The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - March 22, 2024


Episode 161 LIVE: Hit By A Minibus – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz


Episode Stats

Length

36 minutes

Words per Minute

169.72249

Word Count

6,128

Sentence Count

7

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

14


Summary

Rep. Mike Gallaghan announces he will be resigning from the House of Representatives prior to the conclusion of his term. Other breaking news on Capitol Hill: Rep. Patrick McHenry announces he is stepping down from his term as a member of the House Farm Services Committee, and Rep. Mike Gallagher announces he's stepping down as a House farmer services committee member.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 matt gates the biggest firebrand inside of the house of representatives you're not taking matt
00:00:08.320 gates off the board okay because matt gates is an american patriot and matt gates is an american
00:00:13.660 hero we will not continue to allow the uniparty to run this town without a fight i want to thank
00:00:20.800 you matt gates for holding the line matt gates is a courageous man if we had hundreds of matt gates
00:00:28.240 in dc the country turns around it's that simple he's so tough he's so strong he's smart and he
00:00:34.980 loves this country matt gates it is the honor of my life to fight alongside each and every one of you
00:00:42.800 we will save america it's choose your fighter time send in the firebrands
00:00:48.560 and this bill today funds all of that continues to fund all of that every single republican should
00:01:02.300 vote no should vote no and should be ashamed of ever voting yes this is our opportunity this is
00:01:08.300 remember this is this was supposed to be done last september we're now in the middle of march
00:01:13.220 of the next year this is their opportunity to say what happened on the border yesterday that
00:01:19.140 all of america is now looking at as they wake up this morning this is going to stop and it's going
00:01:23.500 to stop with us and if they don't vote no on this bill what they're saying to their constituents their
00:01:29.720 bosses who sent them to washington dc democrat or republican what you saw at the border that's fine
00:01:35.600 with me that's good let's get more of that i urge all of our colleagues not just the brave ones
00:01:40.520 that are standing here today in front of you but every single member of the house republican and
00:01:46.380 democrat reject this bill
00:01:48.360 that was congressman scott perry we are live here in room 2021 of the rayburn house office building
00:01:56.340 on the capitol complex in washington dc where the very shame that scott perry described played out as
00:02:02.420 the house of representatives passed the second half of the omnibus spending legislation today that
00:02:08.580 we've worked so hard to try to stop at the end there were 286 yes votes 134 no votes so an
00:02:15.880 overwhelming more than two-thirds majority for this terrible piece of legislation we're going to go
00:02:20.640 through some of the bad earmarks in it some of the bad uh bad funding choices that were made we always
00:02:26.320 like to look at where the republicans stood and you heard scott perry there a leader in the freedom
00:02:31.120 caucus uh calling out republicans who would vote for this democrat spending bill 101 republicans
00:02:39.420 shamefully voted yes 112 republicans voted no so that means a majority of the majority voted against
00:02:49.260 this terrible legislation and yet it is going to become law anyway the majority of the majority you
00:02:55.340 thought for got rolled by the democrats and there was one particular moment in uh in this bill that
00:03:03.600 got me it was when uh mike bost fresh off of his one point primary election victory voted yes
00:03:11.820 and then when it became clear that the bill had all of the votes that it needed to pass oh then he ran
00:03:18.300 downed out of the clerk and changed his vote to a no vote so mike bost was actually for it then flipped
00:03:24.840 to be against it when the no vote didn't matter i wonder if that one point primary election victory had
00:03:31.040 anything to do with that motivation but it's deceptive and it's dishonest and uh unfortunately we saw
00:03:39.200 a betrayal of republican values there's no other way to describe it from a 101 republicans 112 of us
00:03:48.100 who voted no we're not enough to stop this bad bill there's other breaking news on capitol hill
00:03:53.540 today mike gallagher just announcing that he will be resigning from the house of representatives prior
00:03:58.640 to the conclusion of his term uh the end of i guess middle of end of april we saw april 19th bouncing
00:04:05.900 around as a date that was being reported by jake sherman at punch bowl news and mike gallagher is a very
00:04:11.020 smart person mike gallagher is someone who understands the world a great deal i sat next to him on the
00:04:17.100 house farm services committee for seven years he chairs one of the cyber intelligence evolving
00:04:23.520 technologies subcommittees upon which i serve and it's very disappointing to see him resigning
00:04:31.320 before the end of his term when we get elected we get elected for two-year terms we're on a two-year
00:04:37.260 contract i think every member should stay for the two years and it's it i have this view whether i like
00:04:43.460 the person or not i didn't like kevin mccarthy i was disappointed when he left before the conclusion
00:04:48.900 of his term i like mike gallagher disappointed that he's leaving before the conclusion of his term
00:04:54.280 because to me it's like a breach of contract with your voters you signed up for a job you knew when you
00:05:00.700 signed up for it how long it lasts and my frustration comes from the fact that we are we are now at a one
00:05:07.420 seat majority one one and that puts everything that we could potentially do at grave risk and it
00:05:16.800 it strengthens the hand of those who want to draw us into these bad bills that give away the farm to
00:05:22.700 the democrats when our majority is reduced cut by a quarter cut in half cut to barely nothing the other
00:05:31.660 breaking news on capitol hill today is that marjorie taylor green has filed a motion to vacate when i filed
00:05:37.340 a motion to vacate kevin mccarthy it demanded immediate legislative action within a prescribed
00:05:43.540 window so two days after i filed the motion to vacate mccarthy there was a window that opened
00:05:50.860 and immediately upon that window opening i called for a vote we heard congresswoman green describe her
00:05:57.540 intentions very differently today her her intention was not to file this and call it up for a vote within
00:06:03.380 two days as i did she's filing it and i guess for lack of a proper legislative term she's allowing it
00:06:09.420 to cook she's allowing it to simmer she's um allowing it to i guess be the subject of some discussion and
00:06:15.740 debate and it's hard not to view these two stories gallagher leaving green filing this in in some uh in some
00:06:23.880 concert right because whether or not you can execute a motion to vacate the speaker is contingent upon your
00:06:31.000 size of majority at any given moment and when i vacated mccarthy i made a promise to all of you
00:06:39.120 to the entire country that we would not end up with a democrat speaker i knew it i promised it and had we
00:06:46.940 ended up with a democrat speaker then i would have broken my word to you and i would have been rightfully
00:06:52.820 drubbed out of this job as i sit here now with a one vote majority with like i don't know 10 12 of our
00:06:59.960 members in biden districts am i sure that one two three of those people to be the head of the budget
00:07:07.040 committee to be the head of the appropriations committee to be the head of the intelligence
00:07:10.360 committee to be the head of the rules committee to be the floor leader that one or two of them
00:07:16.140 wouldn't cross over and vote for a democrat maybe even hakeem jeffries i'm not sure of that and because
00:07:21.940 i'm not sure of that do not count me among those who would support a motion to vacate at this time and
00:07:27.400 not that there's one that's been called up to be fair to congresswoman green i think she understands
00:07:32.220 that dynamic that's why she is pursuing a different path than i pursued with kevin mccarthy
00:07:37.620 but we'll continue to follow up on it and and really what brought us to this moment where we're even
00:07:43.320 having this discussion unfortunately is this omnibus spending bill and it violates all of the principles
00:07:50.760 that i set forth and frankly it violates a lot of the principles that i know mike johnson campaigned on
00:07:57.180 when he ran for speaker and that's why he wants to get to a discussion of 2025 spending to lay out a
00:08:03.780 vision to show those priorities and a lot of people are smarting and hurting over what we just experienced
00:08:10.260 today and if there is a sentiment that is just so washington and so wrong and so vile and so
00:08:20.240 destructive to our economy and our nation it is the sentiment that you always just have to be for the
00:08:25.460 deal some people get deal hungry deal happy you know what we just need a deal and it doesn't matter
00:08:32.080 if it's a bad deal good deal if it increases inflation if prices go up if the lobbyists get paid
00:08:37.220 off just just just get the deal done it is so corrosive and no one expresses that sentiment more
00:08:44.820 than someone who is leaving congress at the end of his term but fulfilling his term north carolina
00:08:50.640 congressman and former i guess you know mccarthy wet nurse patrick mckenry here's congressman mckenry
00:08:57.340 making this bad argument you know it's been well covered my constructive criticism of the speaker
00:09:05.300 and i i think i want to emphasize the first part which is go land the deal do not fear the deal
00:09:14.840 you have to go land those legislative priorities in order to show power and to exercise power
00:09:21.100 otherwise you don't want to be speaker unless you want to go land deals he has now landed his second
00:09:27.020 big deal as speaker and he'll land it this week that should be commended
00:09:31.900 just work for the deal and i'm going to go over some of the bad stuff that was in that deal but
00:09:39.780 we've got some comments on the live stream people want to know who voted which way and so jacob let's
00:09:44.920 make sure we get the vote sheet from our legislative team and post on our official facebook and our
00:09:51.460 official x pages so that the people here who want to know where their member of congress is
00:09:56.060 can see how the vote played out but it was a vote on so many things that do not have an appropriate
00:10:02.380 federal nexus let me just go through some of these earmarks so new jersey senators are at half a million
00:10:08.840 taxpayer dollars that they got to fund a state organization that force feeds the lgbt agenda in schools
00:10:15.280 the group garden state equality assists in finding gender mutilation surgeries for minors
00:10:22.700 and they harass schools that prevent biological men from using women bathrooms and participating in
00:10:27.420 women's sports so that's what half a million went to massachusetts senators got a million bucks in
00:10:33.100 taxpayer funds to support a leadership academy for left-wing political organizations the massachusetts
00:10:40.700 women of color coalition that explicitly caters to non-white women so if you are a man or if you are
00:10:48.720 white this million dollars in massachusetts is not for you and really it is a beachhead for the defund the
00:10:55.420 police movement a part of what they're advocating for is quote use of force statutes and policies
00:11:01.180 a close quote for police to change maryland getting uh getting their nose down in the trough their
00:11:06.460 senators want half a million in taxpayer dollars for an organization called the third that provides a safe
00:11:12.320 space for women of color entrepreneurs i mean the in maryland if you need to go create safe spaces
00:11:20.200 for a specific ethnic or immutable trait of entrepreneurs then do it with your own money
00:11:27.760 connecticut senators won 156 000 to subsidize construction of the hartford gay and lesbian health
00:11:34.280 collective wisconsin senator i wanted half a million dollars to promote lgbt programs to teenagers
00:11:40.800 so we're going into debt we're 34 and a half trillion dollars in debt we're driving 2.5 trillion
00:11:46.960 dollar annual deficits but teens like us is a program that you are now funding so that there can be
00:11:55.220 trans tape kits provided to minors that's literally what they do and and uh wisconsin's democrat senator
00:12:02.220 tammy duckworth wanted that uh connecticut senators got 155 000 in taxpayer monies going uh to an
00:12:08.660 organization called make the road ct uh their executive director recently criticized joe biden for
00:12:16.740 rightfully calling lincoln riley's murder illegal so the head of this organization criticizes biden
00:12:25.220 for calling a murderer illegal and 155 000 windfall as a consequence this legislation is chock full of
00:12:32.160 this stuff the top lines are too high the debt is is just blown out and no one seems to be too eager
00:12:39.560 in taking responsibility for it one of my terrific colleagues fellow firebrand chip roy was debating
00:12:45.500 on the floor against this bad legislation take a listen
00:12:48.540 the democrat leader talks about the mosaic i assume by the mosaic that anyone who votes for this bill
00:12:58.620 today will be supporting that we're talking about 156 000 for the hartford gay and lesbian health
00:13:05.660 collective an organization self-describes as champions of lgbtqia equity and provides training
00:13:11.380 and cultural competency and access to health health care for lgbtq youth or two million dollars in
00:13:16.900 oregon clinic that provides hormone therapy for kids or the 850 000 for gay senior housing in
00:13:23.260 massachusetts or 400 000 for the briar patch youth services in wisconsin that has gender affirming
00:13:29.600 clothing program for kids 18 to 13 to 18 or 400 000 to the garden state equality education fund
00:13:36.940 which helps minors transition genders promote biological boys playing girls sports and using the
00:13:43.040 same restrooms i could go on and on how about the million dollars for the inner city muslim network
00:13:48.760 which calls for the destruction of israel that's what we're funding that's precisely what we're
00:13:54.400 funding in this legislation so when the democratic leader talks about a mosaic that's what he's
00:13:59.980 talking about and my republican colleagues who will campaign against it all year they will they're
00:14:06.240 voting to fund it today to be very clear my republican colleagues are voting to fund that so-called
00:14:12.280 mosaic today unless they choose the right path and vote against it and my friend from california
00:14:18.300 when he talked about oh oh the horrors that'll happen if we have a cr well we shouldn't be here
00:14:23.460 this is the swamp acting what it does have government funding expire on the friday before a two-week
00:14:29.980 recess heading into easter precisely to have the pressure of jet fumes so that the american people
00:14:36.200 are the ones left holding the bag so that we members of congress can go off to our codels can go travel
00:14:43.040 can go do your fundraisers can make sure you get home but the ones left holding the bag are the
00:14:49.440 the american people and we talk about this the game was given up when we talk about defense
00:14:55.200 everything that is happening here is being done in the name of defense everything that you see
00:15:00.660 and talking about our national security will be undermined well tell me about national security in
00:15:05.520 texas when you have the national guard getting rolled over in el paso when you have texans dying from
00:15:10.980 fentanyl poisoning when you have gangs and cartels operating in texas talk to me about national
00:15:16.440 security then that was congressman chip roy we're back live and despite that effective and persuasive
00:15:24.240 debate again we had over a hundred republicans voting for this bad legislation and they will have
00:15:30.120 to face their voters and i think the judgment is going to be very harsh we have another report from
00:15:34.540 business insider.com ex-trump official we'll get get to why that's ridiculous in a moment file suit
00:15:41.460 arguing lawmakers should make more than 174 thousand dollars a year so here's the crux of this argument
00:15:47.800 the 27th amendment to the constitution says quote no law varying the compensation for the services of
00:15:53.720 senators and representatives shall take effect until an election of representatives shall have intervened
00:16:00.060 so this lawsuit filed by ken kuchinelli the former attorney general of the state of virginia
00:16:05.580 uh was on behalf of republican congressman rick crawford of arkansas and a trio of ex-lawmakers from
00:16:12.760 both parties and it says that because the members of congress have 174 thousand dollar a year salary
00:16:20.220 that hasn't changed that it has been quote unconstitutionally suppressed they're seeking 50 million
00:16:28.000 dollars in this class action lawsuit and one of the named plaintiffs is actually this caught me by
00:16:35.040 surprise former uh republican representative tom davis of virginia is seeking 268 839 additional
00:16:42.800 dollars tom davis is now a lobbyist for foreign governments i think he might be like a registered
00:16:49.020 foreign agent or something but i how you can go from being a lawmaker and then you go to
00:16:57.320 using that prior experience to make money from foreign governments to lobby members of congress
00:17:05.560 and then the nerve to come back and say that's not a sweet enough deal and you need to get paid back
00:17:11.880 pay it is it is legally flawed and i believe it is it is morally bankrupt uh to back this lawsuit so
00:17:20.920 don't count me among those uh who want to get the 50 million in back pay for members of congress no one
00:17:27.080 needs to be worried about us we get taken care of just fine compared to the working people who get
00:17:33.080 screwed each and every day just like chip roy was talking about but outside of the substance of this
00:17:39.720 report what really got me was that ken cuccinelli the person who uh is bringing this lawsuit is described in
00:17:48.120 this big headline as ex-trump official ken cuccinelli was the chairman of never back down ron de sanis's
00:17:55.960 super pack why wasn't he described as i don't know the guy who formerly led a super pack attacking
00:18:01.880 donald trump just just to give you a flavor of it and spare me the throwback but i guest hosted a
00:18:09.640 newsmax program some months ago when the presidential contest was still raging between trump and de sanis
00:18:14.760 and i'd cuccinelli on to have a debate right where i was the pro trump person and he was the pro de sanis
00:18:20.840 person so just like take a listen to that and think about whether not it's fair for the media to describe
00:18:26.680 him as an ex-trump official take a listen can you commit tonight that none of the money from the never
00:18:34.040 back down super pack will be flipped to support the candidacy of glenn youngkin in the event that you
00:18:40.520 guys don't see de sanis as a good bet you know they didn't tell me they were bringing me on for
00:18:44.520 your conspiracy theories look this pack is committed it's a fair question are you going to use the money
00:18:50.680 that way no no it's not really i mean not with your 12 degrees of kevin bacon this we're committed
00:18:57.160 wait a second wait a second you have the total control to be able to direct that money you don't
00:19:01.640 think it's a fair question to ask you where it's going i'm answering it aren't i so it really doesn't matter
00:19:06.200 again any connection that they can make to trump for any negative headline they take a an absurd
00:19:19.400 license to do so so we don't back the lawsuit we don't back the characterization and the tie to trump
00:19:25.240 i don't think anyone associated with president trump believes that what we really need to do is create
00:19:30.680 more of a golden parachute for members of congress another story i want to bring to you is the wave of
00:19:37.560 illegal immigration that continues to pound our country and particularly the sunshine state st lucie
00:19:42.920 county is a small county in florida it's a coastal county uh that is right there on highway 90 95 and
00:19:50.120 also up is on the atlantic ocean and they are even experiencing uh some pretty some pretty odd
00:19:57.160 circumstances this report from st lucie county and their terrific law enforcement officials their
00:20:02.040 sheriff take a listen i'm st lucie county sheriff keith pearson illegal aliens aren't just flooding
00:20:09.320 across our southern borders they're arriving all across south florida beaches including right here in
00:20:13.320 st lucie county they are undocumented and unvetted individuals whom we have no idea what type of
00:20:18.120 positive or negative impact they could have on public safety of our community or nation working with
00:20:23.320 immigration to enforce the law of the land our deputies helped with this interception after
00:20:28.040 making sure there were no immediate medical needs we provided fresh water while they wait to be picked
00:20:32.600 up from the united states coast guard and processed behind me you see a vessel loaded with the migrants
00:20:36.920 that we're talking about the men and women of the st lucie county sheriff's office will continue to
00:20:41.880 monitor and assist our federal partners to ensure we protect our borders
00:20:46.760 and we are proud of the men and women of the st lucie sheriff's office for doing this but frankly
00:20:54.840 there should be a force multiplier from the federal government we know we are facing a mass wave of
00:21:00.520 these haitian migrants and if joe biden would declare the anticipated mass maritime migration we would
00:21:07.160 have support for folks like those brave public servants that are working for the st lucie county
00:21:12.440 sheriff's office again we thank you we salute you and the federal government should be doing a lot
00:21:16.920 more to have your back and really this immigration crisis takes so many twists and turns and has so
00:21:22.920 many tentacles i wanted to just bring you an interesting perspective on like how bad it's gotten and we get
00:21:28.600 this story from the terrific team at wear in pensacola but the the illegal immigration and the phony asylum
00:21:38.520 process has gotten so bad it's created a cottage industry of fraud feasors who go and act as if
00:21:47.240 they are the government or a lawyer or helping you to like make your asylum claim when you come to the
00:21:53.080 country illegally and then they end up grifting the illegal aliens so in this story you have a honduran
00:21:59.000 man living in pensacola and he used a massive immigration scheme to make 2.8 million dollars
00:22:04.840 uh this from the wear report a honduran national living in pensacola has been sentenced to nine
00:22:10.840 years in federal prison for orchestrating a massive immigration fraud scheme involving over 425 victims
00:22:18.280 nationwide franklin javier perez rios age 29 orchestrated a fraud scheme from 2017 to 2023 in which he claims to
00:22:27.160 be able to provide immigration related services to foreign nationals living in the united states he posted at
00:22:33.400 least or he profited at least 2.8 million dollars from victims according to the district attorney's
00:22:38.440 office which he used for gambling and to fund a lavish lifestyle perez rios who had no legitimate
00:22:44.360 qualifications pretended at various times to be a united states government official a former united
00:22:50.040 states government official an immigration attorney a paralegal or an or an immigration services
00:22:56.360 personnel of some other means perez rios did not obtain status for any of the victims he promised
00:23:01.960 rather he routinely filed asylum paperwork with uscis on the victim's behalf and told them they had to
00:23:07.880 travel to california with him where they would be subjected to medical examinations and vaccinations
00:23:13.240 neither the medical examinations nor the trips to california were legitimately part of the asylum
00:23:17.960 process for other victims perez rios filed no paperwork on their behalf and to keep victims believing he was
00:23:23.720 working on their behalf perez rios provided them with forged documentation supposedly from the united states
00:23:29.000 government again it's gotten so bad that you've created a cottage industry of fraudsters to go after
00:23:35.880 the illegal aliens i i never thought we'd be at this point but nonetheless uh that's where we are
00:23:43.800 uh we had big testimony from general mark milley on the hill this week regarding the botched withdrawal
00:23:48.840 from afghanistan and one thing i found interesting like you can always count on mark milley to throw
00:23:54.840 somebody under the bus right i mean he took every occasion to throw trump under the bus and now
00:23:59.240 they're even throwing the department of state under the bus regarding the afghanistan withdrawal a lot of
00:24:04.440 shade being thrown at the biden white house see if you can read in between the lines take a listen
00:24:10.600 number of americans that this was always an issue uh the number of americans as general mckenzie said
00:24:17.240 and f77 report is supposed every ambassador in every country of the world keeps an f77 report and
00:24:22.120 they're supposed to track the americans where they're at the phone numbers address etc in the
00:24:26.200 country that was always a difficult number for us in the department of defense to get a hold of and
00:24:32.440 i think it's true at the tactical level as an operational level as well and i'll be candid i don't know
00:24:37.960 the exact number of americans that were left behind because the starting number was never clear
00:24:42.520 same is true of at-risk afghans sivs the commandos other afghans that served with us
00:24:49.000 uh those numbers uh varied so widely that they were quite inaccurate uh as best i could uh tell at
00:24:56.680 the time uh so um i i would just say i'm not sure even today about the accuracy of all those numbers
00:25:05.640 i think the call to execute the neo came too late and as general mckenzie mentioned it was officially
00:25:12.440 logged in on the 14th at that point in time the afghan government senior leadership was preparing to
00:25:18.120 depart and they departed the next day on the 15th the thousands of afghan civilians were gathering at
00:25:23.960 the airport the afghan security forces were collapsing in the various provincial capitals and and although
00:25:29.080 there were some still in and around uh kabul so the general situation at that point with 750 u.s
00:25:34.680 soldiers in and around the embassy the turkish troops were required along with some ansf to protect
00:25:40.760 uh h kaya they melted away so you had a situation with the u.s embassy and 750 troops uh when that neo
00:25:48.360 was called and that's and now we had leaned forward so i think it's the 9th 10th or 11th time frame we had
00:25:54.600 already put forces on alert etc but in essence we alerted marshall deployed 82nd airborne division division
00:26:01.000 ready brigade and the uh mu uh out of saudi under that was underneath general mckenzie's control they
00:26:07.000 rapidly deployed along with special forces uh to take control of that airport uh it took two two to
00:26:12.840 three days that's where those videos come from uh but they eventually rested control of that airport
00:26:17.560 and general mckenzie you agree with that assessment i do that reflects the opinion i had at the time
00:26:22.840 and in the opinion i had now yeah i believe the accountability ensures mistakes of the past
00:26:27.960 are not repeated but from where i sit president and this administration refused to acknowledge their
00:26:35.400 failures our investigation uncovered the white house refused to listen to warnings about the situation
00:26:42.120 on the ground disturbingly we have uncovered that state department leadership prohibited prohibited
00:26:49.720 its employees from even uttering the word neo shorthand for emergency evacuation until as late as august
00:27:00.360 of 2021 too little too late we are back live deanna on facebook says make accountability great again
00:27:10.920 indeed and joe on youtube asks why does he look so bloated joe help us out were you talking about me
00:27:16.440 or millie because frankly he looks bloated and i feel a little bloated myself this week we also had a
00:27:22.600 chance in the house armed services committee to discuss what is really going on with taiwan and with a
00:27:28.040 country so capable as china with their ambition set on taiwan what are the things we're actually doing
00:27:33.880 to try to deter that a potential invasion so that we don't get caught in some war in asia i had the
00:27:40.040 opportunity to ask some of the top military leaders about our indo-pacific strategy take a listen
00:27:47.480 admiral aquilino during the revolutionary war i think it was like 15 percent of americans who fought
00:27:53.560 for liberty is that sound about right 15 20 percent i couldn't answer that now congressman i have to go
00:28:01.080 back and look i guess i'm just kind of wondering in taiwan what percent of the taiwanese do we assess
00:28:06.760 would actually fight in the event of kinetic conflict with china yeah i also don't have that calculation
00:28:14.680 what i can tell you is uh when the russians invaded ukraine that was a pretty good wake-up signal for a lot
00:28:21.720 of people across the globe and especially for those people on taiwan and we continue to execute
00:28:30.520 our responsibilities under the taiwan relations act to ensure we support their ability to defend
00:28:36.120 themselves and does that act require the development of a home guard in taiwan uh i'd have to go back and
00:28:43.720 look at the law i'm not i don't specifically know if that i don't think it does but maybe you could
00:28:48.040 talk a little bit about what what the home guard theory is in taiwan how that would enhance their
00:28:52.600 capabilities well again it's uh what the people on taiwan have done is they do have a reserve
00:28:57.800 activation program president sai just extended that to a one-year commitment so again when i talk about
00:29:03.880 the taiwan the people on taiwan taking it seriously they are it includes that approach that you've just
00:29:09.960 articulated and i almost think that's what it's going to take because i worry that the taiwanese
00:29:14.680 military may be infiltrated by the pla and that if there's really going to be a deterrent from a
00:29:19.960 chinese invasion that might not come exclusively from the uniform military or even the reservists we
00:29:26.360 may have to actually um you know render capability to the hundreds of thousands of taiwanese who don't
00:29:33.880 want to be part of china right yeah your point is valid and again i believe that that approaches
00:29:40.040 uh and actions are being taken there what i would say is the example the best example that i think
00:29:46.200 exists is when israel was attacked by the violent extremists in hamas the next day 360 000
00:29:57.080 israelis reported for duty that's the type of response that i believe yeah but i worry that we
00:30:02.760 conflate the cultural features there right because it what i worry about in taiwan is kind of a replay of
00:30:09.960 afghanistan where we look at some fake government and we do the normal kind of dod thing of large
00:30:19.400 weapon systems and then we give them to that government and then the real governing power
00:30:26.280 in afghanistan's case the taliban in taiwan's case perhaps china has the ability to then repurpose those
00:30:32.920 assets against the united states so it just seems to me i mean you you are the guy you're the person in
00:30:38.120 charge of this this theater i think you need to know you need to have some sort of assessment
00:30:44.680 as to whether or not you're going to get that israel level response from the taiwanese you know what
00:30:50.120 percentage of these this group of people is going to stand up and fight and sure we're all continuously
00:30:54.600 informed by events going on around the world but in taiwan specifically like we've seen cases where
00:31:00.680 the pla is infiltrating their government their military and i don't offer that as some sort of
00:31:06.520 criticism heck i think they ought they try to infiltrate our government and our military too
00:31:11.160 but i worry i worry whether or not we're going to be able to rely on the uniform service there so
00:31:17.240 is there a plan at dod to kind of make these assessments about a home guard and ensure that
00:31:22.600 you have small arms in the hands of these people that might that might deter a chinese invasion
00:31:28.440 congressman there absolutely is and i'd love to talk to you about it in a classified setting great no it's
00:31:33.160 it's good to know and uh is that consistent with this porcupine theory that we we think about often
00:31:40.040 with taiwan uh i don't use the term porcupine theory a lot of people do what i would why don't
00:31:48.200 you use it i hear it a lot on this committee well again i would articulate it in a way that
00:31:52.280 is in alignment with the law which is we're providing the people on taiwan the ability capability
00:31:57.800 and training to be able to defend themselves in time of conflict that by itself with regard to a
00:32:03.560 strong uh taiwan sets of capabilities is a strong deterrent yeah i just think this is a real important
00:32:10.040 piece of the homework to emanate from this is to you've talked about the taiwan secured engagement act
00:32:15.160 i get that but i i think you and i are both a little unclear as the extent to which that authorizes
00:32:21.720 the work with the home guard that we really need to convert taiwan into a an effective porcupine
00:32:27.400 because i assess that this is all about time china cannot endure an extended war with taiwan they
00:32:34.200 can't endure the sanctions they can't endure the other consequences and so if we can demonstrate to
00:32:38.120 them that that's going to be a longer period of time i think that pushes out uh the you know the
00:32:43.960 inevitability of a kinetic conflict with china so appreciate the exchange mr chairman i yield back
00:32:47.880 and we are back live there's a mtg for speaker sentiment uh on the live chat one uh man wouldn't
00:32:57.800 that be something i would be here for the mtg for speaker experience no doubt pk on youtube asks how
00:33:02.840 can i work with the 101 republicans who voted for this bad bill and honestly it's not that easy and they
00:33:10.280 for whatever dislike i have for that vote they probably have plenty of dislike directed back at me but
00:33:16.840 the difference is when i do things that folks don't like in washington they don't like it because it
00:33:22.440 makes them uncomfortable it disrupts their fundraising and their progression to power and leadership and
00:33:30.200 when the establishment does things that i don't like it's not like to me it's to the country it's to
00:33:36.440 every person paying higher prices it's it's to the next generation of americans that will be saddled with
00:33:42.920 an unprecedented amount of debt because we're unwilling to confront the challenges that that
00:33:47.320 that face us so we're going to stay on it this next two weeks is going to be very critical i'm
00:33:52.360 going to be traveling around the country doing a lot of work with policy makers uh with with thought
00:33:58.120 leaders and and doing some stuff that i can't exactly talk about on this platform but it's going
00:34:02.600 to be important work it's going to be central to how we get a house of representatives that is actually
00:34:07.160 willing to fight for we the people so since i'm going to be not giving direct live reports on firebrand
00:34:13.720 for a little bit of time here coming up we are trying out something new the gates news network will
00:34:20.120 launch moments after the conclusion of this broadcast you'll be able to see it on our twitter
00:34:25.640 or x i guess now on rumble uh and on youtube and this is going to be a a 24-hour stream of some of the work
00:34:34.680 we've done on investigations some of the work we've done on the floor of the congress some of the
00:34:39.560 committee work that's been essential to getting people into a fighting posture and also some of the
00:34:46.360 some of the reports that we've been able to provide the country through firebrand on things like
00:34:50.840 critical race theory uh dei on the illegal immigration that's crushing our nation so we hope
00:34:57.400 you'll enjoy that we hope it will deepen your understanding of what we need to do to change
00:35:02.760 the united states congress so tune in and share the live stream on whatever platform you're using the
00:35:07.960 gates news network if you're picking up this report on one of our great audio platforms make sure to go
00:35:13.480 to rumble youtube or x and watch all the work we're doing and hopefully it'll make you an even more capable
00:35:21.160 operative in the fight as we work on saving the country together thanks so much roll the credits
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