The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - Episode 14 - Big Tech Latest, Disagreeing with Republicans, Me on Cardi B

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Hot Takes. This is Congressman Matt Gaetz. Let's talk about the news. And you knew

00:00:21.440 the news in advance. Yesterday, if you listened to our podcast, we previewed a lot of the elements

00:00:25.960 of the president's executive order. Tucker Carlson and I had an interview on it last night.

00:00:31.420 Here's Tucker and my responses. The Communications Decency Act of 1996 is at the center of this. It's

00:00:37.820 the reason that big tech is as powerful as it now is. Section 230 of that act holds that we're

00:00:43.820 quoting now. No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher

00:00:49.640 or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. What does that mean?

00:00:54.340 It means that the big tech companies, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, are not considered responsible

00:01:00.540 for the content that appears on them. And that actually makes sense. We're in favor of that

00:01:05.200 if they remain neutral platforms. But they are not neutral platforms. They are publishers,

00:01:11.580 the most powerful publishers in the world. Big tech buys off Congress so as to maintain

00:01:16.420 special privileges that local newspapers and television stations don't enjoy. That's why

00:01:22.020 the president's executive order today is one very important next step. Because if we just

00:01:27.000 wait around, big tech will steal this election from Donald Trump and from the American people.

00:01:32.460 In 2016, we won three Rust Belt states by a point each. And that was when nobody thought

00:01:37.340 Donald Trump could win. In 2020, we've lost the element of surprise. And so we have to be

00:01:43.100 as aggressive as they are. That means bills like Senator Hawley and I have filed to change

00:01:49.260 Section 230 so as to out these entities as publishers and not the unbiased platforms they

00:01:54.720 are. It means an executive order like the president has issued. But it also means getting the other

00:01:59.380 elements of government to enforce existing law. The Federal Election Commission needs to get off their

00:02:04.880 duff. Twitter is interfering with an election. I heard Democrats say for three years that Russia

00:02:10.100 was interfering with an election. That was a hoax. We have domestic election interference going on

00:02:15.020 right now. I'll be filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission tomorrow because of

00:02:19.720 what they have done to President Trump. And as a voter, I have the standing to do it. And President

00:02:24.160 Trump should call for a decision on the Federal Election Commission questions that are before them

00:02:29.140 so that these tech companies get flushed out of the bushes. That's right. I'll be filing a complaint

00:02:33.580 with the Federal Election Commission today. And it's about time. The Federal Election Commission

00:02:38.500 and the FCC as well took action against these digital platforms that are trying to engage in

00:02:45.340 election interference and who I think are violating existing law. I mean, we do need to clean up the

00:02:51.280 laws we have, but I'm always a fan of starting with enforcing existing law. So let me break down

00:02:56.700 first my FEC complaint. If Twitter were not a technology company, if they were a billboard company

00:03:03.680 and they wanted to put up billboards fact checking every claim I made as a congressman and candidate

00:03:10.220 for federal office. Well, of course, the FEC would say if you if you put up a billboard saying

00:03:15.420 Matt Gaetz is a liar, Matt Gaetz is a bad guy, that would inure to the benefit of my opponent and that

00:03:21.040 would be a contribution to my opponent's campaign. Matter of fact, people have put up billboards that 0.98

00:03:26.520 attack me in my district and they are required to comply with campaign finance laws. And I think that's

00:03:32.640 great. I think that people ought to be able to express themselves and have free speech, but you

00:03:37.040 got to do it according to the law. Now, Twitter as a corporation is not expressing free speech.

00:03:43.060 They're acting as a publisher. And I would say they're acting through political advocacy when they

00:03:49.440 choose to characterize the president's comments often inaccurately. They've had unchecked power to

00:03:56.260 censor, restrict, edit, shape, hide, alter virtually any form of communication between private citizens

00:04:03.300 or large public audiences. There's no precedent in American history for so small a number of

00:04:09.280 corporations to control so large a sphere of human interaction. And that includes individual people

00:04:16.120 controlling vast amounts of territory. And we can't allow that to happen, especially when they go

00:04:22.580 about doing what they're doing because they're doing things incorrectly. They have points of view.

00:04:27.840 And if we go by that, it's actually amazing that there was a success in 2016, but we can't let this

00:04:34.700 continue to happen. It's very, very unfair. And so if they want to make a contribution, they should have

00:04:39.400 to follow the same laws anyone else would have to follow. And I believe they are outside of the law,

00:04:44.560 which is why I filed that first element of my complaint. And the second is that if these editorial

00:04:50.160 comments are in fact donations on a platform, then they would undeniably exceed the federal limits for

00:04:56.860 donations, which is the second count of my complaint. But it won't just be getting the FEC and FCC

00:05:02.620 engaged. It will also be the review of the experiences so many Americans have had on social media. And in the

00:05:09.180 president's executive order, what I really appreciate is the focus on how these digital

00:05:15.540 platforms have shaped the user experience. Have they deplatformed people? Have they canceled people?

00:05:21.840 Have they suppressed speech? Have they elevated speech on the other side? That's just as bad when

00:05:26.520 they're trying to put their thumb on the scale and interfere with an election. So under the current

00:05:31.880 executive order, there will actually be a focused review on those experiences and on those concerns at the

00:05:40.120 Department of Justice. And then it's my hope that that can migrate into some real enforcement action from the

00:05:47.560 antitrust division at the Department of Justice. We have antitrust laws for a reason in every other industry.

00:05:54.300 Companies have to follow those laws for the benefit of our people. And if technology companies are escaping that,

00:06:00.680 well, that's not really fair. And I hope that we'll see more action from the Department of Justice enforcing

00:06:06.440 antitrust law, running down these concerns that Americans have about their experience with digital

00:06:13.420 platforms. And I sure hope that it won't take months or years for the Federal Election Commission

00:06:19.920 to actually step up and defend our elections from this type of interference from digital platforms like

00:06:26.400 Twitter. Hopefully that'll help. Hopefully that'll create fair debate, because if there is fair debate,

00:06:31.940 I think the ideas and values that we see the president animating and that we see throughout

00:06:37.620 the America First agenda will be successful with the great people of our country.

00:06:44.180 This next story is just too good to talk about. Again, from our friends at the National Pulse,

00:06:49.940 reporting from Sofia Carbone, Twitter hires Chinese Communist Party linked AI expert who wants to hide

00:06:57.080 secret weapons contract. So a very loaded article. I suggest you check it out. But hey,

00:07:02.880 if it's talking about China and Twitter, you know, we're talking about it on Hot Takes with Matt Gaetz.

00:07:07.640 So this is the story of Dr. Fifi Lee, a Stanford professor, former Google vice president. And what

00:07:17.180 she has been caught doing by our friends at the National Pulse and also the folks over at Radio Free Asia

00:07:23.700 is participating in these conferences and talent exchanges that are really propped up by the Chinese 1.00

00:07:32.040 Communist Party. So Fifi Lee had to resign from her position as vice president of Google following this

00:07:38.400 leak of an email where she was condemning the fact that Google was working with our Pentagon. Imagine that.

00:07:44.960 And so she gets canned from Google. This link comes out about her animosity towards our defense

00:07:52.020 department. She participates in multiple conferences that Radio Free Asia expose as the assembly of

00:08:00.520 talent for the benefit of the CCP. And then lo and behold, right on the heels of President Trump

00:08:07.020 getting this offensive, you know, coming over at him from Twitter, you see this CCP linked individual

00:08:14.520 getting a job with Twitter. It's something we'll continue to follow. And I'm glad the National

00:08:19.240 Pulse is exposing the relationship between the CCP and far too many of the corporate entities in the

00:08:25.480 United States of America. I hate having to report on this next movement in the Congress because it

00:08:34.020 negatively implicates a number of my friends and people I've worked with closely on issues with this

00:08:40.480 administration and with this president. But nearly 40 Republicans in the Congress have signed a letter

00:08:46.840 to President Trump asking him not to impose any further restrictions on the H-2B visa seasonal guest

00:08:54.460 worker class. Oh, I mean, in the letter, they say they're doing this for small businesses, but

00:09:00.920 it's not. I mean, there are some small businesses that use this program, but primarily the H-2B visa

00:09:06.700 program is used by larger businesses. And it's just not reflective of an America first policy when

00:09:14.400 you've got tens of millions of Americans unemployed working to get re-onboarded onto their jobs to be

00:09:21.760 waving the flag of the America last crowd that would bring in cheap foreign labor. And just to be honest 0.55

00:09:28.940 with you, that's what big business wants a lot of time. They want cheap foreign labor. They want it now. 0.75

00:09:34.580 And it does not inure to our country's benefit. So there is the economic reason why this letter is

00:09:40.960 really poorly suited. And then there is just the public health reason. I mean, if we are going to

00:09:46.340 have people coming in through the H-2B visa program, I would like to see a lot more testing required.

00:09:53.700 I would like to see a lot more participation from these businesses that are bringing these workers in

00:09:58.120 to ensure that wherever they were, where public health might not have been at the same high standard

00:10:04.440 that we have in the United States, where access to water, where density of living conditions are

00:10:08.600 different, that we are not inviting into our country the potential for some coronavirus hotspots.

00:10:15.640 And if you look at some of the slaughterhouses and packing houses that use these programs, we have

00:10:21.960 seen some pops in the coronavirus positive test result percentage in those places among those

00:10:30.660 populations. And finally, this is a bad idea because it's just not the time to be popping President Trump

00:10:37.520 on immigration, especially from Republicans. President Trump's views on how the flow of people

00:10:44.900 impact the spread of this virus were prophetic. He was right to restrict travel from China. He's right 0.95

00:10:51.300 now to be looking at places where we've got to evaluate travel restrictions, especially from

00:10:56.720 Latin America. I mean, Latin America is sort of becoming the new Europe in this virus. And I am not 0.99

00:11:03.000 optimistic that some of the tools that were used in Europe are going to be as effective in Latin America

00:11:07.880 for the reasons I just mentioned. And so I am not a big fan of this H-2B visa program being 1.00

00:11:14.920 overutilized during this time. I think the president has put the right restrictions on it. I stand with

00:11:20.820 President Trump. And I'm disappointed by my Republican colleagues who signed this letter. We'll throw it up on

00:11:26.740 our official social media so that you can take a look at it when we post the podcast. But come on, guys and

00:11:32.020 gals, let's put our country, our workers, our people first, especially in this time of crisis.

00:11:40.240 No truth for you. Yesterday, the Truth Act failed on the floor of the House of Representatives.

00:11:45.820 More members of Congress actually voted for it than voted against it. But under the suspension rules

00:11:52.120 that we were working under yesterday, only that legislation which receives a two-thirds majority

00:11:57.720 vote becomes law. This did not reach that threshold because of the 147 Republicans who voted against it.

00:12:05.980 Only Republicans voted against the Truth Act. And I was not among them.

00:12:10.200 I voted yes. And here's why. So the Truth Act says that if you're a business and you got more than

00:12:16.380 two million bucks in the Paycheck Protection Program or through various other facilities set up by the

00:12:23.460 Fed, that that information can become public, that you got that money. And there is an attestation to

00:12:31.200 the SBA as a part of the Paycheck Protection Program that that money went to employees, that it was

00:12:37.620 accounted for according to the law and that there wasn't fraud, waste or abuse, or frankly, misappropriated

00:12:43.980 utilization. And, you know, the Republicans who voted against the bill took the position that, well, you

00:12:50.380 know, at a time when businesses are struggling, what's sort of one more thing that they have to do? But I mean,

00:12:55.460 the thing that they have to do is tied to the fact that they got two million bucks or more from our country,

00:13:00.280 from the Treasury or from the Fed. And so I don't think it's too much to ask so long as it's not an

00:13:07.620 overly burdensome requirement. And in this case, I didn't find that it was. I do also believe that

00:13:14.220 having some sense of nexus between the need for these funds and their appropriation and delivery

00:13:22.500 is pretty damn important. You know, there are businesses in my district that were illegal for

00:13:29.760 many weeks and were unable to bring in any revenue and they desperately needed that money. Some of those

00:13:36.080 small businesses in my district were incredibly frustrated that the money would get deployed and spent and

00:13:43.300 absorbed very quickly before they could assemble the documentation that they would need to show their

00:13:48.740 eligibility. And similarly, I know businesses in my district and in districts all over this great country where

00:13:55.960 companies did not see one diminution in revenue. Some even saw increases in revenue as a consequence of

00:14:02.160 the changes in our life from coronavirus. But because they deemed themselves eligible, they would

00:14:07.940 go and apply for this program. Now, I think Secretary Mnuchin did a really good job putting out guidance that

00:14:14.020 said that there was a limited amnesty period that if you didn't really need the money, you could turn it back

00:14:19.160 in and there wouldn't be a problem. But in the event that that didn't happen, there needs to be

00:14:24.400 enforcement. And the way to guide that enforcement is transparency. And I think the best disinfectant is

00:14:32.200 always a little bit of sunshine. That's why I voted with the bipartisan majority for the Truth Act

00:14:36.780 so that there can be more thorough review. After all, I'm a Floridian. We think sunshine is the best disinfectant.

00:14:42.840 International music sensation and occasional social commentator Cardi B has entered the discussion

00:14:52.720 about what's going on in Minnesota and those tragic events.

00:14:57.080 They looting in Minnesota. And as much as I don't like this type of violence, it is what it is.

00:15:05.260 Too much peaceful marches, too much trending hashtags, and no solutions in all caps.

00:15:11.020 The people are left with no choice in all caps. Well, you know what, Cardi? There is a choice. I mean,

00:15:18.500 just like there was a choice you had when you bragged about meeting men in strip clubs, 0.99

00:15:25.900 offering them sex, drugging them, and robbing them. Like, you had a choice to do that or to do 0.97

00:15:31.540 different things, and you chose that. And so these folks who may have very legitimate grievance and

00:15:37.800 call for reform have a choice to not rob and loot and destroy. You know, the people that built these

00:15:45.600 small businesses in Minnesota, you know, the workers who are unable to now go feed their families

00:15:51.340 because of the disruption going on in society, they're the ones that have no choice when there

00:15:57.300 is a mob riot instead of, I think, an adult discussion. And we need to have an adult discussion

00:16:02.860 about the ways in which law enforcement interacts with communities who have every right to feel as

00:16:10.100 safe as the rest of us. But I guess Cardi can kind of be full of contradictions. I mean, she writes the

00:16:15.760 song, Be Careful With Me. But then after making the music video Motorsport with Nicki Minaj, I think

00:16:23.040 she like threw a shoe at her and got some sort of arrest or charge as a consequence. So not super

00:16:29.200 careful, Cardi. And I mean, she's got this great lyric in one song. He says he really wants to see

00:16:34.500 me more. We should have a date where at the Lamborghini store. Great song, great rhyme. But

00:16:41.340 they're looting and rioting at the Lamborghini store, Cardi. So I tell you what, people do have a

00:16:46.260 choice. People don't have to go out and destroy the lives and dreams and investments and property of

00:16:52.160 others. And I'm with you, Cardi, for finding the solutions, but certainly not excusing this type of

00:16:58.660 violence. Have a great weekend, everyone. We'll be back next week with more Hot Takes.

The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - May 29, 2020

Episode 14 - Big Tech Latest, Disagreeing with Republicans, Me on Cardi B

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