HEATED ICE Defense: NY GOP Gov Candidate Doubles Down After Pretti Death

Summary

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The Tara Palmeri Show

Episode: HEATED ICE Defense: NY GOP Gov Candidate Doubles Down After Pretti Death
Date: February 1, 2026
Host: Tara Palmeri
Guest: Bruce Blakeman, Nassau County Executive & NY GOP Gubernatorial Candidate

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on the fallout from the high-profile killing of Alex Preddy by ICE agents, as Tara Palmeri presses Bruce Blakeman on his unwavering support for ICE and a hardline immigration agenda—policies he's spotlighting in his run for New York governor. The episode is marked by tense exchanges, with Palmeri holding Blakeman to account over his rhetoric, his reaction to the killing, and his positions on immigration and law enforcement, especially as even the Trump camp is moderating its stance. The episode offers an inside look at the evolving political landscape on immigration in New York and the U.S.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Blakeman's Defense of ICE & Policing Immigrants

• Blakeman touts Nassau County’s partnership with ICE: He claims their approach is targeted at removing “illegal migrants with criminal records,” not broad raids.
  • “Just recently, we removed 46 illegal migrants with criminal records ranging from attempted murder and rape to robbery, carjacking and other crimes…27 of them were involved in gang activity.” (04:11–05:16)
• Cites lack of faith in New York criminal justice system: Criticizes cashless bail and suggests ICE is an important tool because state judges must release repeat offenders.
  • “In New York State, with cashless bail, if someone commits a crime, in many instances a judge has no discretion. They have to let them back out.” (05:26)

2. Views on Immigration Reform

• Claims to support pragmatic solutions: Advocates for guest worker programs and normalization for long-term, law-abiding undocumented immigrants.
  • “I am for a guest worker program...for having people who've been here, let's say, seven to ten years, they're law abiding, they are gainfully employed...I don't think it's a great idea to rip them out of communities.” (06:02–06:29)
• Blames legislative stalemate on political extremes:
  • “You have the far left who want an open border policy...and the far right who use this as an issue to raise money. The reality is most people are somewhere in the middle.” (07:45–08:09)

3. Preddy Killing: Heated Exchange and Video Evidence

• Direct confrontation over Alex Preddy’s death:
  • Palmeri repeatedly presses Blakeman to acknowledge the injustice.
  • “Do you still think that Alex Preddy deserved to die?” (08:28, 09:09, 10:08)
• Blakeman's response centers on due process and broader context:
  • “That’s a ridiculous question...It’s not whether or not he deserved to die. The question is, is it legal, and is it good for the community...to have people throw bottles and rocks at federal law enforcement?” (09:09–09:14)
  • “You weren’t there...We all saw the video. I saw two different videos. Why the rush to judgment? Why don't you just wait till the investigation is complete?” (09:53–10:01)
• Palmeri pushes back:
  • “If I killed somebody, I would be in detention until an investigation was over.” (12:05)
  • “We all saw it. The guy was on his hands and knees, okay? Even the administration admits...” (12:28)

4. Media Critique & Claims of Bias

• Blakeman accuses Palmeri of editorializing:
  • “You're the judge and jury on the ICE agent...You're arguing a point of view. What you're doing is using the name journalism to get your point of view across. It’s not journalism.” (10:12, 14:33, 14:50)
• Palmeri asserts commitment to facts:
  • “I am, okay. I am stating the facts as we have all seen them...” (11:12)
• Both push on the meaning and obligations of journalism and due process.

5. Claims of Paid Agitators & Protest Legitimacy

• Blakeman alleges protests are orchestrated:
  • “The unrest in Minneapolis is being staged and driven by paid professional agitators...They're the same people that show up at Antifa...some of them were at pro Palestinian rallies.” (13:17–13:30)
• Pressed for evidence, offers only generalities:
  • “We have plenty of evidence. We know who these people are.” (13:25)

6. Voter Sentiment and ICE Polling

• Palmeri references 61% opposition to masked ICE arrests (Siena poll, Nov. 2025):
  • “61% of New Yorkers actually oppose masked ICE agents, okay, and their arrests...” (18:05)
• Blakeman dismisses poll validity and touts personal electoral success:
  • “I am not one that believes every poll is accurate...I just won reelection in a landslide.” (19:32–19:50)
• Disputes Palmeri’s characterization of his county:
  • “My county is a mirror image of New York State...110,000 more Democrats...I won in a landslide.” (19:54–20:10)

7. Transparency, Press, and Governance

• Blakeman claims availability and belief in journalism:
  • “I'm probably the most available politician you'll ever find...I believe in freedom of the press.” (15:13)
• Also doubles down on policy:
  • “I will make the people in New York State happy again...by making it more affordable, by making it safer, by lowering their energy bills, by cutting their taxes...” (22:54–23:11)
• Remains unapologetic on ICE cooperation:
  • “What I would tell you is I would work with ICE to conduct the same operations that they're doing in my county, which U.S. News World Report says is the safest county in America.” (17:11)

8. Election Prospects & Trump Ties

• Blakeman confident despite fundraising gap:
  • Emphasizes message of taxpayer protection and anti-immigrant spending.
• Confirms Trump endorsement, but distances himself from presidential race:
  • “President Trump has endorsed me. He supports my campaign and I welcome his support...but I’m running for governor, not president...” (26:00)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“You know, that's a ridiculous question. Come on, you can ask a better question than that.”
— Bruce Blakeman on whether Alex Preddy ‘deserved to die’ (09:09)

“It's not whether or not he deserved to die. The question is, is it legal and is it good for the community...to have people throw bottles and rocks at federal law enforcement?”
— Bruce Blakeman (09:14)

“If I killed somebody, I would be in detention until an investigation was over.”
— Tara Palmeri (12:05)

“You're the judge and jury on the ICE agent.”
— Bruce Blakeman (10:12)

“We all saw the video. I saw two different videos...Why the rush to judgment?”
— Bruce Blakeman (09:54–10:01)

“We have plenty of evidence. We know who these people are. They're the same people that show up at Antifa...”
— Bruce Blakeman (13:25–13:28)

“If you think I'm editorializing, wait till you get pressed by the city reporters there.”
— Tara Palmeri (15:07)

“I will make the people in New York State happy again because they're miserable under Kathy Hochul...”
— Bruce Blakeman (22:54–23:11)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• ICE & Local Enforcement: Results and Approach — 04:11–05:25
• Views on Immigration Reform and Policy Gridlock — 06:02–08:23
• Preddy Death, Video Evidence, and Rush to Judgment — 09:09–10:08, 12:01–12:39
• Media Critique, Allegations of Bias — 14:33–14:57
• Allegations of Staged Protests & Agitators — 13:17–13:52
• Voter Opinions, Polls, and Blakeman’s Electoral Arguments — 18:05–20:10
• Question of Transparency and Governance Vision — 15:13, 22:54–23:11
• Election Strategy, Fundraising, and Trump Support — 23:11–26:00

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Conclusion

The episode is a fast-paced, hard-hitting exchange that exposes the deep divides and heated rhetoric in New York’s immigration debate. Palmeri is relentless in pressing Blakeman, who remains unwavering in his support of ICE and positions himself as a pragmatic, tough-on-crime, pro-law enforcement candidate. While acknowledging the need for broader immigration reform, Blakeman blames legislative paralysis on extremist factions and maintains that targeted ICE operations have kept his county safe.

Memorable for its intensity, the episode encapsulates the raw emotion and political high-stakes around immigration policy in an election year, particularly after high-profile incidents of violence and shifting positions at the national party level.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[C]

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[C]

Results may vary. Do you still think that Alex Preddy deserved to die?

[B]

You know, that's a ridiculous question. Come on, you can ask a better question than that.

[C]

I mean, the fact of the matter.

[B]

Is it's not whether or not.

[C]

It's not whether or not. Welcome back to the Tara Palmeri Show. So that one got a little heated. That's Bruce Blakeman. He is the county executive of Nassau county in New York and he's running in a long shot bid for governor as a Republican with a very pro ICE and anti immigration agenda. Even as the White House realizes they need to recalibrate. Blakeman doesn't think so. He doesn't think he needs to pull back and actually is questioning the veracity of the video seen around the world of the murder of Alex Preddy by ICE agents. Needless to say, I did not let up.

[B]

Listen, why the rush, the judgment? Why don't you just wait till the investigation is complete?

[C]

I can see with my own eyes and even the white.

[B]

So you're the judge and jury. You're the judge and jury on the ICE agent.

[C]

Okay, listen, if you're going to tell me don't believe my own eyes. Like, listen, listen. There's more than one video after all. This is about facts. I'm curious to hear what you think. Please subscribe or follow to keep this show going. And of course go to Tara Palmeri.com to sign up for my newsletter, the Red Letter. It's where you can get my exclusive reporting straight to your inbox. And a way to support my my independent journalism. Take a listen. Hey guys. I want to tell you about this brand that I discovered even before they became sponsors of the Tara Palmeri Show. It's called Quince. And if you're seeing me wearing a silk top on the show, it is most likely from Quint because they really make elevated, quality, effortless clothing that is perfect for layering, mixing. It's helped me build a timeless wardrobe and it is cuts out the middlemen. So the prices are not that high. You are not paying for brand markup. They go to safe, ethical factories. And what you get in exchange is high quality clothing with beautiful silhouettes and thoughtful details. And it's the kind of stuff that you can wear every single day. It's made to last. It's not just silk. They've got beautiful cashmere, 100% organic cotton sweaters, premium denim. I recently bought some silk pajamas. And I've got to tell you, it's really, really hard to get out of bed when you're wearing them. They are just so beautiful. And I know they'll, I'll have them forever. My recommendation for you is to refresh your wardrobe with quinn. Go to quin.comtarat for free shipping on your order and 365 days of returns. It's now available in Canada. That's q-u I n c e.comtara to get free shipping and 365 days of returns. Quince q u I n c e.comtARA here. County Executive Blakeman, thank you for joining the show. We are in the middle of a lot of news that's breaking past few weeks, but I just want to talk about immigration because it appears that that's something that you're running on in New York for governor as a Republican. And you've said in the past that ICE is doing a very good job and there have been very, very few mistakes. But since then, two Americans have been killed by ICE agents and the Trump administration appears to be pulling back, including sidelining Kristi Noem and signaling changes, changes to the use of force policies. So what, if anything, has ICE gotten wrong? And, and how do you justify running on an approach that even Trump seems to now be recalibrating?

[B]

Yeah. So very simply, in our county, I can't speak for Minneapolis. I don't know about the situation there other than I suspect that there are a lot of people up there that throw bottles and rocks at ICE agents. And I think that's wrong. It was a tragedy that two people were killed. We have to wait and see what the investigation determines. But in my county, we've gotten a lot of illegal migrants with criminal records. Out of our county, we've done it without raids. We don't do raids in Nassau county with ice. What we do is we have targeted people who are criminals that we remove from our community to make a safer community. So for instance, just recently, we removed 46 illegal migrants with criminal records ranging from attempted murder and rape to robbery, carjacking and other crimes. And we've made our community safer. We've made the whole metropolitan area safer by doing that. 27 of them were involved in gang activity. Those are people that would recruit kids into gangs to do their dirty work and drug dealing and robbery and other things. So our relationship with ICE has been a very successful relationship.

[C]

You used ICE for that, not local enforcement.

[B]

We use both. But unfortunately, in New York State, with cashless bail, if someone commits a crime, in many instances a judge has no discretion. They have to let them back out. And in situations where we have illegal migrants who've committed crimes over and over and over again, it's been a revolving door of criminality. So basically it's another tool in our toolbox where we can call ICE and say, hey, you guys have a detention order on this individual? Do you want to pick them up? Otherwise this person is going to get out without having to post bail and they'll be back doing all of the criminal things that make communities less safe. So in our, in our county, it's worked extremely well. But that's being said. I've also said very strongly that we need a comprehensive immigration policy in our country and in our state. I am for a guest worker program. I am for having people who've been here, let's say seven to 10 years, they're law abiding, they are gainfully employed, they may have kids in school. I don't think it's a great idea to rip them out of communities and to deport them. I think there should be a path to normalizing their situation here in the United States and allowing them to remain here legally. So I will be a forceful advocate for legislation to do just that because I think we have to use common sense. I think we have to be practical and I think we have to have compassion in what we're doing.

[C]

That's why as a governor, I mean, that's something at the federal level.

[B]

Yeah, it's at the federal level. But governors have a big say in what goes on in the federal level, especially with a state as large as New York state. So I would certainly be getting our congressional delegation behind that. Because if you really care about the immigrant situation here, then you will find a common sense approach to resolving it.

[C]

Unfortunately, Republicans and have had the chance to do this before, Democrats have had.

[B]

The chance to do it. Nobody's done it.

[C]

Nobody's done it and decades. So I think, you know, well, that's wrong.

[B]

You see what happens is you have the far left who want an open border policy, so they won't settle for anything.

[C]

But I don't think.

[B]

And then you've got the far right who use this as an issue to raise money. And the reality is that most people are somewhere in the middle. They could be a little right of center, they could be in the center, they could be a little left of center, but most people are in the middle. And the immigration policy of the United States is being dictated by people who are on the fringes. So both the Democrats and the Republicans need to get serious about a comprehensive immigration plan. I think a guest worker program. Program is the way to go.

[C]

Okay. You know, you mentioned that there were protesters that were throwing rocks, bottles, ICE agents and bottles. You know, obviously there have been a lot of aggressive altercations, but do you still think that Alex Preddy deserved to die?

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[B]

You know, that's a ridiculous question. Come on, you can ask a better question than that.

[C]

Well, I mean, the fact of the.

[B]

Matter is it's not whether or not. Whether or not he deserved to die. The question is, is it right, is it legal and is it good for the community and the fabric of the community to have people throw bottles and rocks at federal law enforcement?

[C]

It wasn't, though. He wasn't in that case.

[B]

Other people were. And it created a dangerous environment, but he was. It created an environment of violent confrontation. That's not a good thing. You don't agree with me. Do you not agree with me that that's, that that's not a situation.

[C]

But he wasn't creating a violent situation. He actually was trying to de escalate.

[B]

You don't know what he did. You weren't there.

[C]

We all saw the video. You saw the video.

[B]

I saw two different videos. And we're going to wait.

[C]

Why did the rush the other video?

[B]

Like, why. Listen, why the rush to judgment? Why don't you just wait till the investigation is complete?

[C]

I can see with my own eyes and even the White House, you're the judge and jury.

[B]

You're the judge and jury on the ICE agent.

[C]

Okay, listen, if you're going to tell me don't believe my own eyes, like, listen, listen.

[B]

There was more than one video and an investigation and due process. You know, federal agents are entitled to due process as well. Are you aware of that?

[C]

Yeah, but he's back on the street. He hasn't even been since.

[B]

Thousands of people back on the street under cashless bail in New York State. Nobody seems to complain about that.

[C]

Do you think.

[B]

Why don't we move on to another subject? Because you and I, you and I are not going to agree on this subject. Let's just agree to disagree.

[C]

Well, listen, do you think an armed law enforcement officer that killed somebody who was disarmed, she should be back on the street right now without a suspicion?

[B]

Let me ask you a question. Do you think there should be thousands of people who came here illegally and are engaged in criminal activity, rape and attempted murder should be here on the streets of America?

[C]

I am not ask. I am a journalist. I am asking you. You're the one running for journalists with an opinion.

[B]

You sound more like an editorialist.

[C]

I am, okay. I am stating the facts as we have all seen them. I'm just asking you, do you think that this man deserved to die? And you're telling me. My question is.

[B]

Listen to me. I didn't say he deserved to die. But you're saying that federal agents deserve to have rocks and bottles thrown out.

[C]

I never said that. I said that. Does that. I said that. Does that justify the death of another person?

[B]

Let's agree that you didn't say that throwing rocks and bottles at federal agents is a good thing and.

[C]

No, I said. I said that.

[B]

Does that. I just say that law enforcement officers should shoot innocent people. Let's agree on that.

[C]

Okay, That's. I think you got. We got to an answer on that one. But you also think that this guy, it's okay for him to be back on the street? This agent, even though their review hasn't.

[B]

Been completed, he's entitled to due process.

[C]

Yeah, but due process, when a problem.

[B]

With the concept of due process.

[C]

If I killed somebody, I would be in detention until an investigation was over.

[B]

Depends what jurisdiction you're in. If you're in New York, you'd probably be out on the street.

[C]

With what kind of cat, with what kind of bail or bond. Like. That's crazy. That's not true. If you kill someone in cold blood, you're not back out on the street. Name one person. We don't know whether it was killed.

[B]

You know, whether it was in cold blood. It.

[C]

We all saw it. The guy was on his hands and knees, okay? Even the administration admits.

[B]

Listen, we just agreed to disagree. Didn't we just agree to disagree?

[C]

I mean, listen, I just feel like the facts are the facts. You know the facts are the facts.

[B]

So what about. What about. What about the prosecution of people that throw rocks and bottles at law enforcement officials?

[C]

I mean, if they are truly.

[B]

Are you calling for their immediate arrest? If they.

[C]

I don't. Listen, it depends on the extent of the crime.

[B]

You answered my question. Thank you.

[C]

But here's the question. I didn't answer your question because I'm a journalist. I am asking. I want to ask you, though. You says that all this is staged and it's being. You said that the unrest in Minneapolis is being staged and driven by paid professional agitators.

[B]

Yes, it is.

[C]

What evidence?

[B]

You know, that you're a journalist.

[C]

What evidence?

[B]

You should know that you're a journalist.

[C]

What evidence do you have?

[B]

We have plenty of evidence. We know who these people are. They're the same people that show up at Antifa. They're the same people that show up at all these rallies. Some of them were at pro Palestinian rallies. Let me ask you a question. How many people are marching to free Iran or free Venezuela? You know anybody that's marching to do that? How come? They're a marriage. Thousands of people. Thousands of people were killed by the.

[C]

Iran in another country. And people are being killed in our country right now. There's. It's obviously a proximity issue.

[B]

There's people being killed by illegal migrants who are roaming the streets here with criminal records, and they shouldn't be roaming the streets. So you want to keep them here. Okay.

[C]

So anyone can dispute that.

[B]

If I disagree with you on that, you want to keep criminals in your community, that's fine.

[C]

No, I don't.

[B]

I think it's bizarre. But if that's what you want.

[C]

I'm a journalist. I never said that. I'm asking you about the evidence.

[B]

You told me four times you're a journalist.

[C]

Yeah, I know. That's why I'm wondering why you're asking me all the questions. You're the one running for office. I'm not. Okay.

[B]

My answers aren't sufficient for you. You're arguing a point of view.

[C]

No. No.

[B]

So you're not acting like a. You're not settling for my answers. What you're doing is using the name journalism to get your point of view across. You're not taking my answers and moving on and asking more questions.

[C]

Is that okay?

[B]

All you're doing is continuing to push your point of view, which is editorialism. It's not journalism.

[C]

Okay, if it's. You don't want to be pressed is what you're saying. But if you're going to be the governor of New York, you're going to have to get. I have been very aggressive.

[B]

Answer your questions. You just won't take my answers.

[C]

Listen, I worked at the New York Post. If you think I'm editorializing, wait till you get pressed by the city reporters there.

[B]

Now, let's keep press for four years by all the reporters in the metropolitan area. And I believe in journalism. I believe in freedom of the press. And that's why I'm probably the most available politician you'll ever find in the state of New York. And that's why I'm on your show today.

[C]

Okay, so are you concerned that dismissing public outrage, you are risking alienating voters who are genuinely disturbed by what they're seeing right now?

[B]

First of all, as I said, I believe that getting criminals out of our communities is a good thing. I do not believe that people who get shot when they're innocent is a good thing. But the difference between you and me is I'm willing to wait. And I think it's appropriate to wait until the investigation is complete. You're not willing to do that. You're the judge, the jury and the hangman.

[C]

Okay, listen, if you. This is. We all seen the videos, but here's my journalism.

[B]

That's a point of view you should be running for all.

[C]

If I was a witness to something that is actual that happened and I saw it, that is journalism.

[B]

Where's your outrage? That is your outrage. Can I ask you a question? Where is your outrage at the people that throw bottles and rocks at law enforcement agents?

[C]

I don't think anyone should be attacking law enforcement agents, but I also don't think law enforcement.

[B]

Did you show any outrage when the two ICE agents were killed?

[C]

No, I don't think they were killed. But who.

[B]

Don't you think that creates an environment that's dangerous? And maybe that. Maybe this ICE agent was worried about his life.

[C]

Okay, listen. I'm not going to go into these rhetorical questions. I don't think anyone should be harmed.

[B]

They're direct questions. They're not rhetorical.

[C]

But here's the question. Would you allow ICE to conduct the same type of operations that we are seeing in Minneapolis, in Buffalo, in Rochester?

[B]

What I would tell you is I would work with ICE to conduct the same operations that they're doing in my county, which U.S. news World Report says is the safest county in America, where people in my county of every race, religion, ethnic group, people of all lifestyles and abilities get along incredibly well.

[C]

Yeah, you know, I know you said that I'm the judge and jury in this case, but actually in the case of Alex. Okay, in. Okay, but in the case of Alex Preddy, it's actually the dhs that is the judge, the jury.

[B]

There are other New York State issues that.

[C]

No, no, no, no, no. You are running on immigration.

[B]

You don't want to talk about.

[C]

ICE comes in.

[B]

You don't want to talk about the fact that we're the state in the United States, that we're the most over regulated state in the United States, that hundreds of thousands of people have left our state under Kathy Okul's lack of leadership, that we're not affordable, but.

[C]

Okay, utility expenses are off the roof. Listen, 61% of New Yorkers actually oppose masked ICE agents, okay, and their arrests. That's according to a Sienna poll back in November before the deaths of two Americans by ICE agents. Are you concerned about that? Do you think your voters are wrong?

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[B]

Do I think the voter's wrong? I haven't looked at the poll and certainly came out in November.

[C]

Sienna.

[B]

I am not one that believes every poll is accurate. Because as we've seen over the last few years, polls are all over the place. So I don't know where you're getting your information from, but I can tell you this much. I just won reelection in a landslide, so I think people like what I'm doing.

[C]

Your county, your district is very conservative. It says.

[B]

No, it is not. No, you don't know anything about my county. My county is a mirror image. Can I finish? Can I finish answering the question? My county is a mirror image of New York State. Our demographics are almost the same in every category as the state of New York. And there's 110,000 more Democrats in my county. And I won in a landscape, a landslide by over 36,000 votes. And you're telling me that you know my policies are wrong and that my county is conservative. You don't know anything about my county.

[C]

First of all, you say that you.

[B]

Know nothing about my county.

[C]

You're having a conversation with yourself right now. Do you think that. That there should be masked agents in your county and in New York in the entire.

[B]

Obviously, you obviously obsessed by this issue. What I did was I took the mask off the criminals. I took the masks off the criminals in my county. I took the masks off of people that were committing crimes and committing acts of anti Semitism and harassment and hate crimes wearing masks. I took the mask off of those people, but I would not take the mask off of any law enforcement agent who thought that their life might be in danger by performing their duties.

[C]

Okay, so in this. In the case of DHS being the judge and jury and hangman, as you like to say, in the case of Alex Preddy, do you feel comfortable with the fact that they're conducting the investigation into what happened to him? The same people that were involved in his.

[B]

I believe that there are parallel investigations. There's not only the DHS investigation, there's the Department of Justice investigation, which is.

[C]

In the same administration, and it doesn't involve state and local officers.

[B]

That's very unfair. You know, that's very unfair to the people in the Department of Justice who are sworn to carry out the law. Now you're making a disparaging remark on all the people that work at the Department of Justice that they're not going to be honest in the investigation of this case.

[C]

Ultimately, whatever.

[B]

That's unconscionable. You should really be ashamed of yourself for saying that.

[C]

Okay, but what about the fact that they. Ultimately, they are led by the Attorney General who reports the President of the United States. There's no independence in this investigation. There's no outside count. There's no independent investigation.

[B]

Well, listen, hopefully special counsel.

[C]

Do you think there should be a special counsel?

[B]

There's, hopefully, there's an independent free press. That's independent, that doesn't rush the judgment, make decisions, basically convict federal officials without an investigation, without evidence. Basically, what you're accusing of them of is exactly what you are doing.

[C]

I Haven't convicted. I don't have the power to convict anyone. I'm just asking you questions, that's all.

[B]

I have a lot of power as a journalist.

[C]

Well, you know what? You have a lot of power if you. If you want to run and become. If you become the governor of New York as well. So in the meantime, I represent the.

[B]

People when I become the governor.

[C]

Questions? You can keep going.

[B]

I become governor, I will make the people in New York State happy again because they're miserable under Kathy Ogle by making it more affordable, by making it safer, by lowering their energy bills, by cutting their taxes and putting more money in their pocket so they don't have to live paycheck to paycheck.

[C]

Okay, let's talk about your chances of becoming governor. Kathy Hochul is an incumbent. Incumbents have not lost in New York state since 1994. Granted, Lee Zeldin, a Republican, came very close than 5 points in the last election. She has roughly $20 million in cash on hand. You have about 1.2 million. Much of it was transferred from your Nassau county executive account. Does. What do you think about this limited enthusiasm for your candidacy? How realistic is this?

[B]

Well, Kathy Hochul's been the governor for four years. The misery factor in this state is the highest it's ever been. Hundreds of thousands of people are leaving. You don't dispute that, right?

[C]

I think some people are unhappy. I don't.

[B]

Businesses. Businesses are leaving our state. Our energy costs are some of the highest in the country because 30% of your energy bill are taxes on taxes. So I believe that the people are not very happy with Kathy Hochul. I will raise the money and I will win this race, just as I won against a popular incumbent four years ago when everybody said I didn't have a chance. I was 24 points behind. But I talked about issues. I talked about families in our county, just as I'm going to talk about families throughout the state, how they're suffering and they're miserable. And I want to make them happy again by putting New Yorkers first and not spending $5 billion on illegal migrants who've been here for 15 minutes and haven't earned a thing. That's taxpayer money that could have been spent on hospitals, on schools, on infrastructure, or on cutting taxes. That's what Kathy Hochul's done. It's a breach of her fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers of this state. So I am very confident by running on the issues that I will be the next governor of the state of New York.

[C]

Would you allow for ICE to enter New York City and to conduct raids like in Minneapolis.

[B]

You are ICE obsessed. You don't want to talk about how this is brought up.

[C]

Illegal immigrants. You know, this is your, this is your issue.

[B]

Well, do you think it's, do you think it's appropriate to spend $5 billion of taxpayer money on people who just arrived here, giving them a free phone, free lodging, free food, free transportation? Do you think that's fair to the taxpayers, the hard working people in this state? Do you think that's fair to them? You think it's fair to the immigrants that came here illegally who got nothing and had to work for everything that they got?

[C]

I don't know if that question is for me. Like I said, I'm a journalist, so I guess that's your statement. Would you want Donald Trump campaigning with you? Potentially another kind of Madison Square Garden style rally?

[B]

First of all, President Trump has endorsed me. He supports my campaign and I welcome his support. But I'm running for governor. I'm not running for president. And Kathy Hochul is running for governor, not president. And she can talk about Donald Trump all she wants, but I'm going to talk about her record of failure. And I'm going to match it against my record in a county that's larger than eight to 10 states with 110,000 more Democrats. How I have made the people in this county happy by instituting very common sense policies, putting their interests first, not the interests of other people. And that's what I'll do in New York State. I'll put New Yorkers first. They'll have a governor that cares about them. And. And my job is to make New Yorkers happy again.

[C]

Okay, well, thank you for that. I appreciate your time and this was fun.

[B]

I appreciate it. Hopefully you'll have me back soon.

[C]

Yeah, I might. And I hope by then the judge and jury of the DHS will have a verdict that you feel is sufficient. So I think a lot of other Americans have already decided.

[B]

Well, I'm glad that we agreed to disagree because that's the respectful way to have a debate, so.

[C]

Well, yeah, My honor to be on.

[B]

Thank you.

[C]

It's not a debate, though. This is just me asking you questions. You gotta, you know, I came from a New York press corps. This is how it works.

[B]

Yeah, I know, and I know how it works.

[C]

Yep. Okay. Well, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it.

[B]

Appreciate it. Thanks so much.

[C]

That was another episode of the Tara Palmeri Show. It was a feisty one. He kept pushing and saying I was a biased journalist. But I think I was. I had a bias towards the facts. Curious to hear what you have to think? Of course. Subscribe Follow Share this show with all your friends. That's how you keep me working and in business for you. You can go to tarapaum mary.com and sign up for my newsletter, the Red Letter. And that's how you get my exclusive reporting straight to your inbox. By becoming a paid subscriber, you can also it's also a way to support my independent journalism. I want to thank my producer Eric Abenate. I want to thank Danelle Garcia for the booking. I want to thank Abby Baker on my social media and research. I want to thank Adam Stewart on the thumbnails and Dan Rosen, my manager. As you can hear, the team is growing and it is all good things. Year of the horse charging into 2026. See you again soon.

[D]

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