Episode 54 - I Just Filed a Criminal Referral Against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Antifa's Not a Myth. Chicago Woes.
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Summary
Mark Meadows on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos with his hot takes and descriptions of the negotiations on the next round of coronavirus relief legislation. Matt Gaetz on Florida s approach to dealing with the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Transcript
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Welcome to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz. Let's talk about the news.
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The news in Washington is the intense negotiation on the next round of coronavirus
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relief legislation. The White House is arguing for liability reform so that businesses aren't
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sued out of existence as they're dealing with the already significant challenges of reopening,
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and also workforce reforms to ensure that people have every incentive to go back to work.
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On the other side, Democrats are arguing for trillions in additional spending,
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including funds for state and local governments, hospitals, and a variety of other programs that
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they simply want to see enhanced. You saw in the prior rounds of coronavirus relief legislation,
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Democrats lobbying for everything from changes to immigration policy to even the Kennedy Center
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getting a facelift. So a lot of that's still in what they are seeking. Here's Mark Meadows on ABC's
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this week with George Stephanopoulos with his hot takes and descriptions of those negotiations.
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I've actually been on the phone with Secretary Scalia, Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin.
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We believe that in a combination of working with Secretary Mnuchin and Secretary Scalia,
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we'll be able to find a way to actually provide a threshold that will meet that guideline.
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Yes, some of the state benefit computer systems are antiquated, and so we're going to have to work
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from a federal government standpoint. Secretary Mnuchin is willing to step in and help with that.
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It's our goal to make sure that it's not antiquated computers that keep people from getting their benefits.
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But as we look at trying to make sure that we get this economy back going again,
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and actually the president's done an outstanding job there. We had an estimated 40 million people
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that were going to be unemployed. It never got even close to that number. We're still well beyond
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where we would hope a healthy economy would be, but it's improving very quickly. And so the Secretary
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and I have been on Capitol Hill, as you know, over the weekend. We'll be back there again today,
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putting the final touches on a bill that Leader McConnell plans to introduce tomorrow.
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But honestly, I see us being able to provide unemployment insurance, maybe a retention credit
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to keep people from being displaced or brought back into the workplace, helping with our schools.
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If we can do that, along with liability protection, perhaps we put that forward,
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get that passed as we can negotiate on the rest of the bill in the weeks to come.
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So here's my hot take. Both sides likely are going to need to revise their strategy
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to get the workforce engaged and ready and prepared not only to deal with a reopening,
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but to continue to deal with the consequences of this virus. In Florida, I think that our model
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can be a guide from a policy standpoint. Obviously, in the state of Florida, technically,
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we had a website that was a disaster and that really caused unnecessary delay for a lot of
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Floridians in receiving their benefits. But the policy Florida employs is one that I think we could
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tuck into this major bill. That is this. If someone is on unemployment and they are offered their old
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job back that they lost that was the result of them going on unemployment, they have a period of time
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to take that job. Otherwise, they lose those unemployment benefits. Here's why this is the
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best approach. There are some jobs that are still illegal that people can't go back to. And in those
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cases, what the White House is asking, which is a 70 percent sort of valuation on their earnings in
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terms of the size and scope of their benefits, that is not going to get it done for a lot of American
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families. While at the same time, Democrats are proposing the policy options that will keep people
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at home, that will at times, you know, yield a higher dollar amount for those who stay out of work
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than those who go to work. I'll tell you the story of an Uber driver who picked me up here in Washington,
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D.C. He runs his own business as a limousine service. And his drivers, he told me, make on average
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about 1500 bucks a week. And if they don't go to work, if they stay on unemployment, they can make
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1100 bucks a week. And what he was telling me is that a lot of folks are just choosing to continue
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to receive their government benefits, and then not have an on the books job, you know, have some sort
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of side hustle that they aren't reporting to make up that other loss in revenue. And so that is not
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going to lead to an energetic, engaged workforce. That's not going to lead to the V-shaped recovery
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that I know the president and so many of us want. So it is my advice. It is my suggestion. It is my
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hot take that if someone has a job that is illegal, they should not see a reduction in their benefits
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as a consequence of Washington not doing its job. While at the same time, Washington shouldn't make
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it harder for small businesses to onboard their workforce by keeping those folks on extended
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benefits. So if you have a job, you need to get back to it and lose your benefits. And if you don't,
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then we should ensure that we provide for our people.
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I believe Mark Zuckerberg has lied to Congress. I believe Project Veritas has exposed those lies.
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And today I am writing the Attorney General of the United States to ask him to investigate Mark
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Zuckerberg for lying to the United States Congress. On April 10, 2018, Mark Zuckerberg testified in the
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Senate Judiciary Committee and in the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. And the very
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next day he testified to the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee. And repeatedly in that
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testimony, Mark Zuckerberg said that people weren't being censored or denied access or experiencing any
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bias as a consequence of their conservative speech or their politics. Zuckerberg dismissed this suggestion
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and he rejected any accusation of editorial malfeasance or misbehavior. But then Project Veritas,
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through their exposed Facebook investigation, showed that Mr. Zuckerberg was lying. Two content
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moderators, Zach McElroy and Ryan Hartwig, both worked on the content review generated by Facebook.
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And these content moderators have tremendous power to manipulate what you see and what you hear. And
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I think the objective sometimes is for them to manipulate what we're all thinking.
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So on June 23, 2020, Project Veritas published some of the results of their undercover investigation.
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They saw whistleblowers. They saw people who were moderating speech. And in fact, this Project
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Veritas investigation shows that there's a tremendous amount of footage detailing political
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activity that is going on behind the scenes at Facebook. There is no way that moderators are
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punishing people for supporting President Trump or putting Make America Great Again on their timeline
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without the knowledge and understanding of Mark Zuckerberg. And if Mark Zuckerberg didn't know
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that this was going on, he should have answered that way. When Mark Zuckerberg goes before the Senate
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and says that there is not bias, and in fact, there was bias, I seem to think that that would warrant
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an investigation. And that's why I'm asking the Attorney General to take action. The Attorney General
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will be before the Judiciary Committee tomorrow. The following day, Mark Zuckerberg will be before
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the Judiciary Committee. It should be an interesting week.
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Chicago is a war zone with shootings and violent crime on the rise. Here's the president's critique
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Chicago is a disaster. The mayor is saying don't come in. The mayor is telling us not to come in.
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At some point, we can void that if we have to, and we may have to because it's out of control.
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I assume she's saying that for political reasons. I think it's negative political reasons. She's a
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she's a Democrat. I'm going to be nice. She's a Democrat. She's making a big mistake. People are dying
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in Chicago and other cities, and we can solve the problem. They have to ask us, but we can solve the
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And Mayor Lightfoot was on State of the Union with Jake Tapper this Sunday. Here was her perspective
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on what the federal government could do to reduce crime in Chicago.
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I sent him a letter on Monday outlining the very specific things that the federal government is
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uniquely qualified to help with, starting with common sense gun control. The fact of the matter is,
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our gun problem is related to the fact that we have too many illegal guns on our street, 60% of which,
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60% of which come from states outside of Illinois. We are being inundated with guns from states that have
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virtually no gun control, no background checks, no ban on assault weapons. That is hurting cities like
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Chicago. That is the thing that the president really wanted to help. That and the other things I
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identified and my letter he could do today, tomorrow, but he's not really interested in
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Gun control. This is crazy. You have circumstances where the liberal leadership in a lot of these
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cities is straight up abandoning their people. And then in addition to not providing the necessary
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funding for police, in addition to denigrating police so that they don't get out and engage in
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effective, proactive policing, now you have the mayors and liberal leaders in a lot of these
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cities wanting to disarm the law abiding Americans who want the opportunity to protect themselves.
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Gun control is not the answer. Law and order is the answer. Gun control only will restrict the
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ability of people who aren't the criminals to defend themselves. Because I don't see any of these
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Antifa warlords abiding by gun control regulations. I don't see the criminal gangs in Chicago shooting up
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funerals for people who died in other drive-by shootings likely to adhere to gun control.
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So I support the Second Amendment. I support the president's efforts to send in federal assistance
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in places where you have seen total chaos and anarchy because a great nation does not allow her cities to fall.
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Drugs are getting cheaper. That's always good news for our cherished senior citizens in my beloved
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Florida. President Trump taking unprecedented action to reduce the price of prescription drugs
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in the state of Florida and throughout the country. Here's my hot take. Every major drug that gets
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developed in America is developed as a consequence of partnership with the government and taxpayers.
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And then what large pharmaceutical companies do is that they take the research and development costs
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that American taxpayers are fronting and they don't charge those to citizens around the world.
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The consequence is that drugs are far cheaper in Canada, in Europe, in Latin America,
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in Africa, oftentimes than they are in the United States. And so Americans are essentially subsidizing
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drug costs in other countries and sometimes even subsidizing costs in socialist countries.
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And so Governor DeSantis and I had an idea. We went to President Trump and said, look, let's allow Florida
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to be a pilot project where we import these cheaper drugs from Canada or elsewhere to lower costs
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costs for our state, for those we serve in our corrections facilities, and particularly for Florida
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seniors. And if you allow the state of Florida to do this, then likely drug companies will reduce
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costs for Americans broadly because we will blow a hole through this loophole that exists allowing drug
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companies to sell these very important life-saving substances to people elsewhere at just a different price
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than they charge Americans. Here's President Trump in his description of this historic event.
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So today I'm taking a bold and historic, very dramatic action to reduce the price of prescription drugs
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for American patients and American seniors. Previous administrations did nothing, absolutely nothing,
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as drug lobbyists, special interests in foreign countries fairly ripped off
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our citizens. Under the last administration alone, drug prices rose a staggering 55 percent.
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Thanks to my administration's aggressive action since taking office, we have successfully lowered drug
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prices for the first time in 51 years. Governor DeSantis also weighed in. Here's his remarks.
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Obviously Florida, you know, we did some groundwork, but really it's a result of presidential leadership.
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So the people of Florida, I want to thank you for siding with us on this. Like I said, this could have been
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done for almost 20 years, and it hasn't been done. So you're the one that got it done. So, Mr. President, thank you.
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We also heard from the HHS Secretary, Alex Azar. Here's what he's had to say.
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You're taking on the drug companies. You're taking on the middlemen. You're taking on the European socialists.
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All for the forgotten men and women of America who show up at a pharmacy counter. And for that,
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I am so proud of what you are doing today. Thank you, Mr. President.
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Lower drug costs for Floridians and Americans. It's a big America first win.
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Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler apparently thinks that Antifa is a myth. Here's the exchange he had
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Do you disavow the violence from Antifa? That's happening in Portland right now?
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That's a myth that's being spread only in Washington, D.C.
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Sir, there's videos everywhere online. There's fires and riots. They're throwing fireworks at
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A myth, Chairman? We have Antifa rioters and protesters for nights and weeks on end destroying federal
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property, scaring their fellow citizens, limiting the ability of emergency vehicles to be able to
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render care to people. Americans have died as a result of Antifa. They are a terrorist organization
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in our country. Our Attorney General should use law enforcement to hunt them down, arrest them,
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hold them responsible for their crimes. And I think it's quite telling that Jerry Nadler,
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the man who thought he saw Russia collusion despite the total absence of evidence thereof,
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now all of a sudden can't see Antifa even though they're right in front of him. Shame on Chairman
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Jerry Nadler for denying the reality that our fellow Americans are facing. And let's mobilize this
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government and clean that trash, clean that terrorism, clean that violence, clean that disruption
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off of our streets so that we can return to our lives as safe, prosperous, loving, compassionate
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Americans. Should social media companies go dark on politics before an election? What is Facebook
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contemplating? And would Twitter and other social media platforms follow suit if there was this sort
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of political dark period before the voting? Well, Chuck, they've got very different tacks that
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different platforms do. Twitter, for example, has already said we're not going to do any political
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advertising whatsoever. YouTube and Facebook are still doing that. Facebook says, hey, we've got
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35,000 now people in our security team going out kind of proactively trying to police this stuff.
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They've not said that they're going to go dark on political information. And frankly, I mean,
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at a time like this, where in a pandemic, there's probably going to be less face-to-face gatherings.
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We can see that with what's happening with the conventions. Probably a lot of these campaigns
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and their surrogates are going to be relying on social media and electronic media more than ever
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to reach voters from the big candidates to the smaller ones. And Facebook sees that as part of
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their role too. So how they thread the needle here is going to be tricky. It's interesting that the MSNBC
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chosen analyst seems to utilize this 35,000 person workforce at Facebook as some sort of block
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against interference. What if those 35,000 employees are the interference? What if their politics guides
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what you see, what is suppressed, what trends, what shows up in a newsfeed? I'm deeply concerned about
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any technology company that would utilize a 35,000 person strong workforce to try to influence the
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political discussion that's occurring on their platform. Particularly if a lot of those folks
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have their genesis in Silicon Valley, or if they're farmed out folks from the SPLC, the Southern
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Poverty Law Center, a group that had, I would say, righteous beginnings, but is now functionally turned
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into a hate group that goes after conservatives and targets a Christian dogma, Jewish dogma as hate
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speech. And it's absolutely ludicrous. So those are the types of people that Facebook is counting on
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when they seek to enter politics. I don't know. I think that Chuck Todd may have an interesting question.
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I think Israel may have an interesting approach. What would our politics look like if they were removed
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from social media in the days before a political campaign? Would they be better? Would they be worse?
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Would they be more informed? Interesting discussion.
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Joe Biden is still hiding. And that's not leadership. One thing that I'll say about President Trump,
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he will take on his toughest critics. He'll go on the television shows of reporters and hosts who don't
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share his view of the world, who've been very critical of him. And he'll joust and engage
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on a policy standpoint, on an intellectual standpoint. And Joe Biden doesn't seem to have
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the same willingness to do so. Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly reports, Biden campaign declines Fox News
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Sunday interview one week after Chris Wallace's Trump sit down. Chris Wallace is a very, very tough
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interview. I think people on both sides of the aisle would recognize that. President Trump was
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willing to engage in that interview, lay out his vision for America, lay out his case for re-election.
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And Joe Biden seems to prefer a very managed, a very closely curated environment. And that's just not
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what the presidency calls for. I mean, if you're going to be president of the United States, you have
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to be able to sit across the table and go toe-to-toe with Xi. You have to make demands of our allies so
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they pay their fair share. You have to negotiate trade deals. You have to be able to instill in our
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adversaries a sense that America will be strong and resilient and faithful to our mission and to
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our values. And with Joe Biden essentially hiding from the tough interviews, hiding from the tough
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issues, some might say, I doubt that he's up to the presidency and I doubt that he could hang with
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President Donald Trump. He won't be able to hide long. We'll be having the debates before you know
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it. But until then, I would encourage Joe Biden, get out there, take a tough interview and show the
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American people what's in your heart, what you believe and what you're able to defend. I know Chris
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Wallace is tough, but I assure you, President Xi and others will be a lot tougher.
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There appears to be a coronavirus outbreak in the clubhouse of my favorite baseball team,
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the Miami Marlins. Yes, the Marlins are winning games, but they also appear to be in the middle of
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a bit of a coronavirus challenge. Jason Stark and Ken Rosenthal have the story with the Atlantic
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entitled, Why Did the Marlins Play Baseball on Sunday? And it details a Sunday game the Marlins play
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against the Phillies. And it is known three days before that Marlins players, three of them in
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fact, tested positive for the coronavirus. And as the Stark-Rosenthal report lays out,
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infectious disease experts are saying this is the definition of a clear outbreak of the virus within
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the team. And the story goes on to raise the doctrinal question, what are we going to do on a
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baseball club when you have a few players test positive, evidence of an outbreak? What are you
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going to do in an office space in a school? And so I think that it's really important for corporate
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America, government, our innovators in the science and technology and academic fields to work together
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to ascertain when you have a series of test results that are positive, who do you have to quarantine?
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How long? Is there a way to see whether or not the viral load is built up with others in that
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learning space or in that workspace? Because if we have this dynamic where you have an outbreak,
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you have positive test results, you engage in your commercial or professional or educational
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activity anyway, and then you have further positive results that come as a consequence,
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that creates a liability problem, that creates an erosion in trust. And so I look forward to seeing
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these doctrines developed, deployed, used so that we're able to build that confidence and get our
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economy moving again. Thanks so much for listening to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz. Don't forget,
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subscribe, rate, leave us a review, and make sure to join us tomorrow for more Hot Takes.