Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue discusses facing backlash for supporting Trump and argues the U.S. is losing economic freedom and 'competitiveness.'
This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steve months after a visit to
Steve months after a visit to
the White House brought him
fierce backlash on twitter from
some on the political left, Goya
Foods, CEO, Bob Unanue says his
company is doing just fine, but
warns the american economy is
losing its freedom and he joins
us right now from our nations
capital
Bob Good Morning to you
im doing well.
How are you
Steve im? Well,
a couple months ago you were at
the White House and talking
about your companys efforts,
you had been at the White House
before as a guest of Barack
Obama,
but for some reason some on the
political left saw you at
trumps White House and blew a
gasket
well Steve. I was there
invited to be a commissioner on
the White House Initiative on
hispanic prosperity, which was a
great honor and also I was there
to give away, give back
two million pounds of food, because
the company in this pandemic has
done very good.
Our workers courageously have
worked,
we we have worked safely and we
have been able to increase the
wages of our employees, and you
know the blessings that we have
of doing so. Well, we wanted to
give back,
and we announced that,
and we went well beyond the
two million pounds
this year. We will give close to
four million pounds of food
in announcing that I said that
the country was blessed to have
a president, like President
Trump
Steve right,
apparently, when you invoke
God or blessing that doesnt
sit well with people,
there was calls for boycotts
and then a buy cot.
The support has been amazing
around the country running to
people all over the place. We
have kept our core business and
customers and picked up a new
consumers.
Its wonderful
Steve, some on the political
left, including Julian Castro,
dont buy Goya, foots foods and
some said Lets- have a buy cott
in the introduction. I know you
said last couple days: the
greatest economy on earth is
losing its freedom.
What do you mean?
Well, its not only losing
its freedom,
its losing its competitiveness?
You know we are the greatest
economy on earth, but we have a
serious. We are in danger of
becoming the divided states of
America.
We have a serious identity
crisis,
we have politicians that want to
be scientists,
we have scientists that want to
be politicians,
and you know we have the
ceos of all these states.
We have fifty states and these
ceos, you know they come to
people like us and say come to
our state.
We want to open business,
but now they are closing these
businesses down.
They say: dont come to our
state,
we want to close down the
business
and this hurts the working
class.
While these people who no matter
what they get paid
and they are in the job for four
years,
they have got tenure in that
job
and if they dont perform it
doesnt matter,
so people are heading to states
that are open for business. Like
Texas, like Florida,
we are all over the United
States.
We are all over. We are in the
Caribbean, we are in Europe,
but the people are flocking.
Thousands of people a day are
going to Texas
about two thousand a day into Florida
into South Dakota,
so were getting this
competition of. We are getting
this competition of people who
are flocking to states that are
open for business,
Steve right,
then you have California,
which is one of the biggest
economies in the world,
its bigger than most countries,
and they are shutting it down.
They are about to shut down
California,
and you have the CEO of
California, who are saying we
have got to shut down these
businesses
and im going to get paid, no
matter
what im going to live high on
the hog,
and while you lose your job, you
have got to have a purpose,
and I dont mean to invoke
George Orwell by living high on
the hog,
but its disingenuous for these
ceos. These governors to close
down the states, put people out
of work while they enjoy a fixed
salary without any
repercussions.
Steve exactly.
You are talking about what a lot
of people are talking about, all
these restrictions that are
making it impossible for a lot
of people to make a living
bob. Thank you very much for
joining us and thank you for all
the food you are giving away to
so many people,
because there is so we see
the food lines these days.
A lot of people are hurting and.
Transcript generated on 2020-12-04.