> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://media.proudamericanstudios.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# John Catsimatidis on The Homeland: “All We Want Is Common Sense”
- URL: https://media.proudamericanstudios.com/podcasts/john-catsimatidis-on-the-homeland-all-we-want-is-common-sense/
- Published: 2026-10-09T15:59:40.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-09T15:59:40.000Z
- Description: In two separate segments of The Homeland, John Catsimatidis tells Dean Cain why tariffs, domestic manufacturing and lower gas prices matter ahead of the midterms, and Darcy Leutzinger breaks down vetting, vigilance and Plan C Leadership.
- Author: Editor-in-Chief, Proud American Studios
- Tags: The Homeland, podcast, U.S. Politics & National Cohesion

[Watch the Full Episode Now on Proud American Studios](https://app.proudamericanstudios.com/programs/the-homeland-john-catsimatidis-darcy-leutzinger-common-sense?ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com)

> I’m not looking for a job. I don’t need a job. I just want our kids and grandkids to have a better life. — John Catsimatidis, chairman and CEO of the Red Apple Group

Less than 30 days before the midterm elections, [Dean Cain](https://proudamericanstudios.com/team?ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com) framed the stakes on the latest episode of *The Homeland* in four words: “**common sense or crazy**.” The episode then delivered two very different briefings on what common sense looks like in practice. One comes from a self-made billionaire who has spent decades fixing broken companies. The other comes from a SWAT veteran who has built a career around the moment plans fall apart.

The first segment features [John Catsimatidis](https://ragny.com/?ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com), chairman and CEO of the Red Apple Group. The second, recorded separately, features [Dr. Darcy Leutzinger](https://proudamericanstudios.com/team/darcyleutzinger?ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com), co-host of *The Hero Next Door* on Proud American Studios and author of [*Plan C Leadership: How Real Leaders Adapt When Plans A and B Fail*.](https://www.amazon.com/Plan-Leadership-Leaders-Adapt-Plans/dp/B0GPZN93B2/ref=sr%5F1%5F2?channelId=500&clpRedir=Y&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.FdjktuCt91Y-mzLllqzDnucA3VDeUDZibxysR1VKrU4CSXpBUGCr9OXIBByiKGoGEYFlWIQ6mZB%5FJDfKaV-5Los5gN2U5uOwRGAmtDjwM87GRNiGSdBJXZEXnAfV3Y8UhLGO7G6V9TaTMCr6V5aVCnaeqn3tjOufblxPrK0mKrJCve8EgZ%5FR9CPn6nyOOHlPjWdA-Uy69xESupbt76BVfr%5Fz4XEfJ7oTQwjRyFC3xqUhdSPjwtVhmGBslHAOLttGaMA1qZZn9P16A3o%5F9xxOpYrMdAg1m-7Ivk4-DIJ1ciY.Q48MjSjn7uDgkijErK9BE%5F9zDxgIH%5FYsa3cGeaoGvAw&dib%5Ftag=se&keywords=plan+c&plpRedirect=mhFallback&qid=1791561022&sr=8-2&ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com)

## An Immigrant Who Built an Empire on Trust

Catsimatidis arrived in America at six months old, the son of legal immigrants from Greece. His father worked as a busboy. Cain called him “the embodiment of the American dream.” From a single grocery store, he built a company spanning supermarkets, energy, real estate and media, including 77 WABC. He tells the story in his memoir, [*How Far Do You Want to Go? Lessons from a Common Sense Billionaire*.](https://www.amazon.com/How-Far-You-Want-Common-Sense/dp/1637743432/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?crid=2GYHSU007VB6F&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.aQViai43fvHEFawXNT7SCQ.dvXjY0yadyU0oplUiYhsv4g355G-4kEnTQMnNZC7PlU&dib%5Ftag=se&keywords=How+Far+Do+You+Want+to+Go%3F+Lessons+from+a+Common+Sense+Billionaire.&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1791561116&sprefix=how+far+do+you+want+to+go+lessons+from+a+common+sense+billionaire.%2Caps%2C131&sr=8-1&ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com)

His start came almost by accident. He was an engineering student at NYU with no banking experience, so he financed his early growth through his vendors instead of loans, persuading them that every new store he opened would make money for them too. Mentors who trusted him, and whom he trusted in return, did the rest.

That same instinct carried him into oil in 1984, when he bought a bankrupt company while still a grocer. Creditors asked what he could possibly know about the business. Sixty days into his tenure as chairman, he reported that the company had made $7.5 million the previous month. He committed to repaying creditors 100 cents on the dollar and ultimately took full ownership. By his account, the deal saved 5,000 jobs, and some 40 years later the company remains a regional power across Ohio, New York State and Pennsylvania.

The pattern repeated across industries. “My job was a fixer,” Catsimatidis said. “I take something that’s broken, and I fix it.”

## A Businessman’s Case for Tariffs

Catsimatidis has unusual range in the political conversation. He did political work for President Clinton 30 years ago, still talks with him regularly, and has known President Trump for 45 to 50 years. He believes the economy is “doing great.” He measures today’s politics against an era when Clinton and Newt Gingrich, rivals who did not necessarily like each other, still “sat down at the same table” and brought the debt down. Today it stands at $40 trillion.

In his view, much of that burden comes from America underwriting the defense of Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan. To Catsimatidis, asking allies to pay their fair share is simply what a businessman does. So are tariffs. He described manufacturers that moved production to Mexico to save 20 to 30 percent, and the president’s answer: a matching tariff that erases the savings and keeps the jobs in places like Detroit.

The stakes go beyond paychecks. During COVID, Catsimatidis said, the Chinese Communist Party warned the United States not to blame it or risk losing antibiotic shipments, a direct result of sending pharmaceutical production to China and India. “Do we want to put the United States of America in that position where our enemies are not going to ship us our antibiotics?” he asked. He drew a firm line between the regime and its people: “I love the Chinese people. They’re hardworking people.”

### “Immigration, Yes. Invasion, No.”

Catsimatidis is a former vice chairman of Ellis Island, and both of his grandfathers arrived in 1913\. He sees immigration as an economic necessity, with a condition: the factories now being built will need carpenters and electricians by the thousands. “Immigration, yes. We want immigration. Invasion, no.” Before the 2024 election, he urged President Trump to make removing criminals, murderers, rapists and drug dealers the first priority, and to leave hardworking immigrants alone.

[Watch the Full Episode Now on Proud American Studios](https://app.proudamericanstudios.com/programs/the-homeland-john-catsimatidis-darcy-leutzinger-common-sense?ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com)

## Energy, Iran and the IRGC

On gas prices, Catsimatidis is emphatic: North America has “zero shortages” of oil. As he sees it, the pressure on prices comes from an “evil empire” of North Korea, Russia, Iran and China. Oil was recently down to $67 a barrel, and he expects a further drop of about $20 a barrel with peace in the Middle East or a defeat of Iran.

His prescription for Iran is targeted. He calls the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “the Gestapo of Iran” and argues it, not the country, should be the focus. “The Persian people are great people,” he said, adding that in the end they must take back their own country. Cain pointed to reports that the IRGC had circulated a 25-page letter urging Americans to vote for Democrats.

Closer to home, Catsimatidis wants the president to suspend federal gasoline taxes immediately, as a symbol that he feels Americans’ pain. In his view, falling fuel and grocery prices, followed by lower interest rates, would hand Republicans a sweep in November.

## “Lost Their Way” vs. “Lost Their Minds”

To capture the political moment, Catsimatidis played a clip from “Cats Corner,” his one-minute commentary feature. In it, former Vice President Mike Pence told him: “I think Republicans have lost their way, but Democrats have lost their minds.” Catsimatidis acknowledged that neither party is 100 percent right. Measured against JFK and Bill Clinton, though, he believes today’s Democrats have left the center behind.

He is putting his own platform to work, assembling a special program to run through the November 3 election to make sure “common sense prevails.” His closing argument is about priorities: take care of American citizens first, from homeless veterans in New York to the 20,000 to 25,000 inner-city kids served by the Police Athletic League, which he chairs.

“I’m not looking for a job. I don’t need a job,” he said. “I just want our kids and grandkids to have a better life.”

Catsimatidis also had advice for anyone hoping to follow his path. Cain joked before the interview that he planned to read *How Far Do You Want to Go? Lessons from a Common Sense Billionaire* 10 times, and Catsimatidis offered a shortcut: page 255, where he says he lays out about 20 tips on how to become a billionaire. Read the book once, he quipped, and “you're making it big enough.”

## Second Segment: Dr. Darcy Leutzinger on Vetting, Vigilance and Plan C

In a separate segment, Cain turned from economics to survival. Dr. Darcy Leutzinger brings 27 years of law enforcement experience, including 23 years running a SWAT team and undercover narcotics work in the City of Warren along Detroit’s Eight Mile Road. He followed that with 10 years in high-level private-sector security.

[*Plan C Leadership*](https://www.amazon.com/Plan-Leadership-Leaders-Adapt-Plans/dp/B0GPZN93B2/ref=sr%5F1%5F2?channelId=500&clpRedir=Y&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.FdjktuCt91Y-mzLllqzDnucA3VDeUDZibxysR1VKrU4CSXpBUGCr9OXIBByiKGoGEYFlWIQ6mZB%5FJDfKaV-5Los5gN2U5uOwRGAmtDjwM87GRNiGSdBJXZEXnAfV3Y8UhLGO7G6V9TaTMCr6V5aVCnaeqn3tjOufblxPrK0mKrJCve8EgZ%5FR9CPn6nyOOHlPjWdA-Uy69xESupbt76BVfr%5Fz4XEfJ7oTQwjRyFC3xqUhdSPjwtVhmGBslHAOLttGaMA1qZZn9P16A3o%5F9xxOpYrMdAg1m-7Ivk4-DIJ1ciY.Q48MjSjn7uDgkijErK9BE%5F9zDxgIH%5FYsa3cGeaoGvAw&dib%5Ftag=se&keywords=plan+c&plpRedirect=mhFallback&qid=1791561022&sr=8-2&ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com) began as diaries he kept on every call. The lessons reach far beyond policing: how to rebound from divorce, from losing colleagues in the line of duty, from any plan that collapses. He recently delivered them as a keynote to a major Detroit financial group, where no one in the room was a cop. The book has sold out on Amazon five or six times.

The recent FlyDubai incident, in which a co-pilot attacked the pilot on a flight to Israel, served as a real-world case study. Leutzinger’s first lesson is vetting, and not just once: high-level personnel should be re-vetted two or three times a year. His second is that passengers no longer wait to be rescued. Since 9/11, ordinary people step in, and more are being trained to. His team recently trained an airline’s pilots, staff, and ground crew in self-defense, CPR, and de-escalation.

Plan C, he explained, works like insurance. “You always have to prepare for something bad to happen. And if it doesn’t, awesome.” The preparation has to be real: training that gets the heart rate up in realistic settings, not standing still on a firing line. “If they’re gonna make that decision to train, train hard.”

Dean Cain closed the episode with a charge to viewers: stay vigilant, stay safe, and vote common sense.

[Watch the Full Episode Now on Proud American Studios](https://app.proudamericanstudios.com/programs/the-homeland-john-catsimatidis-darcy-leutzinger-common-sense?ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/61/7e/617ea0f9-9c68-4cf4-99c3-4aefef529f30/content/images/2026/09/GHOST-BIG-BLOCK-top-left-logo-2.png) 

## ****Join Proud American Studios** 

Join a growing community of Americans who value faith, freedom, and country. Enjoy exclusive programming, member-only events, and a private community—all while saving over 50% with an annual membership.

[BECOME A FOUNDING MEMBER](https://app.proudamericanstudios.com/join?ref=media.proudamericanstudios.com)