Firebrand - Matt Gaetz - Episode 56 LIVE: Soldiers, Guns, & Narcos – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:04:56.000 Matt Gaetz was one of the very few members in the entire Congress who bothered to stand up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents.

00:05:03.000 Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem for the Democratic Party.

00:05:06.000 He can cause a lot of hiccups in passing applause.

00:05:09.000 So we're going to keep running those stories to get hurt again.

00:05:13.000 If you stand for the flag and kneel in prayer, if you want to build America up and not burn her to the ground, then welcome, my fellow patriots!

00:05:22.000 You are in the right place!

00:05:23.000 This is the movement for you!

00:05:25.000 You ever watch this guy on television?

00:05:28.000 Like a machine.

00:05:29.000 Matt Gaetz.

00:05:30.000 I'm a canceled man in some corners of the internet.

00:05:33.000 Many days I'm a marked man in Congress, a wanted man by the deep state.

00:05:38.000 They aren't really coming for me.

00:05:40.000 They're coming for you.

00:05:42.000 I'm just in the way.

00:05:49.000 Welcome!

00:05:49.000 Congressman Matt Gaetz here, broadcasting live out of our office on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. A lot going on.

00:05:56.000 I want to update you on major developments with military policy that were debated extensively in the House Armed Services Committee.

00:06:03.000 Colombia is potentially going in the way of Venezuela with everything we're seeing in their elections.

00:06:11.000 And we start on the issue of guns.

00:06:16.000 That's right.

00:06:16.000 As Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden and the rest of that gang tries to deprive American citizens of their Second Amendment rights, we see the Trump Court, the Supreme Court, actually vindicating Second Amendment rights.

00:06:32.000 In this case, Clarence Thomas has once again proved why he is one of the most beloved dependable justices on the court.

00:06:39.000 In a 6-3 opinion released this morning and authored by Thomas, the Supreme Court struck down a New York handgun licensing law that required applicants to show a special need to defend themselves.

00:06:52.000 The state law required anyone applying for a concealed carry permit to show, quote, proper cause.

00:07:00.000 Naturally, quote, proper cause was never interpreted by New York courts to include self-defense or personal protection.

00:07:08.000 So other blue states like California, Hawaii, Maryland, and Massachusetts, New Jersey, they imposed similar restrictions where you actually have to prove the need to get your firearm license.

00:07:20.000 These laws were never enacted in good faith.

00:07:23.000 The bar was set so high that it was next to impossible to be approved for a carry permit.

00:07:28.000 And that was the point.

00:07:30.000 To keep you from owning a gun.

00:07:32.000 Never mind the fact that the criminals will have them anyway.

00:07:35.000 These laws were a clear violation of the Second Amendment and in line with the radical left's anti-gun agenda.

00:07:43.000 But thanks to six conservative justices and, of course, Trump putting justices on the court allowed us to get to that great number, this law exists no more.

00:07:54.000 And the more states see this and fall in line, the more citizens will be able to exercise their freedom.

00:08:01.000 The entire United States will soon become a shall-issue jurisdiction, meaning that when you apply for a carry permit, you will be issued one.

00:08:10.000 Subject, of course, to the usual restrictions requiring that you're not a felon and training and background checks and so forth.

00:08:18.000 And those are the conditions in many states.

00:08:20.000 But the key to this decision that was just released this morning You no longer must show a need to exercise this right to own a firearm.

00:08:30.000 As Justice Thomas states in the opinion, there is, quote, no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officials some special need.

00:08:43.000 It was the right holding, it was the right call, and it was long overdue.

00:08:46.000 For too long, Americans in blue states have been at the mercy of violent criminals, unable to defend themselves on their own streets, in their own neighborhoods.

00:08:55.000 The Second Amendment not only protects the right to keep and bear arms, it protects this fundamental Right to have them, to use them if necessary, to defend yourself, and to be able to get a gun without demonstrating the special need.

00:09:13.000 The Second Amendment on your right to self-defense does not end at the doorstep.

00:09:17.000 We've always known this, and now, thanks to this holding, it's the law.

00:09:22.000 Many thanks to the New York Rifle and Pistol Association for bringing this case.

00:09:26.000 It wasn't easy, but we thank patriots for fighting for our rights, and we urge others to do so.

00:09:32.000 The fight to save the Second Amendment isn't over, but we've won this battle and we're finally on offense.

00:09:38.000 It's great to see and we have to remain on offense in the Congress to ensure that we protect the Second Amendment against these red flag laws. 0.57

00:09:47.000 The United States Senate has, as we predicted, Pass the red flag laws that allow your federal tax dollars to be used to bribe the states to take away due process, to inject guns into like every marital dispute, business dispute, neighbor dispute.

00:10:06.000 Go back and watch our full Boebert episode where Lauren Boebert, the co-chair of the Second Amendment Caucus, joins us and breaks down the elements of that legislation and what you should be opposed to.

00:10:18.000 So moving on to the world.

00:10:21.000 In Colombia, we see a country that is on the backslide.

00:10:26.000 I was born in Miami.

00:10:27.000 I spent the early years of my life there.

00:10:30.000 And I remember when you would meet a Venezuelan in Miami, they were typically people that were very well off. 1.00

00:10:35.000 I mean, Venezuela was the jewel of South America.

00:10:39.000 They had natural resources.

00:10:41.000 They had trade.

00:10:43.000 They had a stable finance system.

00:10:46.000 And then you know what happened?

00:10:47.000 The people of Venezuela voted themselves into socialism, and ultimately they're probably going to have to fight their way out of it.

00:10:56.000 Colombia was actually America's greatest partner in the region because the Colombians stepped up for themselves and won their country back.

00:11:06.000 Google Plan Colombia sometime.

00:11:08.000 It's often used as a model for how the United States can have foreign engagement that isn't us becoming the policeman for some other country or the piggy bank for another country.

00:11:19.000 Matter of fact, in Plan Colombia, for every dollar the United States put in, Colombia put in 10. And that allowed them to move to governments that were more responsive to the people and that were less tolerant of narco-trafficking.

00:11:34.000 Well, there's been an election in Colombia, and former Qatar mayor and ex-rebel fighter Gustavo Petro has been elected as Colombia's first left-wing president.

00:11:47.000 Mark this moment.

00:11:48.000 Doesn't end well.

00:11:50.000 Figures show he took about half the vote, a little more than half, 50.5%, defeating his rival by a margin of about 700,000 ballots.

00:11:59.000 So this wasn't an illegitimate election.

00:12:02.000 Petro legitimately won on a socialist platform.

00:12:05.000 The results represent a significant shift for Colombia, which has been run by moderates and conservatives for decades.

00:12:12.000 But who is Gustavo Petro exactly, this new president to be sworn in in Colombia?

00:12:17.000 Here's what we know.

00:12:18.000 In the 1980s, Petro was a member of the now-defunct M19 movement.

00:12:23.000 The rebel left-wing group was one of the many guerrilla groups fighting against the government.

00:12:29.000 He then served in the political opposition as a senator and congressman, as well as mayor of Bogota.

00:12:34.000 After serving in prison for illegal arms possession, He was able to engage in that public service, I guess you could call it that.

00:12:43.000 So during this campaign for president, Petro ran on a radical platform, promising to tackle inequity by offering free university education, pension reforms, high taxes on unproductive land.

00:12:55.000 He also promised to completely implement a 2016 peace deal with the FARC, which is a militant organization that's caused a lot of death in Colombia.

00:13:09.000 And the 50-year struggle with the FARC ended with a deal that politically empowered the FARC. And so you had folks like the current president who was defeated, Duque, seeking to not give the FARC tremendous political power.

00:13:24.000 Now you have Petro seeking to empower the very rebels who were fighting against the government.

00:13:30.000 Many of the president-elect's proposals are policies that deconstruct Colombia's well-established and high-functioning institutions, from the national pension program to the oil industry, as well as the redistribution of social security funds and the dismantling of the health system.

00:13:47.000 Petro also follows many of the neo-fascist elements of politics, including silencing his critics, stating his goal to grab control of private assets, befriending dictators.

00:14:00.000 Colombia has undoubtedly elected an anti-establishment president who will almost certainly undo decades of democratic and economic programs.

00:14:11.000 This just very, very tumultuous situation in Colombia right now is ideal for a soft fascist takeover.

00:14:19.000 The violent 2021 protests, which killed at least 21 people and injured thousands more, widened the distance between traditional Colombian politics and, you know, the Ivan Duque kind of current president model and this, like, neo-fascist, neo-communist element represented by Petro.

00:14:39.000 So what does all this mean in terms of the United States and our relationship with Colombia?

00:14:44.000 We know that Petro is more than willing to cozy up to dictators.

00:14:49.000 Like Maduro and Putin.

00:14:52.000 Petro was the only candidate for president in Colombia who refused to call out Vladimir Putin for war crimes in Ukraine.

00:14:58.000 He also stated that he wants to renew relations with Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, the socialist leader who has wreaked havoc on the Venezuelan people and Latin America in general.

00:15:08.000 Petro argued in one of the presidential debates that, quote, isn't that quaint?

00:15:19.000 So for perspective, narco-funded dissidents and guerrillas aligned with the Maduro dictatorship control much of Colombia's border with Venezuela.

00:15:28.000 According to recent intelligence assessments, Russia is militarizing that border and training Venezuelan militias known as colectivos, thus bolstering Venezuela's already complex system of institutionalized crime.

00:15:44.000 You cannot have, like, friendly relations with your neighbor that's a narco state that is sending people in your country to destabilize your economy, destabilize the safety of your citizens. 1.00

00:15:55.000 Oh wait, is that kind of what's going on with the U.S. and Mexico?

00:15:57.000 Hmm.

00:15:59.000 We have many Colombians in the great state of Florida who are concerned about the future of Colombia.

00:16:03.000 If Petro gets his way and the policies that he's intending to implement actually get enacted, we will likely witness Colombia turning into the next Venezuela.

00:16:15.000 The threat of a left-wing totalitarian ideology is spreading in the Western Hemisphere.

00:16:22.000 It is intensifying and we must remain alert.

00:16:24.000 I'm far more concerned about communism and fascism being on the march in Latin America than I am what's going on in the eastern portions of Ukraine.

00:16:37.000 We stand with Colombian Americans in praying that Petro does not entirely destroy the great country of Colombia the way we've seen Venezuela destroyed.

00:16:46.000 And to that end, we hope for the triumph of freedom and democracy in the Western Hemisphere.

00:16:53.000 We will be following this matter very closely.

00:16:56.000 A number of Northwest Floridians are attached to military missions that have a really, really strong connection to Latin America.

00:17:04.000 That's the area of responsibility for some of my neighbors, where they end up being deployed for train and equip missions.

00:17:10.000 And we want to make sure that we don't see Columbia move in this left-wing direction.

00:17:16.000 It would not be a good thing for Florida.

00:17:18.000 It would not be a good thing for Northwest Florida.

00:17:20.000 It would not be a good thing for the world.

00:17:24.000 Late into the evening, actually into the morning, the House Armed Services Committee was debating the National Defense Authorization Act.

00:17:32.000 This is something that happens every year and the great news is that there's over half a billion dollars for Northwest Florida's priorities that are reflected in that legislation because we have the highest concentration of active duty military in the country in our district.

00:17:47.000 We're incredibly proud of that.

00:17:49.000 One thing we are not proud of is wokeness At the Pentagon.

00:17:53.000 It is a cancer on our military.

00:17:57.000 And wokeness is now being corporatized through policies that are called DEI policies.

00:18:04.000 Diversity, equity, and inclusion.

00:18:06.000 Who could be against those things?

00:18:08.000 They sound great, right?

00:18:09.000 Diversity, equity, and inclusion.

00:18:11.000 This is critical race theory on steroids forced down the throats of American workers so that big corporations can pat themselves on the back and virtue signal. 0.93

00:18:23.000 It's actually pretty disgusting.

00:18:25.000 But there was an effort last night to take these anti-American, arguably racist DEI policies and apply them to any company that does business with the United States military.

00:18:40.000 Floridians know that we have so many businesses that support the military mission.

00:18:45.000 Many of them are filled with patriotic Americans who love what they do, but they don't want to be focused on what their company's doing for Pride Month or whether or not they have critical race theory and their HR training.

00:18:59.000 They want to build the best missiles and munitions and technologies and capabilities in the world, and that's what we should have our military focusing on.

00:19:09.000 You think over in China, they're worried about their diversity, equity, and inclusion?

00:19:13.000 No.

00:19:13.000 They're worried about beating us, dominating us, making sure your grandchildren grow up speaking Mandarin.

00:19:19.000 Well, we're against that.

00:19:20.000 And I'm very proud to announce that last night, I joined with several colleagues and led the effort to block DEI from being applied to contractors who are doing work With the United States military.

00:19:33.000 There was an amendment offered by Democrat Anthony Brown of Maryland.

00:19:38.000 And one of my colleagues, Mike Gallagher, just an absolute brilliant guy.

00:19:43.000 He is a PhD.

00:19:45.000 He represents, I guess, the Green Bay Area in Wisconsin.

00:19:49.000 And he just leveled the DEI argument.

00:19:53.000 Take a listen.

00:19:56.000 All right, I suspect we're going to have a lot of diversity, inclusion, and equity debates.

00:20:01.000 So I just want to make one point, and then I don't intend to get involved in a lot of these debates.

00:20:06.000 The entire diversity, inclusion, and equity cottage industry is based on shoddy social science.

00:20:15.000 The most recent meta-analysis we have of DIE programs Like DIU-related training show that it's counterproductive.

00:20:25.000 A recent study looked at 50 academic studies and the result was that these programs are generally ineffective at achieving their stated goals, they reinforce pre-existing biases, they increase minority turnover, And they increase intergroup hostility.

00:20:42.000 So we're not achieving what you're trying to achieve.

00:20:45.000 Furthermore, whenever the services come and cite some study, if you actually take the time to read the study or the footnote, you realize that the social science is bogus.

00:20:55.000 So for example, the Navy came here and said, because they were saying diversity is our strength, they have this report that says diverse organizations are 35% more likely to outperform their non-diverse counterparts.

00:21:07.000 As if this could be quantified, right?

00:21:09.000 So to support this, they cite a 2015 McKinsey study called Diversity Matters, which looks at board diversity, using something called the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, where they quantify the racial composition of company boards.

00:21:22.000 And they claim that racial diversity correlates with greater earnings for a company. 0.89

00:21:28.000 Except the formula is so convoluted and dumb that a company with a board that has one white, one Native American, one Latino, and seven black members would score as less diverse than a board with six white and four black members. 0.94

00:21:42.000 They also break the data set into quartiles and they only compare the top quartile to the bottom quartile. 0.98

00:21:49.000 They omit half the data set.

00:21:51.000 So the correlation is weak to begin with, and if you actually analyze the whole data set, there is no correlation at all.

00:21:58.000 So my only point with all this is that these programs, this cottage industry, are based on, at best, inconclusive research.

00:22:06.000 And the picture that's emerging is actually one that shows they're counterproductive to the aim of promoting diversity or reducing intergroup hostility.

00:22:18.000 I yield the remainder of my time.

00:22:23.000 So after Mike Gallagher laid them out, we actually flipped two Democrats on the committee, Elaine Luria of Virginia and Stephanie Murphy of Florida, and they joined the Republicans, and we got DEI out of this legislation, one of the biggest wins that we were able to secure.

00:22:40.000 We're back broadcasting live here out of the Longworth House office building, and we got the live stream up.

00:22:45.000 I wanted to thank Blessed to be here from saying, let's get our country back.

00:22:50.000 And we also have Sherry saying corporate wokeism is BS. And on Facebook, Adam says communism kills.

00:22:58.000 I could not agree more.

00:23:00.000 Now, one of the areas where we did not get the win that our military members deserve in the National Defense Authorization Act, the vaccine mandate.

00:23:09.000 I worked with several colleagues to work on legislation so that there would be no vaccine mandate, that the people that were affected by the vaccine mandate would be reinstated with their rank and pay, and that the military would be required to have policies that recognize natural immunity. and that the military would be required to have policies Critically important.

00:23:30.000 We lost all of these votes, keeping the vaccine mandate in place and continuing to punish our brave service members.

00:23:36.000 That is so totally wrong.

00:23:39.000 Here's an exchange that I had with Democrat John Garamendi on this subject.

00:23:43.000 Take a listen.

00:23:46.000 This is the wrong place to be fighting the vaccination issue.

00:23:49.000 We're talking about the military, the American military's ability to be able to fight tonight.

00:23:55.000 You know who's not going to be able to fight tonight?

00:23:58.000 The pilots who are no longer flying for the Air Force, the SEALs who are being separated from the Navy, the thousands of troops who will not be able to wear the uniform in the United States Army.

00:24:07.000 They won't be fighting tonight.

00:24:09.000 And it's because of ludicrous policy that does not recognize natural immunity.

00:24:13.000 I'm in strong support of the Hartzler Amendment, and I firmly believe, across the entire enterprise of government, if Big Pharma could find a way to make money on natural immunity, we would have a broader public health strategy that recognizes natural immunity.

00:24:26.000 But because Big Pharma can't make money that way, This is not specific to the military, but across the enterprise of government, we don't recognize it.

00:24:33.000 And it's illogical to suggest that because we don't know the duration of the resiliency that natural immunity gives you, that you should not consider that as part of a health and readiness decision.

00:24:43.000 We don't know how long The duration of support and protection the vaccine gives is.

00:24:49.000 And by the way, that's not because we're not trying hard enough, it's because viruses evolve.

00:24:54.000 So as the virus evolves, and as natural immunity demonstrates antibodies, one could think of Natural immunity very much is Mother Nature's vaccine, giving human beings the ability to fight off the virus, to have lower levels of medical acuity.

00:25:10.000 And I'm sorry this debate is taking a little longer than some people would like, but there are lives that are being destroyed and ruined by these vaccine mandates and by the fail to recognize natural immunity.

00:25:20.000 So if we have to take a few extra hours to make our point and to debate them, we're going to do so because we got a lot of Brave patriots, heroes in this country who are taking off that uniform for the last time each and every day because of crazy policies.

00:25:36.000 Policies that are not based in science or logic or in how we view our freedoms.

00:25:40.000 I yield back.

00:25:44.000 The debate was spirited but we did not come out on top.

00:25:48.000 Not only did every Democrat vote to keep these mandates in place, they were joined by one Republican.

00:25:54.000 That's right, the worst Republican in Congress, Liz Cheney. 1.00

00:25:58.000 Now, I remember when Liz Cheney was going like totally woke, supporting Dr. Fauci, opposing the freedom of Americans. 1.00

00:26:06.000 I mean, out in Wyoming, it's a very pro-freedom group.

00:26:11.000 That's a message Liz Cheney is likely to receive resoundingly. 0.99

00:26:15.000 Remember early in this when she put up the tweet, the real men wear masks tweet?

00:26:20.000 Throw that up. 0.81

00:26:20.000 Yes, yes. 0.81

00:26:21.000 Is this not the image of American exceptionalism and greatness?

00:26:25.000 Dick Cheney with a blue mask on and Liz cheering that on.

00:26:30.000 So she's for the mandates. 0.85

00:26:32.000 And I think it shows a disrespect for our troops.

00:26:35.000 But you know what?

00:26:35.000 That's kind of in line with Liz Cheney.

00:26:37.000 Liz Cheney has no problem sending American troops to go die in foreign wars for the profit of her political donors. 1.00

00:26:45.000 But then she won't stand up for those very same troops and military families when they want to refuse an experimental vaccine when they are some of the most low-risk Americans possible.

00:26:55.000 I think those troops should be reinstated.

00:26:58.000 Here was my debate on that subject.

00:27:03.000 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:27:03.000 This is also on the vaccine mandate issue, but the amendment expresses the sense of Congress that in addition to disapproving of the vaccine mandate, that we believe that service members who have already been separated ought to be restored with their pay and with their rank.

00:27:18.000 And I would observe that in times of fear, our nation has proved time and again that we are capable of making very irrational decisions.

00:27:26.000 And that fear can come with the fog of war.

00:27:28.000 In the earliest days of our republic, The Congress passed and President Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Act in response to what was considered an imminent war upcoming with France.

00:27:39.000 These laws were a direct violation of our First Amendment rights, and after the perceived danger had passed, the illegal laws were repealed.

00:27:46.000 After the attack on Pearl Harbor, a terrified nation looked inward, And our government forced the internment of Japanese Americans.

00:27:53.000 During the Cold War, driven by fear of communism, our government targeted and blacklisted Americans deemed suspect.

00:27:59.000 After 9-11, we passed the Patriot Act that allowed terrible invasions of the privacy of our citizens.

00:28:05.000 But the good news for America is that in many of these circumstances, after time had passed, the decisions did not stand up to logic or common sense or reason or the freedoms enshined in our Constitution.

00:28:18.000 And so we got rid of them And we did what we could to make right.

00:28:22.000 And this is indeed what is called for when we evaluate the horrendous military vaccine mandate.

00:28:29.000 A vaccine, by the way, that we know with 100% certainty does not prevent COVID. It is a vaccine created with the intent of preventing high-risk Americans from becoming fatally ill, but our service members are predominantly low risk.

00:28:43.000 Our military is one of the few jobs left in America where individual health and wellness is a mandatory condition to keep the job.

00:28:50.000 That's not the case in almost any other job that we can think of.

00:28:54.000 And yet, the Department of Defense's policy is forcing the services to fire thousands of service members at a time when we are indeed in a recruiting crisis.

00:29:04.000 Think of this.

00:29:05.000 According to testimony we've received, the pool of young adults fit to serve is around 23%, and DOD is calling it the Nintendo generation.

00:29:14.000 And a reason that we will now endure recruiting challenges going forward, a reason why recruiting tours are even being extended in the Army, is because young people look at this vaccine mandate and it makes them less likely to serve in the military.

00:29:31.000 I don't know that there are any young people who say, you know what, I want to serve in the military because of the vaccine mandate.

00:29:38.000 I know there are a great many who won't.

00:29:39.000 And so for us to be able to Endure that recruiting challenge and to be able to strive, I would suggest that the best thing the Congress could do is express our displeasure with the mandate and our desire that the Department of Defense reinstate these individuals who never should have been separated in the first place.

00:29:58.000 I yield back.

00:30:01.000 We're back live on Facebook.

00:30:03.000 Steve says, Liz is a joke!

00:30:06.000 I don't know if it's a funny joke.

00:30:09.000 She's pretty dangerous. 1.00

00:30:10.000 And also on Facebook, Glenn Jones says, Preach that hate, Matt.

00:30:14.000 Keep Americans divided. 1.00

00:30:15.000 You are a disgrace. 0.98

00:30:17.000 It's not an act of hate to stand up for our active duty service members who want to make sure that they have a patriotic contribution to our country. 0.98

00:30:26.000 They shouldn't be subject to an unfair vaccine mandate, and I will keep fighting for them out of love, not hate.

00:30:33.000 It's also love of country that causes us to want to secure our border.

00:30:38.000 An unsecure border is A threat to our economy.

00:30:42.000 It is a threat to our physical security.

00:30:44.000 But it is also a threat to our national security.

00:30:47.000 And we had a debate about this in the House Armed Services Committee because there is a bombing range right on the border and illegal aliens continue to cross into that bombing range.

00:30:58.000 It's the Barry Goldwater Range in Arizona.

00:31:01.000 And that's affecting our ability to test weapons and to field those weapons for our warfighters.

00:31:07.000 So I had what I thought would be a pretty simple amendment.

00:31:10.000 We would have a study and a report on the extent to which illegal aliens crossing into this bombing range would be harmful or problematic.

00:31:20.000 You won't even be able to guess how the Democrats responded to that amendment.

00:31:25.000 Take a listen.

00:31:28.000 The Berry-Goldwater Range in Arizona is a national treasure, a critical asset for research development, tests, and evaluation.

00:31:36.000 I was recently in Yuma, Arizona, met with officials who operate security on that bombing range, and they say that operations are affected every day, sometimes multiple times a day, by illegal immigrants who are coming into that space and limiting the operational testing envelope.

00:31:54.000 So this is an amendment to get a briefing from DOD about the effects of this illegal immigration on the operations of the very Goldwater Range and inform future legislative action on the subject.

00:32:05.000 That's the amendment.

00:32:06.000 My statute of amendment is simple.

00:32:08.000 It keeps the substance of the original amendment offered by Representative Gates but removes unnecessary inflammatory and racist language about immigrants from the text.

00:32:15.000 I'm rising in support of Mr. Gallego's amendment.

00:32:21.000 Illegal immigration is one thing to say that, but I think the terminology of illegal alien is the big issue.

00:32:30.000 So this is what's happening right here.

00:32:32.000 I offer this amendment so that we can evaluate the extent to which illegal immigration is affecting this bombing range.

00:32:37.000 Mr. Gallego's perfecting amendment does the exact same thing, but he says it's racist to call illegal immigrants illegal immigrants.

00:32:45.000 And all that the perfecting amendment does is change illegal immigrant to irregular migration. 0.93

00:32:51.000 This type of virtue signaling is ridiculous.

00:32:55.000 The use of language actually matters.

00:32:57.000 These people are not in our country legally, and I think that we should reflect on that, and that the policy on this road, we're not That gaslights policies of open borders throughout the entire enterprise of government.

00:33:16.000 And that's really the goal.

00:33:18.000 The goal is to just go to this open border system.

00:33:20.000 I mean, we are now in a world in the Biden presidency where every single month we break the record for the last month for the most number of migrant encounters possible.

00:33:29.000 And that affects our economy, that affects the crime rate, and it affects our military readiness because we cannot test at this installation.

00:33:37.000 For them to say it's not illegal immigration, It undermines the purpose of the amendment, and I would encourage my colleagues to reject the substitute.

00:33:43.000 I yield back.

00:33:46.000 Here's what you have to know here.

00:33:48.000 Even when Democrats agree with us on policies related to illegal immigration and illegal aliens, they won't even join us in supporting the description of those events as illegal immigration.

00:34:01.000 They won't allow us to call illegal aliens illegal aliens.

00:34:05.000 You see, they want to call it irregular migration.

00:34:09.000 Undocumented immigrants.

00:34:10.000 Like, undocumented makes it sound like someone left some paperwork behind.

00:34:13.000 Not that they broke into our country illegally without permission.

00:34:18.000 It's really crazy.

00:34:19.000 And when the left isn't virtue signaling on immigration, they're lying on important capabilities.

00:34:26.000 I introduced an amendment to the Authorization Act that would have called out Lloyd Austin's lies on hypersonics.

00:34:34.000 Lloyd Austin just blew up and exploded and was all kind of aggrieved at my suggestion that America was behind on hypersonics.

00:34:41.000 And you know what?

00:34:43.000 We are.

00:34:44.000 Take a listen.

00:34:47.000 This amendment lays out the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Defense did not accurately assess our hypersonic capabilities when testifying before the committee.

00:34:56.000 It observes that on March 1st, General Van Herc told us that China was doing tenfold what we were doing.

00:35:02.000 On April 27th, Secretary Kendall told us that China had fielded more capability than we had.

00:35:09.000 China has moved to deploy hypersonic weapons more aggressively than the United States has, definitely.

00:35:14.000 They have fielded more capability than we have, and they have fairly aggressive development programs in a number of areas.

00:35:21.000 I wouldn't put a number...

00:35:22.000 More aggressive than ours.

00:35:23.000 They're testing and developing more, they're fielding more, and they're more capable.

00:35:28.000 Right?

00:35:29.000 That's the essence of this thing?

00:35:30.000 They have invested more and they are more capable, but you have to be very careful about these comparisons.

00:35:35.000 Thank you.

00:35:35.000 That is just like exactly the opposite of what Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

00:35:39.000 On May 12th, our distinguished chairman, Mr. Smith, said on hypersonics, I think it's really important we point out we're behind the Chinese and the Russians right now because they have deployed them. 0.98

00:35:49.000 On hypersonics, I think it's really important to point out we are behind the Chinese and the Russians right now because they have deployed them. 0.99

00:35:57.000 Okay, I'm impressed that we're coming up.

00:35:59.000 We've got a bunch of programs that are moving forward.

00:36:01.000 We're going to get there.

00:36:02.000 We haven't deployed them yet, so we've got to keep moving.

00:36:05.000 We're moving in a good direction.

00:36:06.000 I'm quite confident that a year from now when we have this conversation, we will be caught up, but I don't want to give anyone the misimpression that we're caught up.

00:36:14.000 We're not.

00:36:14.000 And yet, on April 5th, when Secretary of Defense Austin came before us, he and I were in a bit of a disagreement about something, and I suggested that we were behind in hypersonics.

00:36:24.000 And he erupted at that suggestion, saying that, how could I possibly believe that we were behind in hypersonics, when in fact we are?

00:36:32.000 I've also seen that we're behind, Mr. Secretary.

00:36:34.000 We're behind in hypersonics.

00:36:36.000 We failed to deter Russia. 0.95

00:36:38.000 Last year, China flew more sorties— So what do you mean we're behind in hypersonics?

00:36:41.000 How do you— Okay, who's ahead in hypersonics?

00:36:43.000 How do you make that assessment?

00:36:46.000 It was a briefing that Mr. Cooper called that really, I think, informed my perspective on the issue greatly.

00:36:51.000 I know we can't discuss all those elements here, but every member of this committee knows that we're behind in hypersonics.

00:36:58.000 And yet we had a Secretary of Defense sit before the Congress and the rest of the country and just lose it at the suggestion that we were.

00:37:05.000 And for us to continue to gain, the reason this is important for the sense of Congress is because for us to gain the confidence of The members we need to pass these bills, it's really important, I think, that we reflect on this specific capability, what it means in terms of nuclear deterrence, global deterrence, and we have to be honest.

00:37:24.000 We have to be honest, and for us to do that, I think we have to point out that when the Secretary of Defense was here, he was not.

00:37:31.000 I yield back.

00:37:34.000 We love our troops.

00:37:36.000 Secretary of Defense, maybe not so much.

00:37:38.000 He lied to us.

00:37:40.000 And to send $850 billion to a liar is something that we should scrutinize very, very closely.

00:37:48.000 Thanks so much for joining us.

00:37:50.000 Make sure you are subscribed.

00:37:52.000 Make sure you've got notifications turned on.

00:37:54.000 And always make sure to leave comments during the show.

00:37:56.000 I love to get your perspective on the things that we're talking about.

00:37:59.000 We'll be back soon.

00:38:01.000 Thanks for being a part of our Firebrand audience.

00:38:03.000 Roll the credits.

Firebrand - Matt Gaetz - June 27, 2022

Episode 56 LIVE: Soldiers, Guns, & Narcos – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

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