The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - Episode 58 - Delay the 2020 Election？ Mark Meadows Rips Democrats Stalling Stimulus Talks. FIFA Criminal Proceedings.

00:00:00.000 You ever watch this guy on television?

00:00:03.780 You all were not telling the truth and you should not be trusted.

00:00:06.540 Congressman Matt Gaetz, thank you for what you did for your country tonight.

00:00:09.280 Be offended with the Democratic whip, not House of Republicans.

00:00:12.240 Like a machine, Matt Gaetz.

00:00:16.260 Welcome to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz.

00:00:19.220 Let's talk about the news.

00:00:21.160 The election will happen on time as scheduled in 2020 in November.

00:00:26.800 I think the president knows that.

00:00:28.860 We all certainly know that. The American people know that.

00:00:32.200 The president has a unique ability, particularly on Twitter,

00:00:35.700 to propose something that isn't under true consideration

00:00:39.740 in a way to get all of the media apparatus to focus on what he really wants to talk about.

00:00:46.500 And in this case, that is the fraud that potentially can impact some elements of mail-in voting.

00:00:53.780 Now I'm going to get into why that's not a good thing for the president to talk about in just a moment.

00:00:58.380 But I don't think there's any serious consideration, any consideration at all really,

00:01:03.660 to the concept that we're going to have a delayed election.

00:01:07.280 Here was my response to that question on Cheddar.

00:01:09.680 We're not going to delay the election.

00:01:11.040 I think the president was expressing his frustration with some of the techniques that are going to be rolled out in vote-by-mail.

00:01:18.720 My state of Florida is a state that allows vote-by-mail.

00:01:21.540 I believe that vote-by-mail is a safe and secure way to vote.

00:01:25.280 Of course, it is susceptible to fraud, and that's why we need great supervisors of elections

00:01:29.780 and elections officers throughout the country.

00:01:32.280 But I'm for an election that's on time, fair, and honest.

00:01:35.060 I understand why the president would be concerned about some elements of mail-in voting.

00:01:39.820 Here's how the fraud occurs.

00:01:41.840 So let's assume you've got an apartment complex, and every single human being, you register to vote in that apartment complex.

00:01:49.740 Now, in some cases, the states just automatically register people when they get their driver's license.

00:01:54.960 In other states, people take the affirmative act to go and register to vote.

00:01:59.200 So then people move in and out of that apartment complex.

00:02:03.900 And then when the election happens, maybe, you know, instead of just the ballots appearing for the three people that live in that unit,

00:02:12.160 they appear for the three people that live in that unit, the four people that lived in it before.

00:02:16.720 So now instead of three ballots, you've got seven ballots.

00:02:19.740 And then a ballot harvester, typically paid by the Democratic Party, but I guess you could say could be paid by anyone,

00:02:27.800 shows up not to just retrieve the three ballots that are legal and legitimate from the people currently living in that residence,

00:02:35.640 but also the four additional ballots.

00:02:38.700 And oftentimes they forge signatures, they commit election fraud, but it is almost impossible to stop that type of fraud.

00:02:46.980 Ballots can show up for dead people, people who are incarcerated elsewhere, ineligible to vote,

00:02:54.520 and people who may be actually casting a legal ballot somewhere else in a different jurisdiction,

00:03:00.140 in a different state, at a different address, through a different ballot.

00:03:04.860 This erodes confidence in elections, but here's why it's not a good idea for the president to be talking about it as much as he is.

00:03:12.280 The fraud feasors aren't going to be impacted by the president's tweets.

00:03:18.360 Instead, the very legitimate mail-in voting that occurs from folks in Florida and throughout the country

00:03:26.120 is going to be called into question.

00:03:28.420 That is not good for the president.

00:03:30.500 That is not good to ensure that people are voting.

00:03:33.240 So I would suggest that the president focus on the fraud in the expansion of mail-in voting,

00:03:42.040 but that he not attack mail-in voting as an enterprise.

00:03:46.120 And here's how the math breaks down.

00:03:47.620 I mean, I think the president won Florida by about 130,000 votes,

00:03:51.880 and I think he won the mail-in vote by about 200,000 votes.

00:03:55.920 And so you can see that the margin of victory is less than the margin for mail-in voting in Florida and in some other states.

00:04:05.820 So the fraud feasors won't be deterred by the president's tweets and conduct,

00:04:12.120 but good patriotic Americans should still vote by mail if that is, in fact, their method of voting.

00:04:19.160 The ACLU files a lot of lawsuits that are real head-scratchers, but this may just take the cake.

00:04:31.420 The rioters that are out engaging in criminal activity in a lot of cases in Portland

00:04:37.480 apparently don't want to be videoed by the police.

00:04:40.940 The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the Portland police to stop them from live-streaming riots.

00:04:48.160 And the allegations in the lawsuit are ludicrous to the point of comical.

00:04:55.300 So they say that if there are riots, that the people engaged don't want to be recorded.

00:05:01.960 Well, now, I thought these were political protests.

00:05:04.640 I thought this was political speech.

00:05:06.500 So, I mean, if you're out engaging in a public political act,

00:05:10.840 you have surrendered the right to privacy.

00:05:12.780 And if you are out engaging in a public on the streets criminal activity where you're burning stuff,

00:05:19.560 breaking stuff, hurting people, you have absolutely no right to privacy.

00:05:24.300 In the lawsuit, there is an allegation that the government can maintain information about their political or social views.

00:05:32.380 Now, again, this is a live stream so the Portland police can essentially monitor what's going on for the safety of their citizens.

00:05:40.220 And I think it's important for the rest of us to get wise to what's going on in Portland

00:05:45.140 so that the terror and the violence and the destruction doesn't spread to our towns and communities.

00:05:51.720 Absolutely, the Portland police have a right to live stream this content.

00:05:57.240 And you know what?

00:05:57.940 If you don't want to be in it, if you are out there engaged in something where you don't want to be seen,

00:06:04.720 then it's very likely that that is a First Amendment right that you are engaging in.

00:06:10.160 You don't have a right to a protest that obscures your identity.

00:06:16.440 No such right exists.

00:06:17.860 So I hope the HCL loses.

00:06:20.600 I suspect they will.

00:06:23.080 And I just think that it is crazy that we have come to the point in this country

00:06:27.520 where folks can riot and harm others

00:06:31.540 and then think that their rights are the ones being infringed on by a video camera.

00:06:40.140 Is China preparing for war with Taiwan?

00:06:44.020 Bloomberg's Businessweek asks the question, the story by Ian Marlowe and Cindy Wang.

00:06:48.580 China's Xi sets his sights on Taiwan after subduing Hong Kong.

00:06:53.440 So in the Middle Kingdom, these leaders often weigh their historical ranking based on territory that can be seized or controlled.

00:07:03.300 And I think for Xi, the Hong Kong circumstance at this point is viewed as a victory.

00:07:09.400 And he was able to bring them under Chinese control. 0.99

00:07:12.760 And while I think that life in Hong Kong isn't going to be able to fundamentally change overnight,

00:07:19.840 certainly what we've seen has been a negative impact as a consequence of China's efforts and China's expanding hegemony.

00:07:26.960 I don't think they're going to stop at Hong Kong.

00:07:30.580 I think that they've got their sights set on Taiwan.

00:07:33.660 The article makes a pretty compelling case when you look at incursions on Taiwanese air defenses,

00:07:39.780 when you look at the strategic restriction of navigation around Taiwan

00:07:45.300 as a consequence of what China is doing to build out reefs and to expand their naval presence.

00:07:52.140 Now, the Trump administration has responded strongly, sending missiles, F-16s.

00:07:57.940 We have seen increased technology transfers with Taiwan.

00:08:02.280 And because the U.S. military and her partners have been involved in beefing up Taiwan,

00:08:08.240 you even see China imposing sanctions on Lockheed Martin, which is a pretty big deal.

00:08:14.600 Now, when you look at the math,

00:08:15.940 There are a few numbers that stick out that show this would be a very, very negative event for the world.

00:08:22.020 There are 1.4 billion Chinese, 23 million on the island of Taiwan.

00:08:27.560 And China spends about 25 times more on its military than the small island.

00:08:32.740 But Taiwan packs a very significant punch economically.

00:08:37.080 20% of the world's microchips are manufactured in Taiwan.

00:08:41.780 And they continue to have a lot of friends around the world, including the United States and other trading partners

00:08:47.480 who view that trading relationship as a very valuable one.

00:08:51.820 My hope is that this doesn't come to kinetic conflict between China and Taiwan.

00:08:57.140 But I certainly support the Trump administration's efforts to have a strong relationship with Taiwan

00:09:02.780 and to strengthen the hand of our peaceful partner.

00:09:05.740 Congressman Mark Meadows briefed reporters today on the latest in the stimulus coronavirus response negotiations

00:09:16.940 between the White House and congressional Democrats.

00:09:20.560 It's clear he's frustrated.

00:09:21.920 Take a listen.

00:09:22.520 I'm disappointed in what we've experienced over the last three days.

00:09:28.140 And I want to stress that the Democrats have made zero offers over the last three days.

00:09:34.480 Zero.

00:09:35.500 And so in a spirit of compromise, the president has sent us back not once, not twice,

00:09:40.920 but three different times to try to find some common ground.

00:09:44.320 And what we found from our Democrat negotiators is that they are bumping the price higher

00:09:50.400 than the very bill that they passed out of the House several weeks ago.

00:09:56.300 So there's no clear message that the American people should receive

00:09:59.880 other than the fact that the Democrats are willing to play politics at a critical time

00:10:05.800 in our nation's very dire circumstances as we deal with this.

00:10:11.000 Here's my hot take on why the negotiations haven't produced a deal.

00:10:15.600 Democrats believe that if unemployment benefits expire and there's no deal,

00:10:21.240 that that will look bad for the president.

00:10:22.820 And Republicans believe that if we don't have a deal, if the American people don't have,

00:10:29.660 you know, some transition back to work, but that also accommodates those who can't go back

00:10:35.740 to work as a consequence of health concerns or just the very nature of their industry being

00:10:41.360 rendered illegal by some government entity.

00:10:44.380 The Republicans think that if that happens and Congress is out on recess, as we're expected

00:10:50.420 to go today, that that will really, really be a bad look for them.

00:10:54.600 You know what?

00:10:55.160 It's all a bad look for the country.

00:10:57.460 For those who are able to go back to work, there should be every incentive to go back to work,

00:11:01.880 and we should not make it harder for our small businesses to onboard employees.

00:11:06.760 And for those who can't go back to work, our government ought to be there for them and provide for them.

00:11:11.620 Let's hope that a stronger sense of cooperation prevails.

00:11:19.480 As a bad Obama-era solar deal flames out, the Trump administration is there to pick up the pieces

00:11:27.720 and recover $200 million for taxpayers.

00:11:31.980 Fox Business has the story from Adam Shaw.

00:11:34.980 Trump administration to recover $200 million from failed Obama-era solar project.

00:11:40.620 This was a Nevada project.

00:11:43.160 Crescent Dunes Solar was the operator.

00:11:47.600 And the Obama administration gives them a $737 million loan guarantee.

00:11:53.880 They go build this plant.

00:11:55.860 It faces multiple shutdowns and outages.

00:11:59.360 It never turns a profit.

00:12:01.420 And to me, this is just the juiciest fact.

00:12:04.020 At no point following the government giving these people a $737 million guarantee did they ever generate enough power to consistently run their own solar plant.

00:12:18.220 That is not good news if you are net energy negative.

00:12:22.000 So that means that in the hundreds of millions that were spent on this project, we actually made the environment worse because the operations and construction of this solar plant,

00:12:35.220 they were having to pipe in dirtier energy to run a solar plant that couldn't even run itself.

00:12:42.380 The government is not a good venture capitalist.

00:12:46.520 I think the president knows that.

00:12:48.700 And it's good to see the president using his good business sense, the good leaders over at the Department of Energy,

00:12:53.600 getting at least back what we could back, around $200 million.

00:12:58.100 But hundreds of millions wasted.

00:13:00.820 What a disaster.

00:13:02.340 Hopefully we've learned from this.

00:13:03.720 I believe that solar is absolutely part of our technology platform in the future.

00:13:09.240 But the answer isn't to go take a bunch of money away from taxpayers and give it to people who couldn't raise money in the private equity markets.

00:13:18.840 Because if you don't have a good enough business plan to raise money in the private equity markets,

00:13:24.480 I guess the Obama administration was just like willing to virtue signal hundreds of millions of dollars at you.

00:13:31.240 Here's the right approach to solar.

00:13:32.520 First, protect American innovation.

00:13:36.400 Don't let China rip us off.

00:13:38.240 One of the reasons why a lot of the good people that were initially in solar and were building companies went belly up

00:13:44.940 was because China stole their tech, replicated their products,

00:13:48.560 and then dumped cheaper products back into the American and global markets, replacing America in the marketplace.

00:13:55.380 Second thing, improve the electric grid for everyone.

00:13:59.340 Rather than wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on this nut job project in Nevada that couldn't even run their own plant,

00:14:07.060 why didn't we take that money and improve the electric grid so that for everyone there is a more capable system?

00:14:13.600 That way, we have less dirty energy leaking off and then we have an energy system that's like a platform for innovators to do more and better solar.

00:14:23.420 Third thing we need to do, allow people to generate energy and use it at their particular location and then sell it to their neighbors as energy entrepreneurs.

00:14:33.260 The answer here, in fact, is not more government venture capitalism.

00:14:38.020 It's more of a free market.

00:14:39.560 If Publix and Walmart and Aldi could put solar panels on the tops of their buildings and then sell to the smaller tenants with lower energy needs in addition to powering their own operations,

00:14:54.020 then you literally create a nation of energy entrepreneurs capable of meeting our energy needs, helping our environment,

00:15:02.360 and doing so not with more excessive involvement from the government, but less regulation from the government.

00:15:09.780 Finally, we will advance solar innovation when we open up our public lands for more research and development.

00:15:17.180 Right now, we have such an arcane system where, you know, you got to have like six left-handed Eskimos or whatever on your team,

00:15:25.380 you know, in the federal contracting process.

00:15:27.300 Everybody knows what a complete joke the federal contracting process is.

00:15:31.040 Let's at least make that more democratized and accessible on public lands for the nerds and the tinkerers and the weirdos to get out there and build their solar robots 1.00

00:15:42.520 and attempt to practice with different types of battery cell technologies.

00:15:47.760 If we did that, I think that we would see the technology accelerate faster and you wouldn't have the type of debacle from the Obama era

00:15:57.680 that the Trump administration has worked very hard to clean up as best they could.

00:16:02.920 That's a better plan for solar.

00:16:04.600 The international criminal organization that occasionally organizes soccer matches, also known as FIFA,

00:16:15.160 finding themselves in more criminal proceedings, this time in Switzerland.

00:16:20.620 And it's quite something if even the Swiss are engaging in battle against you.

00:16:24.780 But the current head of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, criminal proceedings against FIFA launched in Switzerland against their president.

00:16:33.920 We're getting the news from Sky News.

00:16:36.520 And in this particular case, even top Swiss officials are implicated covering up their meetings with FIFA surrounding the criminal probe.

00:16:45.480 It appears that bribery, extortion, that all of these things that have sort of been a part of FIFA's past continue to plague them now.

00:16:55.060 I mean, I think the last president of FIFA got run out as a consequence of corruption.

00:16:59.360 And now the current president telling the FIFA Congress that he's going to restore the image and make everything better.

00:17:06.600 This is all going to be cleared up.

00:17:08.160 Some of these allegations surrounding how he got the job, how he won the election on several rounds of voting.

00:17:14.760 And there may have been some improper conduct there.

00:17:17.820 Wouldn't surprise me.

00:17:18.940 We always agree that people should get due process, but it just sure seems like a lot of these convictions, removals, and resignations that surround FIFA would suggest that they're not a legitimate organization.

00:17:33.820 And soccer should do better.

00:17:36.200 I mean, is soccer like inherently corrupt?

00:17:38.940 Do they have to take this kind of poor leadership and organizational malfeasance?

00:17:44.180 Or can the nations that engage in soccer actually come together and put together a group of people who will simply serve the sport instead of themselves?

00:17:54.320 That would be better.

00:17:55.640 But it doesn't look like the present in FIFA.

00:17:58.060 What a shame.

00:18:00.000 Thanks for listening to Hot Takes.

00:18:01.500 I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz.

00:18:03.140 Have a great weekend, everyone, and tune in next week.

00:18:05.960 I'll be here with more Hot Takes.

00:18:14.180 I'll be here with more Hot Takes.

The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - July 31, 2020

Episode 58 - Delay the 2020 Election？ Mark Meadows Rips Democrats Stalling Stimulus Talks. FIFA Criminal Proceedings.

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