Live from Music Row, Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Newsmax host of America Right Now, Tom Basile to the newsmaker line to discuss why he and his family have decided to relocate to Tennessee from Westchester County, New York.
Leahy: We are joined now by my very good friend, Newsmax host, all-around great guy, Tom Basile. Good morning, Tom.
Basile: Your eminence. Michael Patrick Lahey good to be with you. Thank you so much for having me.
Leahy: Tom, you and I work together on several projects and I have the highest regard for what you do. And we’ve had some talks and I think this was in the works before I put on my Ambassador for the State of Tennessee hat.
But you are a lifetime resident of Westchester County in New York. You wrote a piece at Newsmax explaining why you’re leaving the state of New York and moving to Tennessee. Tell us about that.
Basile: Well, it’s very emotional, but this week my family is going to join that nearly 1.5 million people. Think about that. And you were originally from New York too. You know 1.5 million New Yorkers who have left for someplace else to call home.
And you know what? Governor Kathy Hochul kind of reaffirmed our commitment to leaving this week. She called anybody who believes that there should be any abortion restrictions, neanderthals, at a press conference.
We’ve come to the conclusion that we’re not going to be a priority for New York. Our family is not what the government here is focused on keeping us here, competing to keep us here. So we are making the move.
And it’s tough, I have to say. To leave is very difficult. We leave behind a lot of friends and a very close connection to this place where my grandmother came in 1927 over from Italy for a better life, where my parents grew up, and where I grew up.
But each of those places, as I kind of got a bit of a goodbye tour, Michael. You see how the left has impacted all of those places, from the cities to the leafy suburbs that sort of once heralded the expansion of the middle class that is now filled with people who were just constantly on the ropes due to high taxes, due to regulations, due to an unfriendly business climate, due to a war on American energy, you name it.
And that’s to say nothing about the culture war issues. So we’re coming to Tennessee and we come to Tennessee with a message that we’ve seen what the cultural rot that the left brings when they get a foothold anywhere.
And it’s a message that I know that you appreciate, but it’s a message that I think that people in Tennessee need to hear, that people in South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, other places that need to protect themselves from what we see in places like New York and California.
Leahy: You have two school-aged children. How many children do you have that are school age?
Basile: Three. We have three school-aged kids. I pay some of the highest property taxes in the country. You know where I live in the Hudson Valley outside of New York City.
And we can’t send our kids to the public schools because on Flag Day last year, our school district that I pay through the nose for Michael, what happens on Flag Day in our class usually when you and I were kids, what did you do?
You used to draw the American flag, right? Maybe you drew the Betsy Ross flag or maybe you drew the American flag in some sort of a scene.
Well, they have them drawing gender identity flags in my school district. In the school district that I grew up in, which was one of the best in the state in Clarkstown, the parents just had to revolt because the superintendent of schools was secretly pushing critical race theory into the classrooms.
So we have three school-age kids, and as difficult as it is, Michael, it’s so important that people grow up in a place where they feel like their values are respected.
We’re Christians, we’re Catholics, and we try to live our faith. And it’s very important for us to be in a place where we’re trying to teach our children what they’re seeing and hearing around them, comports with those values.
And not have the government constantly working against you. It’s tough, and it’s New York and New York Michael will probably have some sort of a renaissance. It does ebb and flow.
But as I said on Newsmax on my show America Right Now last week, the bagels just aren’t enough to keep us here anymore and kind of waiting for Godot. The costs are just too high, not only for us financially, but also for our children.
Leahy: This is a huge move with three school-age children. In-studio with me right now is the original all-star panelist for The Tennessee Star Report. Crom Carmichael and I have known each other for well over 30 years.
Crom himself actually was born many years ago back in South Bend, Indiana, but he’s been in Tennessee for most of his adult life. Crime, you have a question for Tom?
Carmichael: Yes, I have two questions. One is, first of all, welcome prematurely to Tennessee. I don’t think you haven’t actually moved yet, is that correct?
Basile: I haven’t. It’s going to happen next week.
Carmichael: Eric Adams was elected mayor and there were high hopes. What is your assessment now?
Basile: I think that Adams is I think that at points his heart is in the right place. But you have to remember something. He is dealing with a Democrat socialist city council, unlike anything that we have ever seen.
He’s got Black Lives Matter activists threatening him. He’s definitely under the thumb of the far left. He’s not going to be able to make any bold or dramatic changes.
And the NYPD, just 1,500 cops just resigned or retired. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Leahy: My good friend Tom Basile. Welcome to Tennessee. We’re delighted to have you come into the state. Thanks for joining us.
Listen to the interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
