it and loved people that live there. And this sucks. I really didn't want to do this, and I think that you saw it as gotcha. This is what people are talking about right now.

[Richie Torres]

Well, not in the South Bronx. People are not talking about Israel. People are talking about how to put food on the table and pay the bills. Maybe in your world that's what people are talking about, but in my world, people are struggling.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah. Then why, if people are struggling in your world, are you paying 25 billion dollars?

[Richie Torres]

We have a 7. We have a 7 billion dollars. We have a 7 trillion dollar budget in the federal government.

[Adam Friedland]

Yeah.

[Richie Torres]

Less than.

[Adam Friedland]

So it's not that much money.

[Richie Torres]

Less than 1%.

[Adam Friedland]

So there's a little money went to.

[Richie Torres]

Israel in the grand scheme of the federal budget, yes. It's minuscule.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm sorry, dude. You're bummed your consultants told you not to do it. I like this guy a lot too. I Hate this. This is so embarrassing.

[Richie Torres]

I don't have anything to hide. I'm willing to go anywhere.

[Adam Friedland]

No, man, I'm sorry. I appreciate your time. Listen, having this opportunity for me is a big deal. I don't get to talk to someone in the government that's taking part in these big decisions like this.

[Richie Torres]

Well, only one of 535.

[Adam Friedland]

I'll talk to another one. Which one would like me? Virginia Fox?

[Richie Torres]

I don't know.

[Adam Friedland]

Do you ever dub her?

[Richie Torres]

I don't. Ever? Ever? No.

[Adam Friedland]

All right, I appreciate. I feel like you're mad at me or something. I gotta get a big laugh.

[Richie Torres]

Look, it is. This is. It's like time. And Roth from the Godfather, too. He said, this is the life we've chosen. So, you know, I know what I signed up for.

[Adam Friedland]

Is this what happens. This has been a terrible. I've been doing a terrible job. I'm rambling about Israel and being a Jew in the Holocaust. It's the most embarrassing stuff to talk about in public.

[Richie Torres]

I feel like everyone, every Jewish American has a right, should have a right to be who they are, to wear a kippah, to display a star of David, to be proudly, invisibly Jewish without fear of harassment or intimidation or violence. Well, I mean, the freedom to be who we are is, like, fundamental for all of us.

[Adam Friedland]

Well, I think that from where I'm sitting, Israel might be a threat to that.

[Richie Torres]

And, you know, you have that view, but others have a different view.

[Adam Friedland]

Why are we still having this interview? This is exhausting. I'm sweating.

[Richie Torres]

We get done the interview, AC's off.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm just trying to find a button to shake your hand. Dude, I don't want to do this. We could have talked about so much other.

[Richie Torres]

No, I think you had an agenda to speak about this. I really do.

[Adam Friedland]

Didn't have an agenda.

[Richie Torres]

I. I really did.

[Adam Friedland]

It's your number one copy.

[Richie Torres]

It's not my number one copy. It's just not top.

[Adam Friedland]

It is your.

[Richie Torres]

It's not my number one top. It's.

[Adam Friedland]

It's not what I saw.

[Richie Torres]

Well, then I was not elected on Israel. You don't get elected in the South Bronx.

[Adam Friedland]

I'm not trying to make you feel bad or like.

[Richie Torres]

But you. I just don't think you know what you're talking about, Sam.