Firebrand - Matt Gaetz - Episode 94 LIVE: Why Are We In Somalia? – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-GA) introduces a resolution to withdraw all U.S. troops from Somalia, a country that has been the target of American military operations for over a decade. Rep. Gaetz has long been a voice in the anti-establishment wing of the Republican Party, and is one of the few in the entire Congress who has stood up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents. In this episode of Firebrand, Congressman Gaetz talks about the history of American involvement in Somalia, why the United States has been involved for 16 years, and why it s time to bring our troops home from the country that s home to al-Shabaab, the group responsible for most of the current al-Qaeda attacks in the country, and what it s really like to live in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital city. He also talks about why our troops should leave the country and why we should not be there in the first place. Firebrand is a production of the Firebrand Podcast Network. Firebrand Radio is produced and hosted by and is not affiliated with the Traditionalist Media or the Center for American History, a conservative think tank that focuses on the intersection of politics, culture, and the counter-culture. The Firebrand Project, politics, and culture. Subscribe to our new bi-weekly newscasts on all things political, current events, culture and culture, including the latest breaking news. and events happening in Washington, D.C. and beyond! Subscribe and comment to stay up to date with the latest happenings in politics and culture! Subscribe, share your thoughts on this and other things going on in your feed! Tweet me on social media! and let us know what you thought of this episode! ! if you enjoyed it! Timestamps in the comments section! tag=australia_and other things you like it? Tweet Me! using with a hashtag using the hashtag , and tag so we can be featured on the next episode :) , tweet me . to a tweet . . . or a screenshot of the tweet about this episode? or any other tweet about it ? is a tweet with a story you liked it , or a retweeted tweet about something like it is

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:04:48.000 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.

00:04:55.000 Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem for the Democratic Party.

00:04:58.000 He could cause a lot of hiccups in passing applause.

00:05:01.000 So we're going to keep running those stories to keep hurting him.

00:05:04.000 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!

00:05:13.000 You are in the right place!

00:05:15.000 This is the movement for you!

00:05:17.000 You ever watch this guy on television?

00:05:19.000 It's like a machine.

00:05:21.000 Matt Gaetz.

00:05:22.000 I'm a canceled man in some corners of the internet.

00:05:25.000 Many days I'm a marked man in Congress, a wanted man by the deep state.

00:05:30.000 They aren't really coming for me.

00:05:32.000 They're coming for you.

00:05:34.000 I'm just in the way.

00:05:39.000 Welcome back to Firebrand.

00:05:41.000 We are broadcasting live out of room 2021 of the Rayburn House Office Building on the Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. And I want to start with a discussion about Somalia.

00:05:52.000 First on Fox News was the headline today, Matt Gaetz introduces Somalia war powers resolution forcing vote That's right.

00:06:03.000 I want to bring our troops home from Somalia. 1.00

00:06:08.000 So in Congress, a War Powers Resolution is a privileged motion.

00:06:12.000 And privileged motions were restored under the House rules package that I and a handful of other Republicans demanded as a feature of allowing Kevin McCarthy to ascend to the speakership.

00:06:22.000 So the whole reason we're able to do this is because we're actually back to empowering the members.

00:06:27.000 This means that the resolution on whether to withdraw U.S. troops from Somalia will skip committee and be brought to the House floor within 18 legislative days.

00:06:37.000 That is how my legislation to withdraw troops from Syria was able to make it to the floor so quickly as well.

00:06:44.000 You notice a trend.

00:06:46.000 I am going to make these neocons in both parties vote to defend each and every place where we have troops, where we should not, where the goals are unclear, and where we are largely wasting time The efforts of our military families and our service members,

00:07:05.000 not because of anything they're doing wrong, but because the decision makers in Washington have far too often Just delegated authority to the executive to decide where we engage in these misadventures and skirmishes all over the world.

00:07:20.000 So why Somalia now? 0.62

00:07:22.000 Well, the situation in Somalia is actually quite familiar.

00:07:25.000 It's one more front in the globalist American empire's lineup of forever wars.

00:07:31.000 For the past 16 years, think about that.

00:07:35.000 16 years in Somalia.

00:07:37.000 But for a little break with President Trump.

00:07:40.000 But I'll get to that.

00:07:41.000 So for 16 years, the United States has been involved in an advise and assist mission in Somalia.

00:07:46.000 And throughout the mission that we've carried out, we've seen numerous operations and airstrikes within the country.

00:07:53.000 Staying on brand for the warmongers of our time, former President Barack Obama utilized the 2001 authorization for force against Afghanistan to target al-Shabaab in Somalia.

00:08:08.000 These strikes have been quietly conducted under the nose of the American public.

00:08:12.000 By August 2022, a civilian harm watchdog group estimated that between 78 and 153 civilians had been killed by US airstrikes in Somalia since 2007. It includes 20 to 23 children.

00:08:27.000 The problem is, even under the best of intentions and the most focused of work of our brave service members, when we are killing civilians, we are not fighting terrorism.

00:08:37.000 We are creating more terrorists.

00:08:39.000 I noticed there's some disagreement with my perspective on Somalia on Facebook.

00:08:44.000 Jeffrey said, well, there's ISIS in Somalia, so we have to be there. 1.00

00:08:48.000 But the reality is, It's really an unsettled question whether or not us being there creates a downward pressure on terrorism or whether it is a recruiting tool for more terrorists.

00:08:59.000 The hundreds of people we may have killed in Somalia who are innocent probably had family members and I certainly hope we didn't radicalize those through misadventures.

00:09:08.000 So sadly, our country's involvement in this war-torn country is not new.

00:09:13.000 The lives of our troops have been carelessly gambled in Somalia for close to 30 years now, actually.

00:09:18.000 So let's start from the beginning.

00:09:20.000 If the average person heard the term, the Battle of Mogadishu, It might conjure up images of warring nomadic tribes throwing spears at each other.

00:09:30.000 But if you say Black Hawk Down, Then people likely will know what you're talking about.

00:09:36.000 In 1992, U.S. soldiers were tasked with restoring order in Somalia during one of the many seemingly ongoing endless Somali civil wars.

00:09:46.000 The Battle of Mogadishu, also known as the Black Hawk Down Incident, was a U.S. military operation that took place there on October 3, 1993. The mission was to capture two top lieutenants for some warlord, Mohammed Farah Adid.

00:10:02.000 The troops, including Army Rangers and Delta Force operators, were attacked by Adid's militia and other Somali fighters during their mission.

00:10:10.000 This resulted in the deaths of 18 U.S. soldiers.

00:10:15.000 Two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down by rocket-propelled grenades in the attack, and an American pilot was captured and publicly executed.

00:10:25.000 It seems we may not have learned from the past.

00:10:29.000 The US military war machine continues to throw troops and money into dangerous situations for unclear gain.

00:10:36.000 I'm all about using our military to protect our country, but do we really fear some activity in Somalia as a threat to our homeland? 0.99

00:10:47.000 If you think that was long ago, let's return to the present.

00:10:50.000 Those who subscribe to Firebrand, and in fact have notifications turned on, which you should all do, were the first to know last week that the House Armed Services Committee invited General Michael Langley, the commander of U.S. forces in Africa, to testify on, quote, the U.S. military posture and national security challenges in the greater Middle East and Africa, close quote.

00:11:12.000 Among others, I asked a simple question.

00:11:15.000 What percentage of African soldiers trained by the U.S. military have later led coups against their own governments?

00:11:23.000 Because Colonel Mamadee Dumbuya, pictured here at the U.S. Embassy posing with our service members, led a coup in Guinea in 2001, just months after this photo was taken.

00:11:34.000 He was, in fact, trained by the U.S. military.

00:11:38.000 But General Langley had no clue who Colonel Dumbuya was when I showed him that photo.

00:11:45.000 Colonel Dumbuya runs the country now.

00:11:48.000 So you would think that the commander of AFRICOM would know that Dumbuya was in charge of the country, that he's there because he was trained by America and led a military coup, and that we were involved.

00:12:03.000 So take a listen to my line of questioning here.

00:12:09.000 This is Colonel Mamaday Dumbuya, and this is a photo of him.

00:12:15.000 Did we train and equip him in Guinea?

00:12:21.000 By name, I cannot identify that.

00:12:23.000 Well, that guy in the middle with the big red hat, Colonel Mamaday Dumbuya, that's him with a bunch of U.S. service members outside of our embassy.

00:12:31.000 And just months after this photo was taken in 2021, he led a coup in Guinea.

00:12:37.000 And throughout the leader.

00:12:39.000 Does that concern you?

00:12:41.000 Congressman, core values is what we start off with in IMA programs.

00:12:47.000 Do we share core values with Colonel Dumbuya?

00:12:49.000 Core values.

00:12:50.000 I will repeat that.

00:12:52.000 Core values, respect for humanity.

00:12:53.000 Do we share those values with Colonel Dumbuya?

00:12:56.000 Absolutely, in our curriculum.

00:12:58.000 We do.

00:12:59.000 Okay, that's a very telling answer.

00:13:05.000 Telling indeed.

00:13:06.000 Citizen D on Getter asks, why there is no oversight into these missions?

00:13:10.000 And frankly, the limited time we get to question these generals is part of the oversight structure.

00:13:16.000 Also, what we authorize, what we spend money on, and the wars that we authorize.

00:13:20.000 And so to me, forcing a vote on Somalia is central to the oversight strategy because if people don't vote for or against each of these individual conflicts, they're not necessarily vested in the risks associated with them.

00:13:35.000 At times I feel like I have to remind listeners, that was a four-star general you just heard, hired by Joe Biden.

00:13:40.000 Go figure.

00:13:42.000 The American people have extremely low confidence in our military leaders and their ability to assess their own efficacy.

00:13:48.000 How do they expect Americans to believe their justification for occupying Somalia when they can't even determine who in their own training programs will lead a violent coup afterwards?

00:14:00.000 Seems like a pretty baseline thing.

00:14:03.000 Instead of distancing ourselves from Somalia, we have decided to continue to add fuel to that fire. 0.99

00:14:08.000 It was reported earlier this year that on February 27th, 346 recruits will join a Somali military unit that was trained by our very own government.

00:14:21.000 Will they overthrow theirs?

00:14:23.000 Defect to some terrorist organization?

00:14:26.000 Dessert?

00:14:27.000 Who knows?

00:14:28.000 Certainly General Langley doesn't, and neither does Lloyd Austin, by the way.

00:14:32.000 What I do know is that one U.S. service member has already been injured by an attack inspired by Al-Shabaab.

00:14:39.000 That was in 2020, while U.S. and Somali forces were conducting one of these advise and assist and accompany missions.

00:14:48.000 Al-Shabaab attacked using a vehicle employed as an IED and mortar fire.

00:14:54.000 Maybe if we weren't distracted with proxy wars in foreign countries, then our service members wouldn't sustain such injuries.

00:15:03.000 President Trump tried to fix this problem when President Trump pulled our 700 troops out of Somalia.

00:15:11.000 But Joe Biden, in his infinite wisdom or whatever state of decline he's in, he decided to put 500 back in Somalia.

00:15:19.000 So we're back in at higher levels because of Joe Biden when Trump was moving the other direction.

00:15:26.000 I wonder who House Republicans will side with.

00:15:29.000 The Biden view on Somalia or the Trump view?

00:15:34.000 So the executive clearly isn't planning on doing anything about this issue.

00:15:38.000 But frankly, I'm not all that optimistic that Congress will fix it either.

00:15:43.000 Sadly, even the progressives in Congress don't have the stomach to vote to end many of these forever wars.

00:15:51.000 I called them out during a House Armed Services Committee hearing recently.

00:15:55.000 Take a listen.

00:15:58.000 We learned through a New York Times leak last night that America is going to re-engage in the war in Somalia.

00:16:06.000 This as we are sleepwalking into a war with Ukraine.

00:16:10.000 And the authorization to go into Somalia is presumably linked back to the 2001 AUMF. And it just seems crazy to me that we would have a re-engagement of hostilities in Somalia after the Trump administration Withdrew us from that conflict, not just without a congressional vote, but without even really a clear statement from the administration as to our goals.

00:16:34.000 But through New York Times leaks now, are we starting wars through New York Times leaks?

00:16:39.000 I think there are fewer members of Al-Shabaab than there were like viewers of CNN Plus And yet, here we are re-engaging.

00:16:48.000 We are at a briefing, I understand, on the Army's military modernization.

00:16:53.000 Sadly, despite the good and needed efforts here, the Army that we've modernized the most is the Taliban's during this administration. 0.99

00:16:59.000 It's probably not even close.

00:17:01.000 I used to be able to count on progressives in the Congress, Who joined me in opposing a war in Yemen, who joined me in pushing back against presidential war powers with Iran, who agreed that it would be crazy to start World War III over the Kurds.

00:17:16.000 But on the issue of Ukraine, the progressives are signed up for the $40 billion-plus to fund the war.

00:17:22.000 We didn't hear a peep from them on Somalia.

00:17:25.000 Progressives in the House were anti-war, On matters that related to the Middle East, but presumably not on similar matters that relate to Europe and Africa.

00:17:34.000 And so I know it's not particularly pertinent to the modernization of the Army, but we are having to make zero-sum funding decisions.

00:17:42.000 I think many of the projects we've been briefed on today are critically important to preserve our ability to fight our pacing adversaries.

00:17:50.000 And when we get into these, like, skirmishes and sand dunes all across the world, I think that it deviates from the important work that the subcommittee is being briefed on today.

00:18:01.000 We are back live.

00:18:03.000 Maureen on Instagram says we need to take care of our own country.

00:18:06.000 I could not agree more.

00:18:08.000 She references the southern border as a critical point of weakness.

00:18:11.000 But actually, Maureen, it's the northern border too now.

00:18:14.000 We are getting troubling reports that Thugs and criminals all over the world have realized that America is no longer serious about securing any border and we are really being invaded in the South and we are vulnerable in the North as well.

00:18:29.000 So we do need that greater focus on our own country.

00:18:31.000 And John on Instagram says that I need to talk about China Joe.

00:18:36.000 Isn't it interesting that with a little Republican oversight, we now have the bank records showing where cut-out, pass-through companies that were really fake companies just existed to deliver Chinese cash to the Biden family, to Hallie Biden, Hunter Biden, every grifter you could imagine.

00:18:59.000 And because we have the bank records, we can prove it.

00:19:01.000 And guess what?

00:19:02.000 The result is not just that they're compromised and corrupt.

00:19:07.000 They actually have taken action, the Biden administration has, to help China.

00:19:11.000 Most notably, they dissolved President Trump's China initiative at the Department of Justice that had a focused effort on some of the academicians and political leaders and business leaders targeted by the CCP, sometimes turned by the CCP. It's interesting, if you had a specialized group of prosecutors targeting you, one of the first things you'd want from your dog on a leash, Joe Biden, would be for him to end that entity.

00:19:37.000 And that is precisely what happened.

00:19:39.000 And we hear Democrats tell us that somehow we've got a post up in Africa, in Somalia, as a deterrent to China.

00:19:47.000 We've got a first family that's compromised by China. 0.98

00:19:51.000 And it's just an excuse to keep U.S. troops where we're funding the war machine and we're not doing what's right for our country and our interests.

00:20:00.000 And the Democrat dove has actually proven to be an endangered species in this paradigm.

00:20:07.000 Our military involvement in Somalia has resulted in deaths of innocent civilians, has not been successful in addressing any ongoing terrorist threat, And has no clear objective.

00:20:19.000 We cannot continue to put American lives at risk for an uncertain cause.

00:20:24.000 Somalia may never have peace, but if it does, it will be won by the Somali people. 0.96

00:20:30.000 And the best thing we can do in some cases is get out of the way.

00:20:35.000 Now, as Americans at home become more aware of our country's military misadventures abroad, the calls to end forever wars and forever occupations are growing.

00:20:46.000 While the congressional war machine has decided to rage on in Syria after I forced them to take a vote on that, they will now have to explain continuing presence in Somalia and how that best serves the interests of our country.

00:21:01.000 And if they can't, it is incumbent upon Congress to bring our troops home from Somalia. 0.93

00:21:08.000 That is exactly what we need to do, and that is exactly the vote that I intend to force.

00:21:13.000 Speaking of votes that are coming up that will be forced, you all know we're dealing with this debt limit issue and budget issues and appropriations issues.

00:21:22.000 For the rest of the show, I want to talk about fiscal policy.

00:21:25.000 There was a press conference today in the House of Representatives regarding a new plan That takes 507 pieces of legislation to cut the woke and weaponized government, and we put that plan forward.

00:21:40.000 And you know what?

00:21:41.000 If we pass this, if we clawed back the COVID funds, if we did the right thing, we wouldn't even have to raise the debt limit.

00:21:48.000 Here were my comments earlier today.

00:21:52.000 The message from House Republicans to President Biden is clear.

00:21:56.000 There will be no increase in the debt limit in the absence of significant and meaningful spending cuts.

00:22:04.000 I am very proud that House Republicans ran against the inflation that has crushed American families.

00:22:12.000 And this today represents the most specific detail in our plan to stop that inflation.

00:22:19.000 The American people know that inflation is often induced by excessive government spending.

00:22:25.000 And so we have laid out a plan represented in this body of legislative work.

00:22:30.000 That doesn't cut Social Security, that doesn't cut Medicare, but that attacks a woke and weaponized government that the American people should not continue to have to fund at the expense of their own economic security and the economic security of future generations.

00:22:47.000 Inflation is still stubbornly high, spending is rising, we have banks failing, and we've reached the debt limit.

00:22:55.000 It seems like a perfect time to assess the things that are no longer necessary for us to spend funds on.

00:23:01.000 I am particularly pleased That in this plan, in the messaging from the House Freedom Caucus, and even in Speaker McCarthy's letter to President Biden today, I see reflected my call for work requirements on Medicaid and on a number of the social safety net programs where we have able-bodied, childless adults who could go to work and they choose not to.

00:23:24.000 Well, I don't think hardworking Americans should be paying for all of the social services for people who could make a broader contribution and instead are couch potatoes.

00:23:34.000 So thank you, Chairman Biggs, for this exquisite detail.

00:23:38.000 Thank you to my colleagues for laying out these cuts.

00:23:41.000 And I would turn the mic over to my colleague Eli Crane from Arizona.

00:23:45.000 Before we get to Eli's comments, and we will, my colleague Chip Roy of Texas made really good points regarding the overall spending levels.

00:23:54.000 So the way the appropriations process works is that you set a budget cap.

00:23:58.000 And within that, the appropriations committees go in and allocate funds based on what's been authorized.

00:24:04.000 So Chip Roy talked about what it would mean to bring our government back to pre-COVID spending levels.

00:24:11.000 He made a lot of great points.

00:24:13.000 Take a listen.

00:24:14.000 Congressman Chip Roy.

00:24:18.000 This president is talking about 0.6% economic growth.

00:24:22.000 Literally.

00:24:23.000 Everybody here, is that what you want for yourself, for your kids, your grandkids, 0.6% economic growth?

00:24:30.000 Or do you want the 3.5%, 4%, 4.5% kind of growth we had under Reagan and, frankly, under Clinton when you had a Republican House and they were all working together to figure out how to do their jobs?

00:24:40.000 We're here to say that the time for continuing business as usual in Washington is over.

00:24:45.000 We believe we should shrink Washington and grow America.

00:24:47.000 We should return the bureaucratic spending to pre-COVID levels.

00:24:51.000 We're not asking for anything wild-eyed.

00:24:53.000 We're just simply asking to take that spending back to pre-COVID levels.

00:24:57.000 You let the president come out and say, oh, the wailing and gnashing of teeth about what that means.

00:25:01.000 Do you think the government was really efficient and effective in 2019?

00:25:06.000 You don't think we can survive on the 2019 size of government?

00:25:11.000 Bull.

00:25:12.000 Of course we can.

00:25:15.000 We are back live and on the Rumble live chat.

00:25:18.000 Royal says, Gates, we are behind you.

00:25:20.000 Let the haters hate, but I stand with Gates.

00:25:23.000 Thank you so much for your support.

00:25:24.000 Make sure you're subscribed.

00:25:26.000 Notifications turned on.

00:25:27.000 Congressman Bob Good of Virginia also is a part of this group.

00:25:30.000 And the reason we brought this team together to make this point is it's a lot of the McCarthy holdouts.

00:25:35.000 It's a lot of the people who made specific demands on spending.

00:25:40.000 And McCarthy is...

00:25:42.000 Really adhering to a lot of the direction that he is receiving from the conference, and particularly this group of folks who you saw so active at the beginning of January.

00:25:51.000 One of those great patriots, Bob Good of Virginia.

00:25:54.000 Take a listen to his comments.

00:25:57.000 I'm on the Budget Committee, and I had the opportunity this past week to talk to the Biden Budget Director, Ms. Shalanda Young.

00:26:06.000 And it's funny to think about the Biden administration if it weren't so sad having a Budget Director, because the Budget Director doesn't understand anything about spending our national debt or our budget.

00:26:16.000 I asked Director Young if he knew how much the national debt was.

00:26:20.000 She tried to say it was $24 trillion instead of $32 trillion.

00:26:24.000 I corrected her that it was actually $32 trillion.

00:26:26.000 I asked her if she understood how much that was per American citizen.

00:26:30.000 She had no idea, so I helped her with the math.

00:26:32.000 Again, the budget director, that it was about $100,000 per citizen.

00:26:36.000 I asked her if she knew what the debt to GDP was.

00:26:39.000 She tried to say it was 90-something percent.

00:26:41.000 I said, no, it's about 125 percent.

00:26:43.000 I asked her, did she know when the last time in our history that it was about 125%?

00:26:48.000 She did not know.

00:26:49.000 So I helped her to recognize that it was 90 years ago or 80 years ago during World War II. And I asked her, what has led to it today versus what led to it 80 years ago?

00:26:59.000 What is the crisis that led to us having this amount of debt?

00:27:02.000 And of course, she had no answer.

00:27:03.000 And I said, how could we ever handle or absorb a crisis on the level of World War II when we came into it With the same amount of debt to percent to GDP that we exited World War II some 80 years ago.

00:27:20.000 Dean on Rumble says, we need to stop spending money on foreign countries.

00:27:25.000 The establishment politicians skim the proceeds to line their pockets while pulling more money out of the pockets of hardworking Americans.

00:27:33.000 Brilliant comment, Dean.

00:27:35.000 And on Getter, David says, if you're cutting funding for agencies, don't stop at the Department of Education and ATF. Frankly, the Department of Education and the ATF make such a compelling case for their dissolution that we do focus a lot on them.

00:27:52.000 So I'm going to play the Eli Crane clip in a second, but here's your homework assignment.

00:27:55.000 If you're watching live now, I want you to propose the spending cuts in the comments that you believe.

00:28:01.000 Is it abolishing the Department of Labor, the EPA? Are there specific woke and weaponized programs that you're aware of?

00:28:08.000 We'll make this a little live homework assignment.

00:28:10.000 On our live stream, and if you're listening to this on one of our listening platforms, I'm sorry about the sound from that press conference.

00:28:17.000 Not something we could control with this show that came through the House of Representatives.

00:28:22.000 But leave in the comments what you think we should cut, and now take a listen to Eli Crane.

00:28:30.000 Thank you guys for coming today.

00:28:33.000 You know, I'm not going to try and get into the details like some of my colleagues did and just be redundant in that.

00:28:39.000 They did a great job.

00:28:40.000 I'm honored to be here.

00:28:42.000 As a freshman member, I often get asked by my constituents and just other people around the country, what has been the biggest disappointment since you got up to Washington, D.C.? And there's a lot of them, quite honestly.

00:28:55.000 There's a lot of them.

00:28:56.000 The fact that, you know, a lot of my colleagues campaign and talk about cutting, you know, all the out-of-control spending in Washington and then we get opportunities to cut it, seem to be, get a little light-hearted and sometimes seem to lack the backbone.

00:29:12.000 That's really disappointing.

00:29:13.000 I'll tell you that.

00:29:14.000 But the number one thing that has been the most disappointing to me It's to listen to individuals that I've listened to and watched on TV, conservative media talking heads, who talk about this swampy town, who talk about the establishment, who talk about the fact that Republicans never fight or they never do anything.

00:29:36.000 And the moment we do, and you guys saw this in January, the moment we do, did they have our backs?

00:29:44.000 No, they didn't.

00:29:46.000 Well, it's time for them.

00:29:48.000 We're going to give them an opportunity to redeem themselves.

00:29:51.000 Because you know for a fact, you don't make cuts in this town without there being some retribution.

00:29:58.000 You don't make cuts to some of these programs without a lot of crying and gnashing of teeth.

00:30:03.000 That's just not how this town works.

00:30:06.000 I have a feeling that this is going it's going to get intense at some point and I'm asking Republican conservative talking heads in the media to actually do the right thing and to help us out get our backs you guys see it's concrete right here we are talking about real cuts but we need your help because half of this is messaging to the American people who have jobs who have kids who have lives who are busy And often time this town and the media here finds

00:30:37.000 a way to spend it to make Republicans and conservatives who are actually trying to be fiscally responsible for our kids and our grandkids, boogeymen.

00:30:49.000 And it's nonsense. 0.94

00:30:50.000 It's nonsense.

00:30:51.000 And we need your help.

00:30:52.000 So you have a chance, and you know who you are.

00:30:56.000 We know who you are.

00:30:57.000 You have a chance to redeem yourself and help us out so that we can make sure that our kids and our grandkids have a chance at some of the economic opportunities that we grew up with.

00:31:11.000 Mahana on Instagram says, we love Eli Crane.

00:31:15.000 I could not agree more.

00:31:16.000 We've got to get Eli back on firebrand.

00:31:18.000 There is a sense of moral clarity with his vision that I hope will bring more and more of our colleagues along to the correct way of thinking to save the country.

00:31:29.000 Doing the necessary work to save the country is going to be really hard.

00:31:33.000 And Eli Crane has done hard work in the past and he knows what he's doing.

00:31:36.000 And he's already a big-time leader in the House of Representatives.

00:31:40.000 A lot of good ideas what to cut.

00:31:42.000 We saw FBI, NPR, PBS, NEA. I assume that's the National Endowment for the Arts.

00:31:48.000 Ukraine.

00:31:49.000 Somebody wants to abolish the Fed and the funding for the 87,000 IRS agents.

00:31:54.000 Good ideas.

00:31:55.000 And you know what?

00:31:56.000 There are a lot of areas where...

00:31:59.000 The spending has just been completely unchecked.

00:32:02.000 And if Republicans are unwilling to put downward pressure on that spending as a consequence of the debt limit increase, then we have not fulfilled our obligation to our constituents.

00:32:11.000 And that is exactly why we're here in Washington, to ensure fidelity to the American people, to the American economy, to the American Constitution, and the American way of life.

00:32:22.000 Thank you all so much for joining us on Firebrand today.

00:32:25.000 Again, make sure you are subscribed with your notifications turned on.

00:32:28.000 Leave us a rating or review.

00:32:30.000 Tell us what you'd like to hear about on the show in the comments.

00:32:33.000 Tune in next time.

00:32:34.000 Roll the credits.

Firebrand - Matt Gaetz - March 28, 2023

Episode 94 LIVE: Why Are We In Somalia? – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

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