Episode 129 – Dr. Fauci Was Wrong, Rand Paul Was Right. America First Patriots Join The Pentagon. FEC Chairman Says Voter Fraud IS Taking Place. Virtual Influencers On The Rise.
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Summary
Biden adviser Michael Osterholm calls for a nationwide lockdown for an additional 4-6 weeks. A woman who died in Georgia casts a ballot even though she was long dead. A man who died while working as a mail carrier still managed to cast a ballot.
Transcript
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Welcome to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz. Let's talk about the news. More lockdowns.
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That's what Joe Biden hopes to bring to America if he's inaugurated as president. CNBC has
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the story of Dr. Michael Osterholm, who is an advisor to Joe Biden and who is calling for a
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nationwide lockdown for an additional four to six weeks. He says this will bring the virus under
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control and allow us to recover economically. This as the Trump administration's project Warp Speed
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has provided a vaccine that will likely be effective in upwards of 90% of cases and
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will start distribution in December. But shutting down businesses and paying people for lost wages
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for four to six weeks would presumably be the strategy of a potential incoming Biden administration.
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And it is the ultimate utilization of government power to render people's jobs illegal, to render
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their businesses closed. And it's heartbreaking to see the mom and pop stores that don't have
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the ability to reopen after these lockdowns. And pardon me for not fully believing some of these
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folks in government when they say four to six weeks. I thought this was, you know, 14 days to slow the
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spread. Now, all of a sudden, we've been in a period of some version of lockdown in some places in this
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country for many months. And now they're suggesting months more. America is at her best when her people
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are free to make their decisions, to use sanitation, to access the vaccine if they so choose. But this
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notion of, you know, beginning a potential Biden era with an extended national lockdown would be okay
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for the elites. It would be okay for members of Congress, but it would be bad for the working men
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and women in this country. And that's why I'll fight against it.
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The chairman of the Federal Election Commission would seemingly have an important perspective to
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share on the propensity and likelihood of voter fraud. Trey Traynor is the chairman of the FEC.
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He was on Newsmax's national report. Take a listen.
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I do believe that there's voter fraud taking place in these places. Otherwise,
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they would allow the observers to go in. When you have claims of, you know, 10,000 people who don't live
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in the state of Nevada, having voted in Nevada, you have the video showing where people are, you
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know, they're either, they're either duplicating a spoiled ballot right there, or they're in the
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process of just marking a ballot that came in blank for a voter. That's a process that needs to be
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observed by election observers. State law allows those observers to be in there. And if they're not,
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then the law is not being followed, making this an illegitimate election.
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And I agree that if observers are not able to do their job, fulfill their obligation,
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watch as the votes are being counted, we all ought to have a lower degree of confidence in
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the outcome. And we got to fix this stuff. That's why the Federal Election Commission
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needs to be a lot more aggressive about investigations. And when we see dead people voting,
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we have to clean the rolls out and we have to have systems that are resilient against fraud.
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It's clear that fraud has taken place. Take a listen to just a few of the instances of dead
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people voting highlighted by Tucker Carlson last night.
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Georgia Secretary of State has now confirmed there will be a hand recount of all votes cast
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in Georgia. Among those votes, auditors will find a ballot cast by a woman called Deborah Jean
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Christensen. It'd be hard to find anyone who's got a bad word to say about Deborah Jean Christensen.
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She was well known in her community for years as a bird watcher, an avid gardener, a committed fan
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of the Georgia Bulldogs. Those who knew her were sad when she died last May. And they might be
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surprised to learn that even after her death, Deborah Jean Christensen still managed to register
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to vote and then cast a ballot, presumably for Joe Biden. In some ways, it's an inspiring story,
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the triumph of voting over death. And no one quite embodies that story like James Blaylock of
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Covington, Georgia. Mr. Blaylock was a mailman for 33 years until he passed away in 2006.
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14 years later, according to state records, he was still mailing things. James Blaylock cast a ballot
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in last week's election. How did he do that? It might be worth asking the New York Times. Maybe James
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Blaylock was just one of those extraordinary mail carriers. Neither rain, nor snow, nor gloom of
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night, nor even death itself could keep him from the mail. In his case, maybe voting from the grave
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wasn't really fraud. It was just commitment. Okay. But what about Linda Kessler of Nicholson,
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Georgia? Linda Kessler died in 2003. 17 years later, she was still voting in presidential elections.
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Edward Swinod of Trenton, Georgia, spent his life working construction and teaching school.
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In his spare time, he loved bluegrass music. According to those who knew him, he played multiple
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instruments and enjoyed jam sessions. When he died five years ago at the age of 82, it seemed like he
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was gone from this world for good. But no, last week he voted for president. And he wasn't the only one.
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On your screen right now, you will see the names of other deceased voters. Every one of them played a
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role in last week's presidential election. As of tonight, there aren't enough of them to alter
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the outcome. That could change as we learn more. But for the moment, the point is, they exist.
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They are dead, but they voted anyway. The question is, how did they do that? How exactly did they cast
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their ballots? And the short answer is, by mail. Dead people tend to vote more often when you make it
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easier for them to vote. They're like any other group. And this year, we made it much easier for the dead to vote.
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This should not be tolerated in the United States of America. I'm glad the Federal Election Commission
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chairman is acknowledging that the fraud is real and that it must be stopped.
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A new study out in the New York Times shows that Rand Paul may have been correct in a dispute he had
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in a recent congressional hearing with Dr. Anthony Fauci over the types of immunities that could block
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COVID-19 among young people. Take a listen to the September 23rd Senate hearing.
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Some will argue, what about Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, each which have had extraordinarily low
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death rates? Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea certainly enforced stricter quarantine and contact
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tracing rules in the U.S., but Japan's rules were largely voluntary since their prime minister lacks
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the legal powers to enforce a lockdown. One explanation for the low death rate in much of Asia is that the
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population may have a higher degree of exposure to coronavirus colds, coronavirus colds, and therefore
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have more pre-existing cross-reactive immunity. If scientists were interested, there is a fascinating
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field of inquiry looking at susceptibility to COVID-19 and assessment of whether people not have
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pre-existing immunity to similar coronaviruses. In fact, pre-existing cross-reactive immunity to
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coronavirus may explain why we have so many people that have very little symptoms or asymptomatic.
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Right now, if you look at what's going on right now, the things that are going on in New York to get
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their test positivity one percent or less is because they are looking at the guidelines that we have put
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together from the task force of the four or five things of masks, social distancing, outdoors more than
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indoors, avoiding crowds and washing hands. Or they've developed enough community immunity that
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they're no longer having the pandemic because they have enough immunity in New York City to actually
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stop. I challenge that, Senator, because I want to please, sir, I would like to be able to do this
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because this happens with Senator Rand all the time. You were not listening to what the director of the CDC
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said, that in New York, it's about 22 percent. If you believe 22 percent is herd immunity, I believe
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you're alone in that. There's also the pre-existing immunity of those who have cross-reactivity, which
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is about a third of the public in many estimates from studies, which would actually get you to about
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other senators. I'd like to talk to you about that also because there was a study that recently came out
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that pre-existing immunity to coronaviruses that are common cold do not cross-react with the COVID-19.
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Now, research released from the National Institute of Health, of which Fauci's National Institute of
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Allergies and Infectious Diseases is a part in August, and that's a month prior to Fauci's statements
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to Senator Paul, said that, and I'm quoting now, existing immune cells may help account for the wide
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range of symptoms experienced by people with COVID-19. We have now proven that in some people,
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pre-existing T-cell memory against common cold coronaviruses can cross-recognize SARS-CoV-2
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down to the exact molecular structures. So that would seemingly back up the claim that Senator Paul
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made and also Dr. George Kostosis wrote in the New York Times that particularly among children,
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there may be a higher degree of these antibodies where they may only be effective in blocking COVID-19
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in 5% of cases with adults, but that percentage could rise to as high as 43% of cases with children.
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So Senator Paul, potentially getting the last laugh, will follow the evidence. It would be great to see
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children, young people determined to be more resilient, found out to be more capable of living regular
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lives because certainly the lockdowns have just a catastrophic effect on the development of young
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people. And if they are at a lower risk to COVID as a result of these cross immunities where, you know,
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the common cold immunities help young people fend off COVID more, that would certainly be exceptional news.
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We picked up the story from the Washington Examiner. They said that, gosh,
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they did not get comment back from Dr. Fauci. Go figure.
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A privilege tax for those working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.
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That's what a report from one of the world's leading financial institutions, Deutsche Bank, has recommended.
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We get the story from businessinsider.com. Deutsche Bank researchers call for a 5% privilege tax,
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a privilege tax on people choosing to work from home with the money given to low income staff. Deutsche
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Bank said Tuesday that people choosing to work from home rather than in an office should be taxed 5%
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of their salary with the money used to support people on low incomes who cannot do their jobs remotely.
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The German bank said that the average person would be no worse off if they paid the tax
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because by working remotely, they save money on travel, food, and clothes. I don't know about
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that Deutsche Bank. A lot of folks that I know who work from home find it quite taxing already.
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They're incurring additional costs for childcare, for tutoring. If they're unable to send their children
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back to school as a result of some liberal local mandate or some fear not backed by evidence,
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then that's creating additional cost structures as well. So I don't think that we need to be pitting
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one group of Americans against another group of Americans based on their ability to work from home.
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What I think we ought to do is ensure that America get back to work one and all.
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All Americans should have the opportunity to work because every job is an essential job for that
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family. It's why I've opposed these lockdowns. It's why I trust the American people. And it's why
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I would oppose the Deutsche Bank privilege tax. But you know what? Don't tell my Democrat colleagues
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in Congress. They'll be introducing a bill to do it next week. There seemingly is no effort to
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redistribute wealth to tax the productive sector of the economy that the radical left is not going
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to sign up to do if they have the opportunity to consolidate power in this government. And that's
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why we've got to fight for productivity and against the detriment that would be caused by additional
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taxes on those already dealing with a challenging work from home environment.
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Jonathan Swan for Axios has a great piece detailing how changes in personnel could be impacting major
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foreign policy in the Trump administration at the Pentagon. It's titled, Divisive Pentagon Hire
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May Rush Troop Withdrawals Before Trump's Exit. And I certainly hope it's true that we have troop
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withdrawals from the Middle East on the horizon. President Trump has appointed Christopher C.
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Miller as the acting Secretary of Defense, but there are two other hires that are making a lot of news.
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Douglas McGregor will be brought on as a senior advisor. He's a retired Army colonel,
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frequently a guest on the Tucker Carlson show, and a strong advocate for a realistic foreign policy,
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not one that tries to maintain these low levels of conflict in wherever a stand and all over the world.
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The other major hire is the chief of staff position at the Pentagon, where Kash Patel will fill that role.
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I know Kash well. He was a staff member on the House Intelligence Committee when we were
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debunking the Russia hoax. Frankly, the Russia hoax doesn't get debunked without Kash Patel. He was
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Devin Nunes' right-hand man. And it's great to see him in another position where he can continue to help
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the country. He's also spent time as a front-line prosecutor in terrorism cases. He's been a criminal
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defense attorney as a public defender. He's also been an official at the National Security Council.
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So Kash Patel going to the Pentagon, Douglas McGregor going there as an advisor, a new acting Secretary of
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Defense. And if Jonathan Swan is right, and this marks a move on the part of the Trump administration
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to withdraw our troops from the Middle East, I am here for it.
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Joe Biden has announced that Ron Klain would be his potential chief of staff and his potential
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government. Ron Klain served in the Clinton-Gore administration, in the Obama-Biden administration.
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And Kurt Mills has got an interesting piece out in The American Conservative where he calls Ron Klain
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a backstabber, a double-crosser. And it turns out in some of the WikiLeaks revelations from the Clinton
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campaign emails that Ron Klain actually wrote that he lamented the role that he played in Biden's demise
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in 2015, doing all he could to help Hillary Clinton ultimately secure the Democratic nomination.
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And it goes to show that there really was a divide in the Democrat establishment back in 2015,
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with a number of them trying to get Joe Biden into the race. He declined at that time. A lot of them
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jumping to Hillary, wanting to make sure that she had a clear path because she was a very vulnerable
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candidate, as we all saw. Ron Klain should give Joe Biden a little bit of pause, a little bit of concern,
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because gosh, if he was willing to jump to whatever he thought was the political rising star of the
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moment, he may be willing to do that again. It'll be interesting. We'll keep an eye on it. Check out
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the piece by Kurt Mills in The American Conservative.
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Could America's great ally, India, be the next country to purchase the Boeing F-18? We pick up the
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story from nationalinterest.org. And it does appear that there are very productive negotiations going
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on right now to authorize this sale. Previously, India's Navy actually opposed the idea. They thought
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that any chilled relationship with the U.S. in the future could result in sanctions and could
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negatively impact life cycle management, maintenance, and the like. But now, India and
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the United States are seeing a relationship truly at its zenith because both countries view China as a
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common threat and the real threat. So the reason this matters, if you recall the story from just a few
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days ago, when I talked about China's development of aircraft carriers, their aggressive posture in
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the South China Sea, well, if India is able to acquire the F-18, then they would be able to land
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those aircraft on aircraft carriers. They have one such carrier now, but that is a total game changer
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in the ability for India to be a regional check on China from a naval standpoint, from a power
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projection standpoint. And I think it will bring some of the South Asian community into greater orbit,
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into greater concert with India, which is the world's largest democracy. So that would be very
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beneficial to the United States. I totally support this decision to make the F-18 available to India.
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And it is my sincere hope that this military sale, this transfer, this cooperation could do even more
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to advance a great relationship between the United States and India, and it helps us push back and
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check China. Jamal Bowman is an incoming member of the 117th Congress. He beat the powerful chairman of
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the Foreign Affairs Committee, Elliot Engel, with the backing of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and members of the
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the squad. And he's wasting no time telling the American people what the agenda is for the socialist
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left, tweeting out all this backlash to defund the police. How fast are people going to fold when we get
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serious about reparations? You have to give the progressive left this. They're honest about their
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intentions. They intend to utilize power to execute on a reparation strategy. Now that can take several
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forms. There's a reparations bill sponsored by Sheila Jackson Lee to set up a commission to devise the
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feasibility of reparations to African-American people. But there's also a reparations element
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to a lot of legislation that you could see. I think in any major bills that are moving through the House
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of Representatives now, there's going to be a demand from the squad and their newfound constituency in the
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Congress that they've gone out and helped elect to ensure that there is a reparations element,
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a reparations feature. In a transportation bill, you could do a reparation strategy. In a community
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development bill, you could have a reparation strategy. In the farm bill, you could have a
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reparation strategy. One might even try to utilize the National Defense Authorization Act to execute on
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reparations. I stand against reparations because everyone in America needs to be treated equally. We don't
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need to treat people differently as a consequence of circumstances that happened quite some time ago before
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any of us were around to engage in the crimes against humanity that absolutely impacted people of color in our
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country. But reparations aren't the way to get right now. But they're certainly the strategy of the radical left.
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There is an active, organized effort underway led by Democrat operatives to find the people who have
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supported President Trump during his administration, who've supported him politically or financially,
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and to hurt them. It's called trumpaccountability.net, the Trump Accountability Project. And it
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starts with a very ominous message. Remember what they did. I'm reading now from this website,
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those who took a paycheck from the Trump administration should not profit from their
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efforts to tear our democracy apart. The world should never forget those who, when faced with a decision,
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chose to put their money, their time, and their reputations behind separating children from
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their families, encouraging racism and anti-Semitism, and negligently causing the unnecessary loss of life
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and economic devastation from our country's failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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So for just a moment, put aside how hideous it is to have this approach to your political enemies and
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to try to wield the power of government to hurt them. Let's just fact check this. The COVID-19 pandemic,
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we learned six days after the election that as a consequence of collaboration with Project Warp Speed,
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Pfizer now has the vaccine that is going to be effective in upwards of 90% of cases. So that's a
00:21:54.260
pretty darn effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic. And when you talk about racism,
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it's hard to believe that Donald Trump is a racist when the greatest gains he made in the election
00:22:06.340
were among African Americans and Hispanics. As a result of Donald Trump's policies, Hispanics were
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flipping congressional districts in Florida and in Texas with Hispanic voters driving Republican gains.
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So if Donald Trump is a racist, he's terrible at it. And I would say the same for anti-Semitism. You
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look at all President Trump has done for the U.S.-Israel relationship, recognizing the Golan Heights,
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moving our capital to Jerusalem, securing the funding for the memorandum of understanding so that
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Israel can have a qualitative military edge and then building the type of lasting peace with Bahrain,
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the United Arab Emirates, the Sudan, countries that wouldn't even recognize Israel before and are now
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part of this total realignment in the Middle East for Israel to have peace and stability and prosperity,
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hopefully for generations to come. So he's one heck of an anti-Semite for doing all of this for
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Israel and for the Jewish state. But I guess the whole concept of wielding the power of government
00:23:17.220
to try to dox, shame, persecute, render unemployable, maybe even worse, people who supported this
00:23:23.860
president is unprecedented in our politics. And frankly, I think that it says a lot more about the
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people who seek to come into power than about those who were working with Donald Trump for the Jewish
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state for expansion of opportunities for African Americans and Hispanic Americans who supported
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President Trump in historic numbers. I mean, it's like the best a Republican has done since Richard
00:23:49.300
Nixon among African Americans and very, very strong numbers among Hispanics as well. So I'm proud of the
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work I've done with President Trump. I hope to do a great deal with him in the future to ensure that
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America remains the greatest, strongest country in the world.
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Corporate America is expected to spend $15 billion on influencers in 2022. That's up from about $8 billion
00:24:21.780
on influencers last year. And some of the influencers might not even be real. We pick up this story from
00:24:29.460
Bloomberg about Ima. I-M-M-A is her name. She has nearly 300,000 Instagram followers. She doesn't
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age. She doesn't get involved in any human scandals because she isn't real. She's superimposed to doing
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various fun things with different types of products and actually generates revenue. So this is crazy. We
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actually found yet another job that robots can do. And that would be the influencer job. It'll be
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interesting to see whether or not these like fake digital influencers are able to maintain the type
00:25:06.740
of connection with an audience. And how sad would that be if they do? I mean, I think the whole point
00:25:12.420
of like the influencer game is that you see someone online engaged in various activities that you admire,
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or maybe they're wearing something or eating something that looks interesting or appealing
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to you. But now, if it's just a hologram, if it's just an image, if it's just a computer generated
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persona, will people still feel that same connection? I guess with Ima, there are about 300,000 of them
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that do. Gosh, it is quite something that in the digital world, we can literally create value and revenue
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around that which is totally fictitious and not real. And we use that to try to justify the decisions
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we make on what we buy or what we click. If I've been influenced by a virtual influencer,
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I haven't known it yet. And I frankly prefer the real life human beings.
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Thanks for listening to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz. And there are a lot more of you who are
00:26:12.740
listening these last few weeks, our listenership growing substantially. And so if you're a new
00:26:18.020
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