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[00:01:37] Welcome to a special edition of The Outlaws. This is Darvio the Kingpin Marl. Don't forget to like us on Facebook at facebook.com slash theoutlawsradio.
[00:01:45] Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at theoutlawsradio. I should have said X. It's still taking me a while to get used to that.
[00:01:55] So follow us on X and Instagram at theoutlawsradio. It's a very special episode. Today we have an interview with US Congressman Max Miller.
[00:02:08] We talked about a whole host of issues. We talked about the most important things that are impacting his district, the things that his voters care about.
[00:02:17] We talked about a little bit of foreign policy talk with everything going on in Israel and the Middle East and things like that.
[00:02:25] Just a whole host of issues that we touched on. It was a really good interview. It was a good time with the congressman. I really appreciate him coming on.
[00:02:36] So we are going to get into that interview right now.
[00:02:41] All right. We have a very special guest on the show today. He's been on this show before. He was last on this show as a candidate and now he is the congressman.
[00:02:54] Max Miller. Welcome back. How you doing, sir?
[00:02:57] Hey, Darvio. I'm doing well. How are you?
[00:02:59] I'm good, man. I'm good. So first, before we get into the to the nitty gritty, let's talk a little bit about that, man.
[00:03:05] What is the experience been like so far since you've become a congressman? What has that been like?
[00:03:11] It's been it's been a wild experience and it's been an honor and it's been incredibly challenging as I thought it would be.
[00:03:18] But what I've learned in this congress specifically is that this has been one of the most challenging congresses, I believe, in our country's history.
[00:03:26] And people have said that. But what I have learned as a legislator is you can accomplish so much, even in a tumultuous congress, that the only limits that a congressman or congresswoman puts on themselves is as high as they're going to go on Capitol Hill.
[00:03:44] And so, you know, before I went up there, I kept on hearing from other congressmen and congresswomen that it's so frustrating.
[00:03:51] You can't get anything done, you know, and that's why so many people leave.
[00:03:55] I don't look at it like that. I look at every day as an opportunity on how I can help our district and every person inside of it, regardless of political affiliation.
[00:04:04] And that's why we fought to bring back over the two year period almost 50 million dollars in critical infrastructure projects and police and fire.
[00:04:13] So I'm immensely proud of what we have found in a tumultuous congress, but still able to produce for our people in the 70s.
[00:04:22] So talk a little bit more about that. Talk about some of the things that you've been able to work on and be a part of during a time of congress.
[00:04:30] Yeah, I'm extremely proud that we introduced a piece of legislation a couple of months ago, and I'm very focused on workforce development.
[00:04:38] And what this piece of legislation does, it's called American workforce.
[00:04:42] It is going to tax universities and college colleges that have over two and a half billion dollars worth of endowment.
[00:04:49] And here's why we are two percent down in the trades.
[00:04:52] These universities have these funds that will be solvent until the end of human civilization.
[00:04:58] They will continue to make money and spend money.
[00:05:01] It is a one percent tax on the Harvards, the Yales, the Princetons to help individuals get into a technical education.
[00:05:09] There are no loans you can get for a technical education like you can for college.
[00:05:13] And so I'm proud that Senator Tom Cotton and I put this forward.
[00:05:16] He's the lead in the Senate.
[00:05:18] This will create a nine thousand dollar voucher for anyone who wants to become a carpenter, a pipe fitter, a welder, a steel worker.
[00:05:25] You name it.
[00:05:26] It can go on and on and on.
[00:05:27] And I'm proud that I donate 25 percent of my salary back to the district.
[00:05:33] Last year, I was able to donate forty three thousand five hundred dollars of your taxpayer money to the Medina Technical Educational Career Center.
[00:05:40] And just a few short weeks ago, I followed through with my promise again.
[00:05:44] And I donated the same amount to the Wayne County Career Center because I believe the future of this country is back with men and women working with their hands.
[00:05:54] Technology is great, but it has also dumbed us down.
[00:05:57] And we are seeing that every single day within our country.
[00:06:00] And it's something I will continue to fight for.
[00:06:02] So.
[00:06:03] We're talking with Max Miller, Congressman.
[00:06:07] Now, you're in the middle of reelection, of course, and your election, your your campaign.
[00:06:14] It's a little unique because you have two opponents.
[00:06:18] Is there.
[00:06:20] What is the difference between like having to run against two people versus just having one in the general election?
[00:06:28] So far and not.
[00:06:30] I'm only speaking from my experience, and this is the second time I've only run for office in this time.
[00:06:35] I am running against two individuals.
[00:06:36] But this has been no different than last time.
[00:06:39] I don't mention those individuals names.
[00:06:43] It's we don't need to.
[00:06:44] I am proud of the record that we have established in Congress.
[00:06:47] And that's what we're leaning on.
[00:06:49] I'm proud to tell people that we codified NEPA reforms, which is streamlining oil and natural gas into the state of Ohio from Pennsylvania, lowering energy prices for every American.
[00:06:59] I'm proud that we got 22000 more Border Patrol agents towards the border, which is an H.R.
[00:07:05] 2 provision that we got through, which is still sitting in the Senate, thanks to Chuck Schumer.
[00:07:09] But President Biden signed it into law because we're able to get it done.
[00:07:13] We got work requirements on social programs for the first time in decades.
[00:07:17] We got a 19.2 percent increase in pay for all military and a 5.2 increase in pay for all senior enlisted in the military.
[00:07:26] We have a lot of wins in this Congress and no one seems to talk about them a lot.
[00:07:31] And that is what I focus on as we continue to take care of every constituent within our office.
[00:07:37] And, you know, returning five million dollars back to constituents that's been sitting in the federal government for years in an economy like this is life changing.
[00:07:45] You know, getting a young woman out of a Turkish airport who was stuck there for 48 hours, who lost her passport, who almost was sent to prison.
[00:07:53] Our office was able to get her out.
[00:07:56] Things like that is what I am focused on in continuing to take care of the people of the 7th.
[00:08:02] And my opponents are my opponents.
[00:08:04] I'm sure that after November and we win again, we're going to get a couple more.
[00:08:09] It's just the nature of the business.
[00:08:12] Right. Right.
[00:08:14] So speaking of the district, let's talk a little bit about the district.
[00:08:17] What are some of the concerns and some of the priorities that you're hearing as you talk to the residents in your district?
[00:08:25] Without question.
[00:08:26] And I'd go back and I touched on it earlier, Darvio, but it is definitely immigration and inflation in the economy.
[00:08:32] You know, right now, the economy, our average constituent, you know, really is putting a couple thousand dollars on their credit card, looking at it as a small loan.
[00:08:41] But unfortunately, not truly understanding or maybe they do that.
[00:08:46] It's going to compound in an 18 to 25 percent interest rate that they may never be able to afford.
[00:08:51] But they have to make a decision to whether I'm going to put myself in debt or I'm going to feed my family tonight.
[00:08:57] And that is the Biden-Harris country that they have brought to us over the last three and a half years.
[00:09:03] These are the kitchen table issues that people care about.
[00:09:05] When we talk about the southern border, you can talk to any local law enforcement within our district, any chief of police.
[00:09:12] And if we went to the U.S. Marshals or the director of the FBI in Cleveland, all of them will tell you that we have found fentanyl directly connected to the southern border.
[00:09:22] And people used to make fun of me when I said that Ohio is a border state.
[00:09:26] Well, it's nothing to laugh about.
[00:09:29] But when you're being affected by policies that are killing Ohioans and 60,000 Americans every year by fentanyl overdose and it comes across the southern border, you know, that is a problem in our border state.
[00:09:42] And those are the issues that I consistently hear about, you know, throughout our country.
[00:09:47] And then for me personally, I'm very troubled by the lack of patriotism that I see.
[00:09:52] I cannot believe as a Marine and as a proud American that Americans are still burning the United States flag and stepping on it while raising other countries' flags that aren't even a democracy.
[00:10:04] It is incredibly upsetting.
[00:10:06] And the fabric of our country right now is so fragile that we really need to heal it socially and morally, but also through policy.
[00:10:15] I'm talking with Congressman Max Miller.
[00:10:17] And on that point, what are your thoughts on how to do that?
[00:10:21] What do you think can be done to help, you know, bring the country back together?
[00:10:25] We're so divided right now.
[00:10:27] And, you know, the issue of lack of patriotism is something that I've heard in multiple sectors as well.
[00:10:32] So talk a little bit about what your thoughts are that can fix that.
[00:10:38] You know, Darío, a lot of people are probably going to make fun of me for this one.
[00:10:42] But I've thought about it a lot.
[00:10:44] And so when it comes and I'm just going to say it, when it comes to rhetoric, you know, people say, oh, I don't care what this person says.
[00:10:50] And you know what?
[00:10:51] For the most part, they're right.
[00:10:53] You know, when it comes to Donald Trump's rhetoric and when it comes to the vice president's rhetoric, you know, I don't think that they're both palatable.
[00:11:00] But at a certain point, Darío, I thought about this.
[00:11:04] If someone I never met called me a nasty name, deplorable, disgusting, you know, whatever it may be, I'm probably not going to want to work with that person.
[00:11:15] Right.
[00:11:16] Even though I don't know them.
[00:11:17] Why would you say that about me?
[00:11:19] And right now we have political figures across the board.
[00:11:23] And it's not just the two candidates who will look at the other side and call them despicable or vermin or deplorable.
[00:11:31] And that matters.
[00:11:33] Now, policy with no pun, no pun intended, trumps that to a certain extent.
[00:11:39] But the healing of our country has to come with treating everyone with respect.
[00:11:43] And we don't have it anymore.
[00:11:45] You know, no one is being held accountable for their actions that they're taking.
[00:11:49] We have social and moral norms that should not be accepted, but currently are, which is creating a mental health crisis within our country.
[00:11:56] But going back to it, I mean, there's nothing wrong with being an adult and not looking at somebody and not using a swear word.
[00:12:04] OK, and I'm not soft.
[00:12:06] I'm a Marine.
[00:12:06] I swear more than anyone that I know.
[00:12:09] But there is a time and there is a place for proper rhetoric and to be the leader of the world on both sides of the aisle, to be clear, because it's on both sides.
[00:12:17] And once that healing process starts, I believe that you're probably going to find more of a Reagan-esque candidate that's going to emerge in the next 48 years after this election.
[00:12:28] Yeah, you know, it's been really interesting.
[00:12:31] It's been interesting to see how you have been able to cultivate relationships across the board in a way that I think people may not have expected when they didn't know who you were when you first ran for office.
[00:12:46] Talk a little bit about how you've been able to have those kind of relationships and bridge those gaps across all the lines that divide us right now.
[00:12:57] Yeah, thank you for that.
[00:12:59] We have all these tough problems, right, Darvio?
[00:13:01] And the only way that we can work through these tough problems is that we sit down together with people.
[00:13:07] And the other party, the Democrats, look, they're Americans.
[00:13:12] They're not the enemy.
[00:13:13] You know who the enemy is?
[00:13:14] The enemy is Russia.
[00:13:15] The enemy is North Korea.
[00:13:16] The enemy is China.
[00:13:17] The enemy is Iran.
[00:13:18] Those are the enemies.
[00:13:19] We're dealing with Americans who have a different view on policy that we need to work with.
[00:13:25] But the only way that you can come to a reasonable, amicable solution is if you sit down with someone and see what you have in common.
[00:13:34] Because if you don't, you're never going to get anywhere.
[00:13:36] And so for me, I wanted to sit down with Chantel, Amelia, Greg, Marcy, and Joyce.
[00:13:42] And I wanted to build relationships across the aisle because it is the only way that we can work through these issues.
[00:13:49] We cannot continue just to pass partisan legislation.
[00:13:53] It gets our country nowhere.
[00:13:55] And I believe it gets us to a volatile place like we are now, a very tense and emotional situation.
[00:14:02] If we could work together and we can find more so of what we have in common than what we don't, which I know is a little bit harder, but it is 1000% possible.
[00:14:12] And that is how we can move forward and heal this country and work on legislation and actually get things done.
[00:14:19] Because you can't just take one side.
[00:14:22] You've got to have input from everybody.
[00:14:24] And if you look at the presidential election, the country's split 50-50 right now.
[00:14:29] So it's our duty to make sure that we take care of everyone in that manner.
[00:14:33] And I believe it's the only effective way to get the work done is to work with people on the other side of the aisle.
[00:14:39] The conclusion of our interview with Congressman Max Miller when we come back here on The Outlaws.
[00:14:49] Welcome back to The Outlaws Radio Show.
[00:14:55] Welcome back. Welcome back.
[00:14:56] You're listening to The Outlaws.
[00:14:57] Make sure that you subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, or wherever you get your podcasts.
[00:15:03] And if you listen to this show on Apple, please make sure you leave us a five-star review and a comment.
[00:15:08] It's very important for the algorithm.
[00:15:09] And for those of you that have already done so, thank you oh so very much.
[00:15:13] And now to the conclusion of our interview with Congressman Max Miller.
[00:15:17] Welcome to Congressman Max Miller.
[00:15:19] We have a few minutes here.
[00:15:20] I know you've got a hard stop in a little bit.
[00:15:21] And I've got a couple more questions for you.
[00:15:23] One, of course, we have to touch on what's going on in the Middle East.
[00:15:29] Give a little bit of your thoughts about the situation of turmoil going over there.
[00:15:34] And, of course, you know, the heinous attack that was on Israel and the war that has sparked as a result of that.
[00:15:42] And, you know, I personally believe Israel has the right to defend themselves.
[00:15:46] And they absolutely should do that.
[00:15:48] But give a little bit of your thoughts about what's going on in the Middle East right now.
[00:15:54] Well, I just want to say I am just one of two Republican Jews in all of Congress.
[00:16:00] And a lot of people don't know that.
[00:16:01] It's myself and a gentleman named David Kustoff.
[00:16:04] So out of every Republican in Congress, there's only two of us.
[00:16:07] And we happen to be in the House of Representatives.
[00:16:09] When it comes to Israel and what they are facing in terms of evil, and make no mistake, this is the definition of evil.
[00:16:17] I went to Israel three weeks after the attack.
[00:16:21] And what I witnessed were scenes directly out of the Holocaust.
[00:16:26] And it was an unprovoked attack.
[00:16:28] Israel has every right to defend herself.
[00:16:30] And they are.
[00:16:31] And I believe they are taking every consideration when it comes to everything that they are doing to make sure it is the safest war that they can possibly execute.
[00:16:41] But at the end of the day, Darvio, war is war.
[00:16:44] And when you are hiding civilians in mosques and when you're hiding civilians in hospitals and when you're hiding civilians to protect you, it is a very, very difficult situation to make.
[00:16:55] And Israel has been doing the very best that they can.
[00:16:59] And I believe that they're going to continue to operate to make sure that on October 7th, it never happens again.
[00:17:04] And I fully stand by Israel.
[00:17:06] I support Israel.
[00:17:07] I know that the United States does as well, the vast majority of us, over 80 percent in polling.
[00:17:12] And I believe they need to continue to push in order to make sure that every Israeli is safe.
[00:17:17] But that is their decision to make.
[00:17:19] And I support them in what they do.
[00:17:22] I think it's terrible.
[00:17:23] And I think that the protests that we have seen here in the United States supporting a terrorist organization is absolutely despicable.
[00:17:30] You know, there is a difference between Palestine and Hamas.
[00:17:34] And people have seemed to conflate both of them.
[00:17:37] Hamas is an evil, evil organization that throws homosexuals off rooftops, that beats women.
[00:17:44] They do not let them read.
[00:17:45] You barely can go out of the house.
[00:17:47] It is incredible, the horrific scenes of what is going on over there and how they treat people.
[00:17:54] So Israel, I believe, will be successful as they have faced many hardships since their inception in 1948.
[00:18:00] And I believe that they're going to see this through.
[00:18:03] It's just a very challenging time.
[00:18:05] And it's very sad to see on every side.
[00:18:08] And on that, I think we've seen, at least in the public sphere, you mentioned a little bit about the protests.
[00:18:15] We've seen an alarming, an alarming rise of anti-Semitism, like just public, overt, like vitriolic anti-Semitism.
[00:18:27] Talk a little bit about that.
[00:18:28] What has been obviously about being a Jewish American as well?
[00:18:32] What has that been like to see that kind of hatred rise up in this country?
[00:18:38] Well, I've never truly, I have experienced anti-Semitism before in my life, but not like what I have faced over the last couple of years in some change with October 7th.
[00:18:52] I've never had my life threatened the way that I did before.
[00:18:55] I had to get a new cell phone number.
[00:18:57] I had to do a couple of other things.
[00:18:59] People were sending me death threats nonstop.
[00:19:03] But I'm not cowering, and I never will.
[00:19:05] And so, you know, people like that, they want to intimidate people like me.
[00:19:10] That's a bad bet.
[00:19:11] You know, people pick on Jewish people because they think that they're weak.
[00:19:15] And we see this, and that's been a narrative that has, a false narrative that has been established for a very long time.
[00:19:22] Well, Darvio, they're running into a new breed of Jews, like me, and I think we're kind of tough.
[00:19:27] And we're not going to hide.
[00:19:29] And we're going to continue to go out there.
[00:19:31] And we are a very peaceful people who just want peace.
[00:19:34] That's all we want.
[00:19:36] And that's all Israel wants.
[00:19:37] And so when it comes to what we're seeing across the country, you know, TikTok, Instagram, even Twitter, they all promote anti-Semitism.
[00:19:45] And it is absolutely disgusting.
[00:19:47] And people look at just regular civilians who cut videos as experts.
[00:19:51] And we need to do a much better job when it comes to educating the American people about what is going on and the disinformation that is reaching them by foreign actors like Iran and Russia.
[00:20:04] You know, look, the Democrats are obviously influenced by Iranian proxies and people in the Middle East.
[00:20:11] Unfortunately, some people in the Republican Party, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, I think are influenced by the Russians and the rhetoric that she spouts because it is not factual, nor is it appropriate.
[00:20:22] And I think it's happening.
[00:20:24] Well, I don't think.
[00:20:24] I think I know it's happening to the American people and they are being indoctrinated with what they're seeing and reading.
[00:20:31] And we're not doing as much of our homework.
[00:20:34] And I'll just wrap up with this.
[00:20:36] Technology is incredible.
[00:20:38] We have these supercomputers in our pockets and they have done so much for us.
[00:20:43] And technology has brought us to greater heights.
[00:20:46] Technology has also dumbed us down, Darvio.
[00:20:49] It has made people just not think correctly or the right way.
[00:20:54] Everything is at our fingertips.
[00:20:56] Instant gratification, knowing everything.
[00:20:58] And then people see it and then they believe it.
[00:21:01] And that's just not the truth.
[00:21:03] And those aren't facts anymore.
[00:21:05] And we need to set that right.
[00:21:07] And there is a way to do that by continuing to go out there every day and to educate people on anti-Semitism and really what the truth is about the Jewish people.
[00:21:17] Because unfortunately, Jewish people have been targeted since the inception of them being around.
[00:21:25] Right.
[00:21:26] Right.
[00:21:26] Absolutely.
[00:21:26] So I know we got to wrap here.
[00:21:28] I got one more question for you.
[00:21:29] I'm going to switch gears real quick.
[00:21:31] I know that we've been talking a lot.
[00:21:35] The country has been talking a lot about debt and all the issues that we're having.
[00:21:40] And we've also been talking about how Washington seems to kind of be in a bubble.
[00:21:46] And sometimes it's hard for them to understand what's going on through the rest of the country, especially in a place like your district and our area here, Ohio, and middle America here.
[00:22:00] And I know some people have suggested that maybe a good way to kind of break some of that up is to move some of the agencies, you know, outside of D.C. and into other parts of the country.
[00:22:14] I know that there was a couple of proposals about that as well.
[00:22:18] Is that something that you would support?
[00:22:21] Maybe moving a, I don't know, health and human services or something or, you know, some of these districts, some of these agencies to kind of get that power instead of it being concentrated into D.C.
[00:22:33] out into the district so they can understand what the real people are doing.
[00:22:37] Absolutely.
[00:22:38] So this was actually brought up when I was working in the White House in the Trump administration.
[00:22:42] And I didn't have a role.
[00:22:44] I was an operations guy at the time in terms of devising the game plan of how they were going to relocate the departments and agencies.
[00:22:50] But I am a fan of it.
[00:22:52] It does bring the career federal bureaucrats outside of the swamp of D.C.
[00:22:57] And I can tell you that Schedule F employees, not all of them and not the vast majority of them, but enough of them aren't being held accountable for just I'm going to say it for not being good at their jobs.
[00:23:08] If they were in the real world in the private sector, they probably would have gotten fired a long, long time ago.
[00:23:13] So when it comes to revamping the federal government, I think it would be good to get some of that toxicity out of Washington, D.C.
[00:23:20] You know, you talk about the Department of Energy.
[00:23:23] Maybe that should be in Houston.
[00:23:24] Right.
[00:23:25] You know, you talk about the Department of Treasury.
[00:23:27] Maybe that should be in New York City.
[00:23:29] I mean, things like that that we can look at, you know, Department of Natural Resource or Department of Interior.
[00:23:35] That could be in Nebraska or North Dakota.
[00:23:36] I like that.
[00:23:39] But we still do need to have access.
[00:23:42] And cabinet secretaries will probably be in D.C. a little bit more than the rest of their career staff.
[00:23:46] But the crux of the national debt issue, Darvio, in my opinion, which nobody likes to talk about because it's a scary issue, is that 76, just about 70, over 70 percent of our mandatory spending is on health care and social security.
[00:24:01] And that is what is driving the fiscal cliff.
[00:24:04] We have never, ever lowered our national debt in our country's history by ever lowering discretionary spending.
[00:24:12] Yet that is all members of Congress want to do.
[00:24:15] All they want to do is tackle the easy things.
[00:24:17] Well, we'll just take some discretionary down and tell the American people we're saving them money.
[00:24:21] The issue is that we have health care and social security, which aren't going to be solvent sometime soon.
[00:24:28] And if members of Congress aren't given the opportunity to work on health care and Medicare, my concern is it will be insolvent in the next six to eight years.
[00:24:38] And that is what I'm concerned about.
[00:24:40] And if we can find a pragmatic game plan to make these programs solvent and efficient and run more responsibly, it would free up so much money that we once again could lower our national debt, become a liquid natural gas exporter, having other countries reliant upon our LNG the same way President Trump did, and then start putting sanctions on foreign countries to make them buy oil off of us like China, which is definitely possible.
[00:25:08] So altogether, I think we have a good way forward here.
[00:25:12] Correct. Absolutely.
[00:25:14] So great ideas on addressing the debt and also on moving some of those agencies out.
[00:25:22] I would love to see either HUD or HHS here in Cleveland as well.
[00:25:26] I think that would make a lot of sense also.
[00:25:28] Let everybody know how to – if they want to get in touch with you, how to follow you on social media, how to keep up with the campaign, all that good stuff.
[00:25:35] Thank you, Darvio.
[00:25:37] Please go to votemaxmiller.com.
[00:25:39] Please check out our issues, our campaign page.
[00:25:42] And please go to our handles.
[00:25:44] It's now x at maxmilleroh and at congressmanmaxmiller for our official account.
[00:25:52] And on Instagram, it's at maxmilleroh.
[00:25:55] And I just thank you again for having me, Darvio.
[00:25:58] This was a lot of fun.
[00:25:59] It's great to catch up with you.
[00:26:00] Absolutely, man.
[00:26:01] Thanks for stopping by, man, and giving us the time.
[00:26:03] We appreciate it.
[00:26:04] Of course, man.
[00:26:05] I'll talk to you soon.
[00:26:05] I'm sure I'll see you around.
[00:26:07] All right.
[00:26:07] One more time, I want to send a special shout-out to Congressman Max Miller for coming on the show.
[00:26:11] We really appreciate it.
[00:26:12] We are out of here.
[00:26:13] We'll see you next time.
[00:26:14] Peace.
[00:26:35] This has been a presentation of the FCB Podcast Network, where real talk lives.
[00:26:43] Visit us online at fcbpodcasts.com.