[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We're joined once again by our good friend and colleague, Max Pizarro, Editor-in-Chief InsiderNJ.com, our longtime media partner.

The website is up.

Hey, Max, how you doing, buddy?

- Hey, Steve.

How you doing, man?

Good to see you.

- Good to see you.

Hey, biggest takeaway for you from the important election of November 4th?

- I think, New Jersey dealt a blow, and sent a very strong message to the perpetually whining president of the United States.

They don't like where the country is under his leadership and his watch, and they said so at the polls.

- Max, you fought, and by the way, go on the Insider NJ to find out more of Max's work and the other great stuff there.

This is the headline.

I don't know if you wrote the headline, Max.

"Trump defeats Ciattarelli."

He wasn't even on the ballot, Max, explain.

- Yes, sir, I did write that headline.

I felt that, Steve, the night before election day, Jack Ciattarelli appeared in the hometown where he grew up, his childhood home of Raritan.

He stood beneath the statue of John Basilone, Congressional Medal of Honor winner and a hero to the entire country.

- World War II.

- Yes, sir.

- Yep.

- And I think that Jack Ciattarelli was trying to live in that shadow, but he couldn't escape the shadow of Donald Trump.

When this election cycle began, people talked about affordability being the overriding issue, and it was, but Trump continually interfered, reminding people that life in New Jersey has gotten more unaffordable for people, and he's not done anything to help the economy.

And so, Jack Ciattarelli couldn't get out from under that shadow.

- So again, tariffs, we'll talk issues.

Max, I was talking to Max offline.

I said, Max, you know, it's interesting.

I try to separate politics from policy and it doesn't work.

Right, Max?

You can't separate them.

- Let's go through all the issues, Steve.

- Okay.

- Unemployment is up.

- Do tariffs.

- Sure, tariffs.

So tariffs have not, in fact, at this point in time, shown to do anything to help people's economic needs.

They've, in fact, made things more expensive and they've made life more difficult for people.

- Gateway Tunnel.

And again, as we speak, allegedly, there's an agreement on the shutdown.

Government's gonna function again, allegedly, but by January 30th, there's gonna be another deadline.

We don't know where that is, but Gateway Tunnel.

Why are you shaking your head, Max?

- Because the president jumped into the last month of this apparently close election, and said that he had terminated the Gateway Tunnel.

And that certainly did Ciattarelli no favors, Steve.

It was a blow in the north, both to commuters who are depending on that tunnel to be finished, and the workers, 100,000 workers who have jobs at that tunnel.

So, it seemed to be a vindictive move by the President when he announced, almost gleefully, that he had terminated the tunnel.

- Immigration, mass deportation, ICE raids.

- Again, when you have an aggressive ICE policy, immigration and naturalization customs, masked men with guns, throwing public officials in handcuffs in our urban areas and also separating families.

Look, Steve, by the time this was all over, we watched Latino voters, who had in fact voted for Trump in Passaic last year.

go to Mikie Sherrill in large numbers.

68% of Latinos went to the Sherrill campaign.

And again, it was the ICE immigration policy, seen as overly aggressive, seen as cruel by this Trump administration that in part contributed to that result.

- Max, you and I talk policy all the time.

President, excuse me, Governor Sherrill is gonna face a whole series of challenges.

Top three, you're on, Max.

- Well, listen, I think the top one is going to be the utility rate.

She promised that she would create a state of emergency on day one.

Now that's gonna be very difficult, Steve.

It's a tremendous problem.

We have a lack of energy in this state.

She's talked about the things she wants to do.

She wants to incentivize solar energy.

She wants to create nuclear energy.

It's a big issue, Steve, okay.

That's number one.

Housing.

Housing is a tremendous issue.

It always has been in New Jersey, the financial industry.

- Affordable housing.

- Affordable housing.

We don't have affordable housing in this state.

So, in fact, Ras Baraka, who came in second in the primary, would only endorse Mikie Sherrill if she promised to do something, if she promised to create more affordable housing in New Jersey.

So that's number two.

And I think number three, she's going to be saddled with a president, now, he's been weakened because of the results, but of course, he hasn't acknowledged the results.

He hasn't acknowledged the possibility that he might have been responsible for those results.

And so, we have a vindictive president who's gonna be out to get Sherrill and out to get New Jersey.

- But hold on, Max, what does that mean out to get, there are 9.5 million people in the state.

What does it mean to get back at Mikie Sherrill for what she said about him in the campaign?

What impact does that have on 9.5 million residents of the state?

- Sure, Mikie Sherrill will be in a position where she will have to claw back the federal dollars that Trump and his Republican enablers at the federal level will be tried to withhold from New Jersey at every turn, Steve.

- But how does... You actually believe that President Trump would intentionally cut back or reduce, if not eliminate federal funding to New Jersey-centric initiatives that impact in a positive way New Jersey citizens to get back at Mikie Sherrill?

- Yes, I think so, Steve, and we've seen that this president and his cronies live in a bubble.

And they believe that they would be helping New Jersey by arresting Ras Baraka and going and separating the families of undocumented workers.

That's their vision for how to help New Jersey.

And of course, New Jerseyans sadly rejected his version of this country and of New Jersey.

So, will he get the message?

We can only hope, Steve.

- Got a minute left.

Hey, Max, you and I to also talk about media all the time, the future of public media in the state in flux as we speak around the holidays 2025.

Why do you believe it's so important?

Regardless of who operates what has been NJ PBS, they've done a great job with our partners at WNET for years.

Last day of June, that won't be the case.

There'll be a new operator.

Whoever that is, don't know, we'll be a part of it.

Without being too self-serving, why are we not the enemy of the people, Max, and hopefully part of the solution, please.

- Steve, I believe that public television, public broadcasting has always prioritized the people.

That's why it's called public television.

That's why it's called public broadcasting.

The interests are not some private, strange engineered agenda, but the public interest, and that's why it's critical.

- Max Pizarro, every day, whether you call it public or private media, it's "Insider NJ."

We're not in the simply the mutual admiration society.

It's because I learn a lot from what Max writes every day on InsiderNJ.com.

Go on their website right now, check out what Max is doing, and it'll keep you up to date on politics, public policy, and why things matter in the state.

Hey, Max, my friend, good to see you.

We'll talk soon.

- Thank you, Steve.

Pleasure.

- All the best.

I'm Steve Adubato, that's Max Pizarro.

Check out his work.

We'll see you next time.

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