Episode 70 - AOC Goes Postal. Congress Goes to Work (sorta). Florida Votes. Abortion is Black Genocide.
Episode Stats
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Summary
On today's Hot Takes, Congressman Matt Gaetz takes aim at the Democratic Whip, Steny Hoyer, and calls on Congress to step up to the plate and solve the problem of the post office virus Coronavirus.
Transcript
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You all were not telling the truth and you should not be trusted.
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Congressman Matt Gaetz, thank you for what you did for your country tonight.
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Be offended with the Democratic whip, not House of Republicans.
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That's right, in the Sunshine State, we've got Primary Election Day today.
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I love the concept of performance review by our voters, by our bosses.
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Today, Republicans and Democrats will choose their nominees for contests
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And so get out and vote, regardless of your political persuasion or candidate of choice.
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I love seeing big, vibrant, healthy voter turnout.
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I think that's the sign of a democracy that is on the rise.
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And certainly, that's what President Trump has invigorated in our country.
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A lot of political participation, a lot of energy, a lot of passion on both sides.
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And I'm sure passionate about some of the candidates that Republicans and Democrats
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And so I just look forward to seeing that great voter participation.
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Congress is coming back on a Saturday, no less.
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Are we taking votes on relief for small businesses, liability protection?
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Are we taking votes on paycheck protection so that employees can still have careers and a stable
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sense of where they'll be working when we're able to get this viral pandemic under control?
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Are we sending stimulus checks to our fellow Americans who may,
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through no fault of their own, seen their job become illegal?
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None of the pleas and urgings from small businesses, from regular Americans,
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from folks who have seen themselves economically displaced.
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None of that got Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to call back the Congress.
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So we have undeniably seen an impact on service and on the post office as a result of coronavirus.
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You think of all of the surfaces, all of the packages coming in and out,
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all of the people that go out and do different parts of the Postal Service mission
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It is like a coronavirus recipe for disaster, just schematically and organizationally.
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And so of course we'll need to help the post office.
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And that's why the White House offered $10 billion for the post office.
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They didn't, wasn't good enough, you know, could not have used that in the short term
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for support and assistance in a lot of rural communities where the United States Postal Service
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You know, maybe in San Francisco you've got your choice of a variety of different public
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But if you live in rural Alabama, rural Mississippi, parts of rural North Florida,
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the United States Postal Service is the only option.
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And so for us to be able to support the Postal Service, I think is a good nationalist goal.
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That said, it just seems crazy to me that while we're bringing the Congress back from its district
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work period, we're not doing the work we should do for the Paycheck Protection Program,
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for eviction protections, to stop student loans from reverting back to a cycle of interest accrual
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while we're in this pandemic and while young people are particularly impacted by it.
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You know, those are the things that the president did with his executive order.
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Nancy Pelosi should put the elements of the president's executive order up
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for an individual vote on each one, up or down.
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and what their leadership is really willing to fight for.
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Because the students, the tenants, the small businesses, the workers, and our fellow Americans
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are just as worthy of the attention of the Congress as the United States Postal Service.
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And that's not to say the Postal Service shouldn't get attention.
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And obviously, that's why the White House offered $10 billion.
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But no, Nancy Pelosi is not willing to address these other important things
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that we should be taking votes on, because she's demanding it all be packaged up
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in some, you know, gazillion dollar bailout for blue states,
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I think we would all agree we should share in that.
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But for costs that have nothing to do with coronavirus.
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And for policy changes, you know, like the universal send a ballot to everyone,
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even people who don't ask for a ballot policy changes,
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you know, she is trying to use the pain and suffering of our fellow Americans
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as leverage to try to reshape the country with a leftist vision.
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And by the way, don't just take my word for it.
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That's exactly what Jim Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat, said on a conference call,
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that they were going to use this virus as a mechanism
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to implement policies that would not be able to stand on their own
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and survive a fair vote or a fair debate otherwise.
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So it is no surprise to me that we've seen the president's polling numbers improve.
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Actually, it was CNN polling that shows the race is tightening substantially.
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Our country will elect strong leaders, not weak ones.
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And President Trump has shown strong leadership in addressing the needs of the American people,
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in demanding that the Congress return back and work.
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It is my hope and my expectation that the president's leadership can inspire a little more action
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out of the legislative branch of government to meet the needs of our fellow Americans.
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So we'll be back in Washington for the post office.
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And there is no Florida election coverage better than FloridaPolitics.com.
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Not always folks who agree with me from an opinion standpoint.
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Not always folks who are fair, I think, to the president and some of my fellow Republicans.
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But when you get to the nitty gritty of the factual reporting on the races and the themes
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and the storylines, there are few out there who can ever beat FloridaPolitics.com.
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And I would suggest you check them out as you see how the Florida election unfolds today.
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So I want to break down two key themes that people all over the country should be watching
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Because look, you know, Florida is the third largest state.
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I think in many cases, Florida is a leading indicator for what you'll see throughout America
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It's a diverse state and I'm just super excited about our election today and my hopes for a
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So here I'm going to give you one key theme in the primary to watch for the Democratic primary
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and then one key theme for the Republican primary.
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Is it possible for pro-life, pro-charter school, African-American Democrats to survive a serious
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So in the Florida House of Representatives, you have this band of three African-American,
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more, I would say, you know, traditional Democrats.
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And they have voted with Republicans in the last legislative session on pro-life legislation
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Oftentimes, abortion clinics have targeted African-American communities for their operations
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and in their marketing and in their billboards.
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And it sickens me to see the loss of opportunity in a lot of our African-American communities
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as a result of abortion being used for birth control.
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That happens, you know, I think throughout the utilization of abortion, not just with any
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particular ethnic group, but it is devastating to see how these abortion clinics and how these
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abortion policies have ravaged a lot of African-American communities.
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And while the younger, newer, more woke-topian leaders in the minority community in the Democratic
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Party seem to be just pro-choice to the extent of abortion on demand in large part, I think
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that some of the folks who may be a little more part of the Democrat establishment, maybe
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a little older in that African-American community see the negative consequences that abortion has
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And so that is one side of the policy disagreement with these three Democrats in tough primary
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There were few images more powerful during my service in the Florida legislature than the
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busloads of African-American children that would come to the state capitol with their parents,
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with their teachers to beg African-American Democrats to vote for school choice because the charter
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schools, the step up for students scholarships have just provided so many opportunities for
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students who might otherwise be stuck in a failing school.
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And so you've had a lot of pro school choice legislation presented over the last couple of years in the
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state legislature in Florida as a result of Ron DeSantis, our governor being very pro school
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choice, the legislative leadership, very pro school choice.
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We've seen learning gains and student achievement really change in Florida for the better as a
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Democrat James Bush in Miami, Democrat Kim Daniels in Jacksonville, and candidate,
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That's in Broward County around the Fort Lauderdale area.
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So Bush, Daniels, Omfrey, and that would be the slate of pro-life, pro school choice Democrats.
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A lot of the party wants them out and they've recruited and funded candidates against them.
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And so let's see, can a pro-life, pro school choice candidate survive a Democratic primary
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On the Republican side of the primary election, one key theme to watch is Matt Gaetz versus
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In a few of the races that we've seen, the establishment of the Republican conference,
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majority leader, whip, conference chair, those folks whose names you know and are familiar
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with, have endorsed incoming Congressman Ross Spano.
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I have endorsed more of the outsider challenger candidate to Ross Spano, Scott Franklin.
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In the 13th district, you've got the leadership endorsed candidate in Amanda Mackey, the pharmaceutical
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lobbyist who has gone to that district to seek the Republican nomination.
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I have endorsed Anna Paulina Luna, and she is the outsider, more like turning point, I would
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And, you know, Luna has closed strong, so we'll see.
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So if you see Spano and Mackey prevail, that would be a strong sign that the Republican establishment
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has a grip on Florida, if you see, on the other hand, Luna and Franklin prevail in those
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races, well, that would seem to suggest that maybe there are brands in Florida stronger
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than the establishment brand, and that folks like to see that type of fight out of their
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Also, I've endorsed Laura Loomer, the most canceled woman on the Internet, in digital
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I wish her the best and look forward to seeing her as a strong candidate in the general election
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Another interesting Florida race is in Florida 19.
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This is the Republican primary to replace Francis Rooney.
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Francis, good friend of mine, a principled guy, not always on the same page with the president,
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but certainly was a great congressman for the state of Florida.
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And the Club for Growth has been the big player in that race, backing African-American, Republican,
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I also know in that race, Dane Eagle very well.
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He was the majority leader of the state House of Representatives.
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They've both been really great supporters of the president.
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Also, Casey Asghar and Dr. Figg in that primary.
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Frankly, I think four very strong candidates and whoever wins this Republican primary will
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I do not see a high likelihood of a Democrat playing in the southwest Florida, really deep
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So good luck to those great Republican candidates.
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And it'll be interesting to see, you know, is it the establishment side of the party that prevails
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the one-minute woman on the DNC schedule of events for speakers,
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has gone postal legislatively previously in a bill that she authored with Bernie Sanders.
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So I thought that since so much of the Democrat platform, so much of the environmental policy,
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education policy, economic policy of the Democratic Party is moving in the AOC direction, maybe
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it's worthwhile to check out what proposals she has put forward on the Postal Service, being
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that that is now the basis for Nancy Pelosi's call for the Congress to return for votes on
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AOC and Bernie team up on seemingly some very populist legislation.
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I think there's a situation to limit the ability of credit card companies to charge usurious,
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high, unfair interest rates, particularly to young people, to 18-year-olds who are signing up for that
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I think that there are credit card companies who do take advantage of 18-year-olds.
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And when you tell someone that age that they have this ability of money they can borrow,
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sometimes they're not always looking at what that interest rate converts to.
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You know, maybe the second or third month that you continue to roll that debt over.
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I mean, sometimes you're looking at 24%, 25%, 28%.
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And so I'm, you know, reviewing the AOC-Bernie legislation with an open mind.
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I'm making notes on the positives and the negatives, I think, economically to the changes and the access
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And then I get to the part of this bill that is supposed to be about unfair credit cards.
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And it turns the Postal Service into a public banking system.
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So not only would your post office be tasked with delivering mail, the United States Postal Service
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would literally be competing with private sector banks, giving loans to people, setting up accounts.
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Right now, with the Postal Service struggling with their core mission of delivering the mail
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under a budget with the, you know, obvious and unforeseeable coronavirus impacts,
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do you really want them becoming your local bank?
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I don't know a lot of people who say, you know what, I wish that the banking experience
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in America was more like the Postal Service in America.
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I wish my trip to the bank was more like my trip to the post office.
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That's not the consumer experience that I see in my community.
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Of course, I've got a lot of these really great small and mid-sized banks that give concierge
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They've really, really been good in the Paycheck Protection Program, getting onboarded,
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helping people out, servicing their existing loans.
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But I certainly don't want to see the U.S. Postal Service mismanage the banking system
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in this country so much, become the public option of the banking system in our country
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to the extent that it could even hurt the dollar.
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I mean, if the post office were to grow into the baby Fed, I don't think that it would
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give great confidence in those who are seeking to use the U.S. dollar for business transactions
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I'll confess I did not watch the full Democratic National Convention last night.
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I mean, if you can call them highlights, they looked more like video instructions for how
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to use a Windows operating system than an enthusiastic political convention to me.
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I mean, some of those videos look more like proof of life videos than the type of, you know,
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energy driving viral content that I would hope to see more of in the Republican convention.
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I mean, the the speeches and videos that we saw in the Democratic convention last night
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definitely were not enough to keep Joe Biden awake.
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I mean, I know that if you're looking at the the later p.m.
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hours in the eastern time zone, none of that is keeping sleepy Joe with it.
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I guess we'll see and we'll see if they are able to get a little more spunk tonight.
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But if you miss the Democratic National Convention, I don't think you missed too many heart pumping
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When Marco Rubio took over leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I shared with
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listeners of this podcast that I thought it would be markedly different from that of Senator
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Richard Burr, who seemed to have an axe to grind with the president and his family.
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And now, of course, Senator Burr had to relinquish that chairmanship as a consequence of
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his apparent corrupt acts in trading stocks while telling his donors one thing about the
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coronavirus and the American people, quite another.
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So now with Senator Rubio in charge, we don't see the bipartisan signed letters creating criminal
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referrals for the president's family, his supporters, the folks on his campaign.
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Instead, you see the very definitive message that the president and his campaign were not
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involved in any criminal conspiracy with Russia.
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But in the United States, you also see China, Iran, working to sow discord and engage in election
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Over the last three years, the Senate Intelligence Committee conducted a bipartisan and thorough
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investigation into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election.
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After interviewing over 200 witnesses and reviewing over one million pages of documents, we can
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First, we found absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Donald Trump or his campaign colluded with
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Second, the FBI made some very troubling mistakes, especially by relying on a Steele dossier against
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the advice of the CIA and without verifying this foreign document or the sources that were
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The 2020 elections are only a few months away, and we must do better than we did in 2020.
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I hope our report informs us all of the signs and the symptoms of foreign interference, and
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it shows us how to protect our country from these kinds of efforts.
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We often say in politics that people vote with their feet, with where they choose to live and
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move, and it appears they're voting no on New York City as a consequence of a report that we see in
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New York City faces record vacancies, lower rent prices after resident exodus during coronavirus
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13,000 additional units vacant, a 122% increase in vacancies.
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And we may see similar trends throughout other urban areas in California, Florida, you know,
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Texas, as people get out of the, you know, more condensed style of living and get to have
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a little more space, maybe get a little more house for their money in a suburban or rural
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And it just appears that the policies in New York, alongside the risks associated with the
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pandemic, do not make it as attractive a place to live as it used to be.
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So if the New Yorkers want to come on down to the Sunshine State in Florida, we got plenty
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of room, wonderful spaces, great people, low taxes, good regulatory policy.
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Every once in a while, you might have to depart if a hurricane is sweeping through, but we got
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Just do not bring your New York voting ways with you if you come down to Florida.
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We would welcome you to the land of freedom and opportunity.
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That's what Florida's been for quite some time.
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And we look forward to that as our future as the New Yorkers depart.
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Thanks for listening to today's episode of Hot Takes.
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If you live in Florida, make sure to go vote if you have not already done so.
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And no matter where you live, tune in tomorrow for more Hot Takes.