Back in 2023, I woke up around 4:30 in the morning and told my wife, “Baby, I made a big decision.” She said, “What, baby?” I told her I was going on a YouTube show with Shuli Egar, Bob Levy, and some guy named Mike. I said I trusted them, and I thought this was going to be my big break. I really believed if I went on there and told my whole life story — the good, the bad, the prison, the pain, the neighborhood stories, the baseball stories, all of it — the money would start pouring in and the world would love me. My son tried to warn me. He said, “Dad, you do not understand how the internet works. This is not going to go the way you think.” But I did it anyway. I went on that show, and it was such a disaster that they had to go off screen because they were laughing so hard. That was the beginning of one of the dumbest ideas I ever had. I really thought I had cracked the code. I thought if 50 percent hated me and 50 percent loved me, I could turn it into fame, money, and success. Instead, I got mocked, trolled, humiliated, and turned into amusement for the internet. Yesterday I made four dollars. Four dollars. That was the result of my “million-dollar idea.” But somewhere in that disaster, something changed in me. I stopped pretending. I stopped chasing fake love from the internet. I started asking what I actually stood for. That is when I turned toward something real. I began thinking seriously about what is broken in this country, and what I would fight for if I ever had the power to do something about it. Then I saw the truth that pushed me over the edge: homeless veterans. My grandfather was a World War II hero who received the Silver Star. Men like him fought for this country, and now thousands of veterans are homeless in America. That is unacceptable to me. That is where my mission became real. Under a Catalano administration, no veteran will be left homeless. That is my word. So yes, I had one of the worst ideas a man could have — turning my whole life into internet entertainment and expecting it to save me. But out of that disaster came something better: truth, accountability, and a mission. My name is Joseph Samuel Catalano III, and I believe honesty and integrity can still win the White House by fixing the root of the problem.

Catalano Veteran's Act thumbnail