Firebrand - Matt Gaetz - Episode 82 LIVE: Make Congress Work (feat. Rep. Eli Crane) – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:04:50.000 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.

00:04:57.000 Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem in the Democratic Party.

00:05:00.000 He could cause a lot of hiccups in passing the laws.

00:05:03.000 So we're going to keep running those stories to get hurt again.

00:05:07.000 Stand for the flag and kneel in prayer.

00:05:10.000 If you want to build America up and not burn her to the ground, then welcome, my fellow patriots.

00:05:15.000 You are in the right place.

00:05:17.000 This is the movement for you.

00:05:19.000 You ever watch this guy on television?

00:05:21.000 It's like a machine.

00:05:23.000 Matt Gaetz.

00:05:24.000 I'm a canceled man in some corners of the internet.

00:05:27.000 Many days I'm a marked man in Congress, a wanted man by the deep state.

00:05:32.000 They aren't really coming for me.

00:05:34.000 They're coming for you.

00:05:36.000 I'm just in the way.

00:05:41.000 Welcome back to Firebrand.

00:05:43.000 We're broadcasting live out of room 2021 in the Rayburn office building on the Capitol complex in Washington DC and I apologize for not putting a show out last week as you may have seen we had some other stuff going on but we have a great show today.

00:05:57.000 I've got big Eli Crane here One of our newest and most inspirational members of Congress from the great state of Arizona.

00:06:05.000 We're going to talk about how we're going to make Congress better and make it different.

00:06:09.000 What we continue to hear from our constituents, people all over the country, is that Congress has to change so that we actually meet the needs of the American people and stop this nation from going down a path of demise.

00:06:21.000 We deserve better than that.

00:06:23.000 So Congress is going to be different.

00:06:25.000 We've got to get the country to go in a different direction.

00:06:28.000 And what I can say with absolute certainty is that there is something different about Eli Crane.

00:06:33.000 He's become a leader in the freshman class, took a really nontraditional path to politics and to the Congress.

00:06:40.000 We're gonna get into that.

00:06:41.000 And Eli, I think you're the first member of Congress who also was involved in Shark Tank as an entrepreneur.

00:06:47.000 Is that right?

00:06:48.000 Yeah, I don't know if anybody has done that, but I don't know of anybody.

00:06:53.000 So that was a wild experience, Matt.

00:06:55.000 It was a total blessing because it happened.

00:06:58.000 We were actually on the set of Shark Tank while I was still in the military on terminal leave, and I didn't ask for permission on that one.

00:07:07.000 But it was just a blessing, and it gave me and my wife something to sink our teeth into as we were getting out, and I think that's one of the things that A lot of veterans struggle with when they get out of the military is just a new mission and something that they can actually sink their teeth into that's not just a job that provides healthcare and a paycheck.

00:07:29.000 And it was just so cool because we got to manufacture our products in the USA. We got to hire veterans and it gave me something to really fight for.

00:07:37.000 I've got the district in the country with the highest concentration of active duty military and veterans.

00:07:42.000 And it's so interesting to watch that transition because it seems to require a sense of purpose.

00:07:49.000 You have such purpose through wearing a uniform and serving in the most elite elements of our military.

00:07:55.000 But then a job can't just be a job.

00:07:58.000 You know, it has to be something more meaningful.

00:08:00.000 I want everyone to get a sense of Eli in that moment.

00:08:04.000 Pitch it on Shark Tank.

00:08:06.000 Take a listen.

00:08:09.000 Hi, Sharks.

00:08:10.000 My name is Eli Kring.

00:08:11.000 I'm his wife, Jen.

00:08:13.000 Our business is Bottle Breacher.

00:08:15.000 We are seeking $150,000 for 10% equity stake in our business.

00:08:20.000 At Bottle Breacher, we make the finest personalized 50 caliber bottle openers on the market.

00:08:26.000 You might be asking yourself, why would anybody want a.50 caliber bottle opener?

00:08:30.000 Short answer is, they're awesome.

00:08:32.000 As a former Navy SEAL, I knew I needed to figure out a way to provide for my family when I got out of the Navy.

00:08:39.000 Bottle Breacher has given us the ability to do that, and it's actually really simple.

00:08:44.000 Most guys like drinking beer.

00:08:46.000 Most guys think that large caliber bullets are very cool.

00:08:51.000 At Bottle Breacher, we've combined the two to create the ultimate manly gift.

00:08:55.000 We've managed to create a successful company, but we know with your help, we can breach this thing wide open.

00:09:03.000 You made a deal, you achieved success, and you know, Eli, people come to Congress frequently through military service, and they also come frequently through business work.

00:09:14.000 You seem to have had both I think that's going to inform your service greatly, but I gotta know, what was more pressure going on national television, on Shark Tank, in front of 10 million people, or the experience we just went through this last week to try to make Congress more responsive to the people?

00:09:32.000 You know, both were definitely, you know, a pressure cooker.

00:09:35.000 But last week, I think, was definitely more pressure.

00:09:39.000 As you know, Matt, I mean, I know you've been in a lot of fights up here.

00:09:43.000 That was definitely the, you know, first fight for me.

00:09:46.000 But when you're a freshman and you're trying to figure out where the bathroom is, and then you walk into that, It was intense, man.

00:09:53.000 I mean, think about it.

00:09:54.000 A lot of us, if you get five people in your circle surrounding you telling you, hey, you're on the wrong path.

00:10:01.000 We need you to reverse course here.

00:10:03.000 That's a lot of pressure, five people. 1.00

00:10:05.000 But when you're going up against 200 people on your own side of the aisle, then you've got a lot of the media heads talking about what an idiot you are and you don't know what you're doing. 1.00

00:10:15.000 And then you've got somebody that you and I both respect, President Trump. 1.00

00:10:19.000 You know, calling you and telling you, hey, you know, you need to get on board with this.

00:10:23.000 You know, that's tough.

00:10:25.000 But, you know, Matt, I just kept going back to what did my constituents want?

00:10:30.000 What did they tell me for the last year and a half?

00:10:33.000 And I know that I'm here to represent them.

00:10:35.000 And so I think as long as you never forget that, you'll be a good representative.

00:10:40.000 I mean, it's in the title, representative.

00:10:42.000 And I think so many of us forget that when we get to this town because it's built.

00:10:47.000 This swamp is built.

00:10:49.000 To, you know, influence you and take you away from representing your actual constituents.

00:10:55.000 We are live with Eli Crane and the live stream is fired up.

00:10:58.000 We got folks that are watching from Kentucky, Texas and even France on Facebook.

00:11:03.000 So all the way across the pond.

00:11:06.000 We talked about your military service and we've just got breaking news from the Department of Defense that they are going to cease all separations as a consequence of this very foolish and misguided vaccine mandate.

00:11:19.000 Talk about some of the feedback you've received from people from the SEAL community or the military community and how that vaccine mandate negatively affected people and your reaction to the separations being suspended now. 0.97

00:11:33.000 You know, I think it was extremely destructive and I do think it was foolish.

00:11:36.000 You know, my little brother was in the Marine. 0.69

00:11:39.000 He was a Cobra pilot in the Marine Corps.

00:11:41.000 He left the service at 19 years and I think eight months, four months shy of his retirement because he wouldn't take the vaccine.

00:11:49.000 I mean, everything that guy went through, all the deployments, he doesn't get his retirement now.

00:11:54.000 I think it's atrocious.

00:11:55.000 And I talked to a lot of, you know, veterans that I know, SEALs that I know that wouldn't take it.

00:12:00.000 They didn't, you know, they didn't trust it.

00:12:03.000 And it not only...

00:12:05.000 Did it really disenfranchise and hurt those individual members, but it hurt our military overall.

00:12:11.000 I mean, it hurt the readiness of the military.

00:12:14.000 And, you know, when you take those individuals who were not, you know, really susceptible for the most part to, you know, some of the adversity that came with, you know, folks that ended up getting COVID-19 just because of their age and their health,

00:12:30.000 etc., etc., It was really hard to watch because when you look at everything else going on in our military and how woke it's got and how the focus has turned from being the best fighting force in the world, you know, to a lot, are we the most inclusive group in the world?

00:12:46.000 You know, what are your pronouns?

00:12:47.000 I remember even before I got out, Matt, it was like, you know, we were taking, we were, half the time we couldn't even do our job as SEALs because we were taking some, you know, survey or some tests to make sure that, You know, we were up on our Navy knowledge online and just courses and so on and so forth that had nothing to do with our job.

00:13:05.000 And that's the direction of the military.

00:13:07.000 And I also know that's a passion of yours.

00:13:09.000 So, you know, I hope that, you know, we're able to work together to try and, you know, bring other members of Congress into making sure that this military is focused on the very real threats that we have around the world.

00:13:21.000 Undeniably.

00:13:21.000 We have got to get this guy a huge following online.

00:13:24.000 Make sure you follow him.

00:13:25.000 At Rep Eli Crane on Twitter, is that right?

00:13:27.000 Yeah, is that right, Zach?

00:13:28.000 That's how new I am here, Matt.

00:13:30.000 You know, I'm trying to figure it out, but I think that's right.

00:13:32.000 You know, the courage you showed this last week, I could tell...

00:13:36.000 My constituents, very candidly, I would not have had the courage to do that.

00:13:39.000 If I was in my first week, I would have probably been the guy wondering how to get my phones hooked up, and I would have wanted the safety of swimming with the school of the rest of the fish.

00:13:48.000 I doubt that.

00:13:49.000 I very seriously doubt that.

00:13:51.000 The seals are different, man.

00:13:52.000 You're different, and you stood up to it.

00:13:55.000 The SEAL community actually led on a lot of these vaccine issues.

00:13:59.000 Some of the early litigation and injunctions that were obtained were from Navy SEALs.

00:14:03.000 And I remember reading those lawsuits getting filed and the orders coming out and just thinking about the SEAL community, the best of the best, elite in mind and body.

00:14:14.000 And I thought back to the early, most virulent versions of COVID. You're always scared of the unknown.

00:14:20.000 It's human nature when you don't know the full impact of something to be concerned.

00:14:25.000 The day I, or the week, I guess, I became, like, way less afraid of COVID was when Chris Christie and legendary FSU coach, who I adore, Bobby, the late Bobby Bowden now, both survived COVID the same week.

00:14:37.000 And I thought, well, you know what?

00:14:38.000 If Chris Christie, who probably has, like, never driven past a donut stand without pulling in, and, like, Bobby Bowden, who was, like, over 90 years old, and, I mean...

00:14:48.000 The next step in human evolution, probably, Bobby Bowden as a knoll.

00:14:51.000 But when they both survived it, I thought, huh, maybe we shouldn't be forcing Navy SEALs of all people out of the military.

00:14:58.000 And what I was so offended by from some of these Pentagon officials is that they preached to us that they were doing the mandate for readiness.

00:15:07.000 And it was just the opposite.

00:15:09.000 Talk a little bit about the money and time and effort that goes into just training one Navy SEAL. Yeah, no, it's true.

00:15:17.000 I mean, they spend millions of dollars on you.

00:15:19.000 And by the time you start, if you go straight through at this point, you know, when I went through, it took a year.

00:15:24.000 If you went straight through, didn't get rolled back, didn't get hurt.

00:15:27.000 Now, when I got out, I think it was up to a year and six months.

00:15:32.000 So they spend a ton of time and money on these individuals.

00:15:35.000 And here's the thing, when you're in a SEAL platoon, you work with about a 20-man group.

00:15:40.000 And so you'll have different specialties within that group.

00:15:42.000 You'll have snipers, breachers, comm guys.

00:15:45.000 You know, et cetera, corpsmen, you know, medics, et cetera.

00:15:48.000 So if you lose one of those guys, I mean, you just lost a massive percent of your operational readiness.

00:15:55.000 And so it was really detrimental to the community.

00:16:00.000 And I know a lot of great guys got out because of it.

00:16:04.000 And to me, that's unsat, especially with how many threats that we have around the world.

00:16:08.000 Let's talk about those folks that were separated because...

00:16:12.000 If you're watching this and you're thinking, well, I'm glad the next round of Patriots isn't going to be forced out, but there are people who were coerced out of the military.

00:16:20.000 There were people who just left because they said, I don't want to go through this.

00:16:24.000 I feel like the Department of Defense isn't concerned about me anymore as much as they are kind of going along with the narrative.

00:16:32.000 I think it would be a huge mistake for Republicans in Congress to just declare victory on this issue and walk off the field.

00:16:39.000 I think that we need a real strategy to make reparations for the people whose lives were negatively affected by this mandate.

00:16:47.000 And we need aggressive outreach to get people back into service who are otherwise totally willing, able, ready to put that uniform on for our country.

00:17:01.000 I think that that's a job that we have to get our colleagues to understand this is not over.

00:17:06.000 Yeah, and I think one of the coolest things about this Congress in particular is we have a ton of veterans in this Congress, a lot of new ones as well.

00:17:15.000 And I've talked to several of them, and I know that a lot of them would support that type of legislation where we do try and make sure that these individuals don't get left behind, like my little brother, you know, that isn't going to get his retirement because he's shy four months.

00:17:29.000 And so I hope that we can join, you know, a bunch of us Get something like that over the finish line and try and make that wrong right.

00:17:39.000 Yeah, even people who didn't get their promotions because they were deemed not deployable or not able to participate in the activities where they have to check the boxes to move up.

00:17:49.000 So there are people in the military now who are negatively affected by this, who weren't separated but saw their careers negatively impacted.

00:17:56.000 There are people not in the military who should be, and we need to get those folks back in the fold.

00:18:01.000 And then there are people who left the military, went and did something else and don't want to come back, but I think we owe them something for having Put them through this without a basis.

00:18:10.000 And, you know, in order to address those challenges, I think you open up the envelope too about just the broader wokeism push at DOD, even beyond the vaccine mandates.

00:18:22.000 And it almost feels like there is an intentional purge to get people who think a certain way out of the institution.

00:18:30.000 Do you get that sense from some of your colleagues?

00:18:33.000 100%, Matt.

00:18:34.000 You know, I think that a lot of us used to, you know, look at a lot of these radical ideologies like the socialism, Marxism, communist nonsense, and we knew that it lived in a couple different verticals.

00:18:47.000 The college campus was one that had taken over.

00:18:49.000 I think many of us had given up on, which I'm glad guys like Charlie Kirk has said, no, we're not giving up on that one.

00:18:54.000 We're actually going to go attack it.

00:18:56.000 But there were a couple that I think were sacred cows that even us conservatives were like, oh, they'll never come after our kids.

00:19:02.000 Kids are off limits and our military is off limits.

00:19:04.000 Well, we've seen that there is nothing off limits to these individuals.

00:19:08.000 They want to destroy everything.

00:19:11.000 You know, so that's why it's going to be a fight.

00:19:13.000 I think that's why so many of us have jumped into, you know, politics somewhere we never wanted to be because we're like, hey, I'm going to go stand with Matt Gaetz.

00:19:22.000 I'm going to go stand with, you know, all these other guys that are out there willing to put themselves in that pressure cooker so that we can try and turn this country around and make sure that our kids and our grandkids get some of the freedom and opportunity that we grew up with.

00:19:35.000 Amen to that.

00:19:36.000 Well, in order to meet those challenges, we have to have a House of Representatives that is a fighting force, that can marshal that sense of duty that so many of the new members of Congress have, so many of our veterans who patriotically serve in Congress have, and we have to drive the necessary changes.

00:19:55.000 Gosh, a few weeks ago, I think we had fewer tools to drive those changes than we do now.

00:20:00.000 And you mentioned there might have been some talking heads in the media that questioned our tactics and our strategy, but they've come around for sure.

00:20:08.000 Take a listen to Fox News' Jason Chaffetz, certainly giving a great deal of adulation and congrats to our efforts to try to make this a more productive institution.

00:20:21.000 I want to put this up from the Washington Post, an opinion piece.

00:20:23.000 It says, the McCarthy Speaker Circus is a good argument for voting Democrat.

00:20:28.000 They say the Never Kevin rebels who oppose him have made it painfully apparent that no one will be able to impose and enforce the kind of discipline that Pelosi maintained on the Democratic side.

00:20:38.000 Jason.

00:20:39.000 Hallelujah!

00:20:40.000 That's a good thing.

00:20:41.000 The way Pelosi ran the House was awful.

00:20:44.000 Members couldn't offer amendments.

00:20:45.000 We didn't get single-issue bills.

00:20:47.000 The appropriations process, as it was laid out in the 1974 Budget Act, where you look at 12 individual appropriations, that never happened.

00:20:57.000 So I think people on both sides of the aisle are actually going to look back at this and say, hallelujah, these people stood up so that we could have a more normal process and every member, no matter where they are in the pecking order of seniority, can actually participate in the process.

00:21:13.000 Those are all really good things.

00:21:17.000 Hallelujah, says former Congressman Jason Chaffetz.

00:21:20.000 Fox had maybe taken a different editorial position before the result, but we often learn that, you know, failure is an orphan, but success has many fathers, right?

00:21:29.000 And now I want to get into some of the specific things that we fought for that were really important to us.

00:21:36.000 And I want to start with the border.

00:21:37.000 You're from Arizona, a border state.

00:21:40.000 It's not enough to just pass show me bills.

00:21:43.000 We have to actually get results that don't just involve finishing the wall.

00:21:48.000 That to me is the bare minimum now.

00:21:50.000 We need internal enforcement of our immigration laws because so many people have come to our country illegally. 0.99

00:21:56.000 Talk about how your district and your state think about this border crisis and particularly the concessions we got to get policy changes on internal enforcement of immigration laws.

00:22:08.000 yeah well everybody in arizona and anybody that lives in a border state you know knows how damaging this administration's border policies have been to the united states of america i mean it's you've got so much it's even hard to find a place to start from sex trafficking coming over the border all these illegal drugs fentanyl coming over the border ms-13 gang members You even, like last year alone, you had 18 members, I think, on the terrorist watch list come through that southern border. 0.99

00:22:36.000 And it's just mind-blowing how stupid and foolish, you know, this administration's policy. 0.98

00:22:43.000 But, Matt, I feel like I see this type of destructive leadership everywhere I look around the country. 1.00

00:22:49.000 It almost seems like you take, you know, the common sense approach, and these guys just do the opposite every time.

00:22:56.000 And so that's why I'm glad that I got to get up here when I did with the group that I'm with so that we can start affecting some of these changes.

00:23:04.000 But as you know, I mean, we don't have the Senate.

00:23:07.000 We don't have the executive branch.

00:23:09.000 And so, you know, you could make the argument that, you know, even though we will continue to play offense and we will continue to Be ready to throw down.

00:23:17.000 There's only so much we can do at this point, but I am looking forward to doing everything I can with all the reps from Arizona and from all over the country that are willing to actually throw down on this fight because it's affecting people's lives every single day.

00:23:35.000 Some of the members from Arizona are, I think, some of the best informed and most thorough on these policies.

00:23:42.000 And what Congressman Biggs has shared with me and Congressman Gosar has shared with me is that you can't trade amnesty for enforcement.

00:23:51.000 And there are a lot of more of our moderate colleagues and colleagues who maybe aren't from states physically on the border, though it feels like every state's a border state these days, they think, well...

00:24:04.000 Maybe we can get some asylum reform, but we need to do an amnesty in exchange for that. 1.00

00:24:09.000 What would be your reaction to that paradigm?

00:24:12.000 I think it would be destructive and I think first you just got to take this one step at a time.

00:24:18.000 I think it's irresponsible to talk about immigration reform before you actually shore up the border because I think that when you start talking about that before you take step one, it really encourages even more people to come over here before the gates are closed and the walls are up. 0.54

00:24:36.000 I think step one has to be, you know, we have to shore up that southern border.

00:24:42.000 And you were talking about a wall a second ago.

00:24:44.000 That's a big part of it.

00:24:45.000 You know, bringing back, you know, remaining in Mexico, you know, making sure that our border patrol agents, that we're not, you know, Trying to destroy them and disparage them on national TV talking about them whipping people when they're not it's just you know it's gonna take it's gonna take a lot of different things but I don't think incentivizing other people who want to come here even though I understand why they want to come here Matt they want a taste of the American dream they want a better life I get that as a human being I get that

00:25:15.000 but if you and start incentivizing that you know I think it's just going to increase the problem.

00:25:22.000 And so I agree with, you know, Congressman Biggs and Gosar, who were right there with us in that fight last week.

00:25:28.000 And I don't know what it is about us Arizona guys, man, but we were well represented in that fight.

00:25:33.000 Absolutely.

00:25:34.000 Arizona, there's no greater inverse of better members of Congress and worse election administration than the state of Arizona.

00:25:43.000 Our elections are a joke, man.

00:25:45.000 They really are.

00:25:46.000 That could be its own podcast.

00:25:49.000 Here's what I could tell you on the elections.

00:25:51.000 You don't have to live this way.

00:25:53.000 Florida used to be the laughingstock of the country on elections. 0.95

00:25:56.000 And then you fire the people who don't follow the law.

00:25:59.000 You have laws in place on ballot custody.

00:26:02.000 You have paper ballots so that you're able to assess that an actual human being intended to vote that ballot.

00:26:09.000 And it's actually not that difficult.

00:26:11.000 It almost seems like if you're not doing it the right way, maybe it's chaos on purpose.

00:26:15.000 And, you know, an area where we've had chaos has been in the federal budget and spending.

00:26:19.000 And I know like me, you heard from a lot of your constituents about the crushing impact of inflation on a family budget already.

00:26:27.000 We believe that government spending is a driver of inflation.

00:26:32.000 It's such an obvious statement, I can't even believe I have to say it out loud.

00:26:35.000 But this town will never balance a budget if we do not have to.

00:26:40.000 Because at the end of the day, some people want some stuff, other people want other stuff, and instead of having a zero-sum negotiation about that, we just end up doing all of it and printing more money, and individual programs don't get individual review.

00:26:54.000 When we began this fight at the beginning of last week, we had no guarantee of a balanced budget ever coming to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote, and now we do.

00:27:05.000 Talk about the importance of getting that commitment for a balanced budget vote.

00:27:10.000 Well, I think it's huge, and I agree with you, Matt.

00:27:12.000 It is a main driver of inflation, and it blows my mind up here that we continue to print and spend money that we don't have.

00:27:22.000 It doesn't make any sense to me as a business owner, as a father who has personal finances.

00:27:28.000 And you're right.

00:27:30.000 It's like, if we don't force the issue up here, if a certain number of us don't force the issue up here, nothing will get done about it.

00:27:37.000 Because the sad truth is, many people campaign, they run as, you know, fiscally conservative, and then they get up here and it's just like, hey, show me the money.

00:27:48.000 Who's got the best deal for me?

00:27:50.000 It's transactional.

00:27:51.000 You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. 0.97

00:27:53.000 And that's why we need some real fighters up here.

00:27:55.000 And that's why it was exciting to see 20 people stand against status quo, the establishment and the swamp last week.

00:28:03.000 And I'm pretty confident that that trajectory and those fighters are going to coalesce on the next one and the next one and the next one.

00:28:10.000 And I know you and I will be right there trying to turn this around and resume some fiscal responsibility back to this federal government.

00:28:21.000 These balanced budgets are going to require tough choices.

00:28:24.000 We're going to have to tackle entitlement spending.

00:28:27.000 It's not going to be okay to say that able-bodied people who could go to work but just choose not to should be able to get the largesse of the federal government for their entire lives and for multiple generations that get stuck in government dependence.

00:28:43.000 And so the Democrats and the media will, I'm sure, reinvigorate their tired old arguments that were pushing Granny off the That is not our objective.

00:28:52.000 Our objective is to make sure that every American realizes their full potential through work and contribution to our society.

00:29:01.000 And I think that doesn't only help on our budget issues, it helps with our workforce issues and so many of the small businesses that are struggling to keep workers because we're paying people to sit at home.

00:29:11.000 No, absolutely.

00:29:12.000 I've been a small business owner.

00:29:14.000 My wife and I sold our business this last year, but I have a lot of friends that are small business owners, and they tell me the same thing, that it's impossible for them to hire and find employees because so many Americans right now are incentivized to stay home, and that's not a good thing for small business, and it's not a good thing for individuals either.

00:29:34.000 When you don't have something to work for, work and Discipline, those are good things for all human beings.

00:29:42.000 And I think that there's a couple different buckets here, but it's sad to me because I know that in many cases, a lot of these tyrannical governments that sprout up with socialism, they want to get people on the federal teat, if you will.

00:29:56.000 And that's how they control them. 0.87

00:29:58.000 And I really hope we're not that foolish that we're going to go down that path. 0.77

00:30:03.000 But that looks like the trajectory that this country is on. 0.89

00:30:05.000 And it really is concerning to me, Matt.

00:30:08.000 And, you know, I've heard statistics that, you know, 55% of kids coming out of a university these days think that socialism is a great idea.

00:30:17.000 How scary is that, man?

00:30:18.000 It's like the most debunked economic idea of all time.

00:30:22.000 It's never worked.

00:30:23.000 Yeah, if socialism were this great opportunity, the island of Cuba would be a Caribbean paradise, not a hellscape.

00:30:32.000 Yeah, absolutely, man.

00:30:35.000 I mean, you know, there's a couple, you know, there's a couple, you know, I read Dinesh D'Souza's, one of his books, and he was talking about You know, one of the, you know, if you can look at a perfect experiment, East and West Germany, you know, one was one was capitalist, capitalistic, and one was socialistic.

00:30:51.000 And when you look at the outcomes of those two places, with the same people in the same region and the same timeframe, I mean, one did phenomenally better.

00:31:00.000 And I believe, you know, North and South Korea is the other example that he uses, but it's a perfect case study in which one works, which one, you know, imprisons people, you know, creates, you know, a totalitarian government that oppresses people, and which one actually, you know, enables its citizens to thrive.

00:31:17.000 And, you know, there you go.

00:31:18.000 There's a perfect science experiment right there for us to look at.

00:31:21.000 Well, and I think not only is that solution set correct in terms of driving toward capitalism, you correctly diagnose that we are on the wrong path right now.

00:31:31.000 And we need to be honest with people.

00:31:33.000 With the passage of this omnibus legislation that the lame duck Congress facilitated, You are on the march to socialism right here in the United States of America, and that's why our organizing principle last week to change the House of Representatives was to ensure that our rules would never permit another omnibus bill like that to ever be forced onto the American people.

00:31:55.000 Another thing we fought for, Eli, was term limits.

00:31:59.000 I have worked in the state legislature in Florida where we had term limits.

00:32:03.000 I've worked here where we don't.

00:32:05.000 And to me, it's like a basketball game with and without a shot clock.

00:32:09.000 When there's a shot clock in a basketball game, you gotta advance your objective, you gotta take your shot, and then the whole thing sort of resets on the next possession.

00:32:20.000 And sometimes I feel around here like people are just dribbling the ball around for a while.

00:32:26.000 Out in the country, term limits is like an 80% or higher issue with the American people, and it seems to only be unpopular here in Washington.

00:32:35.000 And while the American people support term limits, we don't even take votes on term limits.

00:32:39.000 So you can hear people out on the campaign trail pound the chest about how much they support it, but they never actually have to be accountable for that.

00:32:46.000 You and I demanded a vote on term limits.

00:32:50.000 What's the feedback you've gotten from people on that issue?

00:32:53.000 No, they love it.

00:32:53.000 And you're right, Matt.

00:32:55.000 So many people come up here and quickly, especially in Congress where you run every two years, the focus half the time is on just getting re-elected.

00:33:04.000 And I think if there was term limits and we had to actually go here, represent our constituents, and then go back to our regular lives, I think this place would look a lot different.

00:33:13.000 Because as you know, a lot of people come here and it becomes all about re-election and gaining power and power and power.

00:33:20.000 And so I'm...

00:33:22.000 I think it's great that we're actually going to force people to take a position on term limits because, like you said it, the American people know it's one of the biggest problems with our political system.

00:33:31.000 Yeah, and then you know what?

00:33:32.000 If your member of Congress doesn't vote for term limits, then you can maybe impose a term limit on them through our election process.

00:33:41.000 And the other thing I've noticed about term limits is it makes the institution younger.

00:33:45.000 And the 118th Congress is the third oldest Congress in American history.

00:33:51.000 Really?

00:33:52.000 And I just don't believe that the most powerful nation in the world can be governed by a gerontocracy where the people making the decisions might not be around to see the full impact of the decisions they make.

00:34:05.000 And our generation interfaces with the digital world differently.

00:34:10.000 We recognize the challenges with big tech maybe more than the boomer generation.

00:34:14.000 And so I think it's a unique challenge for us as two younger members here, but it also reinforces what changes are needed to kind of get out of the gerontocracy that we find ourselves in.

00:34:28.000 But to do all these things, to get it done, to see them through, we don't view last week as the end.

00:34:34.000 It is just the beginning.

00:34:36.000 And I want to talk to you a little bit about how you think about teamwork because as a SEAL, as a business owner, It's teamwork or death.

00:34:44.000 And Maggie Haberman, who absolutely loathes me, had some comments on that subject recently.

00:34:50.000 Take a listen.

00:34:53.000 Hey Maggie, and we heard Speaker McCarthy right there say that Donald Trump deserves a lot of credit.

00:34:58.000 Does he?

00:34:59.000 I don't know about a lot, considering that he had endorsed McCarthy and early in the week made a public push for him that he hadn't wanted to make.

00:35:05.000 He had to do it because he gave some mealy-mouthed comment to an NBC reporter, and that didn't do anything.

00:35:10.000 But he did matter at the end, in that very final motion to adjourn right before they voted in McCarthy.

00:35:17.000 He did make calls to people like Matt Gaetz, and he did have some influence there.

00:35:21.000 That's a problem for Kevin McCarthy, is that it's not just Scott Perry and the House Freedom Caucus.

00:35:25.000 It's this Matt Gaetz group, and Matt Gaetz kept his folks together, and he is now in a pretty strong position with McCarthy.

00:35:36.000 So Maggie Haverman assesses that it's a bad thing, that we stuck together, hung together.

00:35:42.000 It's not the Freedom Caucus you should be afraid of, it's the Gaetz group.

00:35:45.000 You know, I have found in life That the strongest relationships are forged by fire in business and politics and otherwise.

00:35:54.000 And I just wanted to give you a chance to talk about how you assess teamwork as a function of getting through this place with real results for our constituents.

00:36:03.000 Well, it is imperative.

00:36:05.000 And, you know, even when you look at just that isolated incident of the floor fight that we got in last week, there were, you know, unlike the Democrats, we actually have independent thinkers over here.

00:36:17.000 And there were, you know, how many conversations, phone calls, meetings were you and I in where, you know, there was a lot of debate and disagreement amongst ourselves.

00:36:25.000 But in the end, the only way we got to where we got was because we stuck together, you know, and not, you know, some people, you know, We didn't all move in complete unison, but at the same time, that's what I'm most excited about when I look at this Congress is the fact that there were at least 20 people who were willing to step up and stand up to the establishment.

00:36:52.000 But on that note, Matt, You do deserve a good amount of credit because you were as strong as anybody in that group.

00:36:59.000 And that was noted.

00:37:00.000 That was noted by many of us.

00:37:02.000 And, you know, it's like when you go into a situation like that, whether you're going into combat or whether you're going into something, a pressure cooker like that, that's on full display for everybody to see.

00:37:14.000 Courage is contagious.

00:37:15.000 And that's one thing I always noticed about you.

00:37:17.000 I noticed it with Andy Biggs, Matt Rosendale, Bob Good, and several other people who were just courageous and they were willing to put themselves out there.

00:37:26.000 They were willing to deal with the repercussions that might very well come our way.

00:37:31.000 And it made me feel, in many ways, like it reminded me of being back in an elite group of people that were willing to risk everything for something bigger than themselves.

00:37:42.000 And politics is a team sport.

00:37:44.000 People need to know that.

00:37:45.000 We all have different skills.

00:37:47.000 We have different contributions to the fight.

00:37:49.000 And we have different expertise on different subject matters and issues that will come before us.

00:37:54.000 And it's not a sign of weakness.

00:37:56.000 It's a sign of strength to say, hey, look, you know, is there something maybe, you know, you can help me learn more about or get a good frame on?

00:38:03.000 And is there something you've been through in life that can...

00:38:06.000 Allow me to serve my constituents better, and I have never been more optimistic about the teamwork atmosphere than what we went through, because it showed people's true mettle, and throughout life, it's just something you have to rely on and demand.

00:38:22.000 Do we have the photo of some of the floor action down there we can put up for our...

00:38:28.000 All right.

00:38:29.000 There we go.

00:38:30.000 Some of the varied discussions you're talking about.

00:38:33.000 That's Big Eli Crane right in the middle.

00:38:35.000 And we're working with our friend Matt Rosendale from Montana, another solid conservative.

00:38:41.000 You know, Eli, I want to end on this note.

00:38:45.000 Through all of this past week and through all we worked on, there were tense moments, there were tough moments, but I did not see you perk up with a brightness on any matter more than when you were bragging about your constituents in Arizona.

00:38:59.000 And you talked about the communities that you serve, the enduring love of country that exists there, and I just wanted you to share with our viewers a little bit about your district and the type of people that you work for.

00:39:12.000 Yeah, so I represent an amazing district in Arizona.

00:39:15.000 It's the second congressional district.

00:39:16.000 So for those of you guys looking at a map, it's the rural area of northeastern Arizona.

00:39:21.000 But it's so big, Matt, it even comes down south of Phoenix.

00:39:24.000 And I mean, these are American communities.

00:39:28.000 A lot of them are blue-collar folks.

00:39:30.000 You've got ranchers.

00:39:31.000 You've got a lot of small business owners.

00:39:34.000 You've got a bunch of just amazing people who love this country, and they're tired of watching it be destroyed from within.

00:39:41.000 And I think that's why they sent a guy like me here that didn't have any history in politics.

00:39:46.000 I wore a ball cap most of my campaign.

00:39:49.000 I've got a lot of tattoos.

00:39:50.000 They were like, This guy might actually be crazy enough to go in there and actually fight for us.

00:39:54.000 And they picked somebody who looked completely different from most politicians.

00:39:58.000 And I'm honored to serve the people of Sedona, Flagstaff, Pine Top, Show Low, Flagstaff, Maricopa City, all of you guys.

00:40:07.000 And I want to I want to say this.

00:40:09.000 I heard you guys.

00:40:10.000 And that's why I took this stand that I did because I didn't want to be a guy that listened to you or acted like I listened to you and then came up here and then my vote was for special interests or lobbying or party leadership.

00:40:23.000 That's not what I'm going to do up here.

00:40:25.000 But hey, before we close, I do want to say this about Matt Gaetz because, you know, Matt, you are a firebrand and you kind of have like this, you know, this deal where, you know, a lot of people love you but there are people that hate you.

00:40:38.000 I want to say this about this guy, and I know most of you watching this love this guy, but I actually saw some behind the scenes baseball.

00:40:45.000 I actually saw a pretty generous side of you that a lot of people don't get to see.

00:40:49.000 And I saw a part of you that a lot of people don't get to see just out there in the media.

00:40:54.000 I saw you take some hits for other people.

00:40:57.000 I saw you being willing to sacrifice for other people.

00:40:59.000 I won't go into the specifics of it, but when there were six of us in a room and I saw you step up big time for another one of us, that meant something to me.

00:41:08.000 Because, you know, not everybody would have done that in that situation.

00:41:12.000 And I won't discuss the specifics of it, but that was really cool to be in a group where other members are willing to be selfless and lay down their own personal experiences.

00:41:22.000 You know, issues or beefs or even, you know, what you're trying to get at for somebody else.

00:41:27.000 So that was really cool.

00:41:28.000 I appreciate you saying so.

00:41:29.000 And one thing I know about Washington, sometimes it's not easy to draw people into the fight because it's easier to sort of be on the outskirts of things and to be a non-playing character.

00:41:39.000 Yep.

00:41:39.000 And when you invite people into the fight, you can never have them leave in worse shape than they came in.

00:41:46.000 And so I always want to make sure that when we go to battle, not for ourselves, but for the American people that we serve, that our constituents come out better as a consequence of us making a brave, bold decision.

00:41:58.000 And there are many fights ahead on these issues, on the budget, on the border, on term limits, on opening up the process in Congress.

00:42:06.000 We have a Senate, like you say, that is going to be An enemy combatant at times and we have an administration that we fear has been weaponized against our people and we're gonna have to check them as our Constitution demands and as duty requires and I believe as our oath requires and they're none better than Eli to be right alongside us in that fight and we're gonna be bringing more of these brave new members of Congress who I have such Hope and confidence that they are going to change this institution for

00:42:36.000 the better.

00:42:36.000 Thanks for joining me.

00:42:38.000 Make sure that you are following, supporting, and encouraging my friend Eli Crane.

00:42:43.000 They don't make him any better.

00:42:45.000 Subscribe.

00:42:45.000 Make sure to like our channel.

00:42:47.000 We'll be back with more Firebrand.

00:42:49.000 Roll the credits.

Firebrand - Matt Gaetz - January 11, 2023

Episode 82 LIVE: Make Congress Work (feat. Rep. Eli Crane) – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

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