Steve Cortes, president of the League of American Workers, said that green energy spending has not delivered the promised outcomes for underserved communities. This assertion was made during an interview titled “The First Americans Are…America First!”
“It’s just not going to be readily accepted,” said Cortes. “People haven’t done their research. There’s literally trillions of dollars that have gone to this segment. Not what they said it was going to.”
Recent critiques of federal green energy investments have raised concerns that rural and working-class communities are experiencing land use conflicts, increased utility rates, and minimal job creation from large wind and solar projects. According to The Wall Street Journal, local residents in rural areas often argue that these federally funded developments primarily benefit outside investors and urban consumers while altering landscapes and threatening traditional livelihoods. Critics say the push for rapid green energy expansion has sometimes overlooked community input and economic trade-offs.
Federal spending on green energy projects under the Biden administration exceeded $370 billion following the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. This historic investment includes tax incentives, grants, and direct funding for renewables, grid upgrades, and clean vehicles. The goal is to accelerate decarbonization and boost clean energy jobs, making it the largest such initiative in U.S. history.
According to Reuters, federal wind and solar initiatives were projected to sharply cut emissions and spur local jobs; however, actual results have varied. Some regions saw fewer green jobs than expected, while grid reliability issues and project delays surfaced due to permitting and supply chain challenges. Despite these gaps, the transition has reduced overall U.S. emissions but not as quickly as initially forecast.
Cortes leads the League of American Workers and is known for his roles as a financial strategist and political commentator. As noted by the Key Speakers Bureau, he spent 25 years in financial markets before becoming a senior advisor to Donald Trump and a spokesman for Ron DeSantis’s 2024 campaign Political Action Committee (PAC). His focus includes populist labor advocacy and economic nationalism, regularly appearing on major news networks.
According to its official site, the League of American Workers is a conservative advocacy group founded to promote worker-first policies and challenge established union leadership. Led by Cortes, it targets issues impacting working-class Americans, opposes globalist economic trends, and pushes for populist reforms within the labor sector. The organization focuses on media campaigns and political advocacy to advance its mission.
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FULL, UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT
Steve Cortes interviews Former Navajo Nation VP Myron Lizer on Trump, the Wind Scam, “Navajo Code Talkers,” and more…
Former Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer joins Steve Cortes for a powerful and unapologetic interview about faith, freedom, and the future of Indian Country. Lizer reveals why tribal lands are America’s Last Frontier—a potential powerhouse of energy, industry, and economic independence if Washington would get out of the way.
From laying hands on President Trump in the Oval Office to calling out the false promises of the Biden administration, Lizer delivers a bold, faith-driven vision for Native American communities rooted in self-reliance, sovereignty, and true partnership—not handouts.
He also exposes the hypocrisy of the green energy agenda, the devastating effects of federal overreach, and what tribal nations really need to thrive in the 21st century.
Topics covered:
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Why Trump gained ground with Native American voters
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The untapped power of tribal sovereignty
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How wind and solar projects are harming—not helping—rural America
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Navajo energy resources and the fight to drill on tribal lands
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The story behind Tesla showrooms on Indian reservations
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And what “Forgotten No More” really means
The First Americans Are…America First!
Myron, you had a pretty distinct honor. You got to speak to the Republican National Convention in 2020. Tell us about it, please.
0:06
That was a hoot back in 2020. Yes, virtually on the homeland there in Shiprock, New Mexico, with the Shiprock Pinnacle behind me. I wrote my own speech. They vetted it and said, yeah, let’s do it. So what an honor. I think it was the first time a tribal leader on the Republican National Convention spoke.
0:23
So it was just something that I felt I needed to do. And one of the things that I spoke about was an appeal to heaven. This was to signify to President Trump that the faith aspect was highly in play as well, is that we know our hands shouldn’t be out to the federal government for all of our,
0:40
you know, the budget and money for whatever, you know, public safety or anything. economic development, and it seems like it’s a bad posture to have, but we really wanted to be released into our own self-sustaining and self-reliant measures that the federal government, well, I guess, I don’t want to say allow, but basically that’s kind of them.
1:02
So many agency overlaps of oversight that we have tremendous bureaucracy, tremendous red tape, and just… Wanted to signify to him that, you know, help us be invited to the American dream.
1:16
So you’re the former vice president of the Navajo Nation. What attracted you? What drew you to public service to serve your people?
1:23
Well, funny story. I wasn’t even looking to become vice president. It landed in my lap. I wasn’t a politico, as they say, but I think I knew a little bit about a lot of things and gave me the confidence to say, you know, I think we’ve got to give it a
1:39
I tried with some prayer with my wife and her approval. It was like, yeah, something we got to do. I was selling hammers and nails in a hardware store that our family owns. And to become vice president, I believe, was just something that I couldn’t pass up. I didn’t want to be one of those guys to say,
1:54
you know, I should have seen the big one that I got. Right. Somebody wanted me to be vice president. And I actually had the opportunity and I jumped on it.
2:02
Yeah. What are you most proud of from your tenure as vice president for the Navajo Nation?
2:06
Probably developing a relationship with President Trump and the administration. It had to be healed previously. And, you know, the makeup in Indian country is predominantly Democrat. As far as tribal leaders go, they’re always working with the Democrats more readily. Probably, and likewise, there’s more outreach from the Democrat Party to the Native Americans.
2:31
But for me, things haven’t really changed on our lands in over five decades. So for me, it was like just natural. Let’s vote differently. Let’s do things differently, right? Status quo is not working. No, it’s not working. And so I thought as a business owner, as a man of the faith, that…
2:45
This is our time to rise up above the rhetoric, rise up above all of the issues and actually put forth a great agenda, help the administration, put Indian country on their radar because predominantly it’s out of sight, out of mind over the last few, probably six to seven administrations.
3:05
You mentioned faith, how important it is to you. You got to pray in the Oval Office with President Trump, didn’t you? Can you tell us about that?
3:10
Yes, yes. We got to lay hands. And I always thought that I’d be able to do just that. And some people would tell you, well, the God told me or the Holy Spirit said, right? I just kind of knew deep down. That was my call, to pray for presidents, also to correct presidents, right?
3:25
Because, again, we only represent 1% of the voting bloc in these great United States states. We really need a lot of advocacy. Anything done at a tremendous rate in Indian country has always been done and accomplished at a bipartisan clip. So this is where there was a prominent, if I could call myself that at the time,
3:46
rising young leader who was a Republican that would challenge a Republican agenda, put Indian country on their agenda. But Really, I see Indian country as the last frontier, especially in a post-pandemic world. This is where you put your agendas forward. And you got to work with the Speaker of the House. You got to work with the administration.
4:05
And you got to have key assets within those administrations because they always talk to their legal aides, their policy advisors. And if they don’t know anything about Indian country, if they don’t have a relationship with you, it’s just going to be over their heads and they don’t know what they’re talking about.
4:20
So with conviction, they could readily help me deliver the message that Indian country needs to be stood up as an economic development force.
4:31
Okay. Can you explain that more? Why do you call Indian country the last frontier? What do you mean by that?
4:37
Well… Forgotten people, but forgotten no more. And these are President Trump’s words, right? The forgotten people no more agenda from his first administration, where I believe by policy recommendations, policy changes, if not changing wholehearted law. And of course, when I say that, you need the help of Congress. to bring change to Indian country. In a post-pandemic world,
5:02
when all of the businesses shut down and people were looking to, I guess, figure out the supply chain, what we found out was after America opened back up again is that people wanted to move closer to North America. And this is where my agenda was to get everybody out there in a post-pandemic world
5:23
If you’re going to be sure, come look to Indian country. We need the jobs. We don’t want to have our hand out to the federal government anymore, right? Let’s be self-sustaining. Let’s bring up true economic development projects. That’s what I mean by the last frontier. Nobody’s looking for us right now, at us right now.
5:41
But again, we have the natural resources, coal, oil, fossil fuels. We have lithium. We have the rare earths that people are talking about. In fact, I think it was 65% of all the rare earths that are in North America are on tribal lands.
5:56
Wow. Incredible.
5:58
So last frontier, this is where nobody really knows that this is what Indian country can be, an asset for the United States. Instead of exploiting them, let’s become partners. And so if you’re reshoring, again, leaving, say, China, because supply chains are a lot easier over there. Labor is obviously a lot cheaper over there.
6:20
If you’re reshoring to North America, Check with the Navajo Nation. Check with Indian Country because, again, we have land, and the federal government needs to help us utilize that land for the right industries to relocate.
6:33
OK, so Myron, you’re pretty openly pro-Trump. But as you explained, most tribal leaders historically have been very Democratic. But Trump won the American Indian vote this year nationwide and by a pretty healthy margin, actually. How do you explain that that gap between where the tribal leaders are and where the regular members are,
6:53
the regular Navajos and other tribes are?
6:55
Well, I think I got to get political here, kind of grandstand if I could. When President Biden seemingly won the election, there’s a doubt there. When he said build back better, I had to scoff at that because how can you build back to a place you’ve never been? Talking about Indian country.
7:11
We’ve never had factories on our lands. We’ve never had a lot of the benefits and the amenities that metropolitan areas had. So we need the jobs, and we know we have to invite industry, and we need the federal government’s help to help us direct policy to those changes. But being partners, truly partners, where we’re not exploited,
7:33
we’re not getting the short end of the stick, True partners, they benefit. There should be win-win and, of course, President Trump. The art of the deal, right? I mean, win-win. And so when President Trump talks the way he talks, as a businessman, I understand that.
7:48
And I know that consensus would easily be garnered in Indian country if we knew that we truly had a seat at the table, there truly was an equity partner consideration for us. The other tribal leaders would come on board. President Trump is doing right now the things that I believe all…
8:06
Past tribal leaders have wanted a president to say, because of the politics and the rhetoric, they just don’t like it coming from his mouth, right? But we want government to be efficient and we want to reveal the inefficiencies of government. We want to get rid of all the red tape.
8:21
We want to get rid of all the bureaucracy. Guess what? Steve, we can’t even go on the Nabo Nation and I think all in Indian country, we can’t even dig a hole without the federal government’s approval. And it takes years to bring projects from conception to fruition. So something’s got to change.
8:37
And I believe it’s just people like the Trump administration and all of his people that are looking to make America strong again, make America great again, America first. Well, any country could be partakers in that as well. And I believe the language, I believe the narrative still needs to be developed.
8:57
Maybe this is what this is for, you know, to bring forth that vital message. The Indian country, I think, is the last frontier.
9:02
So the first Americans can be America first.
9:05
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
9:07
I like it. Well, I’m a messaging guy. It’s part of what I do. All right, let me ask you, let’s talk about energy. And first, let’s start by talking about, you mentioned the Biden administration, right, and the fact that he largely disregarded Indian country in the United States. He did send his Secretary of Energy, Deb Haaland,
9:24
to try to go visit your area, and the Navajos chased her off. Tell us about that.
9:29
Yeah. Just before that, maybe a qualifying statement. Biden is thought of to have done some great things for Indian country, you know, naming some prominent Navajo and tribal leaders into high cabinet positions and high places in their offices of the respective agencies. So Indian country was on their radar, which they always entertain Indian country.
9:48
In fact, I served with Jonathan Nez in the Nez Leiser administration. He had a personal relationship with President Biden through Jill Biden, the wife of President, the First Lady then at the time. So, you know, they were on record for doing, giving Indian country the benefit. I’ll call it lip service now because not really anything’s changed again.
10:11
You know, we’re back to government leaders using our vote to get in office and then it just wanes and there’s no real results. President Trump, again, promises made, promises kept. Everything he said he was going to do, he has done. Everything that is still, I think,
10:25
out there for it to happen is you’re starting to see it right now. So what with DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, they’re highlighting some monies that have long since, like, didn’t even know where, and it was slated to maybe help be a proponent for development in Indian country. They just never made it to Indian country.
10:44
And so I believe that a lot of the money that they’re finding right now is If I could be the first to say, President Trump, we want some of that back to come to Indian country right now. We need jobs. We need good economic development projects right now to help America become strong again.
11:00
Yeah.
11:01
Okay. So you mentioned that tribal lands all over the country, including yours, are blessed with a lot of natural resources. How important are energy resources to the Navajos?
11:09
Wow. You know, as a tribal leader, I believe it behooves us as tribal leaders to know all of our assets, Navajo in particular. Navajo right now, at this moment in time, we own four coal mines in Wyoming, part of Crow lands in Montana, and then in northwest New Mexico on the Navajo reservation.
11:32
We have a hundred year supply of coal and it’s probably- A hundred years. A hundred years. It’s probably some of the richest coal in North America. So to have that kind of asset in the ground, and I believe the economies of scale will deem when you can actually start mining and going after it.
11:49
The trajectory and the momentum that coal has generated in the last few decades, obviously it’s on a decline. due to the climate change, global warming narrative that’s out there, which I don’t necessarily subscribe to. Coal was viable. Perhaps the new technologies could be developed where it becomes cleaner, right? And it’s still a good power source,
12:13
a utility-scale power source that’s reliable, it’s trustable. No more brownouts, no more black starts, you know, that renewables are giving us. And, you know, the unsightly and taking up all the land, you know, that renewables are doing. what with windmills and then also the solar power plant or panels as well, the solar farms that are being erected.
12:34
And as I’m seeing that, you mentioned some earlier on our first question, you know, about how Deb Haaland got kicked off of our land here in Chaco Canyon National Monument, the allatis that we call them, they actually own fractionated land, Navajos do, and that land, if it’s tied to a producing well or, you know,
12:56
the exploration that comes onto it, the monies that they receive in form of royalty checks, kind of will be dried up if they extend that bumper zone to 10 miles, which is where it’s slated to go under the Biden administration. President Trump, he said everything that those Navas are wanting him to say, drill, baby, drill.
13:14
So to be clear, when the Biden administration drew those buffer zones, it means no drilling within that.
13:19
No drilling, no exploration. And that’s on your land.
13:21
And not even exploration. Okay. And that means no checks. No checks. Okay. And by the way, I assume that those checks are really needed. I mean, in general, right, your people are economically challenged.
13:33
Yeah, there’s no jobs out there. Other than the coal industry, there’s nothing really out there that’s sustainable. So it’s a very rural area, very barren as far as resources. Other than what’s in the ground, there’s coal in that region. It’s very rocky, very high desert climate there, high desert plateau. What else can be done there?
13:57
Population density is very small. Our ranchers live out there. The access to water is very important. So I think it’s a great region where we could collaborate on keeping the area pristine, drilling in those areas that are known to produce and allow those allotted Navajos to be able to derive an income because there’s no jobs out there.
14:19
Yeah. Well, and Myron, it seems to me that if there’s one group of people in America who will be environmentally careful and responsible about extracting fossil fuels,
14:29
it’s American Indians, right? Who better than the American Indian than a native tribe to talk about environmental justice? Right. Yeah.
14:38
I mean, of all people.
14:39
Of all people.
14:40
You should be the first to be permitted.
14:41
Exactly. Exactly. Well, the first to be permitted, but also, you know, to speak for the land. We have a history, though, of which is why it’s kind of intensive right now. You know, uranium and then coal, you know, losing pennies on the only being able to gain pennies on the dollar where we should
15:00
have got more for our, I guess, resources that were on our land. So that’s where I think right now that the last frontier, the Indian country provides America to become energy dominant, to become, you know, the strongest nation again, like we used to be, you know, it was a strength through, through force,
15:22
I believe is what they call it, you know, have a a great military and just stave off all the would-be assailants, right? Just kind of keeping the peace in the land. But Indian country needs to be able to participate in that, kind of like we did when there was uranium on our lands.
15:36
But when the federal government allowed those companies to dry up almost overnight when the market dried up for uranium, What was left was over 500 federally documented abandoned uranium mines. That’s the history right now that our people and why it’s so hard to have these discussions about further coal exploration, further oil exploration.
15:58
If they would have just taken care of that issue, remediated the land properly, that I think would have been good. So now, as we’re talking about becoming more energy dominant, How can the Navajo Nation, how can those tribes with natural resources on their lands benefit from it a little bit better than we did in past history,
16:18
but also how can we speak into the environmental justice aspect? How can we speak in and benefit the remediation that’s going to be required once a mine closes down, once the lands get, you know, I guess, remediated to where just the wells are up and how it looks aesthetic to the region, right?
16:37
So we know there’s a way, properly, a way to do things and a tribe should be a part of those discussions and a true tribal consultation, as they say.
16:47
Yeah. You mentioned the aesthetics. New Mexico, of course, in the southwest, Arizona, just beautiful. Some of the most beautiful vistas in all of America. Now, obviously, beauty is subjective. But I believe, and I think a lot of people agree with me, that these wind farms, these giant turbines are incredibly ugly.
17:03
And they’re really a form of pollution, I think, of some of the best scenery in America. What are your thoughts?
17:10
Well, same. I know it was a trajectory of development that kind of got us to this, but you’re right. As you look over the plains, you see these windmills just turning. It’s like, first thing you think of was like, wow, what did it displace, right? I mean, whose ranch, who gave up some cattle area for the region?
17:28
And it’s not what it’s cracked up to be and how it was sold, right? Because what does it take? It takes fossil fuels to lubricate all those turbines up there and You know, when they break down, they got to replace them. So it takes a tremendous cost to maintain and upkeep them.
17:44
So it’s not what it’s cracked up to be. I get it. We’re developing energy at a lesser, I guess, rate when the wind does blow. But at what cost? Over 20 years, right? And then what are you going to do with those turbines once its effective service life has been depleted? Where are they going to go?
18:06
You can’t recycle those things. It goes into a windmill burial ground. What’s that going to do to the environment?
18:15
Right. Does it bother you, given that you represent our community, again, with a lot of economic challenges, does it bother you that this country, not just New Mexico, not just Arizona, but this country is spending billions and billions of dollars on these windmills, which are not economically viable, which are not actually great for the environment,
18:32
and maybe most importantly, simply can’t produce the amount of energy we need? I mean, does that bother you? Should those resources be spent to help Navajos rather than helping connected green cronies?
18:43
Yeah, well, you know, what most people don’t really realize is all those projects are subsidized, right? And there’s nothing free in this world. So it does cost somebody something, taxpayers, right? And so to burgeon out those wind farms and those solar farms… It costs at a tremendous, tremendous price. And the land that it’s gobbling up, you know,
19:06
never to be used again for, what, 50 years, I guess, after these have been implemented. The cost, you know, I don’t even think we can quantify the cost because the… The people are touting these projects as the savior to America and the climate, when in actuality, it’s doing more harm to the climate.
19:25
Because again, how are you going to dispose of them once their service life is over? So a lot of things to consider, and I don’t think it’s cracked up. The messaging wasn’t truly true to the fact of what we understand it to be now.
19:39
Right. I think a lot of Americans also don’t realize that because of the intermittency of wind and solar power, meaning the wind doesn’t always blow, the sun doesn’t always shine, because of that, you need redundancy. These mills, these windmills have to be backed up by coal, by natural gas, by perhaps coal from your reservations, right,
19:56
which I think is wonderful. But the point is, because you had to build in redundancy, it makes them unbelievably expensive. Exactly. I mean, it just isn’t viable without all of us, all of us, every American taxpayer, pouring millions of dollars, billions of dollars of subsidies into it.
20:11
Yeah, and it’s just that, you know, most people don’t know. You have to do your research. You have to be educated in these, you know, discussions because there is a cost. And what’s the full cost? It’s not what it’s said to be for the tribes. So instead of drinking, as they say, the proverbial Kool-Aid, you know,
20:29
find out, really educate yourself. We should have educated people. I guess our own people, they’re part of the discussions that understand is able to, I don’t want to say dumb it down, but become the technically, I guess, experienced people that we need to be to be true partners in these. And you’re right.
20:48
The narrative was such that, you know, it looked beneficial at the time. And when all the signatures were signed and the I’s dotted and the T’s crossed, it really didn’t. And it’s not playing out the way we thought it was going to be here.
21:01
No, listen, if the so-called green energy agenda was as advertised, I might even support it. I mean, I still think they’re incredibly ugly, but I might actually support it. But it’s not as advertised. Listen, I think, but I want to know your thoughts. I think it’s a scam. I think it’s a giant scam.
21:19
Is that too harsh a word?
21:21
No, spot on. It’s just not going to be readily accepted, you know, because people haven’t done their research. They haven’t looked back. You know, I went back as far as, you know, when Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister of Britain, was trying to keep the coal miners union at bay and had put up this narrative that, you know,
21:38
climate change just to keep them at bay. Somebody got a hold of it and blew it up to the proportions that we see now where you couldn’t gain critical mass. The narrative did. And now people carved out niches to where they could benefit from it. There’s literally trillions of dollars that have gone to this segment.
21:57
And for what really benefit does it really serve in? Not what they said it was going to.
22:01
Well, Al Gore got generationally rich off of selling a bunch of lies and myths.
22:05
Exactly, exactly, exactly. Did it help any Navajos? Many others. No, no. no it did not it did not but you’re you’re the point that we’re talking about here it needs to be really uh studied you know talk about fact checkers right we’re in
22:19
the day and age of fact checkers really go back and look at where this climate change narrative came from nowhere in my bible does it say the earth’s gonna be gonna get hot in the last days right uh it’s something that’s concived and people are benefiting from it and uh
22:34
We need to find out how to curtail it, how to bring coal back, how to bring fossil fuels back. And of course, Trump is saying all the right things. Drill, baby, drill. Let’s get those tribes that have energy in the ground. Let’s streamline government so that they could readily access it and benefit at the same time,
22:50
along with the companies that actually do the drilling, actually do the exploring, actually do the capturing and refining.
22:58
Myron, I know that you’re very proud, very rightly proud, of the history of Navajos fighting for the U.S. military and serving this country with great patriotism and distinction. And I think particularly the cold talkers, can you tell us about that?
23:10
Oh, you know, what a great, as I heard it from the officials at the Department of Defense, and I don’t know the name, please forgive me, the name of the general that first had the idea to use the Navajo language. He grew up on the Navajo reservation way back in the 20s, 30s.
23:26
knew the language and saw how the language was used and how it was undocumented at the time so you know speed up in his life here he’s working for the department of defense when they were trying to figure out how they can they send messages better that the Japanese and that our enemies couldn’t decipher
23:44
He says, hey, look, have we thought about the American Indian tribes, right? I mean, the Navajo, you know, they have a language that’s undocumented. It’s hard as heck to speak in and of itself. You know, let’s give it a test. They brought in 29 original Code Talkers, and that dialect, which we call Denebizad,
24:00
undocumented at the time, did the trick, did what they needed it to do. It’s proven so successful. They brought in some other tribes and tested those, Hopi, Kiowa, Comanche, and there was a few other tribes that probably, I don’t know, maybe the language wasn’t as, how do we say, undetectable or not.
24:18
But they recruited 400 other Navajo code talkers, some as young as 14, 15. They lied about their age. They wanted to fight for their country. And so Navajo showed up and helped deliver America in its most trying time in the Pacific theater of World War II by that undocumented language, the Nebizat.
24:38
What took the old way of sending messages in the war, in the fronts of the wars, was Morse code, right? So it took them… 30 minutes to concribe, to send a Morse code message, to receive and to decipher and to deliver. It took them 30 minutes to send a vital message when in the Navajo language, Denebizad,
25:04
it only took 30 seconds. Saved a lot of marine lives on the Iwo Jima.
25:09
And then incredible.
25:10
Very incredible. In fact, I could back it up with some scripture now. In 1 Corinthians 14, 10, the Bible says, although there may be many languages in the land, none of them is without significance. So our creator used the language to deliver America in his most trying time. Could he use it again?
25:27
Wow. Yeah.
25:28
Remains to be determined.
25:29
Well, let’s hope, right? Yes. I know we have a leader in the White House who believes that.
25:33
Yes, yes. He honored the Navajo Code Talkers in 2016. He had, at that time in 2016, there was like five or six other Code Talkers that were still alive that were there. They witnessed it and he honored them. And they’re on a quest to build a Navajo Code Talker Museum.
25:50
President Trump says, I want to help you build that museum. So here we are, round two, second administration. President Trump, Navajo Code Talkers need help. However that is, and not that we’re asking for money, but you certainly know big donors who could help. It’s a 5-1 nonprofit, 5-1 C-3 nonprofit, but a little plug there. All right.
26:10
But yeah, Code Talkers are awesome.
26:13
In general, it seems to me what you’re asking for from President Trump, from Washington, from the American people, is a helping hand, not a handout.
26:21
Ooh, very powerful. Helping hand, you’re right. Because, you know, forgotten people, forgotten people no more. President Trump is helping us do that. And it showed up in the polls. In our two counties, Apache County, Arizona, and McKinley County in New Mexico, the vote this time reflected a gain of 20 points in both those counties.
26:42
Biden won by 40 some odd points in both of those counties. in this recent election, President Trump, we shaved, we helped shave a lot of our people, the grassroots, cut the leads down in half. So we’re looking to turn those two counties red. That’s our goal. We want to do that. And we think we can.
27:02
But to that point, nationally, All of the Native Americans that voted in this presidential election, 68% of them voted for President Trump. It speaks, and it’s very indicative of the change that they want to see. No more politics of the past. We want substance.
27:18
And Myron, I think it’s primarily because, statistically, most Native Americans are working class people. That’s just by definition. And working class people… had a terrible run under Joe Biden. Bidenomics was punishing to them. And I would argue that this green scam mostly punishes those same middle class people.
27:39
Yep. Yep. Somebody predominantly pays all those taxes, right? And fees that are being garnered to lift up another initiative. In this case, it was renewables and their climate change narrative, right? Trillions of dollars have went into that to build it out. So right now, Indian country, I believe because we’re the last frontier,
27:57
we need the jobs and we don’t want to always have a handout to the federal government. Help us to be self-sustaining. Help us to be self-reliant on the work of our own hands, the blood, the sweat and the tears of our people. Right. Working hard, helping America become the greatest country in the world.
28:13
Because it’s our homeland, too.
28:15
You mentioned this concept, which I love, of the Indian lands as the last frontier. Can you explain that even more?
28:24
Well, we have what we call sovereignty, right? Our tribes, it’s about the only thing we own. Well, we own our language, we own our culture and our traditions. Sovereignty. I believe tribes, we don’t use sovereignty the way we should. I think we kill deals versus bringing us truly to the table and true partnership.
28:43
But what I mean by sovereignty… Who out there in the global space would love to leverage the tribal sovereignty as an unfair or a competitive advantage for their business? Case in point, my case study here is Elon Musk and Tesla. New Mexico has a law,
29:00
a state law on the books that bars car manufacturers from selling directly to the public. Well, guess what? Nambe Pueblo had an old casino building they moved out of. They built a brand new shiny one down the road. This old shell of a building was just sitting there.
29:15
And so Nambe or Tesla and their leadership came in and asked them, what are you going to do with that building? We love to develop a showroom there. Really? So let’s talk about it. So I did what came to effect was Tesla actually selling their cars direct from the manufacturer right to the end.
29:34
And you’re exempt from that New Mexico law because you control your own sovereignty.
29:38
The sovereignty. We were able to, I guess, order our way or create the laws that allowed us to circumvent state law. And so not to be outdone, Sandia Pueblo, just down the road, right on the outskirts of Albuquerque and Bernalillo there, they said, we’ll do you one better. I see what you’re doing, Elon.
29:56
We want to be a part of this. We have sovereignty as well. We want to build you a state-of-the-art showroom. What else do you want? And they said, well, we’ve got to service these vehicles, build us a service center. I know it’s a little bit, that’s kind of simple the way I depict it, but that’s what happened.
30:12
So another Tesla showroom went up on a Indian tribal land, and now they’re selling again vehicles directly from the manufacturer to the end user. So that tells me what I’ve been saying all along. I’ve been in office 2019 to 23. Literally, when we got in the office, it was like, out there,
30:31
who would want to partner with the right tribes and the right company to bring a product, to bring a process, to bring a manufacturing, I guess, facility to the lands? Again, because we need the jobs and we need the revenue, right? And the taxes on our lands if we tax the company, right?
30:50
Or maybe we give them a tax incentive. I don’t know. But I think tribes, again, being the last frontier, who out there wouldn’t want to leverage the assets that a tribe will bring them? Only a tribe can bring them a tax savings, a tax deferment, you know, not paying federal tax.
31:06
If the company was built the right way and a tribe truly had a vested interest, true equity partnership, just like Tesla now selling vehicles in New Mexico. So that’s what I mean by help us. Help us to come into this 21st century now with the right economic development forte.
31:25
Love it.
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Release us into all we can be.
31:29
Love it. Myron, you’re a great patriot. You really care about your people. It’s incredibly impressive. Great to meet you.
31:34
Yes, sir. I appreciate it, Steve. Thank you so much for having me.
31:36
Thank you.