Prairie State Wire

Steve Cortes, president of the League of American Workers, said that figures aligned with former President Obama filled a leadership void in the Biden administration and influenced policies that President Biden had not previously supported. This statement was made on the Prairie State Wire Podcast.

"I'm not blaming that on him, cognitive decline happens to people," said Cortes. "But regardless, if that's the reality of the Biden White House. Well then the key question is, well, who was running things."

According to Business Insider, several former aides from the Obama administration have taken on significant roles within the Biden administration, impacting policy areas such as climate change, healthcare, and foreign affairs. This has led to discussions about whether President Biden's leadership represents a continuation of Obama-era strategies or stands as distinct. Insiders have commented there were "too many Obama people" influencing decisions.

President Biden signed 42 executive orders in his first 100 days in office, more than any president since Harry Truman. Many of these orders reversed policies from the Trump era to reinstate initiatives from Obama's presidency, including rejoining the Paris Agreement and halting the Keystone XL pipeline project, according to Wikipedia.

The Migration Policy Institute reports that the Biden administration issued 535 immigration-related executive actions over three years, surpassing Trump's total of 472 over four years. This reflects a shift towards an approach reminiscent of Obama's discretion compared to Biden's earlier record as a senator and vice president.

Cortes is noted for his background as a financial markets strategist who traded global currencies and equities for 25 years before founding Veracruz TJM. He later became a senior spokesman for Trump's campaigns and the DeSantis Political Action Committee (PAC), as reported by Key Speakers Bureau.

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FULL, UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT

Brian Hyde: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Prairie State Wire Podcast. I'm Brian Hyde, and this is part two of our conversation with documentarian and, and writer and producer Steve Cortez. Steve, I know we introduced you in the first episode, but let's take just a moment here for those who, who may be joining us midstream. Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Sure. And then let's continue our conversation about former President Barack Obama. 

Steve Cortes: You bet. Well, Brian, thanks for having me and the folks out there, if they do know who I am, they probably know me from Cable TV News. Primarily I was a broadcaster for Fox News, CNN and CNBC. And the CNN part might surprise people who know my political leanings.

I was asked by Donald Trump to go to CNN and effectively be his representative there. Someone like Scott Jennings is now, I was sort of the, the heel is the term from wrestling. You're supposed to be the opposition sort of bad guy on the set. But I did that at CNN and I did all that because I had worked.

In Trump's 2016 and 2020 reelection campaigns, I was a senior strategist, a spokesman. I also led Hispanic outreach [00:01:00] for Trump and became quite close with the Trump White House because of that, and that's why he asked me to go to work for him. I did also work on behalf of his campaign in 2024, but with outside groups, I le, I run the League of American Workers as my current advocacy organization.

I still do a lot of media, make documentaries, make political ads. Try to write a lot of articles. I do a ton of polling on a really regular basis. So all in on, on politics and, and one of the documentaries that I have produced that I think is very important is trying to expose who Barack Obama is, which I know is what we're gonna mostly talk about today.

Brian Hyde: Yeah. In the, in the first episode, which again, we invite you to, to please check that out if you haven't already. We talked a little bit about his, his. Rise to to public office and how he kind of seemingly came from nowhere. Most importantly, we talked about how race relations in America suffered. I. Yeah.

During the, the presidency of the first black president in, in the us which, which seems kind of counterintuitive, but Right. Barack Obama, as you pointed out, also did [00:02:00] a very good job of, of maintaining influence and presence even after his presidency had ended. Let's, let's talk for a moment about some of the concerns that have come up over the Biden White House, which it turns out we're now learning.

Joe Biden really wasn't all there and, and so now there are big concerns about, well then who exactly was calling the shots in the background? 

Steve Cortes: Sure. Yeah. And regarding his stature within the party, and I think this is important to acknowledge, Brian, while I think that his power has diminished, I think he no longer has the saint like status in American culture that he had say 10 years ago.

Barack Obama is still the most popular Democrat in America. Right. And that's shown through polling. I mean, I think that is an objective truth, that he's still the most popular Democrat in America. And because of that, he has enormous power, even though he doesn't have his hands directly on the levers of power anymore.

Interestingly, he was the first president. Over a hundred years to not leave Washington dc. After he was out of the presidency, he moved a couple miles away to the, to the very Tony Colorama neighborhood near Georgetown in Washington dc Uh, bought an enormously expensive house for [00:03:00] a guy who had worked at his community organizer and never really made any money in his life, suddenly made a fortune.

I certainly have my many suspicions and questions about that, but regardless. Moved down the street and once Joe Biden became president of the United States, of course his previous vice president became president of the United States. His influence over that White House I think was enormous. And I, I don't think that's a stretch to say, because if you look at the senior staffers, many of them were incredibly close with Barack Obama, who again is residing just blocks away.

You don't have to be some conspiracist to say he's got a lot of influence over this White House now. To, to, to massively though on steroids accelerate that idea, that thesis. We now know factually, it's not just suspicion. We know factually how cognitively impaired Joe Biden was at the end of his term. We know this now, that now even the, the corporate media, the leftist bias, liberal media is publishing expose after expose.

You know about the quote coverup that, the coverup that they helped perpetrate, by the way. But that's another story for another time that they are now willing because Biden's not at office to [00:04:00] be blunt about and to talk about. So if he was in fact cognitively impaired and, and incompetent in many ways, and I'm not blaming that on him, cognitive decline happens to people.

But regardless if that's the reality of the, of the Biden White House, well then the key question is, well, who was running things? And I don't know if there's just one single answer. I think there's probably a lot of different. Power centers that that had influence and were truly running the Biden White House.

But one of them clearly, and I would suggest the primary one, was Barack Obama. And I think part of how you can see that Brian is Barack Obama, if you look at his record and his rhetoric, he was always more radical in his rhetoric than he was as a governing president. Now I think he was an awful governing president, and I think he did some terribly radical things.

But my point is. He didn't govern as radically as he talked, and I think certainly in the first term was 'cause he wanted to be reelected. But I think even in the second term, a man really consumed with legacy and popularity. But once it wasn't, once, he wasn't the face of the administration, it was Joe Biden.

I don't think he cared at all. But I leave Biden out to dry. Now's the time to institute my really radical [00:05:00] policies. Like a completely open border, right? For example, that would be my primary example where Obama, for all of his flaws, and there are so many, was. Pretty decent, particularly compared to today's Democrats pretty decent on the border.

Uh, Joe Biden went 1000% the other way, I mean, just could not go more in the other direction of absolute open borders radicalism. And you have to ask yourself why, because Biden himself wasn't that way previously in his 50 year political career. Okay. So how does this happen? Well, my theory, and admittedly it's a theory, but I think it's a strong one, I think with some evidence to back it, is that, that Barack Obama and his, his group of true Believer.

Actual radical Marxist influenced Saul Alinsky influenced political aids and operatives who held enormous sway over the cognitively impaired. Joe Biden as president were able to institute the policies that they didn't quite have the guts to put in place themselves for political reasons. And I really think so to, to me that is, that is one of the consequences.

Of Barack Obama being a man of such low character, [00:06:00] and again, you mentioned racial issues going backward. That to me is the, the biggest, most obvious example of his low character and his self obsession and his, and his lack of concern for what he truly does for society. But I would also argue another, another example, another manifestation of it is the influence he exerted over the Biden White House.

Brian Hyde: Let's talk for a moment, Steve, about. The legacy media and the role that they played, not only in the post, post-Obama, post presidency, Obama, but in, in helping him come to power in the first place, it seems like the media is very flexible to, to make sure that, oh, he's always on the right side, no matter which side he happens to land on.

I. 

Steve Cortes: So listen, I think one of the key reasons of the corporate media is just not trusted at all in America today, and all available data proves this point. Gallup of force has been asking people about trust in mass media all the way back to the 1970s, and in general it has absolutely collapsed. It has.

Gone to near zero among Republicans over 50 years of history. So when you have that much data, that much poll, I know there's plenty of other polls, but Gallup's kind of [00:07:00] the gold standard on that question of trust in media. If you look at those charts though, where it really started to tumble in a broad way was, was into Barack Obama's presidency and then afterward.

And I really believe that the media, uh, which in 2008 when Barack Obama was first elected. The traditional legacy platform still really dominated American media. Thankfully. It's a very different story today, right? Much more disintermediated, a lot of alternative voices out there. A lot of really successful podcasts, A lot of pretty robust right wing content and left wing content for that matter.

But there, there's a lot of voices. A lot of platforms are successful now, so it's much harder for the corporate media. Legacy media to control the entire narrative. But in 2008, it was much easier. It was a very, very different media landscape, and it was very clear that once the corporate media in the United States identified that this was going to be sort of their leftist savior.

Why? Because he was black primarily, right? And they're obsessed with identity politics. But on top of that, they saw his skill and he is a very skilled politician. He oozes charisma. He's an [00:08:00] incredibly persuasive and eloquent speaker. He seemed to just have a knack, an ability to connect with people that's hard to teach.

So he had gifts on top of it. He had the skin color and the ideology that they wanted, the corporate media, and because of it, they anointed him and he became absolutely the, the, not just preferred, but the necessary candidate. For the corporate media and they took a pretty unknown senator with very little political experience, no national experience to speak of with some pretty radical views that normally would be pretty hard to sell to the American people.

And they were able to, to exalt him and I, I think in many ways, to almost appoint him. To the presidency of the United States, certainly the Democratic nomination, but then even to the presidency. And again, I don't think the presidential part would've worked the general alleged part without the great financial crisis.

But Obama, like a lot of really lucky breaks in his life, but happened to to run for office during the most contentious economic cataclysm at that point, since the Great Depression looking backward. And so all of that confluence of circumstances allowed the media to [00:09:00] successfully. Almost install him as president.

They then protected him fiercely as president. They now try in the post presidency, although again, their power is so diminished and trust in them is so diminished, I believe largely because of the lies they told before and during the Obama presidency. Um, that thankfully they don't have the effectiveness that they used to have.

Which again, is why. I believe that the, the tide is turning. If you were to sort of chart Barack Obama's respectability and admiration for him, what you would see from 2008 until recently is a pretty steady climb, right? For the most part. Americans liked and were proud of Barack Obama that started to turn around certainly a bit during the Tea Party days, but for the most part remains strong.

Turned around a little more strongly. In 2016, once the patriotic populist of America First women gets going and Donald Trump wins the presidency. And then I believe this last November, 2024 is when we reached a really significant juncture and, and perhaps a fulcrum moment where it's turning around in a way that I project will be permanent.

Meaning he's only going to lose credibility and admiration from [00:10:00] here as people figure out more and more who he was. Because again, my thesis is that, and I, I think there's data to prove this. He was a net negative for Kamala Harris last November. He not only did not help Democrats, he actually hurt them the way he scolded voters, especially black voters, and particularly black male voters.

The way he scolded them, belittled them, talked down to them. He became not only not a helpful force, but a hurtful force for the Democratic Party. And so given that trajectory, I think it's important for us as Americans to take a, an objective look at who he is, what did he do in office, what has he done since office, and what does it mean for our society at large?

'cause he is, as much as I am, disparaging his character and I think for valid reasons. He still has great relevance in this country, and, and because of that, I think he needs to be thoroughly examined. And to me, that examination under the cold light of day when it's done with, with facts and data and evidence, I believe you see who Barack Obama really is.

And it's not that media creation. It's a very different, very hypocritical, very cynical c conniving, [00:11:00] manipulator, a very, very different figure than he was assumed to be by most Americans. 

Brian Hyde: Steve, let's talk about your new documentary. You don't know Barack exposing Obama. And, and particularly I'd like to you to, to talk about why now?

Yeah. Why, why is this a good time for this information to come forth? 

Steve Cortes: No, it's a great question, right? And some people might say, Hey, Cortes, why you, why are you picking Obama now? He's been out of office for some time. And, but, but here's the reason. The true reason, again, last November for me was sort of a light bulb moment as somebody who has worked extensively in national campaigns.

To watch him suddenly become a net negative in a national campaign was. Pretty eyeopening and I think pretty startling. I know it was to a lot of people on the Democrat side because some of them have admitted that to me in private, some of the people who basically do what I do. But on the left they were shocked and, and they tried to hide him, which was quite something, right?

Because it used to be any Democrat campaign that could involve rock. Obama would jump to do so, right, and use him as much as he was willing to participate because he was just always a positive, always a vote generator. Always positive [00:12:00] vibes, lots of great press. So that turned around, that was fascinated to me.

So that to me was sort of my personal light bulb moment. And I talked about it a bit on air and that sort of thing. But then I, I, what really convinced me to do something deeper and to do this documentary is as a Chicagoan, when I saw the Obama Library, which is being built down in the Jackson Park neighborhood on the south side.

I saw was an appalling structure. I think it is hideously ugly, and I realize that's subjective, but I think it's hideously ugly. It's totally out of context. It doesn't in any way match the surrounding parkland, nor even the neighborhoods, the interior neighborhoods to the west there. It's near the lakefront to the east.

It doesn't match the interior neighborhoods at all around the University of Chicago. And then once I started looking into it more. It's not just the scale and and ugliness of the building, but even more importantly, I think it's the cost. I mean to this massive monument to one man, almost a billion dollars in total expenditures.

It was supposed to cost a third of that. Very typical to things that are involved. Barack Obama massively over budget, massively behind schedule, five years behind schedule. They [00:13:00] insisted. For example, one of the reasons it's so over budgeted behind schedule is they insisted on only using minority owned.

Firms as the subcontractor. Now, listen, there are plenty of capable minority owned firms, and I'm all for including them, of course, in the mix, but to require only, right? That again, we are gonna view you only through the prism of race, and we're not gonna take the best company who hopefully also hires a lot of black Chicagoans and Hispanic Chicago, right?

I mean, I, I get that goal, but to say, no, no, we're going to, we're going the South Africa route here, okay? We're gonna say only blacks need apply, or only Latinos need apply is absurd. And of course in, in just a practical sense, in some cases, they didn't have the right firms to do the work the right way.

They have not yet grown up and matured as firms. I'm sure they will at some point, but they haven't yet. So anyway, it was, to me, this building was reflective of the hypocrisy of Barack, the megalomania of Aach. The sort of saint worship of him by the American left and by the corporate media in the United States and, and it was frankly offensive to me as just Chicago and as somebody who [00:14:00] loves great architecture, and Chicago is, I think, the architectural capital of America.

I think when it comes to modern architecture, that's really not even debatable that it's the architectural capital of America. And to see this, this hideous building go up with ridiculous race-based rules at such gargantuan expense. Not very far away from literally some of the most dangerous neighborhoods, not just in America, but probably in the developed world To me, that that is a story that needs to be told and needs to be revealed to a lot of folks.

And for thankfully, I also found out in going there, and this is why you go places to do documentaries, talk to regular folks off camera if they're willing, go on camera. But what I found talking to people all over the city is they were offended too, and, and they're frankly ticked off. Because they had really high hopes for Barack Obama.

They voted for him in mass. Of course, Chicago's a very democratic city anyway, but particularly black Chicagoans were understandably so excited and again elected the first black president. It was a great achievement. It was a great achievement for Barack individually. It was a great achievement for the black community and for our entire country, and I'm not trying to diminish any of [00:15:00] that.

I just wish that Barack Obama had taken that opportunity and used it as a mantle to, to uplift our country just to enhance racial harmony and to build opportunity for all. Instead, I think he went the exact opposite in all of those directions that I just named, and he did it for his own enrichment. He did it for his own personal power and fame.

Fame with a, with a, with a very particular group of people, not the working class masses, but fame with the quote, important people in society. And I think he's shown that just again and again in his post presidency, he's almost obsessed with being part of the jet set, part of the sort of glitterati, the big tech Hollywood elites rather than.

Taking the Jimmy Carter example of rolling up your sleeves and like hammering nails and let's go help people. And by the way, I'm, I'm gonna help people in Chicago and instead of spending a billion dollars on a giant monument to me, let's see how we can invest that in the community in really smart ways.

No, like none of that's happened, right? It's not who he is. He's obsessed with celebrity. He's obsessed with himself. And I think the more we expose who he truly is, what's important is [00:16:00] not just for people to know who he is. But to also recognize that we can get back to a trend toward racial agreement in this country and, and toward reaching the kind of colorblind society that I think we were well on our way toward reaching before Barack Obama, paradoxically, the first black president halted that that progress and sent it in the other direction.

Brian Hyde: Once again, we are talking with Steve Cortez and Steve for people who want to see this documentary. You don't know Barack exposing Obama. What's the best place to go about that? 

Steve Cortes: Yes, go to cortez investigates.com. Cortez has an S at the end, cortez investigates.com. All of my content is there, but including my documentaries.

And what we do, Brian too, is we release not only sort of the the official documentary, but we also, because we interview a lot of folks, and this is just how when you make a film like this is what happens. You'll go and talk to somebody and they're great, and you talk to 'em for an hour and you get great information, but you're only gonna use five minutes maybe.

In your documentary, but what we've realized doing these docs is that whole hour is kind of gold, so let's not waste it. So we put out the, the [00:17:00] regular documentary first, the edited sort of bells and whistles, prettier documentary. But we also then released just very lightly edited, more just the, the bare bones interview of 'cause.

I also would encourage folks to, to look for that. We do that in the weeks after the documentary is released. Because then you'll get the fuller picture of what these Chicagoans had to say and their insights about what Barack Obama has meant for them, how they believe he's neglected the city, how he has not made their lives better, but in cases, many cases much worse.

And their hopes from here and, and in many cases, by the way, why they're now, I. Really sort of rabid America first, Trump supporters, fascinatingly, people who voted for Obama, so Cortez investigates.com. Also, my Twitter, I'm very active there and, and my documentaries are also available there. It's not quite as neatly formatted though, because of course Twitter just goes on and on with lots and lots of posts.

But my Twitter's at Cortez, Steve, again, asset the End of Cortez at Cortez. Steve, 

Brian Hyde: Steve, fascinating to talk with you. I hope to hope to have another discussion with you here in the not so distant future. 

Steve Cortes: I'd love that. Brian, thank you so much. 

Brian Hyde: This is the Prairie State Wire [00:18:00] Podcast.