Firebrand - Matt Gaetz - Episode 122 LIVE: 9 Speaker Candidates – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

9 Republican Candidates for Speaker of the House debate in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. Today's episode is a live broadcast from Room 2021, where the candidates will lay out their vision for the future of the Republican Conference and the country. We also hear from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the possibility of a second front in the Israeli conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and we hear from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Ohio) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) on the impact of the Tea Party wave that swept through the midterms. Finally, we get a look at the latest on the Biden administration's efforts to keep the economy afloat, including a new report from The Daily Caller by Will Kessler, and a new piece from The New York Times op-ed piece from Will Kessler in The Daily Call by Will Kasperson. This episode is brought to you by Firebrand, a project of the Center for American Islamic Relations, a progressive advocacy group that focuses on the intersection of politics, economics, and culture in the 21st century. Firebrand is a new type of media organization that aims to connect the dots in order to make sense of what's going on in the world, from politics, policy, and pop culture. Firebrand's mission is to bring common sense and common sense to the world. In this episode, we discuss: 1. 2. Who are the real candidates for Speaker? 3. What are they represent? 4. How do they differ from each other? 5. What do they have in common? 6. What is their vision? 7. Why are they have the best chance of winning the next election? 8. 9. Why do they stand a chance of defeating the next one? 10. Why they are the most likely to win in 2020? 11. What will they have a chance to win it? 12. What s their path to victory? 13. How will they represent the future? 14. 15. What does the country? 16. Who s the biggest opportunity for the next generation? 17. Who is the most authentic voice in the House of Representatives? And so much more! What do you think of them? 19. What would you like to see in the next House of the US House of Dealing with the next Congress? 18. Who do you want to hear from me?

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:04:37.000 You're not taking Matt Gaetz off the board, okay?

00:04:40.000 Because Matt Gaetz is an American patriot and Matt Gaetz is an American hero.

00:04:44.000 We will not continue to allow the Uniparty to run this town without a fight. 1.00

00:04:50.000 I want to thank you, Matt Gaetz, for holding the line.

00:04:54.000 Matt Gaetz is a courageous man.

00:04:56.000 If we had hundreds of Matt Gaetz in D.C., the country turns around.

00:05:01.000 It's that simple.

00:05:01.000 He's so tough, he's so strong, he's smart, and he loves this country.

00:05:06.000 Matt Gaetz.

00:05:08.000 It is the honor of my life to fight alongside each and every one of you.

00:05:13.000 We will save America!

00:05:15.000 It's choose your fighter time!

00:05:16.000 I'm sending the Firebrand.

00:05:18.000 Welcome back to Firebrand.

00:05:26.000 We are live broadcasting out of room 2021 of the Rayburn House Office Building here at our Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. Shout out to my man Kevin Smith watching at the Loud Majority on Rumble.

00:05:37.000 We have a lot to get to.

00:05:39.000 War in the Middle East.

00:05:41.000 We've got a speaker race coming up.

00:05:43.000 This episode, I'm going to walk you through the nine announced candidates for Speaker of the House who will be debating in just moments before the House Republican Conference, laying out their vision.

00:05:52.000 I want you to get a keen understanding of what the path forward looks like for each of them, some of the critical features of their voting record, and really how we can unite behind someone who will make the Republican Conference a fighting force for the people again.

00:06:07.000 I've got lots to share about my perspective on the race.

00:06:10.000 The mainstream media has been freaking out because the normal powers that be are not in control of Washington, D.C. right now.

00:06:17.000 We have got a historic opportunity to democratize power, to put the needs of the American people at the forefront again.

00:06:23.000 I can't wait to see what the next step is, and I'm really, really excited about what it could mean for really reshaping the rules in a deeply corrupt system.

00:06:32.000 First, I want to go, though, to what's going on in the Middle East, and here is the direct statements from Prime Minister Netanyahu to Hezbollah regarding a potential Second front in Israel's war in the north.

00:06:45.000 Take a listen.

00:06:50.000 If Hezbollah decides to enter the war, it will miss the Second Lebanon War.

00:06:54.000 It will make the mistake of its life.

00:06:56.000 We will cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine, and the consequence for Hezbollah and for the state of Lebanon will be devastating. 1.00

00:07:04.000 But we are prepared for any scenario.

00:07:09.000 So this is something really important to watch.

00:07:12.000 Right now, Israel is in an asymmetric conflict against these well-funded, well-financed, coordinated, logistically-centered terrorist groups.

00:07:20.000 But we do not want to see this conflict broaden into more state-on-state violence.

00:07:25.000 That's where this goes from.

00:07:27.000 An operation that Israel's military is conducting in Gaza to a war that could sweep across the Middle East and through parts of the Muslim world in Asia, in Africa.

00:07:37.000 We want to see Israel succeed in destroying Hamas. 0.88

00:07:41.000 That is the objective.

00:07:42.000 I believe that Lebanon is one of the key countries to watch because Lebanon Has Hezbollah as a political party occupying about a third of the seats in their lawmaking body and they've got a real goal to annihilate Israel.

00:07:58.000 So while there are some positive features of what the Lebanese government is doing, while they're trying to hold it together amid a lot of economic strife and a banking collapse in Lebanon, Lebanon would be the first country to descend into a civil war.

00:08:14.000 And so Netanyahu, understanding that, is trying to reset deterrence with Hezbollah and have them understand that this will not be the normal cycle of escalation.

00:08:24.000 This will not be Hezbollah attacks and then Israel has a proportionate response.

00:08:29.000 You will see a complete destruction mode.

00:08:34.000 You will see a siege.

00:08:36.000 in southern Lebanon and potentially in the Golan Heights around Syria if you see those nations devolve into civil war and anti-semitic entities seeking to wipe Israel off the map gain any sort of operational imperative in these early stages so very important I think it is quite the signal from Prime Minister Netanyahu that this is a critical objective of Israel to deter any sort of Lebanese involvement in the war and to deter Hezbollah to the max extent possible. 0.68

00:09:07.000 I do believe that us having two carrier groups in the Eastern Med gives other countries that would seek to escalate this reason to not do so.

00:09:16.000 It doesn't mean we should be moving carrier groups through the Suez Canal.

00:09:18.000 I think that that has real force protection risks to it, but in the Eastern Mediterranean, We can be a part of helping Israel set deterrence, and I'm glad, in fact, that we are doing that. 0.56

00:09:30.000 Here at home, there's other news that's troubling as well.

00:09:33.000 I want to bring your attention to a piece by Will Kessler in The Daily Caller, styled, Americans are burning through savings to keep Biden's economy afloat.

00:09:43.000 So the Biden administration is noting that there is economic growth now, but if you peel back, a lot of that growth is funded by high consumer deficit spending.

00:09:54.000 Where you're seeing APRs increase on credit cards, and I'm quoting now directly from the piece, to sustain this level of consumer spending, Americans are draining their savings, spending more than they are bringing in as their wages stay stagnant or decline.

00:10:09.000 E.J. Antonio, a research fellow at Heritage Foundation, So as the Biden administration tries to show you economic growth numbers, We know that that comes on the backs of the savings of the American people.

00:10:32.000 As the American people burn through savings, more and more are utilizing credit cards to bridge from one month to the next with high government spending and high interest rates.

00:10:42.000 That APR on those credit cards is increasing and E.J. and Tony making this argument in the Daily Caller piece that we may very well be heading into a recession.

00:10:53.000 And if we are, It is the government spending that I am trying to stop in this town that is driving it.

00:10:59.000 And it was that government spending that Kevin McCarthy was all too willing to advance as House Speaker.

00:11:04.000 Now we've got the opportunity to get a new House Speaker.

00:11:07.000 And there are nine announced candidates in this round of the balloting.

00:11:11.000 And I agree with what my colleague Bob Good said recently.

00:11:15.000 I would rather get this done right than just get it done quickly.

00:11:20.000 We've never seen anything like this in Washington D.C. before where the core of the control center that the lobbyists and the special interests have on the leadership and on the agenda That has been shaken.

00:11:34.000 That has been disrupted.

00:11:36.000 And now we've got nine folks, and we may have a speaker among them.

00:11:39.000 So I'm going to go through these in alphabetical order.

00:11:41.000 I'm going to tell you a little bit about these folks.

00:11:43.000 Please don't take anything I say positive or negative about them as dispositive on my vote.

00:11:48.000 I think that with any of these people, you're going to have to weigh multiple factors, okay?

00:11:54.000 And at the end of the day, the ideal candidate that I would have liked to have seen, Jim Jordan, Well, he came 17 votes short of the speakership.

00:12:04.000 And while that's discouraging to many, and certainly it's got a lot of folks fired up in the live chat right now, what I can tell you is that we have moved the ball forward for conservatism just by where we are right now.

00:12:17.000 Consider this.

00:12:18.000 Just three speakers ago, Jim Jordan was called a legislative terrorist by John Boehner.

00:12:27.000 And just like three days ago, We had Jim Jordan within 17 votes of the speakership.

00:12:34.000 That shows you the direction this is moving and the American people who are engaged and demanding more, you are the ones that are the driving force in that movement.

00:12:42.000 So let's get to these nine candidates now with full context that I'm describing them to you, not trying to persuade you one way or the other on these folks.

00:12:52.000 There's just things I think you need to know.

00:12:54.000 So alphabetical order, let's start with Jack Bergman.

00:12:57.000 Jack Bergman is the highest ranking member of the military to have ever served in Congress in America's history.

00:13:05.000 General Bergman served in the United States Marine Corps.

00:13:08.000 Now he's a more moderate member of Congress.

00:13:11.000 He's from the state of Michigan, represents the upper peninsula there.

00:13:14.000 He was actually elected class president when I entered Congress.

00:13:19.000 So several of the people that you're going to hear about, certainly Mike Johnson, I guess, in addition to Bergman, From the same class that was elected with me in 2016, Jack Bergman was elected our class president.

00:13:31.000 Always viewed well among the members of our class.

00:13:35.000 Member of the Armed Services Committee with me has also served as a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee.

00:13:41.000 Now, one thing about Jack Bergman, he voted for the debt limit increase.

00:13:47.000 That is in many ways the original sin of the McCarthy era of the speakership.

00:13:52.000 Before that debt limit vote, Kevin McCarthy was actually doing a pretty good job as House Speaker.

00:13:57.000 Wouldn't have lost his job.

00:13:59.000 But when they did the deal to underwrite an unlimited amount of Biden debt through January 1 of 2025, you created this runway for the very weaponized government that we have been fighting against.

00:14:12.000 So I will certainly weigh in my decision the fact that Jack Bergman was a yes vote on that bad debt limit deal.

00:14:19.000 I think that we probably would do better with someone who didn't vote for that.

00:14:23.000 And that brings us to our next candidate for speaker, Byron Donalds.

00:14:28.000 My fellow Florida man, so I am a little biased.

00:14:31.000 Byron and I have known each other for quite some time.

00:14:34.000 We've been on the campaign trade together throughout Florida politics, helping Republicans get elected.

00:14:40.000 We served in the state legislature together.

00:14:42.000 Byron Donalds is a respected member of the House Freedom Caucus.

00:14:46.000 He is a dynamic communicator.

00:14:48.000 In one area where he and I had disagreement, and it was re-noted on social media somewhat recently, Byron had supported a continuing resolution that demanded some policy changes on the border and that had ostensibly some spending cuts for 30 days.

00:15:05.000 I did not support that.

00:15:06.000 I think governing by continuing resolution is a bad idea.

00:15:09.000 But Byron is considered probably, you know, among the more conservative members of this field and someone who certainly got a lot of people excited.

00:15:18.000 I know Having campaigned with Byron across Florida throughout the country, he's a very dynamic guy.

00:15:25.000 And when people interact with him on the campaign trail, they seem to like him.

00:15:28.000 So Byron Donalds, another candidate for our speaker.

00:15:31.000 The real question I had with Donalds, he's in his second term, I think?

00:15:38.000 Second or third term.

00:15:39.000 I think he's in his second term.

00:15:41.000 And there are some here who believe that you've got to have extensive seniority.

00:15:45.000 You've got to have been in Washington for 10, 12 years to even be considered.

00:15:50.000 Frankly, all the people we've considered to date have had at least a decade of experience in Congress, and Byron has less congressional experience.

00:15:58.000 But I would remind people that he's got experience in the state legislature, and one of the features of his candidacy that I think he's been promoting is that he's Not been entirely encapsulated in the Beltway view of thinking, and that as someone who's a former state lawmaker, like many members of Congress are, we might be able to reset that semblance of federalism, where the Congress doesn't have to solve every problem, where we've got states doing what's within their constitutional purview.

00:16:26.000 So that is Byron Donalds.

00:16:28.000 Next, alphabetically, Tom Emmer.

00:16:30.000 He is the current whip of the Republican Conference, and in that role, he is very well thought of, from our more moderate members to our more conservative members, as a truth-teller.

00:16:41.000 Tom Emmer is one of the few members of leadership who doesn't lie to the membership.

00:16:45.000 There is a Trump factor here.

00:16:47.000 President Trump initially put out a statement that he did not support Tom Emmer.

00:16:50.000 He'd apparently heard things that were concerning to him about how Tom Emmer had run I am told that President Trump and Tom Emmer spoke over the weekend and that that conversation went well, so we'll see if there are other comments from President Trump about Tom Emmer.

00:17:10.000 Though Tom Emmer is the whip of the Congress, it is important to note that Emmer has only been in that position for nine months, whereas other members of leadership have At times, struggled with members who said, well, you know, you're part of the same system.

00:17:26.000 You're part of the same structure.

00:17:27.000 And some had been members of that system and structure for many years.

00:17:32.000 Here, Tom Emmer has been there for nine months.

00:17:34.000 I think the membership likes him.

00:17:36.000 Now, there have been some clips that have been coming out from his time as a Minnesota member.

00:17:42.000 politician, lawmaker, I think he ran for governor in Minnesota, came up just short in the closest of races there as Minnesota was taking kind of a bluish turn.

00:17:54.000 You know, you could find old clips about just about anybody and use them if they've been in politics long enough.

00:18:01.000 We'll see if those motivate a lot of conservative activists to oppose Emmer.

00:18:06.000 I certainly have seen the most opposition to Emmer online as opposed to any of these other candidates.

00:18:12.000 We'll see if that ends up being dispositive for folks.

00:18:15.000 And another thing you should know about Tom Emmer, he too voted for the debt limit deal.

00:18:20.000 So if you're viewing that as dispositive as I am, if you're viewing that as critical to where the House of Representatives is right now, it's quite the tell.

00:18:29.000 Tom Emmer was a yes vote on the bad McCarthy debt limit deal.

00:18:33.000 That brings us to our next candidate, Kevin Hearn.

00:18:37.000 Kevin Hearn is the chairman of the Republican Study Committee.

00:18:40.000 That is the largest conference in the United States Congress.

00:18:43.000 And Kevin Hearn is a guy who grew up on public assistance, got a job at a McDonald's, He scraped together enough money to get a McDonald's franchise and then became one of the most successful McDonald's franchisees in the country.

00:19:00.000 And as it just so happens, I have a delivery from Kevin Hearn that came just as we were starting the show.

00:19:07.000 And I'll read you his platform.

00:19:10.000 He's a congressman from Arkansas.

00:19:14.000 And it reads...

00:19:16.000 Actually, he's from Oklahoma, isn't he?

00:19:19.000 Yeah, Oklahoma.

00:19:19.000 My mistake.

00:19:21.000 All right.

00:19:22.000 Dear colleague, how would you get us back on track?

00:19:24.000 That is the question I've received most since announcing my bid for speaker.

00:19:28.000 To me, the answer is simple.

00:19:29.000 If we want better outcomes, we need to pursue a fresh approach.

00:19:33.000 But truth is, Congress has not been working properly for a long time.

00:19:36.000 Here are some facts.

00:19:38.000 38. That's the number of continuing resolutions we've passed in the last 10 years.

00:19:43.000 8. That's the number of omnibus spending bills we've passed in the last 10 years.

00:19:48.000 1977, the last and only time Congress passed a budget and enacted all of its appropriations bills separately and on time.

00:19:56.000 Think about that.

00:19:57.000 1977, last time we followed the law.

00:19:59.000 But I'm the crazy one that wants us to follow the law.

00:20:02.000 Back to Hearn's letter.

00:20:05.000 1208, the number of unauthorized programs at the beginning of fiscal year 2023. We've talked a lot about this.

00:20:13.000 Over 1200 unauthorized programs We've got to stop spending money in this way.

00:20:19.000 So back to the Hearn letter.

00:20:20.000 Two, the number of years we are away from debt interest payments surpassing annual defense funding.

00:20:27.000 And the letter goes on to talk about the number of Americans that are dying from the national debt, the debt increase now approaching $34 trillion, and an approval rating for Congress of 17%.

00:20:41.000 Hearn talks about his 35 years of leadership in the McDonald's organization.

00:20:47.000 Motivating people.

00:20:48.000 And you know what?

00:20:49.000 Let's see what he sent us.

00:20:50.000 A cheeseburger.

00:20:51.000 Actually, we got two of them.

00:20:53.000 And, you know, they say there's a lot of stuff that goes on to buy and sell votes in this town.

00:20:59.000 But Kevin Hearn sending me a McDonald's burger.

00:21:01.000 Probably one of the best efforts we've had so far.

00:21:03.000 I'm taking a bite.

00:21:04.000 Oh, it's been a long time since I've had a McDonald's burger.

00:21:13.000 I'm Alright, that's Kevin Hearn's candidacy.

00:21:19.000 We'll see if anybody else sends any other fast food.

00:21:23.000 That brings us to the next candidate, Mike Johnson.

00:21:27.000 Mike Johnson, a constitutional conservative, a brilliant attorney, whips Jamie Raskin up and down the floor.

00:21:35.000 Whenever they debate the finer points of constitutional law, on the Judiciary Committee, Mike Johnson has been central to a lot of the oversight we've been conducting over the Biden crime family, over the FBI, the DOJ, the ATF. Here is the challenge that Mike Johnson will have to overcome.

00:21:55.000 He did not vote for the debt limit deal, but the challenge he'll have to overcome is that he's from the state of Louisiana.

00:22:01.000 And our number two right now, Steve Scalise, Who withdrew from the speaker contest is also from Louisiana.

00:22:08.000 So I know this sounds crazy, but as qualified as Mike Johnson is, and he would make a phenomenal speaker, I can tell you that right now, having worked with him.

00:22:16.000 There are some people who don't want to vote for Mike Johnson because they're concerned about the centralization of power with a Speaker of the House and a majority leader from the state of Louisiana.

00:22:27.000 I don't view that as all that important, but it's something he's going to have to work through.

00:22:31.000 Also, Mike Johnson's not a member of the House Freedom Caucus.

00:22:33.000 A lot of times he aligns with the conservative perspective and viewpoint.

00:22:37.000 Some members of the Freedom Caucus say, well, if you're a real conservative that wants our backing, you should be in the Freedom Caucus.

00:22:43.000 Full disclosure, I'm not a member of the Freedom Caucus.

00:22:46.000 I think that you can be a conservative and be more independent-minded, or you don't have to necessarily be a sworn-in member of the House Freedom Caucus in order to fight for the American people.

00:22:58.000 Mike Johnson's going to be a really strong candidate for the speakership.

00:23:01.000 Next is Dan Muser.

00:23:03.000 Dan Muser's from Pennsylvania.

00:23:05.000 He is more, I think, drawing on a base of suburbanite Republicans to support his candidacy.

00:23:11.000 He supported the debt limit deal.

00:23:14.000 And, you know, he's going to make a case that someone from a swing state like Pennsylvania, someone who can make a case to country club Republicans, would be helpful.

00:23:24.000 That'll be the central candidacy of Dan Muser.

00:23:27.000 Next, it brings us to Gary Palmer.

00:23:30.000 Gary Palmer is currently the policy chairman.

00:23:33.000 He's viewed within the Republican Conference as someone who is wonky, who understands the intricacies of policy choices.

00:23:41.000 He studies budget issues and entitlement issues very closely.

00:23:45.000 I served on the budget committee with Gary Palmer.

00:23:48.000 I can tell you this guy is a fiscal hawk.

00:23:50.000 He's from the state of Alabama.

00:23:52.000 So, hey, if we went from a House speaker from California to a House speaker from Alabama, that has its own panache to it.

00:24:00.000 I think he understands how to reform entitlement programs.

00:24:04.000 He is a devout Christian and more of a mild-mannered guy.

00:24:08.000 Gary Palmer, he played wide receiver at the University of Alabama, was quite the standout athlete, a pretty fast guy we hear, but he's not the person to take over a room with his mere presence.

00:24:20.000 I think he's more of a student of the intricacies of policy, more mild-mannered in his nature.

00:24:29.000 Next up is Pete Sessions of Texas.

00:24:31.000 And Pete Sessions is a bit of a throwback candidate, prior chairman of the House Rules Committee under House Speaker Paul Ryan.

00:24:38.000 And he was really ousted from that Rules Committee seniority and that Rules Committee position under Kevin McCarthy.

00:24:45.000 So he and McCarthy do not get along particularly well.

00:24:48.000 Pete Sessions will draw heavily on the fact that he's from the largest delegation for Republicans in the country.

00:24:55.000 That's the Texas delegation.

00:24:56.000 If all of the Texans get behind Pete Sessions, I think he's got a really high probability of coming out of the gate with a strong base of support.

00:25:07.000 And he'll make the argument that just like the Texas delegation, the Republican Conference has more conservatives, more suburbanites, more centrists, more moderates.

00:25:16.000 So if he could convince that delegation to support him, he would likely argue that that would allow him to bring in people from the various factions of our conference to be able to lead us effectively.

00:25:27.000 That is the Pete Sessions case from Texas, former Rules Chairman.

00:25:31.000 That brings us to our final candidate, Austin Scott.

00:25:35.000 Austin Scott from the state of Georgia, you'll remember he challenged Jim Jordan, got 81 votes in that contest.

00:25:41.000 I praised Austin Scott online because after he was defeated by Jim Jordan, he backed him 100% for Speaker, voted for him three times, was working hard to get the gavel for Jordan.

00:25:54.000 And I just think that's a class act.

00:25:55.000 It's a total, I think, responsible thing to do after someone bests you in a contest like that to back them.

00:26:02.000 He is running on a campaign that includes consequences for the eight of us who did not support Kevin McCarthy, including yours truly.

00:26:09.000 He serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the Agriculture Committee.

00:26:13.000 He voted for the debt limit deal that many of us oppose.

00:26:17.000 I want to play one clip for you because...

00:26:22.000 It overlays one of my principal critiques of this town.

00:26:25.000 I've told you that Washington, D.C. is a corrupt place.

00:26:29.000 And the lobbyists and bundlers and political action committees exist for one principal reason.

00:26:37.000 To use the money that lawmakers need for political campaigns in order to extract favors that otherwise they would never get.

00:26:47.000 Because in the absence of all of that, our principal motivation would be to put the needs of our constituents, our voters first.

00:26:54.000 But if you view money as the principal path to get to the voters, well then you end up working for the lobbyists and the special interests.

00:27:04.000 We are live broadcasting to you right now from the Rayburn building.

00:27:08.000 But if I were to take about 30 or 40 steps outside of this building, I would go across the street Where there is an office building for the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

00:27:24.000 Across the street from the Capitol is where our party leaders and bosses often meet with lobbyists to get commitments for them to provide money and then ultimately to receive those donations in the form of fundraisers, gatherings, policy conferences, dinner.

00:27:41.000 That all happens just across the street from where we are right now.

00:27:48.000 When you're in the Capitol building, it is not only verboten, it's quite literally against the law to talk about fundraising and donations.

00:27:56.000 You have to do that across the street.

00:27:59.000 You can't do it in the Capitol building.

00:28:04.000 Astonishingly, I watched former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy make the case on Meet the Press that what's most important when evaluating a potential candidate for speaker It's not just how they will lead inside the Capitol building.

00:28:20.000 It is what they will do across the street for the lobbyists and special interests.

00:28:26.000 Take a listen.

00:28:29.000 This is not a moment in time to play around with learning on the job.

00:28:33.000 We need someone who understands how to do this job.

00:28:36.000 I believe Tom Emmer, our whip, he's been in the room with all of our successes, from our bills to secure the border, from parents' bill of rights, from cutting two trillion dollars, getting work requirements.

00:28:47.000 He knows how to do the job across the street at the same time, helping us win the majority.

00:28:52.000 He sets himself head and shoulders above all those others who want to run.

00:28:56.000 We need to get him elected this week and move on and bring this, not just party together, but focus on what this country needs most.

00:29:06.000 So did you hear the tell?

00:29:09.000 Kevin McCarthy, while endorsing his preference for House Speaker, literally referenced the across-the-street work as central to the position.

00:29:19.000 You see, it's the parlance in Washington that you talk about the people who are best at laundering special interest money at being good across the street.

00:29:28.000 I just can't believe that.

00:29:30.000 That was so off-putting to me, so debasing, that the way we have to evaluate leadership is based on who can go and launder the most lobbyist money.

00:29:39.000 And then all of that money has strings attached.

00:29:42.000 The livestream is going crazy with different people offering their perspective.

00:29:46.000 Nobody wants to return to Kevin McCarthy.

00:29:48.000 Some of you just want no speaker.

00:29:50.000 If the House of Representatives is so eager to open up to send money to Ukraine, there is substantial sentiment that maybe if we kept the lights off for a few more days, we might get people oriented back to a perspective to put the needs of our fellow Americans before the needs of which guy next wants to run Crimea.

00:30:09.000 Also, a lot of sentiment for candidates that I did not list.

00:30:13.000 So Donald Trump, we have thrown this lure as many times as is possible.

00:30:17.000 President Trump does not want to be considered candidate for House Speaker.

00:30:21.000 I've tried.

00:30:22.000 Troy Nels has tried.

00:30:24.000 Marjorie Taylor Greene's tried.

00:30:25.000 Lauren Boebert's tried.

00:30:28.000 Nunes.

00:30:28.000 Nunes is another one picking up, particularly on Rumble, a lot of positive sentiment.

00:30:33.000 I would absolutely vote for Devin Nunes for Speaker.

00:30:36.000 There are other folks who aren't in the Congress now, prior members, who've been thrown out.

00:30:42.000 Some people threw out Newt Gingrich.

00:30:43.000 I think that's a terrible idea.

00:30:45.000 Actually, throwing out Newt Gingrich was the good idea.

00:30:47.000 Throwing his name out for Speaker, not so much.

00:30:49.000 But Lee Zeldin got a number of votes in prior rounds, and Lee Zeldin is someone I could absolutely support for speaker.

00:30:56.000 But I talked to a lot of our members, and I just want to bring you inside the decision-making here.

00:31:01.000 Right now, about one out of every four people in the United States Congress would not vote for someone who's not a current member of the body.

00:31:09.000 I would, but one in four wouldn't even consider such a person.

00:31:13.000 So as attractive as people like Devin Nunes and Lee Zeldin are, as unifying consensus options, I think they would struggle to win over a sufficient number of institutionalists to be able to get there.

00:31:26.000 Can't let you go without showing you how the mainstream media is freaking out about what's going on in the House right now.

00:31:33.000 The power centers of the establishment and the mainstream media are so aligned They are really losing it.

00:31:40.000 Lead opinion in the New York Times.

00:31:42.000 The people who broke the house.

00:31:44.000 And if you're watching right now on YouTube, Rumble, on X, or Facebook, you can see that the camera guys get a pretty good look at my phone.

00:31:54.000 If you zoom in there, you can see I'm charting.

00:31:57.000 In the second round of the Jordan balloting, who is voting and who they're voting for.

00:32:02.000 But they make the argument that I've broken the house.

00:32:05.000 This is the same New York Times that often calls me far right and extreme.

00:32:09.000 But they actually charted out the ideology of the people who blocked McCarthy and then the people who blocked Jordan.

00:32:17.000 And it tells you an interesting story.

00:32:18.000 So if you're watching right now, I'm sorry if you're one of our tens of thousands of listeners, you can use this time to go and give me a five-star rating, leave a review.

00:32:26.000 But if you're watching, you can see on the screen this chart that the New York Times has put together showing the ideologies of the Republicans who were against McCarthy.

00:32:36.000 The most moderate, the closest to the center, Nancy Mace.

00:32:41.000 The most conservative, Andy Biggs.

00:32:44.000 And there you see me.

00:32:47.000 Nestled right there in the center right of the Republican Conference, kind of right where I want to be, reflecting the views of our fellow Americans without any sort of agenda beyond what would make life better for people in Northwest Florida.

00:33:05.000 So whenever the New York Times calls me an extreme right, hardline member going forward, I may have to show them their own data that suggests otherwise.

00:33:13.000 But then the story gets even richer.

00:33:16.000 If you go to the next chart, you see the people who blocked Jim Jordan.

00:33:21.000 And Ken Buck, very conservative.

00:33:23.000 He's the most conservative person who blocked Jordan.

00:33:26.000 And then, though at the end, I'm pretty sure Buck was not going to stand between Jim Jordan and the speakership.

00:33:31.000 I actually have some information on that.

00:33:34.000 So he wasn't really the one blocking Jordan.

00:33:36.000 But it's all these dots on the left.

00:33:39.000 The most liberal members of our caucus blocked the most popular Republican in the United States House of Representatives.

00:33:49.000 And they did so because their lobbyist friends knew that Jim Jordan wouldn't put them first and wouldn't be a part of this corrupt system.

00:33:57.000 And it's a shame, but this is also a 100% an exercise in exposing the people who do not truly work for you.

00:34:06.000 There's another piece in the Wall Street Journal, Molly Ball.

00:34:11.000 The headline, Matt Gaetz tore the House GOP apart.

00:34:15.000 He isn't sorry.

00:34:16.000 And the piece says, in part, McCarthy told reporters, listen, the whole country, I think, would scream at Matt Gaetz right now.

00:34:25.000 And Molly Ball continues, Whether McCarthy is replaced by a similar figure or a more conservative one,

00:34:55.000 Gates wins either way, said Liam Donovan, a Republican lobbyist.

00:34:59.000 If a conservative wins, it would make Gates a hero to the right.

00:35:04.000 Otherwise, it would further his argument that the D.C. cartel is conspiring to frustrate conservative aims.

00:35:12.000 I do not know who Liam Donovan is, the Republican lobbyist cited in this article, but he's kind of right. 0.74

00:35:20.000 If we end up with a more conservative speaker, then we will have achieved the objective of upgrading the position.

00:35:28.000 Maybe it's not the ideal person you want if you were hoping for Donald Trump or Jim Jordan or Devin Nunes or me.

00:35:34.000 It's not going to be that first choice.

00:35:37.000 But if it's someone more conservative, then we've moved in the right direction.

00:35:41.000 And if it's not, You will know why.

00:35:44.000 You won't have to wonder why Republicans in Congress continue to send out press releases and tweets about their intentions and what they're going to fight and what they're going to defund.

00:35:55.000 You see what they're willing to fight for.

00:35:57.000 One of them, Illinois Congressman Mike Bost, even wanted to fight me.

00:36:01.000 I've seen people get to the microphone with tears in their eyes about how much they love one leader or another.

00:36:08.000 They never were that concerned.

00:36:10.000 As Joe Biden was opening the border and as our fellow Americans were being poisoned by fentanyl, I can tell you that.

00:36:16.000 The establishment hacks are way more worried about their precious power centers here than about what's happening to the American people right now.

00:36:26.000 And so, yeah, it's either going to be more conservative or it's not.

00:36:29.000 And either way, you're going to win.

00:36:32.000 Because you're going to have better outcomes or you're going to have a specific pathway on what you have to do to get them.

00:36:40.000 And we are demystifying this.

00:36:42.000 And I'm glad we're doing it.

00:36:44.000 We're doing it all over the country, too, not just here in Washington.

00:36:47.000 I was traveling over the weekend in the 5th District of Virginia with my friend Bob Good, and I had a chance to stop at Appomattox Courthouse, and I just couldn't resist making this little video for you.

00:36:59.000 Take a listen.

00:37:02.000 Well, that's about as useless as Confederate money.

00:37:05.000 It's a saying to denote that something has lost all of its value.

00:37:09.000 It's because right behind me at Appomattox Courthouse, when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, everyone holding Confederate money all of a sudden saw the value go to zero.

00:37:23.000 Well you know what, over this last week there's been a lot of criticism over what we've done in the United States Congress.

00:37:28.000 One thing I can tell you, all the lobbyists and special interests who gave Kevin McCarthy a billion dollars, they're all holding Confederate money because the IOUs from the swamp and the special interests have gone to zero and the interests of the American people, they're about to be front and center.

00:37:48.000 Stay tuned.

00:37:51.000 So we are back live in just a few hours.

00:37:55.000 I'll be meeting directly with Austin Scott, one of the candidates.

00:37:58.000 He's invited a group of us to chat with him about his vision.

00:38:01.000 We ought to be open-minded, listening to everyone.

00:38:04.000 A lot of you on the live stream are asking, who are my favorites?

00:38:08.000 So I'll end the show with that.

00:38:10.000 Look, I believe that what you just heard from Kevin Hearn is a real plan.

00:38:16.000 This is a real plan to stop governing by continuing resolution.

00:38:20.000 And it's serious, and he's a very serious person.

00:38:22.000 He would make a phenomenal speaker.

00:38:24.000 I've sat next to Mike Johnson for seven years on the House Judiciary Committee.

00:38:28.000 I know that if he is the Speaker of the House, everything that Kevin McCarthy has done to block the release of the January 6th tapes, to block our subpoenas, that will be over, and it will be a new era of exciting leadership.

00:38:40.000 Mike Johnson would make a phenomenal speaker.

00:38:43.000 And of course, you know how I feel about Byron Donalds, my fellow Florida man, a dynamic communicator, an inspiring choice, someone who has effectively worked across the conference to bring people to, I think, a more conservative position, but a unifying position on a number of issues, including our big border bill, HR2. Byron Donalds also shares a lot of the concerns of coastal communities that impact Northwest Florida.

00:39:12.000 So I think that he would also make a phenomenal choice for House Speaker.

00:39:16.000 So those are three of the nine that I'm real excited about.

00:39:20.000 And I'm going to allow myself the opportunity to hear what the others have to say.

00:39:26.000 It's not about one man.

00:39:28.000 It's not about one person.

00:39:29.000 It's not even about us.

00:39:32.000 You see, that's why seven of the eight offered last week to accept punishment or sanction.

00:39:38.000 Removal from the conference if people were willing to get past their issues and vote for Jim Jordan.

00:39:45.000 But we can still end up with a phenomenal speaker.

00:39:48.000 The plan wasn't Jordan or bust.

00:39:50.000 These other men are of great virtue.

00:39:54.000 And I think that we're going to hear a lot more tonight.

00:39:56.000 I can't wait to update you in the future.

00:39:58.000 The best way to stay informed regarding what's going on in Congress are updates regarding what's going on around the world, and particularly the Middle East and in Europe.

00:40:07.000 Make sure you are subscribed.

00:40:08.000 Give us that five-star rating.

00:40:10.000 Have your notifications turned on.

00:40:12.000 Tune in, because we'll be back soon on Firebrand.

00:40:15.000 Roll the credits.

Firebrand - Matt Gaetz - October 23, 2023

Episode 122 LIVE: 9 Speaker Candidates – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

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