#BecauseMiami: Alligator Alcatraz

Summary

Podcast Title: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Episode: #BecauseMiami: Alligator Alcatraz
Release Date: June 27, 2025
Hosts: Dan Le Batard, Stugotz

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Overview

In the episode titled #BecauseMiami: Alligator Alcatraz, hosts Dan Le Batard and Stugotz delve into the controversial development of a new migrant detention facility in the Everglades, aptly nicknamed "Alligator Alcatraz." The discussion encompasses environmental concerns, political maneuvers, and the broader implications for Florida's leadership and national policies. Additionally, the episode features insightful commentary from Harvard Professor Alejandro de la Fuente on the Trump administration's recent actions against academic institutions.

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Alligator Alcatraz: A Controversial Detention Facility

Timestamp: [02:11] – [16:50]

Dan and Stugotz initiate the discussion by highlighting Florida's aggressive stance on immigration enforcement under Attorney General James Uthmyer. The centerpiece of their conversation is the newly constructed detention facility in the Everglades, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" by critics.

Key Points:

• Location & Purpose: The facility is being built approximately an hour and a half from Miami at the Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport site, encompassing 39 square miles. Originally intended as a pilot training facility, the land's conversion has sparked significant controversy.

• Economic Discrepancies: Miami-Dade County appraises the land at $190 million, while the state has offered only $20 million, raising questions about valuation and negotiations. Dan criticizes the state's approach, stating, "They offered $20 million for land worth $190 million and didn’t even negotiate."

• Environmental Impact: Concerns are raised about the facility's placement within the Everglades, a national park. The area was once the focus of environmentalist efforts led by Marjory Stoneman Douglas to prevent its development into the world's largest airport.

• Political Criticism: The hosts lambast Miami-Dade County Mayor Danielle Levine Kaba for her handling of the situation, labeling her as "the worst mayor for this moment in history for Miami." They accuse her of failing to protect environmental interests and county assets.

Notable Quotes:

• Dan Le Batard: “Attorney General says that construction has begun on a new controversial migrant detention facility in the Everglades. He calls it Alligator Alcatraz…”

• Jeremy (Stugotz): “A fake emergency proclamation, giving them, you know, supreme authority, and they continue to renew them over and over again. I mean, that’s what these authoritarians do.”

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Political Maneuvering and Leadership Failures

Timestamp: [16:50] – [23:00]

The conversation shifts to the broader political landscape in Florida, emphasizing the failings of local leadership amidst statewide policies that seemingly disregard both economic and environmental wellbeing.

Key Points:

• Budget Constraints: Florida faces a $2.8 billion budget deficit looming next year, exacerbated by the diversion of funds to the detention facility.

• Law Enforcement Abuse: The hosts discuss incidents of racial profiling and prolonged detention of U.S. citizens based on ethnicity, citing an example where a Hispanic individual was detained for 28 hours under questionable circumstances.

• FEMA Funding Misuse: The state's use of FEMA funds for the detention center is criticized as inappropriate, especially during hurricane season, implying a misallocation of resources.

Notable Quotes:

• Dan Le Batard: “They’re going to spend a $425 million a year on this Gator Gulag.”

• Jeremy (Stugotz): “Because we are talking about the brightest of the bright from all over the planet coming here to bring their talents, to bring their potential to our universities.”

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Academic Freedom Under Threat: Interview with Professor Alejandro de la Fuente

Timestamp: [26:22] – [39:53]

The episode features an interview with Professor Alejandro de la Fuente, a Harvard scholar, who discusses the Trump administration's recent attempts to undermine academic freedom and the broader implications for higher education in the United States.

Key Points:

• Attack on Academic Freedoms: Professor de la Fuente draws parallels between the Trump administration's actions against Harvard and authoritarian practices in Cuba, emphasizing the critical role of freedom in fostering academic excellence.

• Financial Repercussions: The administration's move to cut federal ties with Harvard could result in the cancellation of contracts worth up to $100 million, threatening vital research and economic contributions to Massachusetts.

• Impact on International Students: A proposed policy requiring international students to transfer institutions to maintain their visa status has been legally challenged, with a judge recently blocking the administration's efforts. This policy poses a "brain drain," as top talents might seek education and opportunities elsewhere.

Notable Quotes:

• Professor Alejandro de la Fuente: “Certain viewpoint purity was required to be part of the faculty at that university. And that is death to academic excellence.”

• Dan Le Batard: “That is something. So this is an episode about Alligator Alcatraz.”

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Concluding Remarks and Future Directions

Timestamp: [39:53] – [40:04]

The episode wraps up with a humorous return to advertisements, emphasizing the ongoing themes of political and social critique throughout the discussion.

Notable Quotes:

• Alejandro de la Fuente: “Cheers to 50 years of Miller time. Celebrate responsibly.”

• Dan Le Batard: “Professor Alejandro de la Fuente, thank you for joining us. We’ll see you soon at Alligator Alcatraz.”

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Key Takeaways

1. Environmental and Economic Concerns: The construction of "Alligator Alcatraz" in the Everglades raises significant environmental and economic issues, highlighting potential mismanagement at the state level.

2. Leadership Critique: Local leadership in Miami-Dade County faces harsh criticism for failing to protect county interests and environmental sanctity amidst overarching state policies.

3. Academic Freedoms Under Siege: The Trump administration's actions against Harvard serve as a microcosm for broader threats to academic freedom and the integrity of the American higher education system.

4. Implications for Immigration Policy: The misuse of FEMA funds and racially biased enforcement practices underscore systemic issues within Florida's immigration policies, necessitating urgent legal and political interventions.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Dan Le Batard: “Attorney General James Uthmeyer calls it Alligator Alcatraz. People get out. There’s not much waiting for them other [02:44].”

• Jeremy (Stugotz): “A fake emergency proclamation, giving them, you know, supreme authority… [07:54].”

• Professor Alejandro de la Fuente: “You cannot produce knowledge under those circumstances. [31:02].”

• Dan Le Batard: “If you look Hispanic, if you are brown or black, if you have a last name that ends in Z…it’s a violation of their Eighth Amendment rights. [15:04].”

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Conclusion

#BecauseMiami: Alligator Alcatraz provides a profound exploration of Florida's current political and social challenges, particularly focusing on immigration enforcement and its ramifications. Through dynamic discussions and expert insights, the episode underscores the pressing need for accountable leadership and the preservation of fundamental freedoms within both governmental policies and academic institutions.

Transcript

[Dan]

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[Jeremy]

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[Dan]

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[Jeremy]

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[Dan]

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[Alejandro de la Fuente]

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[Dan]

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[Jeremy]

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[Alejandro de la Fuente]

Attorney General James Uthmeyer here. Florida's been leading on immigration enforcement, supporting the Trump administration and ICE's efforts to detain and deport criminal aliens.

[Dan]

The governor tasked state leaders to identify places for new temporary detention facilities.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

I think this is the best one.

[Dan]

Attorney General says that construction has begun on a new controversial migrant detention facility in the Everglades. He calls it Alligator Alcatraz People get out. There's not much waiting for them other.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

Than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.

[Dan]

Monday night, deep in the Everglades, about an hour and a half drive from Miami, two patrol cars guard the Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport, the home of the failed Everglades jetport project from the 70s. Right now, the area is used as a pilot training facility. 39 square miles, including an existing big plain Runway along US 41 on the Miami Dade Collier line. But Miami Dade county owns the land, and the mayor says that she still needs answers. There are concerns about the environmental impacts and the property's appraisal. The state offering $20 million, but the county says the most recent numbers put the total value of the site at at least $190 million.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

This presents a great opportunity for the.

[Dan]

State of Florida to work with Miami Dade and Collier counties. Alligator, Alcatraz. We're ready to go with a planned opening day sometime around the first week of July. Still, many are slamming the idea, citing environmental concerns. Alligator Alcatraz. Last week it was merely a rumor. This week, the governor, Ron DeSantis, has seized the property, 39 square miles of it owned by Dade county, and has just started building this makeshift, just, I don't know, out of like toothpicks and popsicle sticks or whatever. They just. They're building a prison with at least 5,000 beds. Joining us later in this episode is Harvard professor Alejandro de la Fuente, who wrote an op ed last week saying, basically saying, am I back in Cuba? It all seems thematically related to Mass. We are joined by Tomas Kennedy, who this week the Miami New Times in their Best of Miami issue, declared Miami's best community organizer, Magatov.

[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Dan]

We are going to. We are crowning him.

[Jeremy]

Just one more.

[Dan]

We are crowning. That's it. That's it. Well, just one more king. Not no more king. Uno masque. One more king.

[Jeremy]

Two more kings. Because you, my friend, also got best stuff.

[Dan]

I did. I got a Best of Miami. I'm scrolling down in the New Times and I saw Tomas Kennedy's name. Best of Miami. And I saw best play Lincoln Road. Hustle from Miami. New drama that we did late last year, earlier this year. So Best of Miami. And we are in very good company because as I continued scrolling down and the best of Miami New Times, I saw best local boy gone bad, Enrique Tadrio, Miami's own Clayton Bigsby.

[Jeremy]

Your boy, my friend, said, only, only in America would an Afro Cuban be able to lead a roving gang of white supremacists.

[Dan]

I. Because.

[Jeremy]

I mean, because. Hashtag America.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

Because Miami.

[Dan]

Because America. Speaking of which. Speaking of. Because America. Speaking of what's left of the fifth and now eighth amendments. So I want to start here on Alligator Alcatraz. So setting aside for a moment that they offered 20 million, the land is worth 190 million, and then didn't even bother to negotiate, are completely useless. Mayor county mayor Danielle Levine Gava, who could not be like, she is the worst mayor for this moment in history for Miami. Just absolutely the worst. I've been calling this shit out for, like, five years. And what's funny is now all of a sudden, all the people that have been fighting me on it for years feel like they're coming around to that fact.

[Jeremy]

The county here is getting screwed over in so many different ways. One is the environmental concern about this facility, this concentration camp in the middle of the desert, right?

[Dan]

I mean, the Everglades. Yeah. I mean, it's in the middle of a. Of a national park.

[Jeremy]

Look, the Friends of the Everglades, right, the nonprofit conservationist group was founded by Marjory Stoneman Douglas and other folks in opposition of this site being developed into a very, very large commercial airport. Right?

[Dan]

This was going to be the world's largest airport. And they created this nonprofit, the legendary environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas, basically, to stop this from. And they did. They succeeded in the early 70s.

[Jeremy]

Well, you know, there is some construction there, basically an airstrip. But, yeah, the project was mostly abandoned. And now it serves as a. Like a training flight Runway by Big Cyprus. The environmentalists were successful with that. And there's always sort of been this question about what to do with that site. Right? Like, there's been efforts to turn it into a military base, hurricane relief preparedness, like, management, storage place. There's been talk about, you know, ceding it fully to the national park protection, so.

[Dan]

Or possibly even selling it to the Miccosukee, whose reservation is. Right. I mean, adjacent to it.

[Jeremy]

Correct. But that question has been called because the governor is using an Emergency proclamation from 2023 related to immigration because of, you know, the supposed Biden border crisis, whatever, using that proclamation from 2023 that.

[Dan]

He'S actually, like, renewed arbitrarily, like, a dozen times, I think, between. Right. So like.

[Jeremy]

Like. Like a true fascist does. Because that's what they do.

[Dan]

They declares an.

[Jeremy]

A fake emergency govern through fake emergency proclamations, giving them, you know, supreme authority, and they continue to renew them over and over again. I mean, that's what that's what these authoritarians do. So he used this emergency proclamation to take over the land arbitrarily. The property really is priceless, but it is appraised for $195 million. They offered a possible $20 million of FEMA money, by the way, during hurricane season. They want to use fema.

[Dan]

It's hurricane season right now, by the way. They say it's going to cost upwards of what, $425 million a year just to operate this shithole. And, and they've already dedicated a very small amount of that to year one. But it's from fema, it's from hurricane relief money, during hurricanes relief money.

[Jeremy]

And let's not forget that we just had a legislative session that was extended well over a month from when it was supposed to end because lawmakers couldn't get it together on the budget because we are facing a $2.8 billion budget with, with a B as soon as next year.

[Dan]

And now they're going to spend a $425 million a year on this. Gator Gulag.

[Jeremy]

Spent half a billion on gator Gulag.

[Dan]

Now you did a beautiful job of doing the backstory on this and the exposition and avoiding my question.

[Jeremy]

No, no, no, I'm getting. Oh, I'm getting to it.

[Dan]

Which was Daniela Levine Kaba.

[Jeremy]

I'm getting to it.

[Dan]

The mayor of Miami Dade county who is the CEO of a $13 billion a year corporation with 40,000 employees and seems to completely useless right now. She was at the ribbon cutting of a new terminal and like the extension of a terminal at Miami International Airport, which is.

[Jeremy]

Make Miami Airport great again, dude. Which is great at all.

[Dan]

Not what we need at the airport. We don't need more terminals. We need working escalators and a working sky train and working moving walkways and working toilets. But they're like, no, we're going to have six new. Like, no, stop. Don't grow it. Just fix what's there.

[Jeremy]

Got to master the basics.

[Dan]

Yeah. I have a question.

[Jeremy]

Are they going to walk before you can run?

[Dan]

I have a question. Are they, are they just going to have broken bathrooms again? We're building new broken bathrooms. Like we're going to build new escalators that don't work. Like what? This is what she's doing while there's. And I, I wish we could take callers on this show again because that was fun. Roy really misses that. I know that. And so I told the truth all the time. And so. So the lie detector test determined that was a lie. So because. Because you called it a concentration camp. And I don't really know.

[Jeremy]

I mean, academically, that's what it is.

[Dan]

I don't know how else to explain it.

[Jeremy]

I mean, I'm not saying it's an extermination camp, but it's a concentration camp.

[Dan]

No. Best case scenario, it's the Japanese in World War II. Worst case scenario, it's the Jews in World War II. And I would love the phone lines to light up on that because. Let's talk about this for a second. Now I'm ducking the question about. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. Summer in the Everglades. I made a documentary called Square the Godfathers of Ganja. One of the stories was about the pot haulers out in Everglades City where we shot that, I think was the summer of 2010. I was walking around watching, looking at all these redneck fishermen, and it's 120 degrees outside and they've got like turtlenecks, long sleeves. I mean, like, they're all bundled up and I'm like, dude, it's too hot for that.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

Skeeters.

[Dan]

And then I realized, I woke up one morning, Roy, the back of my neck looked like the Elephant Man. I was deformed. Some of these skeeters are like the size of my head. I've never seen. It's like Jurassic park out there. Forget the gators and the pythons. There is skeeters, there is disease, there is heat. People are going to die.

[Jeremy]

People are already dying.

[Dan]

The people who work there are going to die.

[Jeremy]

Three people died in chrome. I mean, a person died at btc, which is the detention center in Pompano beach, managed by geo, is a for profit one. But look, I mean, we have president, right? I mean, Joe Arpaio, infamous sheriff from Arizona, American county, indicted, had a. Pardoned. Yeah, Also had a tent city for, I think 24 years in Arizona where they basically imprisoned undocumented people. It faced numerous lawsuits from former people in detention that were abused, mistreated. There were multiple, like UN and Amnesty International reports detailing the overcrowdedness, the dangerous conditions, the overheating of individuals, the lack of hygienic product, medicine, illness, etc. So we've seen that. And that's in Arizona, right? With awful desert heat. This is in the Everglades.

[Dan]

It's in hurricane season.

[Jeremy]

In hurricane season. And this place does not have adequate infrastructure, adequate running water. Uthmeyer, the Attorney General was quoted saying in the Herald. Meyer Uthmeyer. Uthmeyer he's from. He quoted saying that they don't need to build brick and mortar, they'll just do tents.

[Dan]

Oh. It's.

[Jeremy]

It's designed. Let me get. Let me get. Let me answer the Daniela question.

[Dan]

Okay. Why? Okay. So, please.

[Jeremy]

The reason I want to paint a picture of how, if I may curse up this facility is how much.

[Dan]

Sorry, how we're going to censor it. With that. We're just going to. We're going to take. We're going to. Wherever you say the F word is. You're just going to go. Let me just tell you how. Roy, this is.

[Jeremy]

People get it. Yeah. But the county has been screwed over in so many ways. Right. They have, I think, standing in multiple ways to sue. And really, the only thing that can stop this is a lawsuit by the county.

[Dan]

Sure. Well, I think you're going to ignore it, but whatever.

[Jeremy]

Right.

[Dan]

The state is going to ignore.

[Jeremy]

Right. But I mean, we need it. And. But. But the county and commissioners are not stepping up.

[Dan]

In fact, they're not doing anything. It's our land. It's our property.

[Jeremy]

Daniela was quoted in the Herald saying, you know, I understand the need for a detention center. And I'm not. I'm not opposed to that. Literally, like, she said that. But, you know, I'm just. I just have some environmental concerns that's. I'm sorry, not good enough. It's not strong enough. Like, this is severe. It's serious.

[Dan]

She's useless. Her political career is over. She's not running for governor. She'll probably try to run for Congress, but I don't think that's a real thing. If you're gonna, like, die on a hill or take a stand, do it for the Everglades. She accurately pointed out that the federal and state government has spent billions of dollars trying to preserve the Everglades, and now we're going to shit all over it.

[Jeremy]

Correct. And you also have the example of the crapstorm. I will censor myself. Roy. Can we say crap?

[Dan]

Roy storm.

[Jeremy]

The Roy storm. The Roystorm that Desantis caught when he was trying to develop those stupid pickleball courts in the state parks. Oh.

[Dan]

And. Yeah. And you wanted to, like, slash and burn state parks to build golf courses and. Sure.

[Jeremy]

People generally don't like. I think it's called crap in our state and national parks. That's not supposed to be there.

[Dan]

Padel. Like kale. You eat kale salad? Sure, sure.

[Jeremy]

Roy.

[Dan]

I mentioned the 8th amendment at. The 8th amendment, for our constitutional scholars at home, is cruel and unusual punishment. It Is without a doubt even the people who are going to be working at this facility. To me that's a violation of their eighth Amendment rights. There should be no state or federal workers who work in that kind of environment in the Everglades in summer, during hurricane season. These and for what prison? I mean to violate their fifth Amendment rights of due process. Because we already know, and I'm tired of hearing about this that, well, if you ain't in illegal. If you ain't in illegal. I don't know. That's not how Miami and sound when they're making that argument. But if you're not an illegal, you have nothing to worry about. That is horseshit. Or as we call it, Roy shit. Oh, wait, did I censor the right? That is horse Roy, man. If you look Hispanic, if you are brown or black, if you have a last name that ends in Z and I don't mean Schwartz, you are going to get detained. You might even get arrested while they figure out if you got a blue passport or you have a smart ID that they think is fake. And you got guys out there who are now not really federal officers, but are ostensibly proud boys or bounty hunters that are just trying to make a quota, just trying to get 31 bodies a day or a 3,000 bodies a day. And they don't give a. If they are detaining. They don't give up if they are arresting or detaining American citizens. When I say American citizens, I mean people born in this country who might be Hispanic. They're going to drag them out to a ing concentration camp in the Everglades.

[Jeremy]

Examples.

[Dan]

Sorry, this concentration camp humor.

[Jeremy]

We literally, we literally had to intervene to help secure the release of a US born citizen that didn't just couldn't speak English and looked Hispanic who was detained by Florida Highway Patrol and put in an ice hole Patrol.

[Dan]

What was he doing? What do you get? Was it a speeding? He was pulled over.

[Jeremy]

He wasn't even driving. He was. You know that lawsuit that we have against Uthmeyer for this Uthmeyer for the state law that makes it entry into the state as an undocumented person illegal. That law is blocked because of our lawsuit. They charged them under that law that they weren't supposed to be charging people under a US citizen and then put him on an ice hold for 28 hours. And we had to help secure his release. And it was because they racially profiled.

[Dan]

Him, by the way. And this is the kind of guy who could be in. They'll put him right in The Everglades.

[Jeremy]

I also want to make the point going back to the mayor, cvp, Border Patrol and the Coast Guard boarded a boat that she was on with Telemundo VIPs. Like leadership of Telemundo network. FIFA executives like VIPs.

[Dan]

They're a bunch of illegals, though, aren't they?

[Jeremy]

They boarded the boat. I heard about it. I was the first one to report it. They were trying to deny it. The mayor was silent on it for like over 24 hours until she finally.

[Dan]

Still hasn't talked about. They have footage of it and they still haven't released it, of course, because.

[Jeremy]

Everybody wants to, you know, keep things quiet because of FIFA. They don't want to scare FIFA off. My point is, if they will do that to a boat of some of the most powerful people in this county. And really, I mean, FIFA VIPs are very powerful people, but you will do.

[Dan]

To you wait a second. She's so. But. But she's the mayor of FIFA, isn't she? Now, that's what Daniela is.

[Jeremy]

Feels like it, honestly.

[Dan]

She's like a less effeminate Francis Suarez. We can say that now. So, yeah, I mean, she's a ribbon cutter. But, like, this is a serious county with serious problems, and she is not a serious person. Daniela Levine Cava and I want to talk about that lawsuit that you just mentioned. I also want to talk about. Just blocks away from here is the immigration court where they are dismissing cases and they are then taking people into custody because they no longer have cases. But we'll have to talk about that in other times. I want to talk about. And the reason is. Is this kind of performative cruelty. This kind of performative cruelty. It's just like what the president does. It is a distraction from the crimes that they are committing to enrich themselves. That's the thing about this whole era, is that for all of the Christian nationalism, for all of the Nazis are his base, for all of the. The pain and the suffering and the shredding of the Constitution, it's all just a heist movie. That's what this is. Because. Let's talk about Uthmeyer for a second. This guy is under siege. He is like scandal plagued right now. A criminal investigation is now underway into.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

The Hope Florida Foundation.

[Dan]

The program created by first lady Casey DeSantis has been connected to a $10 million donation that was supposed to go to taxpayers. We now know state prosecutors in Talent Tallahassee are looking into whether $10 million in public money was secretly transferred to the foundation. That funds the Private Hope Florida charity started by Casey DeSantis. The shell game of public money diverted to the DeSantis political endeavors. Then chief of staff and now Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer shepherded the whole process with the money eventually landing in his political action committee. We have information that tends to show.

[Jeremy]

That our attorney general committed money laundering and wire fraud.

[Dan]

A federal judge finds a Florida Attorney General, James Uffmeyer, in civil contempt. The judge accuses the attorney General of defying an order to pause enforcement of a new state immigration law. The judge says the attorney general violated a directive to notify police agencies to halt enforcement. So Uthmyer is under criminal investigation in Leon county, up in Tallahassee for alleged money laundering and wire fraud. An accusation, incidentally, from fellow Republicans, not from Democrats. And of course, he, like you said, mentioned, like, oh, maybe federal courts will intervene with alligator Alcatraz. But the truth of the matter is this guy has already been held in civil contempt of court by a federal judge in the case you is being held. Right. So, like, this is just lawlessness at this point.

[Jeremy]

It's a heist movie, but it's also about political ambition. Right? Because this is a guy that's going to face a contested Republican primary, possibly from Matt Gates. And, you know, obviously the governor wants to run for president again. Sure. He wants to put his wife in the governor's mansion in Tallahassee. That's looking like dim prospects because of this corruption and grift. But, you know, it's just this constant need to compete in the attention economy. Right. To remain relevant, to generate division, polarization, controversy, red meat to the base. That's what causes, you know, ultimate to go on Benny Johnson show and talk like a moron about snakes and alligators and alligator Alcatraz. Performative cruelty with like the shitty rock music that we heard in the beginning. You know, I mean, it's just so pathetic. And it's just we. We have. We have clout chasing influencers as politicians in this country for the most part.

[Dan]

It's people, people who don't want to do the job because the job's hard. Just people who want to title and want to be able to go on.

[Jeremy]

On Benny Johnson's podcast.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

Yeah.

[Dan]

And. And I think we need to mention that Uthmeyer is the unelected Attorney General of the state of Florida. Because when Ashley Moody became a senator after Marco Rubio is his whole sort of dominoes, Marco Rubio becomes the Secretary of State. Ashley Moody gets become. You know, fills his Senate position, and then Uffmeyer, instead of being elected, as that position is in the state of Florida, he gets appointed. And so you have this unelected scandal plagued yats that is building a concentration camp in the Everglades. Coming up next, Harvard professor Alejandro de la Fuente is comparing the United States to his home country of Cuba. We'll find out why.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

Jeremy, you know something about me, right? You know when I'm grilling outside and it's summertime? You know how I supplement my summertime?

[Jeremy]

Of course I do.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

I make it Miller time.

[Jeremy]

Of course.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

That beautiful white can. Oh, when it's so hot outside, I just, I just put it right to my forehead right there and I just roll it sometimes right on the forehead, cool my body down and then I crack it open. Instant relief. And then that first sip, brother does that first sip.

[Jeremy]

That is a top five sequence of events that you can possibly go through.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

I'm just serenity now. When I just imagine that first sip of Miller Light, it's making me happy. Dude, the sun is out. It's nice. You have your friends showing up. You got your family there. You just had your first sip of Miller Lite. And you know what? You're happy. You're blissful, you're fulfilled. I've been stocking my cooler with Miller Lite four years and for good reason. It's brewed for taste only. 96 calories and 3.2 grams of carbs. This year, Miller Lite turns 50. That is five decades of cookouts, laughs and ice cold moments that never miss. It's the original light beer and it's still my Go to Miller Lite. Great taste. 96 calories. Go to millerlight.com dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Cheers to 50 years of Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Co. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Looking for a new way to get in on the action? NASCAR betting on draftkings is where smart speed meets strategy. Whether it's a superspeedway, short track or road course, no one brings chaos quite like nascar. Every Sunday brings new ways to win. Bet on winners, top three finishes, stage winners, head to head, matchups and more. Love a long shot. This is your sport. One late restart can change everything. So whether you're rolling with a favorite like Kyle Larson or chasing a long shot from the back of the pack, NASCAR is always wide open. Fire it up on DraftKings, where NASCAR is full throttle all season long.

[Jeremy]

All right everybody, it's UFC International Fight Week, and while hotels in Vegas may.

[Dan]

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[Alejandro de la Fuente]

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[Jeremy]

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[Dan]

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[Alejandro de la Fuente]

Plus, Alessandre Pantoja puts his flyweight title on the line against Kai Kara France in a high stakes co main event.

[Dan]

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[Alejandro de la Fuente]

Here's your main event.

[Dan]

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[Alejandro de la Fuente]

The administration moving to cut all federal ties with the prestigious school, which he.

[Dan]

Has maligned as a threat to democracy.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

The government is today asking federal agencies.

[Dan]

To identify whether contracts with Harvard could.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

Be canceled or redirected elsewhere. The cancellations could add up to as much as $100 million in funds. The latest escalation of President Trump's battle with the university comes after Trump threatened Monday to take away $3 billion in.

[Dan]

Grant money for medical and scientific research from Harvard. This is an all out effort to make Harvard an example. The Department of Education has suggested that their tax exempt status is going to be reviewed. The Trump administration says today it will now block Harvard University from enrolling international students. In a letter, the government also says, in part that all international students must, quote, transfer from Harvard to maintain their non immigrant status.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

Harvard has sued the government to block the order, the university's president describing the.

[Dan]

Trump administration's actions as retaliation for Quote, our refusal to surrender our academic independence. An internal cable sent by Secretary Marco Rubio is ordering all consulates and embassies to immediately freeze any future interviews with potential foreign students that are seeking visas to study here inside of the United States, not just for Harvard, but for any college and university. This is of course a fight for Harvard, but really it's a fight about higher education in the United States state. The Florida of today is the America of tomorrow as We've experienced this 25 year experiment in the, really the, the destruction or hijacking of public education here in the state of Florida. Now we are seeing it at a national or federal level. I should bring you up to date on the litigation. A judge just, I think this past week has indefinitely blocked the Trump administration's effort to stop foreign students from attending Harvard, which is probably a good thing because that's like 27% of the student body at the university and constitutes, I think, upwards of three, $400 million economic impact in the Massachusetts area because obviously have all these people traveling here and spending money here and living here. Joining us now is Alejandro de la Fuente. He is a professor of history and African American studies. He is the director of the Afro Latin American Research Institute at Harvard. He wrote an op ed published in the Miami Herald and nationally last week, the headline reads, a Harvard professor asks, am I back in Cuba? Professor, thanks for being here. I know you fled the authoritarian dictatorship of Cuba for the freedom of the United States. And now you are comparing what is happening here with what people have experienced and are experiencing back in the dictatorship. Why?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh, because I see a troubling similarity, a troubling connection, and that is an attack on the freedoms that sustain the greatness of the American university system. This is not just about Harvard. You know, the US has what I would characterize as the leading university system in the world. And that system, really the greatness of that system is based on a bedrock principle, and that principle is freedom. You cannot really have academic excellence without freedom. Freedoms that must be protected. And in my view, the number one task of the federal government on that front is to protect those freedoms. Now, the federal government is of course entitled to have concerns, to have issues, to raise questions. All that is, is normal. It happens all the time it's processed. There are processes to handle those, those concerns. But the number one task doesn't change, and that is to protect the freedoms that have sustained the greatest university system in the world for the last, what, 80 years or so.

[Dan]

And this is, so this is an imposition. Of ideological oversight, not some sort of fiscal oversight, but this is saying that the administration of Harvard and the professors of Harvard and the students of Harvard have to act in line with the administration in order to enjoy continued funding. Is that the concern?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, I think, at least to me, the main, the main issue was when I, when I read the letter that the administration sent to the leadership at Harvard was these, all these references to viewpoint diversity and the need to recalibrate the viewpoints of the existing faculty and students. And I was thinking, how do you, you do that? In order to do that, first of all, you need to establish the mix of existing viewpoints. Now think about it, because this, that's what brought a deja vu to me. You know, I, when I was a very young person, younger even than you, I was a junior scholar at the law school at the University of Havana. And, you know, certain viewpoint purity was required to be part of the faculty at that university. And it gets ugly quickly because in order to do that, you have to periodically purge people who do not conform to those viewpoints. You have to create a system of vigilance to somehow police people. Of course, faculty, naturally, in an environment like that, the first thing they do is to retreat away from controversial issues is to basically follow the established line. And that is death to academic excellence. That is death to knowledge production. You cannot produce knowledge under those circumstances. You can produce slogans, even good slogans, even really well done slogans, but you're not going to produce leading knowledge that way.

[Dan]

In addition, though, to kind of controlling and suppressing speech and thought, I'm concerned about knowledge and progress because Harvard is a research university, and so part of what they are defunding, taking billions and billions of dollars away. Some people might find the titles of these studies somewhat frivolous, but there is a significant amount of very important research intellectually, scientifically. What is it in addition to, of course, the economic impact to the university, the community, the state of Massachusetts, what is being sacrificed here by defunding research that theoretically helps everybody, not just Harvard and Harvard students and professors, but the entire country and the federal government in the world.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I think you sacrifice the future and I think you sacrifice the greatness of the American university system. Not just Harvard, you know, there are many, there are many areas of basic research that the private sector sector cannot sustain for very basic reasons. You know, the private sector needs quick returns on their, on their money. But some research, you know, takes decades in order to produce the kind of breakthroughs that have sustained the economic prosperity of this for the last almost 100 years. So you sacrifice that. That is what you sacrifice. You sacrifice the leadership of the American university system, which is a global leadership, and you sacrifice there for the future. The future. A future that depends on innovation and scientific excellence.

[Dan]

We're in Miami. I'm from Florida. And so we've seen a lot of politicians hijack the generational trauma of the Cuban people to kind of create a revisionism of their own family's history. Ted Cruz did it. He just did it live on a podcast where he talked about my father. I hate communists because my father was tortured in Cuba. Now he was tortured by Batista. But that's like. Wait, wait, I'm sorry, wait, rewind, rewind that record.

[Jeremy]

Scratch.

[Dan]

Yeah, Batista's not the leftist guy. He's. He's not the left wing dictator. He's the right wing dictator. Right? So. And then, of course, Marco Rubio, who for a time, his bio, had his family fleeing the revolution in 59, but in actuality, they also came over here in 1956 during the Batista regime. And now we have, at this moment in history, our first Cuban American Secretary of State, and you saw in that, that news package, sends out a letter to, you know, embassies and consulates around the world saying, we are no longer going to be interviewing potential foreign students. We are going to have a more rigorous oversight of their social media to see ideologically where they stand, so we don't let people who without the appropriate ideology or opinions, come into our country. Now, I have to think this is not dei. I think Harvard is bringing in the best of the best from around the world to study in this institution. So I guess how this sort of two pronged there. How disappointing is it for you to see our first Cuban American Secretary of State participating in what you have defined as America kind of devolving into the tyranny of Cuba in terms of academic freedom. And what of these foreign students that they are attempting to block to come study here?

[Ryan Reynolds]

You know, I have to say I'm not going to comment on Secretary Rubio personally because I do not know him. And when he was appointed, I actually thought that that was a good appointment and he was a competent appointment. And I felt honored to have a fellow Cuban American serving that in that role. If I had a chance, I would tell Secretary Rubio something that I suspect he already knows, which is that the students who apply to come to study in the US do so first and foremost because they believe in the promise of the US and of the American university system. And central to that belief and central to that admiration is our respect for freedom of expression, which is at the very center of the greatness of this academic system. So it is possible, I suppose, that some of the students who arrive in the US from all over the world, you know, are not perfect in some kind of way. But overall, we are talking about the brightest of the bright from all over the planet coming here to bring their talents, to bring their potential to our universities. Guess what? Many of these young people stay and then contribute enormously to our prosperity.

[Jeremy]

Yeah. And, you know, Spain actually just approved expedited access to foreign students that have been barred from entering the US for its universities because they acknowledge what the professor is saying. That.

[Dan]

So it's a brain drain.

[Jeremy]

It's a brain drain. These people are bringing in talents, you know, into. Into these countries and other countries are taking advantage of the gaps we are building right now.

[Dan]

We should want the best and brightest from all over the world. We always have. We. Yeah. And that's a priority. That's changing.

[Ryan Reynolds]

China would be delighted to keep those students who are now coming here. They would be delighted. They. They're probably applauding somewhere, these things, because they want to keep their brightest too, you know. Of course they do. But, you know, when I was in Cuba, I heard many times about robo de cerebros, which is like stealing brains. You don't need to steal anything. You create the opportunities. The brains find their way, you know, they find their way to greatness, they find their way to excellence. They find their way to American universities. You don't have to steal anything. We should not lose that. That is just a pipeline of. Of. Of. Of excellence, and it's fed from all over the world. Now, do you want a better deal than that? That's the best possible deal.

[Dan]

Professor Alejandro de la Fuente, thank you for joining us. We'll see you soon at Alligator Alcatraz.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Good talking to you.

[Dan]

Thank you, Professor.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

Jeremy, you know something about me, right? You know when I'm grilling outside and it's summertime? You know how I supplement my summertime? Of course I do. I make it Miller time.

[Jeremy]

Of course.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

That beautiful white can. Oh, when it's so hot outside, I just. I just put it right to my forehead right there. And I just roll it sometimes right on the forehead, cool my body down, and then I crack it open. Instant relief. And then that first sip, brother, does that first sip sip.

[Jeremy]

That is a top five sequence of events that you can possibly go through.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

I'm just serenity now when I just imagine that first sip of Miller Light.

[Dan]

Just thinking about it, it's making me happy.

[Alejandro de la Fuente]

Dude, the sun is out. It's nice. You have your friends showing up. You got your family there. You just had your first sip of Miller Light. And you know what? You're happy. You're blissful. You're fulfilled. I've been stocking my cooler with Miller Light four years for good reason. It's brewed for taste only, 96 calories and 3.2 grams of carbs. This year, Miller Lite turns 50. That is five decades of cookouts, laughs, and ice cold moments that never miss. It's the original light beer, and it's still my Go to Miller Lite. Great taste. 96 calories. Go to millerlight.com dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Cheers to 50 years of Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Co. Milwaukee, Wisconsin 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.