The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - December 05, 2022


Episode 77 LIVE： Military Mandates – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz


Episode Stats

Length

24 minutes

Words per Minute

165.76407

Word Count

4,122

Sentence Count

240

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary

In this episode, Firebrand sits down with Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-GA) to discuss the ongoing saga surrounding his bid to become the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, and why he thinks he has a better chance than anyone else.


Transcript

00:00:01.000 The embattled Congressman Matt Gaetz.
00:00:03.000 Matt Gaetz was one of the very few members in the entire Congress
00:00:06.000 who bothered to stand up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents.
00:00:10.000 Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem for the Democratic Party.
00:00:13.000 He could cause a lot of hiccups in passing applause.
00:00:16.000 So we're going to keep running those stories to keep hurting him.
00:00:20.000 If you stand for the flag and kneel in prayer,
00:00:23.000 if you want to build America up and not burn her to the ground,
00:00:26.000 then welcome, my fellow patriots.
00:00:29.000 You are in the right place.
00:00:31.000 This is the movement for you.
00:00:33.000 You ever watch this guy on television?
00:00:35.000 It's like a machine, Matt Gaetz.
00:00:38.000 I'm a canceled man in some corners of the internet.
00:00:41.000 Many days I'm a marked man in Congress, a wanted man by the deep state.
00:00:46.000 They aren't really coming for me.
00:00:48.000 They're coming for you.
00:00:50.000 I'm just in the way.
00:00:52.000 We are live back on Firebrand.
00:00:59.000 Welcome back.
00:01:00.000 We're still in the lame duck Congress, but we are in a new office.
00:01:03.000 So if the show looks a little different, it's because we've got a new space and we're still moving in.
00:01:09.000 We'll see the aesthetic continue to develop if you're listening to us.
00:01:13.000 Well, you may notice just a bit more of an echo because we are out of the attic of the Longworth office office building.
00:01:19.000 And we're in our new home in the Rayburn building, room 2-0-2-1.
00:01:24.000 So it would be great to hear from Northwest Floridians as you make your trip to Washington, D.C., stop in.
00:01:29.000 It would be our honor to receive you here.
00:01:32.000 So everyone is interested in the upcoming January election for Speaker of the House.
00:01:38.000 I'm going to have updates on that.
00:01:40.000 And I'm also going to give critical information regarding the National Defense Authorization Act, military capabilities, tools that we need for deterrence and for the fight.
00:01:49.000 And of course, an update on military vaccine mandates.
00:01:53.000 But for now, what captivates the attention is indeed this race for Speaker of the House and for good reason.
00:01:59.000 The vote for Speaker is the most important vote any member of Congress takes in a given term.
00:02:06.000 And oftentimes that's not really what we're remembered for.
00:02:09.000 We'll be remembered for whether or not we voted up or down on a tax bill or a spending bill or the debt limit.
00:02:16.000 But the direction of the institution is driven principally by the Speaker.
00:02:21.000 That's why it's important that the Speaker of the House not be compromised by the lobby corps.
00:02:26.000 It's why the Speaker of the House has to be responsive to the membership.
00:02:30.000 It's why they have to believe in a bottom up theory of governing in the House of Representatives, the people's house, not just a circumstance where terms are dictated.
00:02:39.000 And there's an expectation that people just fall in line and abandon the true team that we are all on.
00:02:46.000 And that is the team that we represent back in our great districts around the country.
00:02:50.000 So today, as we sit here, Kevin McCarthy does not have the votes to be Speaker of the House.
00:02:56.000 He requires 218 votes.
00:02:58.000 There are 222 Republicans.
00:03:01.000 And there are five of us who have indicated that we do not intend to vote for him.
00:03:05.000 He has not been able to secure the requisite votes to be Speaker for years.
00:03:10.000 Why?
00:03:11.000 I discussed that very issue with Governor Mike Huckabee this weekend on his program on TBN.
00:03:17.000 Take a listen.
00:03:20.000 I guess I'm asking, if you block him, then what happens?
00:03:25.000 Do the Democrats end up with enough votes that they can put a Speaker in place?
00:03:29.000 That is a false narrative.
00:03:30.000 The Democrats have 212 votes.
00:03:32.000 They've got to have 218.
00:03:33.000 It takes 218, and there are not six Republicans.
00:03:36.000 I don't think there's a single Republican who has even expressed any willingness to vote for a Democrat.
00:03:41.000 So I think that is a threat that is constructed by a lot of the folks in the swamp of Washington
00:03:47.000 that want a Speaker beholden to the lobbyists.
00:03:50.000 You know what argument people make for Kevin McCarthy?
00:03:52.000 He is the LeBron James of special interest fundraising.
00:03:55.000 No one extracts more money from the lobbyists and special interests than Kevin McCarthy.
00:03:59.000 But I think that ought to be disqualifying, not qualifying.
00:04:03.000 I frankly think that federal lobbyists shouldn't even be able to donate to members of Congress.
00:04:07.000 Like, how is it the people who are paid to influence our vote then get to give us money
00:04:14.000 and then you act like that doesn't influence how members of Congress think about things?
00:04:18.000 Now, you do realize that if Kevin ends up being Speaker after all,
00:04:22.000 you'll be on the committee to monitor the quality of Girl Scout cookies for the rest of your term in Congress.
00:04:28.000 So there may be a price to be paid.
00:04:30.000 Well, look, you know, apostolate ain't easy.
00:04:33.000 Sometimes you got to get in the fight.
00:04:35.000 And I see how our people feel let down by the folks who just play the game the same way.
00:04:41.000 I'm tired of watching Washington just serve as a geography
00:04:44.000 where both sides are fighting over who gets to be the valet for the special interests.
00:04:48.000 And you know what, this slim majority was disappointing to many, but it may give us an opportunity
00:04:55.000 that even a large majority wouldn't have presented to actually upset the apple cart, to drain the swamp,
00:05:01.000 and to not trust the biggest alligators there to do it.
00:05:03.000 And the only way we're going to be able to send a shock into the system of DC to actually get a member-driven process,
00:05:13.000 not a lobbyist-driven process, is to change the way these leaders are selected.
00:05:17.000 And oftentimes it's a direct result of who can provide the most money to people in their campaigns.
00:05:23.000 Now, there is a complex within the beltway here driven around keeping that status quo intact.
00:05:30.000 And there are some people, even people I often admire and agree with,
00:05:34.000 who are now making arguments that I believe are frivolous.
00:05:38.000 And I'm going to demonstrate why.
00:05:40.000 The first argument that people make is that Democrats could actually join up with moderate Republicans
00:05:46.000 and elect a moderate Republican rather than a Republican who represents the conservative center of the conference.
00:05:53.000 Now, this weekend, just yesterday, as a matter of fact, on ABC This Week with George Stephanopoulos,
00:05:59.000 George Stephanopoulos had the opportunity to interview Hakeem Jeffries.
00:06:03.000 Hakeem Jeffries is the Brooklyn guy who's going to be the head of the Democrats in the 118th Congress.
00:06:10.000 And you can hear in this interview how Stephanopoulos does everything possible to try to get Hakeem Jeffries to say,
00:06:17.000 you know what, it is possible. We might work with moderate Republicans.
00:06:20.000 You know what, we would prefer someone who is perhaps one of the people who supported impeachment over Kevin McCarthy.
00:06:27.000 And you notice the labor as you listen to this.
00:06:30.000 Listen to the labor Hakeem Jeffries goes through to try to not in any way say the Democrats would work with Republicans to back a moderate speaker.
00:06:39.000 And here you have George Stephanopoulos, a Democrat, someone who worked in the Clinton White House, just just trying to coax out of the Hakeem Jeffries this possibility.
00:06:49.000 Listen to the Democratic leader throw cold water all over it.
00:06:53.000 Play the clip.
00:06:56.000 You expect that Kevin McCarthy is going to be speaker?
00:06:58.000 Well, that's a question at the end of the day that the Republicans are going to have to work out.
00:07:02.000 He seems to be having a difficult time at this moment getting to 218th.
00:07:06.000 But we'll see what happens on January 3rd.
00:07:08.000 It may involve Democrats as well. I've seen that some Republicans have suggested perhaps putting forward a moderate Republican as a challenger to Kevin McCarthy hoping to draw Democratic votes.
00:07:17.000 Any chance that Democrats will cooperate with that?
00:07:20.000 Well, we have to organize on our side and be prepared to hit the ground running on January 3rd.
00:07:26.000 They have to organize on their side and we'll see what happens.
00:07:30.000 But so it's a possibility.
00:07:32.000 I wouldn't say that it's a possibility.
00:07:34.000 Right now, Democrats are preparing to get ourselves ready as we transition temporarily from the majority into the minority,
00:07:44.000 continuing to work with the Biden administration, with Democrats in the Senate, building upon the great work led by Speaker Pelosi and Steny Horry and Jim Clyburn that has been done over the last few Congresses when we've been in the majority.
00:07:58.000 And then let's see what happens on the other side of the aisle.
00:08:00.000 Well, but that's only part of it. I'm going to press this one more time because you talk about your main mission is finding a way to have bipartisan compromise.
00:08:08.000 If somehow Democrats and Republicans come together to elect a Republican speaker who's willing to compromise, wouldn't that be good for Democrats?
00:08:15.000 Wouldn't that advance your mission?
00:08:17.000 Well, I think the question right now is what are the Republicans going to do?
00:08:22.000 From our standpoint, we know what our mission is.
00:08:25.000 You could obviously see there Hakeem Jeffries does not want to be coaxed into some deal with Republicans.
00:08:34.000 I mean, think about it. Democrats have a unique opportunity to cast their vote for historic choice, the first African-American to lead a major political party in Congress.
00:08:44.000 And so I think that Democrats are going to vote for Hakeem Jeffries.
00:08:48.000 Now, some have said, well, if some of the Republicans vote for McCarthy and some of the Republicans vote for someone other than McCarthy, could Hakeem Jeffries have the votes then to assume the speakership himself?
00:08:58.000 And of course, that cannot happen because they have 212 votes. It takes 218 to become Speaker of the House.
00:09:06.000 And so for that to occur, you'd have to believe the second theory that we'll debunk.
00:09:12.000 And that is that somehow Republicans are going to team up with Democrats and elect a Democrat speaker.
00:09:19.000 Also on ABC this week with George Stephanopoulos, we had Republican Ohio Congressman Dave Joyce.
00:09:26.000 And Dave Joyce is a friend. We've worked together on legislation, particularly in the cannabis space.
00:09:31.000 He is more in the center of our ideological spectrum probably than I am.
00:09:36.000 But I understand the Republican Party is a big tent and we want people like Dave Joyce to be successful in the Congress and working with us in the upcoming term.
00:09:44.000 And so he was on and he was presented basically this second red herring theory that somehow Republicans would team up with Democrats.
00:09:52.000 And just like Hakeem Jeffries, he throws cold water all over it.
00:09:57.000 Take a listen. Congressman Dave Joyce and George Stephanopoulos.
00:10:02.000 If they stay hard-nosed and Kevin McCarthy simply can't get the 218 votes he needs for Speaker,
00:10:07.000 would you be behind this effort that some have talked about, I talked to Hakeem Jeffries about,
00:10:11.000 put forward a model Republican that would attract Democratic votes?
00:10:14.000 But I think Hakeem was also straight in that he said they want to exact some things out of that.
00:10:21.000 And I just don't see anybody on our side willing to give up chairmanships
00:10:24.000 or the opportunities that come with being in the majority.
00:10:28.000 So that would make it harder for anybody to actually get there.
00:10:31.000 That would probably be a perfect resolution to find somebody that everybody could agree on
00:10:35.000 and so we could start moving forward.
00:10:37.000 But I just don't see it happening without, I think the Democrats are going to vote for Democrats,
00:10:42.000 Republicans will vote for Republicans.
00:10:44.000 And I think at the end of the day, Kevin will be the next Speaker of the House.
00:10:49.000 Well, I wouldn't bet on the last part of that, but I do think you've now seen in this program,
00:10:55.000 myself, admittedly, probably on the right edge of our Republican conference,
00:11:00.000 will not vote for Kevin, will not vote for a Democrat.
00:11:03.000 We have to get to somebody else.
00:11:05.000 Then you see Jeffries leading the left saying there is no coalition that he sees as likely or possible
00:11:11.000 with Democrats and Republicans.
00:11:13.000 And then you have Dave Joyce, a guy who is pretty close to the center,
00:11:17.000 saying this isn't going to happen.
00:11:19.000 He can't see it happening.
00:11:20.000 Republicans are going to vote for a Republican.
00:11:22.000 Democrats are going to vote for a Democrat.
00:11:24.000 What that means is that we are now in a process of elimination paradigm.
00:11:29.000 If there are five Republicans who don't want someone to be Speaker, then that person's not going to be Speaker.
00:11:34.000 And I believe, just speaking for myself, that there are 221 of the 222 members that I'm open minded about,
00:11:43.000 that I would be willing to hear presentations from.
00:11:46.000 If there are folks who want to balance budgets, if there are folks who want to have the types of policies
00:11:51.000 that will liberate us from the just malaise of the Biden administration, then let's work together to achieve those ends.
00:12:00.000 But certainly, a continuation of the way Washington has always worked is unacceptable to me
00:12:07.000 and unacceptable to enough people that Kevin McCarthy is not going to be Speaker.
00:12:11.000 So to avoid some sort of calamity on January 3rd, we ought to get to the business of reviewing other candidates,
00:12:19.000 hearing other presentations.
00:12:21.000 It's my suggestion to House Conference Chair Elise Stefanik that she began holding conference meetings
00:12:27.000 so that we can discuss possibilities for alternatives for other people in a world in which Kevin McCarthy will not be Speaker.
00:12:34.000 And you know what? I've made very clear I would love to see Jim Jordan be Speaker.
00:12:37.000 But if there are five people who don't want Jim to be Speaker, I have to accept that just like they have to accept
00:12:44.000 that there are now just a critical mass of members who are not going to accept a speakership from Kevin McCarthy.
00:12:51.000 There's also governing going on during the lame duck Congress.
00:12:54.000 And this week, the House of Representatives will vote on the National Defense Authorization Act.
00:12:59.000 Now, each year for more than six decades, Congress has passed a bill authorizing our military.
00:13:05.000 We've done it in Republican and Democrat administrations.
00:13:08.000 We've done it in unified and divided government.
00:13:10.000 It truly is a testament to the Congress, one of the few things that works,
00:13:14.000 that we actually are able to historically put aside other ideological differences
00:13:19.000 and to put our troops and our military families first.
00:13:22.000 And of course, authorizing our military is critical to provide that support to military families,
00:13:28.000 to raise pay for troops and to fund next generation weapons systems that will secure our freedom.
00:13:35.000 But increasingly, folks have become frustrated and furious about Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
00:13:43.000 and his efforts to woke-ify the military.
00:13:47.000 From critical race theory, to an embrace of socialism pedagogy, to vaccine mandates,
00:13:53.000 our military today is almost unrecognizable from the military that used to win wars.
00:13:59.000 Thank God, we still have America's most inspirational patriots willing to serve.
00:14:05.000 And they indeed are the best among us.
00:14:08.000 But recruitment is down.
00:14:10.000 Undoubtedly, in no small part due to woke-ification and mandates.
00:14:16.000 Secretary Austin, a known liar on everything from ally and enemy capabilities to hypersonics,
00:14:23.000 has also lied about military wokeness.
00:14:28.000 Here's his testimony before the House Armed Services Committee in response to some of the criticism that I and others had leveled.
00:14:37.000 There are a very small handful of folks that don't understand service, that don't understand sacrifice,
00:14:42.000 that attack and malign you and your service, somebody who has dedicated your entire life to service,
00:14:47.000 who sometimes will compare our military to other militaries, call us woke, make up these contrived boogeymans of socialism,
00:14:55.000 or pull out lectures at universities.
00:14:58.000 But I have known you for some time now and I've seen the pride that you take in our servicemen and women,
00:15:04.000 and the pride that you take in this work and how you've put your entire life focused on this.
00:15:10.000 So could you just take, with the two minutes remaining, could you just paint a picture for this committee
00:15:16.000 and for the American people about what makes you most proud of the men and women of our military,
00:15:22.000 and what life is like on a daily basis for the men and women that you lead?
00:15:27.000 I am incredibly proud of them. Day in and day out, they volunteer to do incredible things on behalf of this country.
00:15:39.000 And we owe them a debt of gratitude that we can probably never repay.
00:15:44.000 We owe their families a debt of gratitude as well.
00:15:47.000 But they are smart, they are fit, they are focused,
00:15:52.000 and they spend 99% of their time focused on defending this country and developing additional capabilities
00:16:01.000 that they'll need to be successful on the battlefield.
00:16:03.000 So any notion that they're woke or that our military is woke, you know, I take issue with that,
00:16:09.000 because it's just not true.
00:16:11.000 It's a false narrative and they deserve better than that.
00:16:15.000 Oh, a false narrative to suggest that anyone's pushing wokeness in our military.
00:16:23.000 Oh, he takes great exception to that. He's offended by it. It's a false narrative.
00:16:27.000 He's there to tell the truth about the military. There's no wokeness.
00:16:31.000 Well, I have some breaking news.
00:16:33.000 This banner, the banner we're putting on the screen now, for those of you listening,
00:16:37.000 this was created by the Air Force Equal Opportunity Office, and it reads, quote,
00:16:43.000 how to include others and be woke.
00:16:48.000 This image was sent to my office by someone working at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.
00:16:54.000 The banner was displayed at the entrance to the wing headquarters, literally, how to be woke.
00:17:00.000 In the face of that testimony from Lloyd Austin, this guy has no credibility before the Congress or really anyone.
00:17:07.000 De-woke-ifying the military is going to take time.
00:17:11.000 The good news is that Republicans are showing backbone and now, this week,
00:17:16.000 demanding a repeal of the vaccine mandate in the military authorization bill.
00:17:21.000 Otherwise, votes might not be there to pass it.
00:17:24.000 Here's how the math works.
00:17:26.000 Two-thirds of the votes needed to pass the military authorization bill must come from Republicans
00:17:32.000 because a sufficient number of Democrats don't really support our military.
00:17:37.000 They actually think the world would be a better place if our country were weaker.
00:17:40.000 Now, even some on the far left think the military is racist.
00:17:44.000 What a disgrace to our country those members of Congress are.
00:17:48.000 If during the lame duck Congress, though, with unified Democratic control, we can repeal the vaccine mandate, I am all for it.
00:17:58.000 Then, when we Republicans take control, we must do even more.
00:18:02.000 We can't say that the issue is resolved.
00:18:05.000 We must restore our patriots back to full service with their rank restored, with back pay,
00:18:11.000 and we must pay reparations to those lives we have destroyed by accepting Lloyd Austin's foolish vaccine mandate.
00:18:19.000 And we must root out all of this wokeness before its destruction takes hold any further.
00:18:26.000 The future of our country and the world undeniably depend on it.
00:18:31.000 In a similar vein, we must always make sure that we're moving our military forward, embracing the best American-made technology in the world.
00:18:40.000 Deterrence.
00:18:42.000 Now, in the modern global order, there is no force, more so than deterrence, that has served peace.
00:18:49.000 Weakness invites attack.
00:18:52.000 Strength gives even the most ambitious madmen in the world reason to think twice about creating the wars which drive so much death and despair.
00:19:01.000 Deterrence keeps the evil in their sandboxes.
00:19:06.000 It limits their capability to do harm to the rest of us.
00:19:09.000 We used to be able to deter with tanks and mortar shells, but now it's tech and platforms in the air and on land and at sea to deliver the most precise lethality the world has ever known.
00:19:24.000 That's what keeps us safe.
00:19:26.000 Now, this past year, we've seen that nuclear deterrence particularly is relevant and oftentimes dispositive.
00:19:33.000 America can never allow another nation to be able to deliver nuclear payloads farther, faster.
00:19:42.000 Such a dynamic would turn us into the Uyghurs.
00:19:45.000 This past week, the Department of Defense unveiled the B-21 nuclear bomber.
00:19:51.000 Take a listen.
00:19:52.000 The United States Air Force has a new strategic long-range stealth bomber and it's built in Palmdale.
00:20:01.000 The military says its destructive power is unmatched.
00:20:04.000 It was unveiled tonight in a ceremony that looked like a Hollywood production.
00:20:07.000 It has quite literally been shrouded in secrecy.
00:20:13.000 America's newest long-range stealthy strategic bomber, the B-21 Raider, unveiled at Northrop Grumman's Plant 42 in Palmdale.
00:20:20.000 Based on artists' renderings, it looks a lot like the B-2 it's replacing.
00:20:24.000 Like the B-2, it's meant to penetrate enemy defenses undetected and it's capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
00:20:30.000 It's meant as a deterrent to make any potential adversary think twice about attacking America or its interests.
00:20:36.000 The B-21 Raider gets its name from the famous Doolittle Raiders of World War II, the daredevil mission to bomb Tokyo in April of 1942
00:20:44.000 that raised American morale in the months after Pearl Harbor and demonstrated America's ability to strike the Japanese mainland.
00:20:51.000 I love the connection to the Doolittle Raiders.
00:20:56.000 The Doolittle Raiders actually trained in my district in Northwest Florida in preparation for their fateful mission.
00:21:03.000 So you should evaluate the B-21 through the lens of China deterrence specifically.
00:21:09.000 China is updating their nuclear program.
00:21:11.000 They are working to diversify their own launch capabilities and delivery systems.
00:21:16.000 You need to know that the B-21 should give them something to think about before taking official offensive actions,
00:21:25.000 or even unofficial ones for that matter.
00:21:27.000 We couldn't end the show today without discussing the Twitter files.
00:21:31.000 Oh my gosh, this has had everyone really reflecting on the claims that President Trump made,
00:21:37.000 the claims that we made leading up to the election that there was direct election interference.
00:21:42.000 And now we have Elon Musk detailing that censorship and suppression, providing the information that showed the interactions at Twitter.
00:21:53.000 And I thought Elon had a particularly interesting observation, might be telling,
00:21:57.000 that when Twitter engages in censorship, that's certainly wrong.
00:22:01.000 That violates our mores of a free and open society able to exchange information and evaluate that information.
00:22:08.000 But when the government is involved in coaxing that censorship or encouraging it or incentivizing it,
00:22:15.000 or perhaps threatening if that censorship is not acted upon,
00:22:20.000 you see that becomes a very serious violation of our Constitution.
00:22:24.000 That is not an appropriate power for government.
00:22:27.000 But what I have seen in my time in Congress is that there is this unity of purpose between big government, big media and big tech.
00:22:35.000 And that was never operationalized more so than when this Hunter Biden laptop came out and demonstrated that the first family is compromised.
00:22:45.000 Joe Biden is compromised.
00:22:47.000 These are people who have made money out of selling access to some of the highest offices in our land.
00:22:54.000 And I don't think it's too much for conservatives, liberals, centrists, everyone alike to expect that the people who are serving in these high roles,
00:23:03.000 who've been president, vice president, that they should be acting in the interests of our country, not foreign countries.
00:23:10.000 That their children shouldn't be de facto foreign agents running around the world gallivanting and enriching themselves and their associates in the process.
00:23:20.000 And when that was discovered, man, did we see the wagons circle.
00:23:24.000 Whether it was people from the Department of Justice talking to Facebook, as Mark Zuckerberg said,
00:23:29.000 whether it was this Twitter operation that we're still learning about,
00:23:32.000 whether it was the effort to try to make sure that the New York Post story never saw the light of day.
00:23:38.000 This wasn't Russian disinformation.
00:23:41.000 This was an all American operation that looked more and more like the tactics that we see in Russia.
00:23:48.000 And that is the true tell.
00:23:50.000 We'll be investigating big tech, the border, wokeness in our military.
00:23:54.000 We'll be pushing back against these mandates.
00:23:56.000 And to do so, we are going to get the type of leadership in the United States House of Representatives that our party, that our country and that the world deserves.
00:24:05.000 Thanks so much for joining us on Firebrand again.
00:24:08.000 We're brand new here in the Rayburn building.
00:24:10.000 And so you'll see a few different things as we continue to develop the show.
00:24:13.000 But, hey, make sure you're subscribed.
00:24:15.000 Make sure you've got those notifications turned on.
00:24:18.000 And we'll be back soon with more updates about what's going on in Congress.
00:24:21.000 Thanks for joining. Roll the credits.
00:24:23.000 I'll see you next time.