Show notes
Welcome back to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds. First up is Orlando Sonza, a U.S. Army Veteran and dedicated Ohioan running in Ohio's First Congressional District. Raised in New Jersey and a West Point graduate, Orlando's journey is a testament to his diverse background and commitment to service. Our second guest is Jason Willick, an Opinion columnist at The Washington Post where he primarily writes about legal matters, political ideas, and foreign affairs. In this episode, he delves into the timely topic of Hunter Biden and the Trump indictments. Don't miss this engaging conversation that brings thought-provoking insights and expert analysis to the forefront. _ Connect with us: www.breakingbattlegrounds.vote Twitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_Battle Facebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegrounds Instagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegrounds LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds - Orlando Sonza is a proud Ohioan. A second generation Filipino American, Orlando was raised in New Jersey and attended the United States Military Academy at West Point. While there he met his wife, Jessica, a Mexican/Filipino American, fellow Academy classmate, and Cincinnati native. Orlando graduated top ten in his class at West Point where he majored in political science and minored in systems engineering. Upon graduation, he and Jessica both commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army. Orlando served on active duty as an Infantry Officer and Finance Officer with the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia. Jason Willick writes a regular Washington Post column on legal issues, political ideas and foreign affairs. Before coming to The Post in 2022, he was an editorial writer and assistant editorial features editor for the Wall Street Journal, and before that a staff writer and associate editor at the American Interest. - Transcription Sam Stone: Welcome to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Sam Stone, Chuck Warren out of the studio for the moment. He will be joining us, we hope, within a few minutes. But we wanted to get rolling with our first guest today, frankly, because he has an amazing background. I'm really looking forward to chatting with Orlando, Sonza, candidate for Ohio's first congressional district and proud Ohioan, second generation Filipino American, raised in New Jersey, attended West Point, graduated top ten in his class, majoring in science, majored in political science, minored in systems engineering. So folks, this guy is no dummy. That is for sure. Orlando, Sonza, welcome to the program. Orlando Sonza: Sam, Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Great to be here. Sam Stone: So what made you decide to go to West Point or to try to go that route? Orlando Sonza: Yeah. You know, I always knew, I think early on in my life that I wanted to join the army. I mean, call it whether it was playing Army men as I was a little kid or that. Sam Stone: Now are we talking about the little green plastic guys or did you have the metal ones? That's right. Orlando Sonza: Oh, no, no. It's definitely the little green guys, you know, kicking it back old school, too. Toy Story one, you know, to to those guys. But no, there was a fateful trip that my family and I took. I remember distinctly when I was in eighth grade, of course, growing up in New Jersey, I was just an hour away from Bear Mountain, West Point country. And so we went up there and I saw the cadets in uniform. I saw them marching. I looked out over the Hudson River and I was like, this is the place where I'm going to, this is where I'm going to. And so I made it my commitment. And, you know, I was involved with Junior ROTC in high school, and that kind of just charted the path. And that's how I ended up at the at the academy now. Sam Stone: So because a lot of us out here are dummies, what exactly is systems engineering? Orlando Sonza: So systems engineering, you know, is another name for it is industrial engineering. At at West Point every cadet had to minor in an engineering, whether it was nuclear engineering, mechanical, electrical. I didn't know that love kind of. Yeah, yeah. So I really gravitated towards problem solving. And really that's all systems engineering. Industrial engineering is it's how do you solve complex problems, whether it's in business or in manufacturing. And so that's what I chose, not just me, but actually my wife. I don't know if you knew this, Sam, but. Sam Stone: Folks. Sorry about that. We had a very short technical glitch. We are continuing on with candidate or Lanzo Sansa running for Ohio's first Congressional District, Orlando. When we rudely technologically disconnected you there briefly, you were telling us your wife also, I think, actually went to West Point. So this is an amazing family. Orlando Sonza: Yeah, that's right. I mean, look, public service and servant leadership that's in our blood. I mean, that's in the signs of blood, whether it's it's me and my story. But my wife, too, is an incredible person because she grew up in Cincinnati, you know, native here in southwest Ohio. And she also found her way to the academy. And that's where we met. We were classmates. We commission together. We graduated together. We served our country for about five years together. And yeah, we're my best friend and also my my co fighter in this thing. Sam Stone: So and now after that, as I understand, after you both left the military, you moved back to her hometown in Cincinnati. So there's an important question I think we need to ask you here. Ah, yeah. No. Orlando Sonza: Go ahead. You know it's coming. It's coming. Sam Stone: Have you become a fan of eating chili on spaghetti? Orlando Sonza: Look, Sam, I will tell you this, all right? It is Skyline all the way. I don't think I've yet to even taste Gold star, but it's Skyline all the way. But I had the luxury of tasting skyline for the first time, wearing a bib in front of my now father in law, asking for his blessing to marry Jessica. So when I put that coney in my mouth and tasted cinnamon in my chili, I was like, What in the world is this? This is awful. But I got his blessing and I've since acquired the skyline taste. Sam Stone: So and so. So you actually got a photo of that from that that evening? Orlando Sonza: No, because I think I spit it all on my bib, so, you know, know it well, but it's ingrained in my memory and so in John's as well. Sam Stone: So I love that. So Orlando, just a heads up. Chuck is just now rejoined us in studio here, so we'll be continuing on with the both of us. But. All right, great. Hello, Orlando. Orlando. Orlando Sonza: Good to meet you. Nice to. Chuck Warren: Meet you. Sam Stone: One of the things I wanted to get at in your bio, it says you're a second generation Filipino American. One of the things Chuck and I have talked on this program about is, frankly, the patriotism of people who have come to this country and then served in the military and how in many ways we're finding that recent immigrant families are as or more patriotic than than people more so here for generations. They're more so. More so. Orlando Sonza: Oh, 100%, Sam And, you know, that's something that I grew up. Knowing, you know, and seeing it's, I think, just a false narrative that has been perpetrated by left wing media to showcase that this is something just recent. You know, it is truly immigrant families or that have that life story that showcases that. It is this sense of patriotism, love of country. Commitment to hard work, you know, love of freedom that this country has and the ability to go from nothing to achieving the American dream. That's something I grew up with and saw in New Jersey. It's something that my wife also, you know, that she's she's coming from a parents that have a Mexican American lineage, then also a Filipino American lineage. She saw that as well. So, yeah, that's 100% true today for sure. But it's also been true, you know, for for decades also in our country. Sam Stone: I like that you brought up the American dream because if you're running for Congress, another thing we've talked about, Chuck, a lot on this show is that the American dream isn't dead, even if there's a lot of people out there who who seem to think it is but one group that across doesn't matter where they came from. But immigrants believe in the American dream. Chuck Warren: They're the demographic that believes in it. Sam Stone: Yeah, absolutely. Orlando. Orlando Sonza: That's right. Yeah. Chuck Warren: Let me ask you a question. So you're running for Congress now out there in Cincinnati. You've had a very illustrious career. You've had some many opportunities to to learn certain aspects of a career. So, for example, I want to ask you what each job has prepared, how each job has prepared you to be in Congress, for example, by going to West Point and serving the military. What? Talents that you acquire and develop that will benefit your constituents in Cincinnati. If you're in Congress. Orlando Sonza: Yeah. You know, talking specifically to buy West Point and military background, I remember distinctly, you know, every week I would go to the Cadet Barber shop, get a haircut, and there was this poster in one of the, you know, one of the walls at the barber shop and it said West Point, where leaders aren't born. They're made. You know, it's kind of a cliche. It's a it's a funny thing, but it's just so impacted me the first time I saw it, because what I realized was leadership is about going through experiences and challenges and formulating this ability to lead people and lead them well. You know, the good leaders that we've seen in our country, they're not born. They were made by the crucible of adversity. And so whether it was at West Point, but then being able to translate and apply what I learned at the Academy, which was truly a premier leadership institution and applied it in the military, that's what I gleaned back. And I knew that in the military, whether I was leading infantry soldiers or leading finance soldiers in the second half of my military career, what it came down to is how do you motivate, train and inspire people to achieve a common goal but do it in a way that's transformational. And so I took that and then translated it into a post-military career. But I would say first and foremost, it is leadership that I learned at West Point and the military. And that's quite frankly, what we are seeing the lack of today. Right. Whether it's in Congress or at the White House, just Washington and its lack of good leadership is what's crippling for our nation and what people are tired of seeing. They want good, serious leadership that can solve complex, serious problems. That's what I seek to do when elected to Congress. Sam Stone: It does seem, Chuck, like there's a lack of I was going to say, like Congress and the White House often these days seem rudderless, but I guess that would be more of a Navy analogy. They're bad pathfinders, right? They're not good at following the trails that they need to follow to get where they need to go. Chuck Warren: No, not at all. You also served as an associate prosecutor for Hamilton County prosecutor's office. What, while serving in that role, what talents can you take to Congress that you learn from there? Orlando Sonza: You know, it's a lot of problems, right, that are impacting our nation, not just southwest Ohio, but specifically, you know, drawing from my experience as an assistant prosecutor, as an attorney. The problem that we're seeing in southwest Ohio, whether it's the crime that is just continue to escalate the rate of violent crime, that's continuing to escalate across our big cities where Cincinnati you know, I just saw the numbers recently that we've got more juvenile homicides in in years, in decades in Cincinnati, or it's the fentanyl crisis, the opioid epidemic that is impacting southwest Ohio and across the country. You we need someone that can understand how to advocate for the right legislation necessary to reduce the crime in our cities and stop the wave of harmful drugs like fentanyl from destroying more lives. Look, that's that. That goes to the heart of having the right type of laws. And we don't need an actual, you know, legislator that has a law background, but certainly would help, right. Because it is laws and having constitutional laws that would then advance the good goals that we need in order to fix those problems. But as a prosecutor as well, I can speak firsthand to what I saw Fentanyl was doing and the the opioid epidemic was doing for our city and also what violent crime was doing in our city. And so that's what I'm seeking to actually fix and drawing from that experience. Sam Stone: Yeah, I think that's actually one of the most important things right now for Congress to truly understand is how dramatic a shift fentanyl and then sort of the post 2020 lawlessness has created in this country. It's a really critical issue. We have only about 45 seconds before we go to break here. We're going to be continuing on after the break with Orlando, Sonza, candidate for Ohio's first Congressional district. And folks, make sure you stay tuned for the second half of our program. We're going to have Jason Willick, regular Washington Post columnist, talking about all the legal issues with Hunter, with Trump, all that kind of stuff. So make sure you stay tuned for that. And folks, if you're not already subscribed to our substack, go on our website. Make sure you get all the new episodes of breaking battlegrounds right when they come out for Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. We'll be back in just a moment. Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making Dream homes Come True. Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Moran. I'm Sam Stone. We're going to be continuing on in just a moment with Orlando Sansa, candidate with an amazing background running for Ohio's first congressional district. But before we do that, folks, how is your 401. K doing these days? The market's been up. The market's been down. This Biden economy is not helping folks. It is maybe time for you to consider diversifying your portfolio. You need to check out our friends at invest Y refy. Go to their website, invest the letter Y, then refy.com check them out because you can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. That's right. A 10.25 fixed rate of return in this economy is a fantastic opportunity. So go to that website. Check them out. You're not going to regret it. Invest the letter Y, then refy.com. Chuck Warren: So you're running for Congress. What is it? Why should people vote for you versus the Democrat incumbent? Orlando Sonza: Yeah, you know, it comes down to really what we've seen that Ohioans want today. They don't want the identity politics. What they want is serious leadership representing them in Washington. Who has the background and experience as a problem solver capable of understanding the complex issues impacting our nation? And, you know, unlike my opponen…
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