Martel: Sopranos, Pork Rolls, & Ciattarelli

Hey everybody, Lady Luck here, and we're celebrating America's 250th birthday. Now, all summer long, I'm going to be celebrating by playing on SpinQuest.com, which is an American-owned social casino. It obviously features over a thousand slot games and live blackjack, live craps, live bubble craps. Head on over to SpinQuest.com. Get yourself a $30 coin pack for just $10.00. SpenQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit SpenQuest.com for more details. Excuse me, let me tell you something. When America opened the floodgates and let all us Italians in, they need us to build their cities and dig their subways, and to make them richer. The Carnegie's and the Rockefellers, they need a worker bees, and there we were. But some of us didn't want to swarm around their hive and lose who we were. We wanted to stay Italian and preserve the things that meant something to us, honor and family and loyalty. And some of us wanted a piece of the action. The Vinnie Penn Project. Talk, Jersey with Breitbart News International editor Francis Martel, who I feel like has been, like many women, has been dodging me for months. I feel like. I feel, I mean, when was the last? I have not. Yeah. You took some time, though. I don't mean to get personal, but did you go on a big vacation somewhere in there or something? Yeah, I guess I missed you last month because I always take a vacation after Labor Day. People from New Jersey know that the beach is very expensive for Memorial Day and Labor Day. So on Labor Day, I always just leave for a week. Yeah. Spend the time at the shore. And I guess, you know, we always do first Mondays or first whenever we remember. So I wasn't around for that. And I'm sorry, and I miss you. I was not trying to dodge you. Yeah. Well, you know. You wouldn't be the first. You will no doubt. No doubt not be the last. And you welcome me with one of the most important political speeches of all time. I think so. Tony Soprano talking about, you know, working class populism and cultural heritage. Very moving. I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not, but I stand by every word that you. I love that character. I take a lot of hits for that. My daughter is puzzled that I see him as a loving, complicated. Uh, there's self-loathing. She's like, Dad, he's a villain. He's the bad guy. I just don't view Tony Suprano that way. And I don't think that was David Chase's intention with that character. Well, I think there's a big gender difference here because I think every man can see Tony Soprano and think if I had made two or three more bad mistakes in my life, I could have been him. And so there's a lot more sympathy there. And I think for women, we think if we have made a couple of more mistakes in our lives, we could be married to him. And so we hate him. That's a really interesting viewpoint. The other thing I've noticed with women, with young women in particular is...

They fall in love with Christopher, and Tony's treatment of Christopher, like, it bothers me. If you know the series and you know how it ends, they're like, he's horrible. You know, his cousin, and look what he did to him, and they're very defensive of Christopher, and they just think he's a vile character. I saw him as flawed and trying to understand. One of the most moving scenes in that series for me, and I don't know how well you remember it, was when he realizes that junior, You know, it might not be the greatest uncle in the world. And he just sits there and he goes, I mean, don't you love me? I thought that was, man, maybe I got to give it up to Gandalfini, but it really moved me the way he, there was this disbelief. Like, don't you love me? He just wanted to be loved. And when I say that, my daughter goes, she goes nuts. She's like, Tony Soprano did not. She's like, Daddy, he had sex with the one-legged cleaning woman from the Ukraine. Oh, it's a big thing in my house, Francis. It's a big thing in my house. I mean, I can't wait for my kids to be old enough to watch it with them because I'm curious. I mean, I think the thing it's moving to watch at the time, but the problem is not, you know, it's really hard for me to sympathize with Tony because he passes that down. All of that thing that he has about Junior's lack of love for him, he passes that down particularly to aging, right? Because metal is... Yeah, I mean, I think, AJ thinks his dad hates him because he's a loser. And, you know, he is a loser. Like, he shouldn't be, it's good that his parents aren't telling him that his life is okay. But there's no love there either. And so, you know, he's not a name of the victim. Yeah, I mean, I don't see. Like when he grabs AJ's face and he goes, you make me want to cry because I really know the show, Francis. That's a field trip. That's not loving your kids. He's like, I don't want this for you. You're a good person. I don't want you to follow in my footsteps. They're not footsteps worth following in. I saw love there. That's interesting to hear you say that. Yeah, and also kids don't ever listen to what you say. They just mimic what you do. So it doesn't matter how much Tony says, my life is terrible. He's not a valid source of any advice or anything because AJ just looks at what his dad does and what his mom does, and he's just going to imitate that. And that's what... Every kid does in every family. You know, I think as intelligent as you're wildly intelligent, I love reading your work for Breitbart. Oh, I thank you. For Breitbart. But I don't think you watch TV well. I think you missed the point. A lot of TV. I don't think, were we together? Either lost or Sopranos would have ended our relationship. I would not have been able to watch these shows with you. I think you're missing huge points. But I do want to- I stand by the fact that this is largely a gender divide because the male villain characters are way more sympathetic to men than women.

They touch a vulnerability in men that they're always afraid that they could be that. Oh, yeah. And they just don't do that to women. Yeah, by all means, at this point, introduce the audience to Francis Martel, the feminist. This is the, yeah, at this. Oh, I said I'm completely a feminist. I self-described that way. A little F feminist. Yeah. Not a big F, you know, not we should have men playing women's sports feminist, but yes, I believe that. No, you navigate the line well. Thank you. But after all this antagonism, and I want to ask you for a favor. This was the episode where I wanted to ask you, the visit where I wanted to ask you for a favor. I see that the New Jersey, the governor's race. I don't know. I don't get it. This pork roll, like, ugliness. You know, I've never, I've wanted to try a Jersey pork roll. I've never had one. I remember the first interview that I saw decades ago with John Bon Jovi, the unofficial ambassador of Sarville, New Jersey, talking about a New Jersey pork roll, and I was intrigued. Is there a way you can get one to me? I'm going to absolutely try. I mean, we have it all over the place here. The question is to ship it so it's not rotten by the time in Connecticut. But yes, you should try pork roll. Well, we call it Taylorham where I'm from, and it's a huge civil war in the state. But I'm lenient to allow pork roll. It's delicious. It's a breakfast meat. It's flat. It's perfectly sandwiched shape. You fry it. You eat it with eggs and cheese and salt, pepper, ketchup on a Kaiser roll. That sounds like living. I don't know. It sounded to me at one point anyway, very much like Connecticut's ongoing lobster roll controversy. Like there's two ways that you could eat. Isn't there two ways you could have a pork roll? And one involves like mustard and it's cold as opposed to the way you just. Yeah, I could be wrong. There could be something weird down in South Jersey. South Jersey is weird. We love you, South Jersey, but you're the strange cousin for sure. It's very possible. I've never seen that. I've always seen Taylor ham in either a sandwich, an egg and cheese sandwich, or as a side to a breakfast plate with, like, eggs and home fries. Yeah. Yeah. Pancakes. I just remember this interview where Bon Jovi was talking about when they would finally get home the tour bus and they would pull up to this place and we'd all have pork rolls, you know. And the interviewer said, what's a pork roll? And he's like, what's a pork roll? No one gets it. No one outside New Jersey understands. They're like, it's a breakfast meat. You could just have sausage. And it's like, no. Yeah. And what's going on there now? So one of the candidates there, Mikie Sherrill, has said, I think they're gross, and now everybody's up in arms?

You know, Mikie Sherrill represents Montclair. Montclair is basically not New Jersey in the sense that most of the people that live there are like Stephen Colbert and these New York liberals who got priced out of New Jersey. Yeah, Montclair has been colonized by New Yorkers. And so that's her understanding of New Jersey, which is not really the culture. You know, it's not Sayerville. It's not Old Bridge. It's not... Newark, it's not Union City, certainly, although she also marched in the Hispanic parade, but, you know, who cares that she was here. And she was chaperoned by Union City Mayor Bryant-Stack as the most powerful Democrat in the state. But as I explained in the Breitbart article, she essentially won the primary for the governor's race because there was this really deep, personal, and very bitter feud within the Democrats between... Stack who is essentially the most powerful Democrat in Hudson County and the mayor of Jersey City, Stephen Fullop, who was running for governor. Stephen Fullop is a very unlikable guy, also a Goldman Sachs guy. He gentrified Jersey City terribly. He brought in all the rich New Yorkers and then the real Jersey people had to move out. He's not very well-liked. And he was out there saying really mean personal things about Brian Stack and trying to take down the Hudson County Democratic Organization. There's a really bitter civil war going in there, and it was, you know, Pyrick. Like, everybody lost, and then Mikie Sherrill was the last woman standing. So the Democrats in New Jersey, the really smart ones, like Brian Stack, they ended up backing her not because they have any particular faith in her political abilities, but because they hated Stephen Phillips so much. They hate Stephen Phillips so much that Philip just announced he's just moving to New York City now. He endorsed the Zohran Mamdani government grocery store plan, and now he's just leaving the state. So that's how much they hated him. So to me, that says that the smart people in New Jersey never wanted Cheryl to be the one to run against Jack Ciattarelli. But they're stuck with her. And now she's out there saying that pork roll is gross. And that's... Yeah. You know, that's not going to go well for her. Yeah, that's like somebody running in Connecticut and being like pizza is overrated. It's just not going to work for it. You know, I loved your line right there. Montclair has been colonized by New York. It's really interesting. Connecticut's got a, you know, there was a New York exodus a couple of years back that snapped up a lot of property here in Connecticut, jacked up rents as a result. But then you wrap that up with somebody moving to New York. Because they like, what did you say? Because they liked Zohran Mamdani's what grocery? Yeah, so the mayor of Jersey City announced this morning he confirmed the report that he's moving to New York City to help with New York City administrative stuff. And a few months ago, he came out and he said, people are going to laugh about Zohran Mamdani making government supermarkets, but I think it's a good idea. And it turns out he was angling for a job in New York because everyone in New Jersey hates him so much that when his term as mayor ends, he's not going to have a job. So he's essentially been run out of the state. And this was who was running against Mikie Sherrill. And that's why she won. Oh, that's why. And I wanted to get your take, too. The clock is ticking, Aaron. But I know you could be succinct if you need to be.

But I'd love to even talk to you again about Zohran Mamdani and how dangerous. I really do think he is. Just even the latest, his latest move. And I know it was a de Blasio notion from years ago, scrapping the talented and gifted program for kids in favor of equity. I think that's just so misguided. And it's insulting. It's as if to say, well, he says it benefits only the white and Asian. as if there are no brown or black children who were dean. Some of the greatest artists of the 90s in New York went to the, were snapped up as children and put in the talented and gifted program. I don't know how this guy's getting away with half of his sound bites. I agree. And it's because he is a really good actor and a millennial cringe guy. And there's a lot of people, unfortunately, my age, who miss millennial cringe. Like, they still think Hamilton is good. They still think John Stewart is smart. And he's playing into those people. And then he's saying crazy stuff, but he's making ads, making fun of The Bachelor, and everyone's like, oh, he's so cute. And not listening to a word he's saying. And he's a hardened communist. And, like, that's, you know. that people are voting for the aesthetic and for the appeal of nostalgia for being young 10 years ago. That's, well, do you think he's going to, he's going to run away with it, though, Francis? I mean, I don't see how Andrew Cuomo after murdering all those things. I don't. Yeah. Not murder. And I love Curtis Sliwa. Allegedly was responsible for some deaths, please do not sue me. But you all know what I'm talking about. And I love that Curtis is in the mix, but I don't think he's got a shot in hell either. I mean, I think Zohran Mamdani walks away with this. And that makes New York in a few years. very quickly, a very scary place to me. And I don't know how he's pulling it off, but he is. Yeah, you know, the only good thing is, you know, usually when someone this bad wins in the next cycle, people will turn it around. New York will find a charismatic, you know, conservative leader that will come back, where we'll find another Giuliani, because that's how the cycle goes. So, you know, this one's a rough one, but hopefully people will learn from the mistake of electing this guy if it turns out that what we all expect to happen does happen. Hey guys, Lady Luck here. Are you going on any road trips this summer? I know I'm going to be going on a bunch of road trips. And being that I'm going to be passenger princess, I love playing on SpinQuest.com. SpinQuest has all of my favorite slot games, live blackjack, live craps. Head on over to SpinQuest right now and get yourself a $30 coin pack for just 10 bucks. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Boydware prohibited, visit SpinQuest.com for more details.