The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz. Let's talk about the news.

00:00:20.940 Axios has our top news story. China is gaining influence in our country by compromising our

00:00:28.060 politicians. The story details efforts by the Chinese Communist Party to train intelligence

00:00:33.980 operatives, then to insert them to try to persuade officials at the state and even local level to form

00:00:41.240 relationships with the Chinese that then they can use if those politicians become more ambitious,

00:00:48.260 more powerful, more useful to China. The most stirring example was Congressman Eric Swalwell,

00:00:55.780 who was targeted back when he was a city council member in the Bay Area in California back in the

00:01:02.240 2014-2015 time. He got very close to a Chinese operative named Fang Fang. That's right, Fang Fang.

00:01:11.180 You'd think there might be a red flag there. We need to defang the Chinese, not Fang Fang them.

00:01:18.500 But anyhow, she shows up, cozies up to Swalwell, raises him a bunch of money. And then in 2015,

00:01:25.060 Swalwell actually gets a defensive briefing. What's interesting to me is that when Republicans

00:01:30.860 are targeted by foreign intelligence operations, it's impeachment, special counsels, threats of

00:01:38.720 criminal prosecution. And when Democrats get too cozy with foreign intelligence operatives that are

00:01:44.840 targeted, it's defensive briefings and ways to avoid any type of major embarrassment.

00:01:51.080 I had the opportunity to discuss this issue on Shannon Bream's program last night. Take a listen.

00:01:57.600 We should not view this challenge just through the lens of whether or not we like Eric Swalwell,

00:02:02.440 because the problem is so much greater. China is buying, bribing, compromising our politicians in

00:02:09.660 this country. And the worst thing we can do is lose focus on China. Now, that focus was lost during the

00:02:16.320 impeachment proceedings where Eric Swalwell himself accused me and Jim Jordan and my other colleagues

00:02:22.420 of being Vladimir Putin's lawyer. And I guess one has to ask, how could Eric Swalwell say that he was

00:02:29.380 certain that Donald Trump was an agent of Russia when he couldn't even identify the agent of China

00:02:36.340 that was working alongside his political campaign?

00:02:42.440 Socialist Bernie Sanders, who was a major candidate for the presidency on the Democratic side,

00:02:48.340 really in the last two election cycles, had harsh criticism for his fellow Democrats for not

00:02:53.660 seizing the opportunity to work with President Trump in the White House on coronavirus relief.

00:02:59.700 Take a listen to Bernie Sanders on Jake Tapper's show on CNN.

00:03:03.060 You talked about that $1.8 trillion bill that the White House, Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury

00:03:08.220 Secretary, was working on with the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Democrats walked away from that

00:03:14.420 bill because they wanted $2.2 trillion and they walked away from $1.8 trillion. Was that a mistake?

00:03:20.840 That's what I'm saying. That's exactly what I'm saying. Here was a proposal, much, much larger.

00:03:26.860 Democrats said, no, that's not good enough. And now we're prepared to accept a proposal.

00:03:30.840 This exposes something that I had talked about on the podcast for quite some time.

00:03:35.980 You see, for the Democrats, it wasn't about the amount of money spent. It wasn't even about who

00:03:40.660 it was directed to. It was about depriving the Trump administration of a win. And so if the Trump

00:03:46.540 administration wanted to spend $1.8 trillion and the Democrats wanted $2.2 trillion, if Trump wanted

00:03:52.160 $2.2 trillion, they'd have wanted $2.5 trillion. Whatever it took to not get to a deal is what the

00:03:58.340 Democrats wanted. Because political power meant more to them than caring for our fellow Americans,

00:04:04.780 than working together at least on some of the issues where we have found common ground. So

00:04:09.880 I often disagree with Bernie Sanders regarding his vision for the country, but he is a rather

00:04:15.740 honest politician about what he wants and what he believes and how others, particularly Nancy Pelosi,

00:04:22.580 have failed the people of our country in this time of need. Things continue to get weirder in the

00:04:32.940 People's Republic of New Jersey. We get the story from BizPack Review. Now the non-compliance rate

00:04:40.860 for working with contact tracers is up to 74%. That's quite something. That shows that the people have a

00:04:49.560 distrust in the system. That means that the people in New Jersey are sick and tired of hearing their

00:04:55.820 governor, Phil Murphy, try to dictate every aspect of their lives. Now, as it turns out, I am no longer

00:05:02.780 welcome in the state of New Jersey. I showed up on short notice to give a quick speech to some young

00:05:10.040 Republicans, and it was met with quite the ire from the governor. He said I was no longer welcome back and

00:05:17.360 called me a bunch of bad names. I also had a chance to discuss this last night on Shannon Bream. Take a

00:05:23.340 listen to my response. I think it was Governor Murphy who recently was out at dinner with his family. So

00:05:28.600 why is it that these Democrat politicians think that they can engage in conduct that they want to

00:05:33.660 deprive other people the opportunity to engage in? I guess if I'd have shown up with a cinder block ready

00:05:38.540 to throw through a Nike store to walk out with some Air Jordans and then light a Waffle House on fire with

00:05:45.660 kerosene, Democrat politicians would have viewed that as political activity. But if I show up in a

00:05:51.300 suit to give a speech to a few fellow Republicans, all of a sudden that's a great public health threat.

00:05:56.520 The American people see the double standard that is on display. Governor Murphy has to stand before

00:06:02.140 his voters in the next calendar year, and I may find my way back to the Garden State to be a part of

00:06:07.720 that campaign. Revolver.News is carefully covering Joe Biden's potential picks for a cabinet. Check out

00:06:18.480 their latest piece regarding the HUD potential nominee, Congresswoman Marsha Fudge. Now, Marsha Fudge is a

00:06:25.900 close political ally of Jim Clyburn. He is the Democrat whip in the House. He has been pushing her for HUD.

00:06:32.420 He's been complaining about the lack of diversity in the cabinet. And so Marsha Fudge being a black

00:06:38.020 woman would seemingly be quite pleasing to Jim Clyburn. And he's really the reason Joe Biden won

00:06:43.480 that Democratic nomination. I mean, Biden was in fourth or fifth place as he was stumbling around

00:06:49.140 Iowa and New Hampshire. He gets to South Carolina. Clyburn is an incredibly popular political figure

00:06:54.760 there in the Democratic Party. He endorses Biden. Biden wins South Carolina and goes to really

00:07:01.740 claim the Democratic nomination from that very moment. He tore through the rest of the primaries

00:07:08.060 with that South Carolina win as really the restart of his presidential campaign after a number of

00:07:15.240 follies. Now, Marsha Fudge is facing some real problems, though. It appears that she sought clemency

00:07:21.460 for a Cuyahoga County judge who, while in the car with his children, punched his wife, bit his wife,

00:07:29.140 and then threw her out on the road, like in the middle of the road where she had to call 911.

00:07:34.820 Marsha Fudge advocated for this individual, sought leniency for this individual. And one has to wonder

00:07:41.120 if that's her perspective on domestic violence. Is she really the right person to be leading the

00:07:47.820 Office of Housing and Urban Development that has to deal with these complex family situations? And there

00:07:55.400 often is a domestic violence component that you've at least got to be cognizant of in some of these

00:08:01.440 cases where folks are seeking public housing and are at times under dire circumstances. I mean, a lot

00:08:07.220 of times people stay with their abusers because economically they have to. And I think we need a

00:08:13.200 government that's aware of that and creates as many options as possible for people to liberate

00:08:18.360 themselves from abuse. But here, Marsha Fudge seems to have been on the side of the abuser,

00:08:24.360 not the victim. It's raising a lot of questions. Check out the piece in revolver.news.

00:08:33.640 Desiree Stenet of the Sun Sentinel has the story of a legislative effort in Florida that I fully

00:08:40.660 support. Democrat State Senator Randolph Bracey, who actually served on the Florida House criminal

00:08:47.820 justice subcommittee when I was the chairman of that committee back in, gosh, 2013, 2014. He's now

00:08:54.960 a state senator and he's introducing legislation to allow easier expungement of minor marijuana

00:09:01.940 convictions. He held a press conference outside of one of Florida's medical marijuana dispensaries.

00:09:07.840 Those dispensaries exist under the color of state law as a consequence of legislation I wrote as a

00:09:14.120 state legislator. And states all over the country are really working on ways to align their marijuana

00:09:20.600 policy to the values of their citizens. I had the opportunity to discuss this very issue this week

00:09:26.700 in the House of Representatives when we voted on and debated the Moore Act. Take a listen.

00:09:32.680 The federal government has lied to the people of this country about marijuana for a generation.

00:09:38.040 We have seen a generation, particularly of black and brown youth, locked up for offenses that not,

00:09:45.140 that should have not resulted in any incarceration whatsoever.

00:09:48.440 And so it's my hope that in the Congress and in the several states, we will continue this work.

00:09:54.960 We will continue to ensure that our people are not unfairly punished by virtue of where they live or

00:10:01.440 who they are and that we modernize our policy so that we can unlock cures and help people live better

00:10:08.240 lives. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that inventor, investor, venture capitalist Elon Musk is

00:10:18.640 moving to Texas, leaving California. Elon Musk has been critical at times of Silicon Valley,

00:10:26.320 calling it Sanctimonious Valley. I agree with that. And upon moving to Texas, he likened California to

00:10:33.500 a sports team with a long winning streak saying, quote, they do tend to get a little complacent,

00:10:39.840 a little entitled, and then they don't win the championship anymore. California, he said, has,

00:10:45.420 quote, been winning for a long time. And I think they're taking it for granted a little bit.

00:10:51.140 So welcome to the state of Texas, Elon Musk. And I suspect that while California is a beautiful

00:10:58.260 place, and while there are a number of just great Americans who live in California,

00:11:02.820 the government of California is not worthy of the people. It has embraced every attempt to virtue

00:11:10.460 signal, to invite people across our borders illegally, to create entitlements that put the state on a very

00:11:17.480 poor financial footing. And then, lo and behold, this exodus of intellect can really have an impact on

00:11:25.760 the type of businesses you build, on the type of economy that you can maintain for your people. So I'm happy

00:11:31.960 for Elon Musk and his organization, and I hope that California will get the hint.

00:11:37.800 A quick but important update regarding the FCC. On the podcast, we had covered the nomination battle

00:11:48.420 regarding Nathan Symington, who was the president's nominee to the FCC, who many believe will actually

00:11:55.060 animate that organization to take on big tech. While the confirmation vote was held, it was 49 to 47

00:12:03.180 along party line votes. And Nathan Symington will now take his seat and have the opportunity to

00:12:09.180 impact policy in a positive way. And the hope is that the FCC will actually make demands on big tech

00:12:16.960 to prove that they are neutral, unbiased platforms. It's not enough to just take their word for it

00:12:23.120 anymore. We've seen too many examples of censorship and deplatforming without the opportunity for

00:12:29.980 appeal. And at times, just because some Woketopian in Silicon Valley didn't like the content of what

00:12:36.140 someone was saying, not that it was in any way harmful or threatening or violative of what should

00:12:43.800 be allowed in an open marketplace of ideas. Remember, we need to be confronted with ideas that make us

00:12:51.660 uncomfortable, that are different, that cause us to think. That is always how humankind has advanced,

00:12:57.920 and it is one small advancement to have Nathan Symington, the president's nominee on the FCC,

00:13:04.740 confirmed. Thanks for listening to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz. This podcast is written,

00:13:12.900 directed, and produced by a team that includes myself, Luke Ball, and Joel Valdez. Give us a hand,

00:13:19.660 subscribe, perhaps give us that five-star rating on iTunes or however you rate your podcasts on your

00:13:26.480 listening platform of choice, and join us tomorrow for more Hot Takes.

Episode 146 – New Jersey Tells COVID Tracers to Beat It. Swalwell & the Spy. Bernie Blames Dems for Delaying COVID Relief. Elon Musk Moves to Texas!

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