The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - May 28, 2020


Episode 13 - Online Platform Trump Order, Space Globalism, COVID and Learning, FISA Latest

Topics
space policy space talent export online platform transparency digital learning limits
Hosted by
Matt Gaetz
Mentioned
Trump Dottie Lindberger SpaceX Mitch McConnell Hillary Clinton Obama Brooke Baldwin Trayvon Martin Rachel Curran Nancy Pelosi Mark Meadows George Floyd Devin Nunes Jim Jordan Alex Leary Ron Paul Gen Z Burr
Episode 12 - Working on Legislation Revising Section 230, Trump Deprives Pelosi of FISA Votes, America First Foreign Policy Episode 14 - Big Tech Latest, Disagreeing with Republicans, Me on Cardi B

Episode Stats


Length

26 minutes

Words per minute

160.28

Word count

4,277

Sentence count

210

Harmful content

Hate speech

5

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

SpaceX's failure to launch a rocket carrying a Falcon Heavy Crew Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station has some wondering if this marks the beginning of the end of an era of American dominance in space. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Florida and member of the Armed Services Committee, talks about the consequences of globalism in space, and the need for an America first approach to space policy.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Welcome to Hot Takes. This is Congressman Matt Gaetz. Let's talk about the news and the news
00:00:21.880 out of Florida. Failure to launch.
00:00:24.400 We continue to violate a couple different weather rules that we now do not expect to
00:00:30.020 clear in time to allow for a launch today. We're going to have a little bit of a delay
00:00:44.340 in the SpaceX launch until Saturday as a consequence of weather. That's not something
00:00:49.660 we're not used to. We'll get right back on the stick and I look forward to it. But it does
00:00:54.000 give us the chance on the podcast to talk a little bit about space and space policy and
00:00:59.880 specifically the way that this era of space exploration and innovation really has coincided
00:01:07.120 with globalism and the consequences of that and how President Trump has restored an America
00:01:13.180 first approach even to space. And it's one that's creating a number of dynamic and really
00:01:19.440 exciting results. I look at space oftentimes through the eyes of my parents. We as Floridians
00:01:25.620 always get excited about a big launch but particularly this era that needed something to captivate the
00:01:32.800 national attention and raise our gaze and bring us this sense of great glory on earth through
00:01:40.040 achievement in the final frontier. You know it's something that I think you know defined a lot
00:01:45.620 of these boomers and to see how excited my folks get when there's an exciting thing going on with 0.54
00:01:52.560 space or when they get to talk about where they were during the moon landing and even during some of
00:01:59.820 the great challenges and tragedies that we've had associated with the space mission. So you know it is
00:02:05.960 in a way the generational passing of a torch with this SpaceX launch. Space going from something that
00:02:12.920 was so linked to the public sector, the function of government to bring us to space and make us a
00:02:20.280 multi-planetary species to now something that is even a part of the canvas for capitalism and
00:02:28.740 investment and innovation. The things that have allowed America to have the greatest prosperity here
00:02:35.120 on earth and will probably keep us prosperous no matter how many planets we land on. But in terms of
00:02:41.580 policy itself there are two truths that we must deal with. First that the gap in capability in space
00:02:50.080 has closed between the United States and other nations. And second that this is now a contested
00:02:55.560 domain. And I speak on these issues regarding space as a member of the Armed Services Committee in
00:03:00.720 Congress. The Air Force which has the largest Air Force base in the world in my district has been
00:03:07.300 really driving a lot of the military space mission. Now we have the Space Force, something that I think
00:03:13.300 will elevate space as a strategic domain, something that happened under President Trump. But I get the
00:03:20.920 chance to get a lot of briefings and information regarding what's going on in space. And so I'm here to chat
00:03:29.080 about my perceptions of those discussions. Space really has been dominated by globalist thinking.
00:03:37.000 And in a way it's easy to see why. From up in space we all are in fact on one globe. But this rise in
00:03:45.080 globalism in the 60s and 70s and 80s where we gave away more and more of our sovereignty in the economy,
00:03:53.160 and trade in so many other ways, was also one in which we sought this global engagement because
00:03:59.720 the prevailing thinking on space was that it would bring us all together. That no matter how many
00:04:06.200 fights we had here on planet Earth, if we could get up in the space station with the Russians, 0.92
00:04:11.560 our nations would be cheering for us together. And that it would create a sense of common fate and
00:04:17.880 common purpose and perhaps make our conflicts on Earth seem a bit smaller. But in fact, what this
00:04:24.680 did was limit the leverageability of the uniqueness of US talent in space. I mean, we won. We won the
00:04:34.920 race to space. Nobody beat us. And instead of trying to preserve and hone that talent as a uniquely American
00:04:44.440 asset, we wanted to share it with the world. And we in fact did, I think, under the best of intentions.
00:04:50.440 But the consequence was that other nations began developing competing programs, competing talents.
00:04:57.080 And particularly in Russia, all of that talent didn't stay put. We've seen circumstances where
00:05:04.120 Russian talent will pop up in Iran, in North Korea, in China, in other places where they've had varying
00:05:12.040 degrees of success. And as a result of that growing talent base, there have been more international
00:05:19.960 players able to assert some role, whether it is an ambition in low Earth orbit, whether it is an ambition
00:05:28.280 in intercontinental ballistics and potential dual use technology. There are a lot of satellite systems
00:05:38.840 that have different types of capabilities. You know, a satellite for us is a communications device.
00:05:46.520 But imagine how for another nation, you know, it could potentially be deemed as having both defensive
00:05:53.320 and offensive capabilities and dual use, not only for the commercial sector, but for the military
00:05:59.400 intelligence and strategic interests of foreign countries. And so we saw that gap close as a consequence of
00:06:07.640 the diffusion of talent, you know, our exporting of those capabilities, and then that diffusing to
00:06:14.520 places where the politics and the thinking on our country wasn't always in line with our best hopes and
00:06:22.360 our most, you know, most austere dreams about how space would bring the world together. And as that started
00:06:30.120 happening really in the 90s was when we, you know, saw countries like China develop this, this ambition
00:06:39.560 beyond peace in space. But as a consequence of Clinton not wanting to engage in the development of that
00:06:48.360 capability for our country, we lost that race to the initial thinking about space in terms of arms. And of
00:06:57.400 course, there is no capability today that matches that of the United States. Just in terms of the thinking
00:07:04.040 about it as a paradigm, I think we were limited by the Bill Clinton space doctrine. And so that brought us to the
00:07:14.280 modern pre-Trump era thinking about space. And it was one that continued to have these globalist overtones that were not America first. We
00:07:25.400 thought, well, in terms of low Earth orbit, we've kind of got that down. So we'll allow the Russians to do that for us, 0.93
00:07:33.400 we'll pay them a lot of money to do it, and then that'll give us the chance to do thinking beyond just low Earth orbit.
00:07:41.400 That is really a flawed doctrine that, you know, you saw really adhered to by the Obama administration,
00:07:51.400 because what it does is it pours like $4 billion a year into Russia's space program when you're hiring them
00:08:01.080 to be your ultra high cost bus driver into space. And so that's money that instead of pouring into our economy,
00:08:09.080 instead of using it for jobs for our people and to embrace and enhance the talents of our citizens and even our companies,
00:08:19.080 we were putting that money in the hands of an adversary that had closed the gap and was viewing space as more of a contested domain.
00:08:29.080 That then changed. And now we are seeing through SpaceX the opportunity for the private sector in the United States to be able to meet that challenge.
00:08:39.080 And just what an amazing thing to build out our business and our industry and our supply chain and our people.
00:08:46.080 And I think that how President Trump has oriented even space,
00:08:52.080 something that you wouldn't really think an America first paradigm might apply to.
00:08:58.080 I mean, President Trump has even applied America first thinking to space.
00:09:02.080 And that has ignored greatly to our benefit.
00:09:07.080 Here's a great interview from CNN.
00:09:09.080 I don't always quote from CNN or their interviews,
00:09:12.080 but it's a former astronaut, Dottie Lindberger, talking about the ways in which our departure from an embrace of Russia really matches up well with a build out of space as an incredible American advantage and something that we can take great national pride in.
00:09:30.080 So it's CNN's Brooke Baldwin with Dottie Lindberger.
00:09:34.080 Why is it important, to Rachel Crane's point a second ago, because the U.S. since 2011 has had to rely on the Soyuz,
00:09:40.080 has had to rely on Russia to get up into space.
00:09:42.080 Why is it so important that we, the U.S., can be self-reliant in space flight?
00:09:47.080 Well, one, it saves us money, right?
00:09:51.080 And it also keeps our crew members from having to do so much travel around the world so they can do more of their training back here in the United States.
00:10:00.080 But also, it brings engineering and science to our soil as well.
00:10:06.080 So the talent pools that we see behind these companies of young engineers and aerospace enthusiasts, it's really important to keep that talent here in America as well.
00:10:19.080 And for our students that are in university or themselves have dreams of flying in space or working for aerospace, it's very exciting.
00:10:28.080 And I just think it's something that Democrats spent like three years telling us that President Trump was acting as Russia's agent and at the behest of Russia when it was President Obama pouring money into the Russian space program.
00:10:41.080 And now you've got President Trump unlocking what I really believe is an unlimited potential in countries like SpaceX and Blue Origin and any other number of entities that we may not even know of yet that one day will help us go and achieve the greatest opportunities for humankind in the final frontier.
00:11:03.080 I don't think we're going to get there by building up the talents of other countries and then having to fight with them in space.
00:11:10.080 I think we're going to get there by betting on America and our people and our schools and our industries.
00:11:17.080 And just as Dottie Lindberger said, ensuring that we continue to be the greatest force, not only on Earth, but beyond.
00:11:24.080 So the takes haven't just been hot.
00:11:27.080 In at least a couple of cases, they've been pretty right.
00:11:30.080 I set up the discussion about FISA in episode 12, talking about how the president had, until this point in time,
00:11:38.080 really relegated the management of this issue to Mitch McConnell.
00:11:43.080 And then coming out of the Senate, McConnell had every Republican vote for this FISA bill except Burr, who wanted no changes to the program.
00:11:51.080 But we have well detailed how maybe his perspective is not always the best.
00:11:56.080 And then you had Rand Paul vote against it because he wanted bolder reforms.
00:12:00.080 And I said that I wasn't voting for it because I did not think that it had the sufficient reforms in it.
00:12:07.080 And I detailed the amendments that I thought were necessary to get us there.
00:12:11.080 And then, lo and behold, President Trump comes out just hours after we posted our podcast, calling on all Republicans in the House to vote against this bill.
00:12:21.080 So I then predicted that there would not be the votes to pass it in the absence of the president's support in the House of Representatives.
00:12:30.080 And we were on the floor of the House till like 9, 30, 10 o'clock last night with Nancy Pelosi trying to scramble around and find the votes for FISA.
00:12:39.080 And she couldn't do it. And they pulled the bill and the vote didn't happen.
00:12:43.080 So my expectation is that, you know, we're going to continue to see the president demand the accountability in these secret court systems before there is any just blanket reauthorization.
00:12:54.080 And in that regard, the president has my full support.
00:12:58.080 Big Tech and the special immunities they get that this podcast doesn't get, that your local newspaper doesn't get, that your CNN, Fox News, MSNBC channels don't get.
00:13:13.080 That's right. Big Tech was able to go get special immunities in the law.
00:13:17.080 I went through those immunities in great detail on episode 12, Wednesday's episode.
00:13:23.080 Today, there will be an executive order from the president of the United States that I believe will go right at those immunities and will expose the tech companies to lawsuits in the event that they engage in the type of interference that we've seen.
00:13:41.080 And I'm not just talking about the interference with the president and his message.
00:13:44.080 I'm talking about when they shadow banned me and Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan and Devin Nunes during the Russia hoax.
00:13:51.080 So be on the lookout today for an executive order that will very closely trace the issues that were outlined in episode 12 of the podcast.
00:14:01.080 And it is about time to create some accountability for these big technology companies who have benefited from the the allegation to the government that they are a neutral, unbiased platform.
00:14:16.080 But then they're never held to account there.
00:14:19.080 They never have to have transparency hoisted upon them so that we actually get to see whether or not they are an unbiased platform.
00:14:26.080 And in Twitter's case with the president, they have removed even the veneer of neutrality in their desire to castigate him and to characterize his comments as true or false based on their perceptions.
00:14:41.080 And it's just frankly something that you wouldn't see out of a neutral platform.
00:14:46.080 So that neutral platform status, that's what gives the big tech companies the liability shield way more detail in episode 12, but way more coming from the White House.
00:14:56.080 Alex Leary at the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the White House is considering putting a panel together to review big tech bias when it comes to free speech.
00:15:09.080 And so, heck, I'll make the case, put me in coach.
00:15:13.080 I serve on the antitrust subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee.
00:15:16.080 I would love the chance to field the concerns of fellow Americans who want their voice heard.
00:15:23.080 And I would like to demand the transparency from some of these technology platforms to see if they really are the unbiased, just nurtured marketplace of ideas that they claim to be.
00:15:35.080 Because you know what?
00:15:36.080 I don't think they are.
00:15:37.080 And I think we can prove it.
00:15:39.080 More to come.
00:15:40.080 Super exciting opportunities.
00:15:42.080 And I'm glad that the Trump administration sees that we got to get some young people involved in this discussion.
00:15:48.080 I mean, look, we are the age of Americans, the millennials, Gen Z, who really, for better or worse, conflate our real identity and our real speech in person with our digital identity and our digital speech.
00:16:05.080 And then those things, in fact, become real.
00:16:07.080 They become part of our experience and thus the American experience.
00:16:11.080 And so the headwinds, particularly that young conservatives face online, are not going to be vanquished by the boomer generation alone. 0.91
00:16:22.080 And I think that President Trump has inspired a generation of young conservatives.
00:16:27.080 So let's get those folks engaged in talking about not just the gravity of the problem, but some of the different solutions we can use.
00:16:36.080 And by the way, these should be solutions that work for people who are liberals, conservatives, libertarians, populists, whigs. 0.94
00:16:45.080 I don't care.
00:16:46.080 We need fair, open, honest debate.
00:16:48.080 We need to be able to confront each other's ideas.
00:16:51.080 I think ultimately it's what leads to the best decisions in government.
00:16:54.080 And frankly, the decisions we have to make in our lives.
00:16:57.080 If our assumptions are challenged, if we have to think about them, that is a good thing.
00:17:02.080 And the fact that a bunch of people in Silicon Valley think that they can define the truth for us is a fundamentally un-American thing.
00:17:10.080 And, you know, for all the libertarians out there that would just say, well, if you don't like it, you know, don't use Twitter, don't use Facebook.
00:17:16.080 Look, you know, I have libertarian impulses and tendencies.
00:17:20.080 I don't want Washington, D.C. running my life.
00:17:23.080 But I sure as hell don't want the folks out there in Silicon Valley running my life.
00:17:27.080 And that's why I think we've got to enforce existing laws.
00:17:31.080 And then we've got to make sure that there are not special immunities and privileges created by the government just for technology platforms under the lie that they don't put their thumb on the scale to direct speech one way or the other.
00:17:45.080 Big news. Can't wait for it.
00:17:49.080 The death of George Floyd is obviously very tragic and perhaps equally obviously was totally avoidable.
00:17:57.080 And as I see these protests and riots in Minnesota, your heart breaks.
00:18:03.080 And while I believe that protest is something as American as apple pie, the notion that people would think that looting and property damage and destroying businesses is an appropriate or productive way to exercise their frustration is just inaccurate.
00:18:21.080 I mean, you know, that is not going to build, you know, an opportunity for us to address these challenges, but they must be addressed in the state of Florida.
00:18:31.080 I served as criminal justice chairman when Trayvon Martin was killed and it was hard to see my state go through that pain.
00:18:42.080 Ultimately, you know, the facts bear out on these things and you've got to view the facts and the circumstances dispassionately.
00:18:50.080 But but certainly, you know, the loss of life when you feel it's entirely avoidable is something that can get people quite exercised.
00:18:57.080 So, you know, while I hope that we're able to have better training, I'm grateful that we have the ability, I think, to have a lot of eyes on these law enforcement events so that we're able to capture what occurred and we're not relying on second and third hand or even first hand recollections that are just not not as good as the video.
00:19:20.080 And that's why I think the proliferation of body cameras has been helpful.
00:19:24.080 But but again, in this case, you know, nothing was helpful enough.
00:19:27.080 Nothing that that we've done was going to save this life and it was snuffed away from us.
00:19:33.080 And it appears it should not have been.
00:19:36.080 And so I pray that that there can be some comfort brought to those who've been impacted, but also that the way people express themselves does not have to do so much harm to others.
00:19:50.080 Coronavirus has had a big impact on schools and learning.
00:19:54.080 I had a great Facebook live session with a school superintendent in my district in Okaloosa County.
00:20:00.080 We have so much to celebrate when it comes to the success of our schools, the commitment of our teachers, the types of parents we have that, you know, when I come into events for military academies or other school visits, there's always a batch of really involved parents that are there.
00:20:15.080 And that has a positive impact on on the teachers and we wouldn't want to lose that sense of celebration, you know, and I hope that as we get going into this next school year that that we do take what we've been through is as something that's made us stronger.
00:20:30.080 What I've done here in Okaloosa County is we've created a task force and we're going to look at what are the challenges for the upcoming school year.
00:20:37.080 We'll look at the CDC guidelines that have been put out in terms of reopening schools, but we'll also look at summer activities as well.
00:20:46.080 So through this group will make decisions. So for example, you know, what might a trip on the bus look like next year to school?
00:20:54.080 What might the lunchroom look like social distancing in the classroom?
00:20:59.080 So will we do virtual education or will there be a blended model?
00:21:04.080 So there's a lot of decisions that have to be made.
00:21:06.080 It was really interesting to go through that discussion. I encourage you to check it out.
00:21:10.080 But really what I want to talk about here in a broader sense, in a national sense, is the debate that's been going on in our country about homeschooling, about digital learning,
00:21:22.080 and the extent to which coronavirus has accelerated that debate and ripened some of the questions on each side for us to get into and evaluate.
00:21:32.080 And, you know, as we answer these questions, it's important to understand how high the stakes are because many experts are predicting,
00:21:41.080 and even a lot of the frontline teachers and administrators and principals are telling me we're going to have the summer slide on steroids with a lot of returning students.
00:21:50.080 And, you know, if you've got students in some of those key grades like third grade learning reading or in those middle school years learning the fundamentals in mathematics
00:22:00.080 are going to be critical for high school competencies and high school graduation requirements.
00:22:05.080 It's absolutely essential that we are in the best position to deliver the highest quality educational content in a way that students will be in the best position to succeed.
00:22:15.080 So I've always been a fan of digital learning in the state of Florida. We've completely embraced it.
00:22:21.080 We want to use our state as really a platform for great companies to come in and create digital content and for homeschoolers or for students engaged in some blended learning between homeschool and a traditional education environment can access and learn.
00:22:39.080 A lot of military students use this in my district.
00:22:42.080 It's very helpful because they're coming in and out of a place where they might have had access to certain curriculum and they might need to do some remediation.
00:22:50.080 So I've always been a big fan unions have always hated digital learning in the policy space.
00:22:56.080 And, you know, I mean, some folks might say that's harsh or overgeneralizing.
00:23:00.080 But look, here's the deal. Unions view the the efficiencies of digital learning as a threat to jobs.
00:23:09.080 They figure that if you can get, you know, one lecture that 200 students can go here, then you don't need maybe as many teachers.
00:23:17.080 And if you could do that at scale that ultimately that's a threat to jobs.
00:23:21.080 So it's just simply a, you know, parochial economic interest for the unions.
00:23:26.080 That's that's why they exist.
00:23:27.080 So that's the fight that they're in.
00:23:29.080 For me, though, the appeal with digital learning was was the better instruction.
00:23:34.080 I mean, why should some kid in, you know, the the Everglades of Florida only be able to get the highest quality of education in the Everglades of Florida, you know?
00:23:46.080 And by the way, if the best physics professor in the world is in the Everglades of Florida, why should students in my district not get the benefit of that?
00:23:56.080 So I think that where we find effective ways to engage students on digital platforms, we should absolutely use it.
00:24:04.080 The school and the school environment is not just about learning.
00:24:09.080 I mean, it has a an additional purpose in addition to the school being the place that you send your kids for learning.
00:24:16.080 It is also the place you send your kids.
00:24:18.080 And I think that that has become apparent to a lot of people, you know, who've reached out to my office.
00:24:24.080 And when I'm looking at the incoming calls, we are getting with questions about daycare openings, about when, you know, school plans for the fall will be revealed.
00:24:33.080 I'm starting to see that, you know, in the American family today, the school is not just about absorbing the learning.
00:24:40.080 It's a place to send your kid for your kid to be safe, for your kid to be watched while you engage in your work.
00:24:46.080 And by the way, you know, I get the argument people are making, well, parents are going to be home more.
00:24:51.080 But yeah, like, look, a parent that is home working does not want to be home working with their kids sitting there in a lot of circumstances.
00:24:59.080 I mean, I'm I'm sure there are some fantastic parents that are able to juggle it all and do it, do it all.
00:25:04.080 But I know a lot of folks who are saying, look, yeah, I could stay home with my job and telecommute more.
00:25:09.080 And I've probably learned that from the coronavirus.
00:25:11.080 But the other thing I've learned is that I cannot be on my Zoom meeting while my seven year old is here, you know, wanting their next lesson in social studies and, you know, their reading lessons.
00:25:23.080 So I just think that we have learned, I think, to appreciate the fact that the school is also a place where kids go and that that is an important thing.
00:25:34.080 I think not for every American family, love the homeschoolers, love the successes they've had, but for a lot of American families and while digital learning, I think, can improve the level of instruction.
00:25:46.080 We see some limits to it. It's I don't think digital learning is ultimately going to unlock an experience where school is something that never exists, that that students actually attend in in the flesh in person.
00:25:58.080 I think that it will be a way within the walls of that school to enhance, build on and refine the messages that are delivered and the ways in which the students can absorb the information.
00:26:09.080 But I don't think a full on replacement of digital learning is coming following coronavirus. Just my hot take from my constituents here in Northwest Florida.
00:26:19.080 If you're enjoying hot takes with Matt Gates, make sure to subscribe, leave us a five star rating and review and tune in tomorrow for more hot takes.
00:26:39.080 Thank you.
00:26:40.080 Thank you.