Firebrand - Matt Gaetz - Episode 61 LIVE: Overeducated Elites – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

On this episode of Firebrand, CJ and AJ are joined by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-GA) to discuss the tragic events in Greenwood, IN and Uvalde, TX, TX. They also discuss the heroic actions of a young man named Elijah Dickon, who shot and killed an armed man in order to save the lives of three innocent people in a busy shopping mall. They discuss the assault weapons ban that was introduced by Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee, and how it would have killed many more victims if not for the actions of the heroic young man. They also talk about how a good guy with a gun saves lives every day in the United States, and why we should be so afraid of gun control measures that we need to stigmatize and stigmatize all Americans who exercise their constitutional rights to own and bear arms. Firebrand is a production of the Firebrand Podcast Network. Make sure to Like and Subscribe to our new podcast on Apple Podcasts and Subscribe on your favorite streaming platform so you don't miss out on our next new episode. Thank you for listening and share the podcast with your friends! and share it with a fellow Firebrand supporter! Subscribe, Retweet, Share, and Retweet! Firebrand Subscribe and Share this with a friend who needs a good idea to get involved in the movement! You can become a supporter of our cause and/or a chance to win tickets to our upcoming events! and get a discount on our upcoming show Firebrand Firebrand: Don't Tell a Friend! We'll be giving you the chance to attend our next event next week! to receive 20% off our first-choice shipping discount code: Firebrand VIP! FREE PROMO! - use the code: FIND OUT HOW TO BUY TALKING TO MEET ME A PRODUCED AND SHIPPED TO WIN $20 OFF $10,000 OFF YOUR FIRST PLACE GET A VIP PACKAGE AND GET A PRICING PRICED TO VIP PRODCAST AND VIP SUPPORT AND PATREON GET A MONTH GET VIP PROMOTION AND PROGRAMBLED TO CHECK OUT VIP SUPPORTED INCLUSIVELY OFFER $10 OFF A SUBSCRIBERBERRY AND VIP PRIVATE? FREE MODE, VIP SUPPORTING OUR PODCAST WITH A FRIENDS WILL BE INCLUSION AND VIP TRAINING AND SUPPORT VIP SUPPORT FREE

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:04:33.000 I'm going to go with you.

00:04:53.000 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.

00:05:00.000 Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem in the Democratic Party.

00:05:03.000 He can cause a lot of hiccups in passing applause.

00:05:06.000 So we're going to keep running those stories to keep hurting him.

00:05:10.000 Stand for the flag and kneel in prayer.

00:05:13.000 If you want to build America up and not burn her to the ground, then welcome, my fellow patriots.

00:05:19.000 You are in the right place.

00:05:20.000 This is the movement for you.

00:05:23.000 You ever watch this guy on television?

00:05:25.000 Like a machine, Matt Gaetz.

00:05:27.000 I'm a canceled man in some corners of the internet.

00:05:31.000 Many days I'm a marked man in Congress, a wanted man by the deep state.

00:05:35.000 They aren't really coming for me.

00:05:37.000 They're coming for you.

00:05:39.000 I'm just in the way.

00:05:45.000 Welcome back to Firebrand.

00:05:47.000 We're live broadcasting out of our Capitol Hill office here on the Hill in Washington, D.C. Make sure you're subscribed with notifications turned on.

00:05:55.000 We have a terrific show today regarding the work Democrats are doing in the Congress to promote the overeducated elites at the expense of the hardworking American people.

00:06:07.000 The overeducated elites want to take your guns.

00:06:10.000 The overeducated elites on both the right and the left want to pollute your politics with corruption.

00:06:15.000 I've got a great swamp alert regarding exactly how influence is bought and sold on Capitol Hill.

00:06:23.000 A lot of corruption there, generally, each and every day.

00:06:26.000 And we just have one example of it with a former Republican committee chairman.

00:06:30.000 You will not want to miss that a little bit later.

00:06:33.000 We got the...

00:06:34.000 Live streams up and running, and the Instagram comment section is en fuego.

00:06:39.000 Alexis asks, is this a Fortnite restream?

00:06:43.000 No, it is not.

00:06:45.000 Rob says, keep up the fight.

00:06:48.000 Frosty says, America first.

00:06:49.000 AJ says, close the borders.

00:06:52.000 On Facebook, CJ says that we need to ban all mass killing assault weapons and magazines.

00:06:58.000 That's certainly a perspective that I disagree with.

00:07:01.000 Here's why.

00:07:03.000 Every day in the United States, a good guy with a gun saves lives.

00:07:07.000 Heroes always seem to appear when we need them most, and they tend to be ordinary Americans exercising constitutional rights.

00:07:15.000 Now this weekend, we had another example of this in Greenwood, Indiana.

00:07:19.000 An armed maniac went into a shopping mall looking to kill.

00:07:24.000 And sadly, three innocent lives were lost that never should have happened.

00:07:29.000 But if it were not for one brave 22-year-old named Elijah Dickon, it would have been far, far worse.

00:07:37.000 Elijah shot 10 rounds at the assailant, landing 8 from a distance of around 40 feet.

00:07:43.000 That's pretty good.

00:07:44.000 And from the time the shooter entered the mall to the time his ticket and life was ultimately punched, only 15 seconds had passed.

00:07:54.000 As we all know, when lives are on the line, every second matters, and the police are minutes away.

00:08:01.000 Over the summer, Democrats have brought many insane gun control bills to the floor.

00:08:06.000 Some ban semi-automatic rifles, some ban handguns, some ban magazines over 10 to 15 rounds, some bring red flag laws into our jurisprudence.

00:08:17.000 All make it nearly impossible to exercise constitutional rights without infringement.

00:08:24.000 In fact, the Democrats have introduced H.R. 1808, the assault weapons ban of 2022. Now, remember, these are the same Democrats that said, oh, we're not coming for your guns.

00:08:36.000 We're just doing shooter alerts, or we're just doing red flag laws.

00:08:40.000 That's hogwash.

00:08:42.000 The assault weapons ban of 2022 would have banned the very weapon used by Elijah to save those lives in Indiana.

00:08:51.000 This bill would turn...

00:08:54.000 Heroes into more victims.

00:08:56.000 The Democrats and Joe Biden want to go on a gun grab so that you won't have what you need when you need it.

00:09:03.000 If they had their way, that mall in Indiana would have been a massacre like Uvalde. 0.93

00:09:09.000 By the time the police got there, many more, possibly dozens, would have been killed.

00:09:14.000 And even then, if the cops in Greenwood or anything like the cops in Uvalde, It might not have been much help when they finally did arrive, though there were terrific border patrol who ultimately took action in that tragic and deadly leadership vacuum.

00:09:31.000 Now, any Republican or Democrat who votes for this unconstitutional assault weapons ban is betraying his or her oath to uphold the Constitution.

00:09:41.000 You don't take an oath to the special interests.

00:09:44.000 You don't take an oath to the March for Our Lives people.

00:09:48.000 You take an oath to the Constitution.

00:09:51.000 And if you violate that, There are ways the voters can hold you accountable in our great system.

00:09:57.000 So just today, we were in the House Judiciary Committee and we were debating these issues.

00:10:02.000 And Democrats act like we all ought to be so terrified and afraid of guns.

00:10:06.000 We ought to stigmatize gun ownership, stigmatize gun owners.

00:10:09.000 And my colleague from the great state of Ohio, Jim Jordan, pointed out searing examples of a good guy with a gun being the difference between life and death.

00:10:21.000 Take a listen.

00:10:24.000 Both semi-automatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices have been used for self-defense purposes.

00:10:31.000 This legislation will not make our community safer.

00:10:35.000 It will, in fact, make them more dangerous.

00:10:37.000 In 2019, there were 386 self-defense killings that were determined to be, quote, justifiable homicides by investigators and prosecutors.

00:10:45.000 In 2013, a study ordered by the CDC and carried out by the National Academies Institute of Medicine and National Research Council Found that annual defensive uses of a firearm range numbered up to 3 million.

00:10:59.000 This number has likely gone up since then, as more states have passed laws allowing law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed firearm.

00:11:06.000 And most importantly, the very types of firearms we are discussing here today have been used in numerous self-defense situations just this year.

00:11:14.000 On July 7, 2022, a Florida homeowner fired his AK-47-style rifle when individuals Forcibly entered his home.

00:11:23.000 After the homeowner opened fire, the individuals immediately fled.

00:11:27.000 When asked if the homeowner would face charges, Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said, absolutely not.

00:11:33.000 The homeowner's protecting himself and in Florida, and in Escambia County, you can protect yourself.

00:11:40.000 On April 8th, 2022, a man in Melbourne, Florida, Sitting in his truck outside a friend's house was confronted by an angry acquaintance who opened fire on him.

00:11:50.000 The man grabbed his own handgun and shot back.

00:11:52.000 When the handgun jammed, the man retrieved his AR-15 from his backseat and started shooting back.

00:11:56.000 The man maintained defensive fire until the assailant ran away.

00:11:59.000 Police were able to arrest and charge the assailant.

00:12:02.000 No one was injured.

00:12:06.000 We're back live.

00:12:07.000 And you see how these elites in Washington, D.C. who don't know anything about guns, who don't understand how life really exists in a lot of flyover country in America, they are just so eager to ban any type of gun that they can possibly list.

00:12:23.000 Getting some great feedback, we've got on Facebook, Darlene says, we love you and MTG. And on Instagram, Snakebite says, get rid of the rhinos.

00:12:33.000 And it is oftentimes...

00:12:35.000 A very unfortunate political fact that too many Republicans are willing to join with Democrats in these gun control endeavors, red flag laws, assault weapons bans, and we should make sure that doesn't happen.

00:12:47.000 The Republican Party has to stand for freedom and liberty, and those freedoms and those liberties are preserved as a result of the rights that are vested in us, not by government, but by God.

00:12:59.000 That's the reason why.

00:13:00.000 I support the Second Amendment and it's also the reason why these over-educated elites want to deprive the American people of those liberties because they want to be in control.

00:13:09.000 They want to be in control and that's something that we must resist.

00:13:13.000 Now there are some political warnings coming to the left as a result of this embrace of over-educated elitism and there was this delicious display of it this past Sunday on Fareed Zakaria's program.

00:13:25.000 We all know Fareed is a mouthpiece for the liberal globalist left and he issues a warning to them that as Joe Biden is contemplating this elimination of student debt by executive order That you really are moving the Democratic Party further away from the working man and the working woman.

00:13:45.000 It used to be the case that the Republicans might win the country clubs, but the Democrats might do a little better out with blue-collar workers, people who join unions, people who don't want to see wealth and power concentrated in the elites.

00:14:02.000 But that has changed.

00:14:03.000 President Trump led this amazing political realignment where Republicans finally were pushed to stand for the working man and the working woman on immigration, on trade, on issues that affect us every day like gas prices.

00:14:18.000 Inflation, the strength of the American economy, rising wages, more capital investment here in our country and not overseas.

00:14:25.000 Joe Biden and these Democrats, they've ruined it all, and they risk giving up the game with policy solutions that don't focus on those folks who wear their name on their shirt when they go to work, but instead are focusing on the over-educated elites.

00:14:40.000 Take a listen to Fareed's Warning.

00:14:44.000 The President seems inclined to cancel $10,000 worth of debt per borrower, excluding individuals who make more than $150,000 a year.

00:14:54.000 Some Democrats, like Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren, want him to cancel $50,000 for all borrowers, which Biden opposes.

00:15:02.000 The most extreme proposal, championed of course by Bernie Sanders, is to eliminate all student debt in the country, which amounts to $1.7 trillion.

00:15:12.000 Biden's anticipated student debt plan, which is the least generous one on the table, appears to be the most popular one among the public.

00:15:20.000 Yet, populists on his left flank are calling it grossly inadequate and demanding more.

00:15:25.000 Broad debt forgiveness polls badly.

00:15:28.000 Do Democrats want to embrace the caricature of being the party of over-educated elites who want special favors?

00:15:39.000 We're back live broadcasting out of the Longworth House office building and got a lot of folks watching on Rumble.

00:15:45.000 Sean says, Jim ain't lying.

00:15:48.000 A lot of folks agreeing with the argument that we just brought you from my colleague, Congressman Jim Jordan.

00:15:53.000 Now, Fareed Zakaria there makes the argument explicitly that Democrats are leaning into their greatest political vulnerability.

00:16:02.000 Overeducated elites.

00:16:03.000 Now, it wasn't all that long ago I said something somewhat similar in regard to the abortion debate and how these pro-abortion endeavors would not go well for the Democratic Party.

00:16:13.000 I tweeted, And oh my gosh, when I said the very same thing Fareed Zakaria said, The left went crazy.

00:16:31.000 Take a listen.

00:16:34.000 In response to the nationwide protest this morning, Gates tweeted, how many of the women rallying against overturning Roe are overeducated, underloved millennials who sadly return from protest to a lonely microwave dinner with their cats and no bumble matches?

00:16:50.000 Now, now, folks, if that statement sounds insane, remember, for Matt Gates, overeducated is any woman who's already graduated high school.

00:17:00.000 It is very telling that you think overeducated is a burn.

00:17:04.000 So what grade are you in?

00:17:06.000 Oh, I'm a sophomore in college.

00:17:07.000 Sophomore?

00:17:08.000 Sorry, you're a little overeducated for me.

00:17:11.000 Once you've read Fahrenheit 451, you're basically a grandma to old Gatesy. 0.51

00:17:16.000 These overeducated women. 1.00

00:17:19.000 I mean, look at that, guys.

00:17:20.000 That's what Republicans think.

00:17:22.000 They think, you don't want your women too educated. 1.00

00:17:24.000 You want them dumb so that they believe you when you take away their rights and you make them serve you. 0.99

00:17:31.000 Women, this is who you wanna vote for? 1.00

00:17:33.000 You wanna vote for someone who says, I mean, I wouldn't want you to be smart and overeducated and then have your own agency and your own power and be able to control your own lives.

00:17:43.000 I would want you destitute and dependent upon me so I can tell you and command you to do whatever I want. 1.00

00:17:51.000 Disgusting! 1.00

00:17:52.000 And you ought to have your head examined if you're a woman voting for Republicans. 1.00

00:17:59.000 I wasn't wrong or offensive.

00:18:01.000 I just said these things before Fareed ultimately came to the very same conclusion.

00:18:06.000 And you know what?

00:18:07.000 The people all across America who engage in policy activism, they see the difference too.

00:18:15.000 It's quite something.

00:18:16.000 We've got a lot of comments still coming in.

00:18:18.000 Trump is still my president, says Mike.

00:18:21.000 Mike also adds it's ultra dark MAGA time.

00:18:24.000 And you know what?

00:18:26.000 We've got a lot of folks, I think, that want to see our government actually work for the working people in our country.

00:18:33.000 Now, Charlie Kirk wrote a recent book called The College Scam.

00:18:37.000 And what I would suggest is it's actually a really good look into how These elitist structures are built in our country.

00:18:44.000 How you get these professors and you get the, you know, deputy provost of intersectional feminism at a lot of these higher ed institutions and you don't build skills, you don't build capabilities, you build a whole lot of debt in your life and oftentimes you would have been better spent spending those four years Out in the workforce, learning stuff.

00:19:05.000 We've had a lot of folks come and work on my congressional staff that either didn't go to college or didn't finish college, and they tend to be some of the most ambitious and brightest people that I get a chance to work with.

00:19:16.000 So I agree that one of the market inefficiencies in our world today is this expectation that everyone has to go to college.

00:19:23.000 That is absolutely not the case.

00:19:25.000 I know it to be a fact.

00:19:27.000 I've witnessed it.

00:19:28.000 And that college system is the higher education industrial complex that ultimately generates the workforce for the globalist left that is such a threat to our country.

00:19:41.000 So I fight against the higher education industrial complex, and I do it in a way that's a little different than many Republicans.

00:19:48.000 So President Biden right now is offering this potential $10,000 waiver of student debt with the stroke of a presidential pen.

00:19:58.000 Problem with that.

00:19:59.000 One, it will definitely increase inflation.

00:20:02.000 Second, it creates moral hazard.

00:20:05.000 If you know you can just go accrue debt and ultimately the government is going to wipe it away, that is going to encourage inflation.

00:20:12.000 And third, it doesn't actually get to the real problem of education affordability, and that's the cost of higher education as a result of these ivory towers to liberalism on college campuses.

00:20:24.000 So I think that instead of wiping away debt with a presidential executive order, we ought to allow people who are victims of predatory systems to declare bankruptcy.

00:20:37.000 And if people are able to discharge their student loan debt through bankruptcy rather than through action by the federal government, then I think you can literally bring down the entire higher ed system.

00:20:48.000 I made that very argument in the House Judiciary Committee.

00:20:51.000 Take a listen.

00:20:54.000 The underlying piece of legislation that would allow students to discharge student loan debt through bankruptcy would shatter the foundation of higher education finance.

00:21:04.000 It would create a dramatic and sudden shift in the pricing of higher education.

00:21:08.000 It would disrupt almost every university budget in America.

00:21:14.000 And that's exactly why I'm voting for it.

00:21:19.000 Just think about it.

00:21:20.000 If you could discharge student loan debt from predatory brokers or lenders or colleges that sold people a bill of goods, then the federal system of subsidizing these bad loans would crash, the university system of facilitating these bad loans would crash, and the value of an education would actually have to match the dollars that Americans were paying for that education Should they choose to do so?

00:21:46.000 So that is the key reform, and it's a critical distinction with what Joe Biden's doing.

00:21:51.000 But again, he's totally captive to people who went to Colgate and Tufts and the like.

00:21:56.000 Now, as Democrats are going through this change, where they're losing working class voters, when they're becoming a party of the elites, there are demographers that are actually trying to tell them this, and sometimes it doesn't go particularly well.

00:22:10.000 So on Inside Politics, one of the hosts is Abby Phillips, and the interview you're about to Here is between her and one of these demographers that she's brought on to do political prognosis.

00:22:20.000 And it's, you know, the very person who kind of laid out the data that caused Democrats to adopt this, you know, demographics as destiny theory.

00:22:29.000 The problem now is those demographics that matter most aren't necessarily racial.

00:22:35.000 their income level, their education level, and the largest portions of the electorate are moving further and further away from the Democratic Party.

00:22:43.000 And they're doing so really at a speed we've never seen before.

00:22:48.000 And as a direct result of the policies that this Congress continues to push under Nancy Pelosi's failed leadership.

00:22:54.000 So when this demographer tries to tell Abby Phillips this, you are just going to love how she tries to cut him off and then come back from the cut with the most ridiculous partisan just left-wing utilization of opposition research.

00:23:09.000 Take a listen and we'll talk about the clip after.

00:23:13.000 You know, when we say the Democrats are too focused on certain things, when you say that, is that real or is it a lot?

00:23:20.000 You see the same things that I do.

00:23:23.000 Conservatives elevating small issues and making that the Democratic Party brand.

00:23:28.000 Maybe the Democrats are allowing that to happen, is the point that you're making.

00:23:32.000 Well, I don't think so.

00:23:33.000 I would dissent from that.

00:23:34.000 I mean, this is what I characterize as a Fox News fallacy, which is basically the only reason why issues like crime and immigration, you know, things around race and gender ideology, what's happening in the schools, etc., the only reason these are issues is because Fox News is talking about them.

00:23:52.000 There's a lot of propaganda and disinformation.

00:23:54.000 And what I think that leaves out is these are real problems to real voters.

00:23:58.000 Sure.

00:23:58.000 Voters are concerned about crime.

00:24:00.000 Voters are concerned about the situation at the border.

00:24:02.000 Democrats have tried to wave that away.

00:24:04.000 Now they're doing it a little bit less now, but they've tried to wave it away.

00:24:07.000 And, you know, this is not just created by conservatives.

00:24:10.000 It's created by the real world about the concerns of voters.

00:24:13.000 And conservatives are able to take advantage of that because the Democrats are essentially not defending themselves.

00:24:20.000 Fascinating conversation, Roy Jashara.

00:24:22.000 Thanks for joining us here.

00:24:24.000 And coming up next for us, why a Jersey Shore star found herself in the middle of Pennsylvania's Senate race. 0.84

00:24:29.000 Does Mehmet Oz even live in Pennsylvania?

00:24:32.000 Democrat John Fetterman wants that to be the question on voters' minds as the state's pivotal Senate race approaches.

00:24:39.000 So he's enlisted New Jersey's most famous reality TV star to help drive home the point.

00:24:45.000 I heard that you moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania to look for a new job.

00:24:50.000 And personally, I don't know why anyone would want to leave Jersey because it's like the best place ever and we're all hot messes.

00:24:58.000 But I want to say best of luck to you.

00:25:00.000 I know you're away from home and you're in a new place, but Jersey will not forget you.

00:25:06.000 Who doesn't love Snooki?

00:25:11.000 I mean, isn't that just a total meme of what CNN has become?

00:25:15.000 Just an outlet for opposition research against Republicans?

00:25:19.000 And as Abby Phillip is being told about the cratering of the Democratic Party, oh, she's got to get away from that so that we can get to Snooki.

00:25:27.000 Unreal.

00:25:28.000 Unreal and unbelievable.

00:25:29.000 Another thing that we constantly stand against is the swampification of Washington DC. This city is corrupt and oftentimes people use their access and their leverage and their influence to put special interests and foreign interests above American interests.

00:25:47.000 Now I think That people in Congress should not be able to go be lobbyists.

00:25:52.000 The reason I think that is because you've made a choice to be a representative of the people.

00:25:56.000 You're one of the few Americans who has the opportunity to come to this place and advocate on behalf of the needs of those who sent you here.

00:26:05.000 And then to be able to turn around from that and go lobby for money to just be a paid influence peddler, it's ultimately debasing.

00:26:14.000 And we saw it on full display recently in the House Judiciary Committee.

00:26:18.000 Now, Bob Goodlat is the former Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

00:26:23.000 He was someone Jim Jordan and I disagreed with very frequently because Goodlatte was always an apologist for Mueller and Comey.

00:26:32.000 He was always the last one to agree with us that we shouldn't be championing and cheerleading Robert Mueller.

00:26:37.000 We should have been scrutinizing him the entire time.

00:26:40.000 We should have been showing what a total sham this was, that there was no requisite context for an investigation into the president for being an agent of the Russian government.

00:26:52.000 So Goodlat finishes his unremarkable term as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, retires, and then, lo and behold, shows up as a lobbyist.

00:27:02.000 Now, if that alone isn't swampy and creepy enough, you get to see what he's fighting for.

00:27:09.000 He is a paid lobbyist for the Walt Disney Corporation.

00:27:12.000 Now why would the Walt Disney Corporation go hire the former Republican head of the Judiciary Committee?

00:27:17.000 Aren't they woke?

00:27:18.000 Don't they only want to work with Democrats?

00:27:21.000 You see what matters to the Walt Disney Corporation the most?

00:27:24.000 Their copyright.

00:27:26.000 This exquisite, unusual, and perfectly tailored to them legislative structure that allows them to protect their copyright assets way beyond the scope of what Other companies would be able to do with similar content.

00:27:42.000 So they get a carve out.

00:27:43.000 They're a special interest and their interest has been met.

00:27:46.000 And they're worried that if Republicans take control of the Congress, we might not be so willing.

00:27:53.000 So they hire former chairman Bob Goodlatte to try to make them look less evil with Republicans.

00:27:59.000 Of course, I have not met with him.

00:28:02.000 Then, Bob Goodlatte signs a different client.

00:28:06.000 A client that pays him to show up and testify against data collection of the American people through these data brokers that buy and sell the data coming off of your cell phone.

00:28:19.000 Sometimes they buy and sell to one another.

00:28:22.000 Sometimes they buy and sell to people who want to provide you goods.

00:28:26.000 Sometimes they buy and sell to America's enemies.

00:28:29.000 Iran.

00:28:30.000 The Chinese Communist Party, Russia.

00:28:33.000 And so I thought it was pretty insane that Chairman Goodlatte was in the committee to testify about the horrors of this data collection while at the same time representing the Walt Disney Corporation that engages in that very practice.

00:28:49.000 Take a listen.

00:28:52.000 I believe that we can have bipartisan agreement on legislation out of this committee that might be our hallmark achievement of This Congress, but I want to echo the point Mr. Issa made.

00:29:03.000 It is not just the government that engages in these really terrifying data marketplaces.

00:29:10.000 It's the Chinese Communist Party, Russia, big corporations.

00:29:13.000 Chairman Goodlatte, does the Walt Disney Corporation engage in this terrifying data marketplace?

00:29:19.000 I don't know the answer to that.

00:29:21.000 But sure, they're lobbyists, right?

00:29:23.000 I do work for them, but I don't know the answer to your question.

00:29:26.000 So wait a second.

00:29:26.000 You used to chair this committee, You come here and you tell us about all the harm in this data enterprise, but you don't know that...

00:29:34.000 I mean, you're the Republican that the Disney Corporation hired because they have problems with Republicans, and you didn't ever talk to them about this?

00:29:42.000 I came here today to testify regarding the importance of this legislation, which, as you noted, is bipartisan, and it...

00:29:50.000 So the LA Times says Disney is running the happiest surveillance operation on Earth.

00:29:55.000 Had you seen that article from the LA Times?

00:29:57.000 I have not seen it.

00:29:59.000 Okay, I think it might have been when you were chairman that it came out.

00:30:02.000 And Disney's actually been sued.

00:30:04.000 They've been sued because Disney installs software on applications used by children, and then they not only buy data from data brokers, Disney then turns around and sells the data that they collect off of children.

00:30:19.000 Are you familiar with that litigation?

00:30:21.000 I am not.

00:30:22.000 And there's a Forbes article that came out while you were chairman of this committee, And it talks about the robots that Disney sends around its park to collect data on the people at the park to utilize.

00:30:37.000 Quote, Disney is even dabbling in making robotic versions of Mickey and Minnie and all of its characters that would move around with the guests and interact with them.

00:30:45.000 So as you sit here and talk to us about the harm of this data enterprise, are you concerned that the people who pay you also engage in that very same work?

00:30:57.000 I think that it would be appropriate for the Congress to look at data collection practices beyond the scope of what this committee is looking at here today, but I also think it's very important to understand that what government can do with that data is very different than what individual enterprises can do, and so that's why I'm here to talk about the Fourth Amendment.

00:31:19.000 Sometimes, right?

00:31:20.000 I saw in your testimony you say Well, only the government can tax you and only the government can regulate you.

00:31:26.000 But what I'm worried about is that private entities can try to program you.

00:31:31.000 They can try to get you to think a certain way.

00:31:33.000 And they can use this data in a very harmful way.

00:31:36.000 And, like, particularly with the Walt Disney Corporation that is in business with the Chinese Communist Party, that thanks the Chinese Communist Party for all of the accommodations they got on the filming of Mulan.

00:31:48.000 Like, you know, does it concern you that the Walt Disney Corporation Is selling the information of children?

00:31:54.000 I don't know.

00:31:55.000 That's the fact.

00:31:56.000 Are you being purposefully ignorant to the fact that Walt Disney engages in the very activities that you're here testifying against?

00:32:05.000 Well, I do not know the facts that you've stated, so I can't comment.

00:32:10.000 Well, right, but are you purposely not learning them so that you can simultaneously take money from Disney to try to make them look less evil to Republicans and then I'm here to advocate on behalf of other organizations before the Congress that critique the very work that Disney's doing.

00:32:25.000 I'm here to advocate on behalf of people who are concerned about abuses of the Fourth Amendment.

00:32:31.000 Chairman Goodlatte, do you remember a conversation you and I had when you led this committee at the Capitol Hill Club where you said the best way to be successful in the Judiciary Committee is to find interest groups that are opposed to one another And to tell both of them that you'll support their position so they'll both make donations to your...

00:32:47.000 I do.

00:32:48.000 I definitely do not.

00:32:49.000 You're under oath, Chairman.

00:32:50.000 I do not.

00:32:51.000 No.

00:32:52.000 Well, I hope that's not the case in lobbying as well.

00:32:55.000 That you go and, you know, that as a legislator, you try to find interest groups to play off of one another.

00:33:01.000 Then as a lobbyist, you go and take money from the Walt Disney Corporation that is quite literally buying and selling data In precisely the way that you find objectionable today.

00:33:11.000 I think it's a reason why a lot of people are concerned about folks who go from being in Congress to being members of the lobby corps and then using the relationships that they've developed in order to sell influence.

00:33:24.000 And that selling influence can be just as damaging sometimes as the buying and selling of data.

00:33:29.000 And the Walt Disney Corporation that, you know, that goes against So many of the values of their own patrons certainly isn't worthy of that.

00:33:38.000 And since there's no federal legislation on this issue, it doesn't seem like it's preempted.

00:33:44.000 So maybe if we had a really smart governor like Governor DeSantis in Florida, they could actually have state-based laws that would attack these issues. 0.97

00:33:52.000 Wouldn't that be quite a thing?

00:33:54.000 Mr. Chairman, I now seek unanimous consent to enter a few articles on the record.

00:33:58.000 I have Disney takes over Hulu, a company with serious data collection issues, from combardo.com.

00:34:07.000 I have from the LA Times, Disneyland is tracking guests and generating big profits doing it.

00:34:14.000 I have from wdinfo.com, Disney facing lawsuit over collecting and selling children's personal information.

00:34:25.000 And I have Disney uses big data, IT, and machine learning to boost the customer experience, and that is from Forbes.

00:34:36.000 Queen says Matt looks like Elvis's evil brother.

00:34:39.000 I'll take it.

00:34:41.000 And DuckDuckBam says, if we banned members of Congress from owning stock, we would decrease corruption.

00:34:46.000 I totally agree with that.

00:34:47.000 I'm totally on board with that.

00:34:49.000 Even working with some folks on the far left to try to make that happen.

00:34:52.000 But you know what else we should ban?

00:34:53.000 Members of Congress from becoming lobbyists.

00:34:55.000 And you saw the reason why.

00:34:57.000 Thanks so much for watching.

00:34:59.000 Thanks so much for listening.

00:35:00.000 Make sure you're subscribed with those notifications on.

00:35:03.000 Roll the credits.

Firebrand - Matt Gaetz - July 20, 2022

Episode 61 LIVE: Overeducated Elites – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

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