Podcast Summary: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Episode: #BecauseMiami: Failed City State
Date: November 21, 2025
Location: The Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami
Key Guests: Andres Rivero (Attorney), Alex DeLuca (Miami New Times)
Main Topics:
- Miami’s Trump Presidential Library Land Scandal
- Local corruption, city management, and development
- The controversial return of Miami cop Javier Ortiz
- Miami’s socioeconomic transformation and civic dysfunction
Episode Overview
This #BecauseMiami episode drills into Miami’s current civic controversies, focusing mainly on a failed attempt to give away public land for the Trump Presidential Library, the persistent corruption in city government, and the ongoing saga of Miami’s most notorious police officer. Through a combination of sharp analysis, local color, and incisive humor, the hosts and guests illustrate why Miami’s dysfunction is both a local punchline and a national cautionary tale.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. The Trump Presidential Library Land Controversy
(02:16 – 13:15)
Summary:
Billy Corben and attorney Andres Rivero break down the ongoing legal fight surrounding Miami Dade College’s attempt to give a prime piece of downtown property—valued up to $350 million—to a private group building the Trump Presidential Library, all in a backroom deal without proper public notice. The State of Florida tried to intervene, but lost an emergency appeal.
- Legal Background: The deal allegedly violated Florida’s Sunshine Law by holding an 8am, barely-publicized meeting and rushing the vote (07:18).
- Major Concern:
- Lack of transparency and public process.
- Enormous loss of value for the college and taxpayers (“They want to give it away to a billionaire politician... and they wanted to do it secretly...” - Billy, 06:07).
- Process Manipulation:
- Board’s attempt to push through the deal with minimal attention (“They must be afraid of doing it in the open because maybe they intuited how unpopular it would be to give away maybe the most valuable asset of the public...” - Andres Rivero, 10:42).
- No Guarantee of a Library: The legal requirements don’t actually ensure a presidential library—just some component of a cultural center (11:10).
- Public Outcry: Even many Republicans oppose the deal’s structure, not the library itself.
Notable Quote:
"We got an injunction and they tried to get an emergency appeal… The third DCA said, 'nope, we're going to do this in the normal course. We don't see an emergency here, which I think is a good sign.'”
– Andres Rivero (03:36)
Timestamps:
- [07:18] – Details of secretive board vote
- [09:25] – Why not just do it openly?
- [10:42] – Motivations behind the secrecy
- [12:32] – The true market value and implications
2. Miami as a “Failed City State” – Tech Boom, Corruption, and Real Estate Grift
(17:55 – 30:54)
Summary:
The panel pokes fun at both out-of-touch billionaires and local politicians, painting a portrait of Miami’s surreal economic boom, its real-world consequences for affordability, and its uniquely predatory brand of municipal government.
- Ken Griffin’s Miami: Billionaire CEO extols Miami’s virtues—education, safety, community—but the hosts point out this doesn't match Miami’s reality for most residents (“He referred to Chicago as… a failed city state; that I recognized. That spoke to me as Miami.” - Billy, 22:59).
- Jeff Bezos Roasts City Hall: During a business forum, Bezos embarrasses Mayor Francis Suarez by exposing the city’s infuriating, expensive permitting process (25:04).
- Miami’s Hustler Economy: Real estate is built on inefficiency and rent-seeking (“That’s where…Francis get[s] paid. That's where the grifters live…” - Billy, 27:33).
- Small Businesses Suffer: Ordinary entrepreneurs, unlike billionaires, can’t withstand or bypass Miami’s broken system (29:00).
- Civic Insight:
- Miami functions by monetizing inefficiency, which de-incentivizes reform.
Notable Quotes:
“Efficiency doesn’t pay, just like preservation doesn’t pay. The idea is to kind of knock the old shit down and put up the new shit…”
– Billy (29:00)
“It's the rich people and the highest end folks that get away with almost whatever they want to do. Whereas the little guy or the little girl gets crushed by this system.”
– Billy (30:53)
Timestamps:
- [17:55] – Mocking political speeches on Miami as a haven for fleeing “South African communists”
- [22:59] – Satirizing Ken Griffin’s views
- [25:04] – Jeff Bezos’s public slam of Mayor Suarez’s failure to streamline the permitting process
- [27:33] – The business of inefficiency
3. The Saga of “America’s Most Corrupt Cop,” Javier Ortiz
(33:02 – 48:32)
Summary:
Billy and journalist Alex DeLuca revisit the jaw-dropping story of Miami police captain Javier Ortiz, infamous for abuse complaints and shameless self-reinvention, who remains on the city payroll despite endless controversies.
- Ortiz’s Record: Over 50 citizen complaints, three suspensions, and $600k+ in civil lawsuit settlements.
- Shady Paper Trail:
- Switched racial identification on police applications for promotions.
- Used settlement loopholes to remain highly paid without working.
- Legal Shenanigans: Fired only for an overtime violation (not misconduct), reinstated by arbitration; city settles, pays him to work from home, allows outside employment.
- Settlement twist: Ortiz now sues the city to avoid forced retirement, claiming his non-disparagement clause was violated by city officials’ comments (40:53).
- Broader Issue: Systemic inability/unwillingness to discipline bad actors; the story reflects a city government rife with enablers as much as with outright corruption.
Notable Quotes:
“This guy was everywhere… he has cost taxpayers in excess of $600,000 in brutality lawsuits. He got promoted twice…”
– Billy (35:08)
“He sits at home. They're paying him to work at night from home, which means to do little or nothing at all. And during the day, he's allowed to get another job…”
– Billy (39:04)
Timestamps:
- [35:08] – Ortiz’s controversial record and identity switch
- [37:29] – Why he was finally fired
- [38:58 – 48:16] – Legal maneuvers, settlement fallout, and the city’s lack of accountability
4. Miami’s Political Disarray and Identity Wars
(48:32 – 49:49)
Summary:
- As the episode winds down, the hosts sample Miami’s unique flavor of political infighting and cultural tension, including a wild right-wing soundbite demanding a Miami-born Cuban-American Congresswoman “go back to Cuba,” and an irreverent “only in Miami” moment.
Timestamps:
- [49:29] – Viral, xenophobic commentary about “who gets to be American” in Miami politics
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On the College Land Scandal:
"Process is important and they shouldn’t be hiding it... There is no guarantee the way this is being given that a presidential library will be built there. The only thing... required is that a component of a library, museum or conference center be built within five years."
– Andres Rivero (10:42) -
On Miami’s Economic Transformation:
“If we were to make the government as efficient as Bezos is suggesting, we’d put the city out of business... so many people make money in that waste and in that grifting space.”
– Billy (28:53) -
On Javier Ortiz:
“He’s arguably that man, when he was the FOP president and he was running amok in this city, had a higher profile than any of the police chiefs... I think this guy stays on the job. I think he continues… with a scheme like this stay at home scheme for years and years…”
– Billy (46:48)
Episode Structure with Timestamps
- [02:16 – 13:15]: Land giveaway legal fight explained
- [17:55 – 30:54]: Tech-bro Miami, Ken Griffin and Bezos, structural corruption analysis
- [33:02 – 48:32]: The Javier Ortiz scandal examined in detail
- [48:32 – 49:49]: Miami’s political/identity mudslinging
Conclusion
This episode highlights Miami as a city at the crossroads: world-class in ambition, notorious for its civic dysfunction. The panel peels back the layers of local news—corruption, shameless money grabs, broken government, and the persistence of bad actors—to paint a revealing, at times hilarious, portrait of twenty-first century Miami.
#BecauseMiami stands as both an explanation and a warning.
For future Miami voters, residents, and political junkies, this episode distills the city’s turbulent politics, unaccountable leadership, and why, often, the only answer is, “because Miami.”