SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hey everyone, and welcome back to today's show. Exciting to be talking with Republican Congressman Jimmy Petronas of Florida's first congressional district. Congressman, thanks for joining me this afternoon. Thanks for having me. So my course, my first question for you, sir, is this. You've been in Congress now just recently. You're a you're a newer member. What has surprised you the most about your short time there? What were your expectations going in? Did they meet your expectations, or have you just been completely taken by surprise with the ins and outs of the house?

SPEAKER_00 0:34

So that that's that's a very common question. And I tell people all you see on national TV is the toxicity of this process. I tell them what surprised me the most is how nice the people are up here. And now, granted, I came from the restaurant business. Um, I'm a big believer in taking care of the customer. So I've got a little bit of maybe of a little bit of a different disposition or outlook on engaging uh my colleagues or engaging the process. But I tell people if you're a member of Congress from Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, you've been vacationing in Northwest Florida for the last several generations. So there's already a familiarity with my district, with all these other members of Congress. So so they they already, you know, come down, they visit, they have familiarity. So that helps. Uh it makes it easier to make friends. Um, there's just a lot of common interest because we are in the same circles. Um, and then on the other thing that's been fascinating is all the members of Congress who trained at any of our installations in Northwest Florida. There's a bunch. And all those training missions, those you know, development of their skills while they served our nation, they spent a chapter of their life in Northwest Florida. So their kids were born in our hospitals. So then you've got all those guys that are members of Congress who now have an affection or have a chapter of their life professionally that was attributed to Northwest Florida. So, I mean, that's probably been the biggest surprise is I didn't think it was going to be that easy to be able to connect with people on the familiarity of my district because a lot of what you do up here, you fight for your district. Well, they know what our district is all about because either they've been here professionally or they've been here, you know, casually with a family vacation.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

So that's interesting because if you were to just watch the news, you wouldn't get that impression that there's an air of camaraderie there. So do you think what we're seeing on TV is simply camera performance?

SPEAKER_00 2:44

There's a lot of that. I tell people this process, there's a lot of really good members of Congress here. They love their country, they're here for the right reasons, and then you got a handful of knuckleheads. It's it's the rule of numbers, you know. I don't care if you're at work or your you know, your bowling league, you know, church, you name it. It's just the rule of numbers. And there's gonna be 10% of whatever group that you meet with on a regular basis that really, you know, make you want to pull your hair out. And it exists up here too. It it is a it is a cross section of what everyday life is. And so, like I said, there's some there's some very serious people up here, and there's some that they're just very serious about themselves.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Let's talk about Iran for a moment because right before we started recording, President Trump announced that they are extending the ceasefire agreement. What do you think, just overall? What are your top line thoughts on Iran? Is it time to cut our losses and get out? Should we keep going until we get everything that we're demanding? What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 3:45

I think we've got to stay until the nuclear threat is eliminated. Um now, I think what is key to note here, and the president has touched on it, you touched on it when he posted on Truth Social about the initial ceasefire, is you've got Pakistan who is there. That, you know what, they don't want tens of thousands of Iranian refugees coming into Pakistan with no power, no water, uh, no uh no roads or bridges. So Pakistan has definitely been motivated to want to bring this down. And the way I kind of refer to it, I said I said Pakistan speaks Iranian better than we do. So that there's, I think there's some motivation selfishly on their part about trying to bring this in for a landing. The rest of the Middle East has been pretty unified, and which I think has been a good thing. When the president went, and this is just Jimmy handicapping the situation. I think when the president last year he went and visited all those Middle Eastern countries, met with all those heads of state, they had all the pomp and circumstance and the parades. You know, he visited with everybody except for Israel. And I think that was purpose, as he wanted to find out what was important to those other uh Middle Eastern countries at the same time. They made commitments for their investments into the U.S. economy. I think what the president picked up on is all those countries there, they like keeping up with the Kardashians. They love the Western economy, they like prosperity, they like a safe environment. And as the president had this dialogue, you know, hey, well, what's your problems that you want me to help with? And they all had the same thing. They don't trust Iran. They're frustrated with Iran. Iran is a rogue state, and we want those guys to be neutralized. We don't want to have to sleep with one eye open anymore. So I think this is all part of a bigger commitment that the president's got. This all rolls into the Board of Peace that he's been trying to establish as, you know what, we're gonna get rid of the threat. We're gonna get this Board of Peace really established, and you're gonna take care of your own policing crises in the future. I want to get rid of the threat, but now moving forward, you're gonna be responsible for your own backyard and doing your own neighborhood watch program. So I again, I really think the president has got a commitment. Get rid of the nukes. Uh, they have no Navy, they have no Air Force, their leadership is decimated. Um, I think we're you know very close to finishing it because I think the president wants to get out of there too.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Are you disappointed that the citizens of Iran have not yet risen up to try to reform the government? Because by all accounts, yes, the top leadership has been decimated, but the clerics are still in charge. There's been no movement toward any type of democratic government that we've seen. Does that disappoint you? And do you still think there is an opportunity for that sort of transition?

SPEAKER_00 6:37

I think it could, but one, I have no idea if they even have any access to the internet. So I mean, I still, as far as I know, Iranian state TV is controlling all of the message. Uh, and it's no different as how they tried to um politicize the shooting down uh of our jets uh that that did go down. Um this is this is all trying to show victory where they have none. I I I do think that it's it is promising that the ceasefire is getting extended. I do think it's promising that they had to find out again that the stove is hot as we took out one of their freighters. I think that was a uh that was a real test point that they had to find out can we get by? And Secretary Heggseth proved a point that, you know, we're standing by this. We want to stop. We want you to, you know, go on your merry way without the ability to hurt others.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

All right. I want to shift gears and talk a little bit about a piece of legislation I know that's important to you. And it's called the Protect Act. It involves big tech and social media platforms. What is it? Can you break it down for my listeners?

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Yeah, so like right now, um the Protect Act is is creating a um a protection, a liability exemption on social media companies, internet providers, and these technology companies. And it and it's and it's it's good as uh as been accomplished. It needs to simply go away. Right now, as simple put, I can go on my local television station and say, hey, I want to buy an ad encouraging that we're gonna burn down this building this afternoon. The television station says, I can't do that. You know, I'll be liable if I put it on the air. But you can go on Facebook or one of the other social media platforms and go put a post, hey, I want to go burn down this building, and there's no recourse. Okay. So you're literally those platforms are enabling a threat of violence or an action of violence or self-harm, you name it. Um, and so the PRECTACT to me, where it hits home is with kids. Um, I think our young development minds are not prepared for the type of content that is on social media, and it is becoming more and more aggressive, egregious, uh, out of line. You know, it it brings the largest way we can get people's attention by shock value because we're driving eyeballs. And it's in addition, just a way we got to make sure we keep these devices sticky. If you're a mom and dad and you have teenagers and you see their addiction to their devices, you know exactly what I'm talking about. So, you know what? If the social media companies and big tech know that they're liable for the content that's available on their platforms because they are being too greedy at the point of profit of you know, capitalizing on our children, then that's a problem. And so you start to see some movement by, you know, Meta is now creating their Instagram teen accounts. I think these are all fine and well. YouTube is now doing the same thing, but why don't you let the parents opt in as opposed to forcing our parents to opt out of these products? And you know what? We can reward our kids. These companies are making a lot of money, they should work with the parents. And I truly feel like if the app is free, then you are the product. So this is what they're doing. They're they're really seizing us as a way for cash flow. I get it. I'm capitalist too, but you know, our kids should be off limits.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Let me play devil's advocate with you for a minute. You have a member of your district who comes up to you and they're like, Congressman, look, I like this bill. I like the spirit of it, but what I'm kind of worried about is if the big tech companies think they're going to be liable now, they might try to censor content by doing things like closing down comment sections on their on their social media platforms. How would you address a concern like that?

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Well, then my attitude is, you know what, why don't you just create greater transparency? Um, look, I I have um I've seen it firsthand where you know death threats are made on social media, and you know, these are things that you have to take seriously. Let's go look at the FSU shooter. This individual developed a personal relationship with ChatGPT. And as he started to befriend this entity, which is great, you know, whatever floats your boat. But then when it starts crossing the line, he starts asking, as the documents show, well, I've got a Glock. Where's the safety on a Glock? Well, a Glock doesn't have a safety. You just point the gun and pull the trigger. And then the next question is well, FSU Student Union, when is the busiest time at the FSU Student Union? So, so here, big tech has enabled a series of questions that ultimately led to the two losses of life. Now, if I started searching the internet for that, would I be outed? Maybe not. But if I'm starting to ask maybe, you know, other people these questions, then there's a moral obligation, or they could even be an accomplice to murder. So again, I hear what you're talking about regarding the censorship, but we've we've allowed this to get to a point where these companies have to be more proactive, especially when it comes to our kids.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

I want to ask you about congressional ethics. In recent weeks, we've had three, because right before we came on, uh Congresswoman McCormick of Florida resign. We also have had uh the gentleman from Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzalez resign. Different reasons, but do you have confidence in Congress to sort of self-address these issues within the House? Or should there, you know, everything that's on the ethics committee is done very secretly, which I understand people are given the presumption of innocence. Do you think there's enough transparency when it comes to situations like this, though?

SPEAKER_00 12:36

I think there always can be more transparency, but but here's the reality of it. Uh, I was in a position in my previous job where I had 300 sworn law enforcement and we investigated insurance fraud. And those those investigations have to be kept private because look, if the investigation shows that there's no wrongdoing or no crime committed, then you know you're going to go ruin somebody's life over where there was obviously maybe accusations or investigation, but there was no evidence of breaking the law. I feel like this is no different. Look, whatever you do outside the walls of Congress ultimately may catch up with you. If you're a bad person, if you abuse people, you know, verbally, you know, when you break the law, there are going to be consequences. But sometimes you just may be a jerk, you may be a nasty person, you may be, you may be hateful, you may like to, you know, you know, do things in a setting that is not culturally accepted. But it doesn't mean you broke the law. So again, I think you you definitely have personalities up here. Remember, I told you there's there's knuckleheads, there's people that that take themselves seriously. This is a way they bring attention to themselves. This is a way that they try to raise money. But this is why there's a there's an ethics committee here in Congress. This is why investigations take place. Most times, just like with Representative McCormick, she has broken the law, she decided she wanted to try to stick it out, but ultimately, what she has done will ultimately hurt her in the long run. Whether she's gonna be hurt by Congress, hurt by a federal investigation, or both, she just cut her losses by eliminating the jurisdiction of Congress to investigate her anymore by quitting. And you know what? When you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. And I think she did the right thing by resigning. Otherwise, she was gonna be thrown out.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

There's a referendum that's taking place in Virginia about redistricting. It would basically gerrymander so bad that there would be one Republican seat left. It would be 10 to 1 in a state that typically votes Republican between 40 and 45 percent. Florida has also been considering doing redistricting. By all indications that Virginia redistricting will pass, by probably a small margin, but most people would probably agree. So do you think it's appropriate for Florida to step into this fight as well?

SPEAKER_00 14:54

No, look, I think that's the the the governor has wanted and toyed with the idea of redistricting. He has called a special session. I I've purposely tried to keep firewalled off from it. Um arguably the point is I don't want to be part of any type of legal challenge that you know Jimmy Patronas had a dialogue with a member of the state legislature that could selfishly, you know, influence a district. So I just I purposely I don't I don't get into it, I don't comment on it. I I was in the legislative process. Um I don't I don't want to be uh a party to any potential legal matters that ultimately could help or hurt me. So um, you know, I think what's happening in Virginia is is strictly political. Um I think the governor there, it's it's interesting that most folks may not realize it, but the governor of Virginia is only allowed to serve one term. So while they've got a Democratic governor, which they did not have last time, and they've got a democratic legislature, they're just trying to, in my opinion, run the tables on the politics of the state that they currently have, which could ultimately affect midterms, which is the only time they can ever do it.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Right, right. What would you say is the issue that motivates you the most?

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Kids. Kids. Look, uh I I think kids and and and then you can take it a little further. Kids and spending. Spending because I don't want to leave our kids dead. Um, kids because I don't like it when companies take advantage of kids. Um I think our kids are very innocent. Look, there's days where I still miss, you know, when there was only three television channels and it shut off at 11 o'clock at night with the national anthem and people had to go to bed. Um, but as we have started to see, you know, our devices become more part of our everyday lives. It's it's hard to divorce yourself from your device. I get it. But when a push notification comes on at 2 o'clock in the morning and it, you know, it triggers your child to now be glued to a device watching reels or what have you because they are addictive and they do, you know, prey on our kids with the algorithms that they they run. Uh, this is where I feel like we have to step in. You know, I don't like big government, I don't like creating regulations. I like for people to be responsible. But when these corporations are profiting off of our kids, that's where, you know, I I got to draw the line. You know what? Uh, they didn't sign up for this, but you're being a predator to their young developing minds, and they're not mature enough to manage some of the emotions, some of the graphics, some of the things you're talking about. We do not need to replace parroting with technology.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

All right, Congressman. Well, I want to thank you very much for coming on. I really enjoyed the conversation and would love to have you back again in the future to discuss other things.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

I I enjoyed it. This was fun. You're you you got game. And uh look, whatever I can be available to you, if you say, Oh God, I got nobody to talk to, just let me know. I'm I'm sure we can make time and would love to join you again. I'm real active on on my my uh ex account. It's at Jimmy Patronas. My DMs are open. If anybody wants to reach out, please do.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

All right, thank you again, sir. See ya. Thanks.