Steve Cortes, former Senior Spokesman and Strategist for the 2016 and 2020 Trump campaigns and National Spokesman of the Ron DeSantis Never Back Down super PAC, joined Monday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy where he discussed the city of Chattanooga’s embracement of the 15-Minute City concept.
The 15-Minute City concept, championed by the World Economic Forum (WEF), is a transformation of an urban area in order for individuals to have access to “essential urban services within a 15 minute walk or bike.”
The 15-Minute City Project writes the following on its website:
Everyone living in a city should have access to essential urban services within a 15 minute walk or bike. The 15-Minute City Project is designed to help access-focused urban transformations be what we need them to be: ambitious, inclusive, measurable and effectively implemented.
During his Monday interview, Leahy asked Cortes if he’s noticed any “danger signs” in regards to similar policies being implemented in Chattanooga as from his hometown of Chicago, to which the former Trump campaign official explained that the city of Chattanooga is actively trying to push the 15-Minute City concept.
“Yes, there are some worrisome things,” Cortes, who moved to Chattanooga two and a half years ago, said. “For example, the city government right now – let me be specific in terms of policy – the city government in Chattanooga is starting to push this 15-Minute City nonsense, which comes out of the WEF, the World Economic Forum.”
Noting how the 15-Minute City concept happened “organically” over time in Chicago, Cortes said such a concept being pushed in a city like Chattanooga is “very different from anything happening organically.”
“It’s exactly the opposite,” Cortes added. “As a matter of fact, it is saying there is going to be a top down control structure. It’s very much related to this whole idea of keeping social scoring of people, which comes right out of the Chinese Communist Party, of saying that you are allowed to operate. Here’s what they don’t want to tell you: You are allowed to operate within your zone, within your geographic zone, which is, you know, generally considered to be a 15-Minute zone.”
“And people might think this is crazy..but don’t consider something that sounds crazy as being impossible,” Cortes added. “This is straight from the World Economic Forum, straight from Davos. The idea is that we are going to force you to, for reasons that are supposedly you know consistent with the green new deal and with, you know, a green agenda, we’re going to force you to decarbonize and, a huge part of that is to force you to live in an area where everything is accessible to you on foot or, again, extremely short transport rides.”
Cortes went on to note that even though Chattanooga, a “leaning Democrat” city, is surrounded by an “incredibly red area,” its embracement of the 15-Minute City concept proves that such WEF-championed policies are “gaining some currency now in terms of implementation,” even in the most conservative of states.
“We should be on guard – all of us, as patriots. What we have in Tennessee is fantastic. Could be better, of course, but it’s fantastic. But we should be on guard because do not think that because we live in a red state – because you live in a red region of a red state – that you can in any way let down your guard, because believe me, the attacks, the ideological attacks, are persistent and ongoing,” Cortes added.
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Steve Cortes” by Steve Cortes.
