Episode 82 LIVE： Make Congress Work (feat. Rep. Eli Crane) – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz
Summary
Eli Crane is a freshman Congressman from the 7th congressional district of Arizona. He is a former Navy SEAL and former Marine who served in the United States Navy SEALs and the elite SEAL Teams and served as a member of the elite United States Air Force SEAL Team Six. He has been in Congress for less than a year and a half and is already making a name for himself as one of the most inspirational members of Congress.
Transcript
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Matt Gaetz was one of the very few members in the entire Congress who bothered to stand
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up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents.
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Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem for the Democratic Party.
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He could cause a lot of hiccups in passing applause.
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So we're going to keep running those stories to get hurt again.
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If you stand for the flag and kneel in prayer, if you want to build America up and not burn
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her to the ground, then welcome, my fellow patriots.
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I'm a canceled man in some corners of the Internet.
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Many days I'm a marked man in Congress, a wanted man by the deep state.
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We're broadcasting live out of room 2021 in the Rayburn office building on the Capitol
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And I apologize for not putting a show out last week, as you may have seen.
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We had some other stuff going on, but we have a great show today.
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I've got big Eli Crane here, one of our newest and most inspirational members of Congress from
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We're going to talk about how we're going to make Congress better and make it different.
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What we continue to hear from our constituents, people all over the country, is that Congress
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has to change so that we actually meet the needs of the American people and stop this nation
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We've got to get the country to go in a different direction.
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And what I can say with absolute certainty is that there is something different about Eli Crane.
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He's become a leader in the freshman class, took a really nontraditional path to politics
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And Eli, I think you're the first member of Congress who also was involved in Shark Tank
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Yeah, I don't know if anybody has done that, but I don't know of anybody.
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And we were actually on the set of Shark Tank while I was still in the military on terminal
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And it gave me and my wife something to sink our teeth into as we were getting out.
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And I think that's one of the things that a lot of veterans struggle with when they get
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out of the military is just a new mission and something that they can actually sink their
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teeth into, that's not just a job that provides, you know, health care and a paycheck.
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And it was just so cool because we got to manufacture our products in the USA.
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And it gave me something to, you know, really, really fight for.
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I've got the district in the country with the highest concentration of active duty military
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And it's so interesting to watch that transition because it seems to require a sense of purpose.
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You have such purpose through wearing the uniform and serving in the most elite elements of
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You know, it has to be something more meaningful.
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I want everyone to get a sense of Eli in that moment, pitching on Shark Tank.
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We are seeking $150,000 for 10% equity stake in our business.
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At Bottle Breacher, we make the finest personalized .50 caliber bottle openers on the market.
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You might be asking yourself, why would anybody want a .50 caliber bottle opener?
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As a former Navy SEAL, I knew I needed to figure out a way to provide for my family when I got
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Bottle Breacher has given us the ability to do that.
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Most guys think that large caliber bullets are very cool.
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At Bottle Breacher, we've combined the two to create the ultimate manly gift.
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But we know with your help, we can breach this thing wide open.
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And you know, Eli, people come to Congress frequently through military service, and they
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I think that's going to inform your service greatly.
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But I got to know, like what was more pressure going on national television on Shark Tank in
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front of 10 million people, or the experience we just went through this last week to try to
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You know, both were definitely, you know, a pressure cooker.
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But last week, I think, was definitely more pressure.
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As you know, Matt, I mean, I know you've been in a lot of fights up here.
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That was definitely the, you know, first fight for me.
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But when you're a freshman, and you're trying to figure out where the bathroom is, and then
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You know, a lot of us, if you get five, you know, people in your circle surrounding you
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telling you, hey, you're on the wrong path, we need you to reverse course here.
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But when you're going up against, you know, 200 people on your own side of the aisle, then
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you've got a lot of the media heads talking about what an idiot you are, and you don't know
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what you're doing, and then you've got somebody that you and I both respect, President Trump,
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you know, calling you and telling you, hey, you know, you need to get on board with this.
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But, you know, Matt, I just kept going back to, what did my constituents want?
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What did they tell me for the last year and a half?
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And so, I think as long as you never forget that, you'll be a good representative.
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And I think so many of us forget that when we get to this town, because it's built, this
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swamp is built to, you know, influence you and take you away from representing your actual
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We are live with Eli Crane, and the live stream is fired up.
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We got folks that are watching from Kentucky, Texas, and even France on Facebook, so all the
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We talked about your military service, and we've just got breaking news from the Department
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of Defense that they are going to cease all separations as a consequence of this very foolish
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Talk about some of the feedback you've received from people from the SEAL community or the military
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community and how that vaccine mandate negatively affected people and your reaction to the separations
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You know, I think it was extremely destructive, and I do think it was foolish.
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You know, my little brother was in the Marine, he was a Cobra pilot in the Marine Corps.
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He left the service at 19 years and I think eight months, four months shy of his retirement
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I mean, everything that guy went through, all the deployments, he doesn't get his retirement
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And I talked to a lot of, you know, veterans that I know, SEALs that I know that wouldn't
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And it not only did it really disenfranchise and hurt those individual members, but it hurt
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And, you know, when you take those individuals who were not, you know, really susceptible
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for the most part to, you know, some of the adversity that came with, you know, folks that
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ended up getting COVID-19 just because of their age and their health, et cetera, et cetera.
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It was really hard to watch because when you look at everything else going on in our military
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and how woke it's got and how the focus has turned from being the best fighting force in
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the world, you know, to a lot, are we the most inclusive group in the world?
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I remember even before I got out, Matt, it was like, you know, we were taking, we were
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half the time we couldn't even do our job as SEALs because we were taking some, you know,
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survey or some tests to make sure that, you know, we were up on, you know, our Navy
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knowledge online and just courses and so on and so forth that had nothing to do with
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So, you know, I, I hope that, you know, we're able to work together to try and, you know,
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bring other members of Congress into making sure that this military is focused on the very
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Undeniably, we have got to get this guy a huge following online.
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Make sure you follow at Rep Eli Crane on Twitter.
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You know, I'm trying to figure, trying to figure it out, but I think that's right.
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You know, the courage you showed this last week, I could tell my constituents very candidly,
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If I was in my first week, I would have probably been the guy wondering how to get my phones
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hooked up and I would have wanted the safety of swimming with the school of the rest of
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But actually, well, the SEALs are different, man.
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You're, you're, you're different and, and you stood up to it.
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Um, the SEAL community actually led on a lot of these vaccine issues.
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Some of the early litigation and injunctions that were obtained were from Navy SEALs.
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And I remember reading those lawsuits getting filed and the orders coming out and just like
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thinking about the SEAL community, the best of the best elite in mind and body.
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And I thought back to like the early, most virulent versions of COVID, like you're always
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It's human nature when you don't know the full impact of something to be concerned.
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The day I, or the week, I guess I became like way less afraid of COVID was when Chris Christie
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and legendary FSU coach who I adore Bobby, the late Bobby Bowden now both survived COVID
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If, if Chris Christie, who probably has like never driven past a donut stand without pulling
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in and like Bobby Bowden, who was like over 90 years old.
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And I mean, the next step in human evolution, probably Bobby Bowden, uh, as a noel, but when
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they both survived it, I thought, huh, maybe we shouldn't be like forcing Navy SEALs of all
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And what I was so offended by from some of these Pentagon officials is that they preached
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to us that they were doing the mandate for readiness.
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Talk a little bit about the, the money and time and effort that goes into just training
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And by the, by the time you start, if you go straight through at this point, it, you
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If you went straight through, didn't get rolled back, didn't get hurt.
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Now, um, when I got out, I think it was up to a year and six months.
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So they spend a ton of time and money on these individuals.
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And here's the thing, when you're in a SEAL platoon, you work with about a 20 man group.
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And so you'll have different specialties within that group.
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You'll have snipers, breachers, calm guys, you know, et cetera, corpsmen, you know, medics,
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So if you, if you lose one of those guys, I mean, you just, you lost a massive percent
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And so, um, it, it was really detrimental, um, to the, to the community.
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And, uh, I know a lot of great guys got out because of it.
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And to me, that's unsat, especially with how many threats that we have around the world.
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Let's talk about those folks that, that were separated because if you're watching this and
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you're thinking, well, I'm, I'm glad the next round of Patriots isn't going to be forced
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out, but there are people who were coerced out of the military.
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There were people who just left because they said, I don't want to go through this.
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I, I feel like the department of defense isn't concerned about me anymore as much as they
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I think it would be a huge mistake for Republicans in Congress to just declare victory on this
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I think that we need a real strategy to make reparations for the people whose lives were
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And we need aggressive outreach to get people back into service who are otherwise totally
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willing, able, ready to put that uniform on for our country.
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Uh, I think that that, that's a job that we have to get our colleagues to understand this
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Yeah, you know, and I, I think one of the coolest things about this Congress in particular is
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you, um, we have a ton of veterans in this Congress, a lot of new ones as well.
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And I've talked to several of them and I know that a lot of them would support that type
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of legislation where we do try and make sure that these individuals don't get left behind
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like my little brother, you know, that isn't going to get his retirement cause he he's shy
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And so, um, I, I hope that we can join, you know, a bunch of us get something like that
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over the finish line and, uh, try and, uh, make that wrong.
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Even people who didn't get their promotions because they were deemed not deployable or not able
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to participate in the activities where they have to check the boxes to move up.
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So there are people in the military now who were negatively affected by this, who weren't
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separated, but saw their careers negatively impacted.
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There are people not in the military who should be, and we need to get those folks back in the
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And then there are people who left the military when it did something else and don't want
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But I think we owe them something for having put them through this, uh, without a basis.
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And, you know, in order to address, uh, those challenges, I think you open up the envelope
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too, about just the broader wokeism push at DOD, even beyond the vaccine mandates.
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And it almost feels like there is an intentional purge to get people who think a certain way
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Do you get that sense from some of your colleagues?
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You know, I think that a lot of us used to, you know, look at a lot of these radical ideologies
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like the socialism, Marxism, communist nonsense.
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And we knew that it, it lived in a couple of different verticals.
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The college campus was one that it had taken over.
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I think many of us had given up on, which I'm glad guys like Charlie Kirk has said, no,
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Um, but there were a couple that I think were sacred cows that even us conservatives were
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Kids are off limits and our military is off limits.
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Well, we've seen that there is nothing off limits to these, these individuals.
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And, uh, you know, so that's why it's going to be a fight.
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I think that's why so many of us have jumped into, you know, politics, some, somewhere we
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never wanted to be because we're like, Hey, I'm going to go stand with Matt Gates.
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I'm going to go stand with, you know, all these other guys that are out there willing
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to put themselves in that pressure cooker so that we can try and turn this country around
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and make sure that our kids and our grandkids get some of the freedom and opportunity that
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Well, in order to meet those challenges, we have to have a house of representatives that
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is a fighting force that can marshal that sense of duty that so many of the new members
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of Congress have so many of our veterans who, who patriotically serve in Congress have,
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And, you know, uh, gosh, a few weeks ago, I think we had fewer tools to drive those changes
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And you mentioned there might've been some talking heads in the media that questioned
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our, our tactics and our strategy, but they've come around for sure.
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Take a listen to Fox news is Jason Chaffetz, uh, certainly giving a great deal of adulation
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and congrats to our efforts to try to make this a more productive institution.
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I want to put this up from the Washington post, an opinion piece.
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It says the McCarthy speaker circus is a good argument for voting Democrat.
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They say the never Kevin rebels who oppose him have made it painfully apparent that no
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one will be able to impose and enforce the kind of discipline that Pelosi maintained on
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The appropriations processes, as it was laid out in the 1974 budget act, where you look
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at 12 individual appropriations that never happened.
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So I think people on both sides of the aisle are actually going to look back at this and
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say, hallelujah, these people stood up so that we could have a more normal process in
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every member, no matter where they are in, in the pecking order of seniority can actually
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Hallelujah says, uh, former Congressman Jason Chaffetz Fox had maybe taken a different editorial
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position before the result, but we, we often learn that, you know, failure is an orphan,
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And, and, uh, now I want to get into some of the specific things that we fought for that
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You're from Arizona, a border state, you know, it's not enough to just pass, show me bills.
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We have to actually get results that don't just involve finishing the wall.
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Now we need internal enforcement of our immigration laws because so many people have come to our
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Talk about how your district and your state think about this border crisis and particularly
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the concessions we got to get policy changes on internal enforcement of, of immigration
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Well, everybody in Arizona and anybody that lives in a border state, you know, knows how,
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um, damaging this administration's border policies have been to the United States of
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I mean, it's, you've got so much, it's even hard to find a place to start from sex trafficking
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coming over the border, all these illegal drugs, fentanyl coming over the border, MS-13
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You even, like last year alone, you had 18 members, I think on the terrorist watch list
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And it's, it's just mind blowing how stupid and foolish, you know, this, this administration's
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But Matt, I feel like I see this type of destructive, um, leadership everywhere I look around the
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It almost seems like you take, you know, the common sense approach and these guys just
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And so that's why I'm glad that I got to get up here when I did with the group that I'm
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with so that we can start affecting some of these changes.
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But as you, you know, I mean, we don't have the Senate, we don't have the executive branch.
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And so, you know, you could make the argument that, you know, even though we will continue
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to play offense and we will continue to, you know, be ready to throw down, there's only
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But, um, you know, I am looking forward to doing everything I can, you know, with all
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the reps from Arizona and from all over the country that are willing to actually throw
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down on this fight because, you know, it's affecting people's lives every single day.
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Some of the members from Arizona are, I think, some of the best informed and most thorough on
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And what Congressman Biggs has shared with me and Congressman Gosar has shared with me
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is that you can't trade amnesty for enforcement.
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And there are a lot of more of our moderate colleagues and colleagues who maybe aren't
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from states physically on the border that feels like every state's a border state these
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They think, well, you know, maybe we can get some asylum reform, but we need to do an amnesty
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And I think, uh, you gotta, first you gotta, you just gotta take this one step at a time.
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I think it's, uh, irresponsible to, you know, talk about immigration reform before you actually
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Because I think that when you start talking about that before you take step one, um, it
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really encourages even more people to come over here before the gates are closed and the
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And so I think step one has to be, you, we, you know, we, we have to shore up that Southern
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And that, that you were talking about a wall a second ago, that's a big part of it, you
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know, um, you know, bringing back, you know, remain in Mexico, you know, making sure that
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our border patrol agents that were not, um, you know, trying to destroy them and disparage
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them on national TV, talking about them whipping people when they're not, it's just, you know,
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it's going to take, it's going to take a lot of different things, but I don't think
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incentivizing other people who want to come here, even though I understand why they want
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to come here, Matt, they want a taste of the American dream.
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But if you start incentivizing that, you know, I think it's just going to increase the problem.
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And so I agree with, you know, Congressman Biggs and Gosar who were right there with us in
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that fight last week, and I don't know what it is about us Arizona guys, man, but we were
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Arizona, I, there's, there's no greater inverse of better members of Congress and worse election
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You don't have to, here's my, here's what I could tell you on the elections.
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Florida used to be the laughingstock of the country on elections.
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And then you fire the people who don't follow the law.
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You have paper ballots so that you're able to assess that an actual human being intended
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It almost seems like if you're not doing it the right way, maybe it's chaos on purpose.
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And, you know, an area where we've had chaos has been in the federal budget and spending.
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And I know like me, you heard from a lot of your constituents about the crushing impact
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We believe that government spending is a driver of inflation.
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I can't even believe I have to say it out loud, but this town will never balance a budget
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if we do not have to, because at the end of the day, some people want some stuff, other
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And instead of having a zero sum negotiation about that, we just end up doing all of it
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and printing more money and individual programs don't get individual review.
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When we began this fight at the beginning of last week, we had no guarantee of a balanced
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budget ever coming to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote.
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Talk about the importance of getting that commitment for a balanced budget vote.
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It is, you know, it does, it is a main driver of inflation and it's just, it blows my mind
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up here that we continue to print and spend money that we don't have.
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It just, it doesn't make any sense to me as a, you know, as a business owner, as a father
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It's like, if you, if we don't force the issue up here, if a certain number of us don't
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force the issue up here, nothing will get done about it.
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Because the, the sad truth is many people campaign, they, they run as, you know, fiscally
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conservative and then they get up here and it's just like, Hey, show me, show me the
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And, and that's why we need some real fighters up here.
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And that's why it was exciting to see, you know, 20 people, you know, stand against status
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And I, and I'm pretty confident that that, you know, that trajectory and those fighters
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are going to coalesce on the next one and the next one and the next one.
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And I know you and I will be right there, you know, trying to turn, you know, turn this
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around and, you know, resume some fiscal responsibility back to this federal government.
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These balanced budgets are going to require tough choices.
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We're going to have to tackle entitlement spending.
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It's not going to be okay to say that able-bodied people who could go to work, but just choose
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not to, should be able to get the largesse of the federal government for their entire
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lives and for multiple generations that get stuck in government dependence.
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And so the Democrats and the media will, I'm sure, you know, reinvigorate their tired
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old arguments that were pushing granny off the, off the hill.
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Our objective is to make sure that every American realizes their full potential through work
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And I think that doesn't only help on our budget issues, it helps with our workforce
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issues and so many of the small businesses that are struggling to keep workers because
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I'm a, you know, I've been a small business owner.
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My wife and I sold our business this last year, but I have a lot of friends that are small
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business owners and they, you know, they, they tell me the same thing that it's impossible
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for them to fire, you know, hire and find employees because, you know, so many Americans right
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And that, that's not a good thing, you know, for small business.
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And it's not a good thing for individuals either.
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You know, when you, when you don't have something to work for, you know, work and, you know, discipline,
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And, and I think that, uh, you know, there's a couple of different buckets here, but it's sad
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to me because I know that in many cases, a lot of these tyrannical governments that sprout
00:25:05.100
up with socialism, they want to get people on the, you know, the federal teat, if you will.
00:25:11.540
And, uh, I really hope we're not that foolish that we're going to go down that path, but
00:25:16.960
that looks like the trajectory that this country is on.
00:25:21.420
And, you know, I, I, I've heard statistics that, you know, 55% of kids coming out of a,
00:25:26.220
you know, a, a university that these days think that socialism is a great idea.
00:25:31.960
It's like the most debunked economic idea of all time.
00:25:37.400
If socialism were this, uh, this great opportunity, the island of Cuba would be a Caribbean paradise,
00:25:48.760
I mean, you know, there's a, there's a couple, you know, there's a couple, uh, you know, I read
00:25:53.320
Dinesh D'Souza's, one of his books and he was talking about, um, you know, one of the,
00:25:57.920
you know, if you can look at a perfect experiment, East and West Germany, you know, one was,
00:26:02.300
one was capitalist, capitalistic, and one was socialistic.
00:26:05.260
And when you look at the outcomes of those two places with the same people in the same
00:26:09.340
region and the same timeframe, I mean, one did phenomenally better than the other.
00:26:14.040
And I believe, you know, North and South Korea is the other example that he uses, but
00:26:18.880
And which one works, which one, you know, imprisons people, you know, creates, you know,
00:26:24.720
a totalitarian government that oppresses people and which one actually, you know, enables
00:26:32.240
There's a perfect science experiment right there for us to look at.
00:26:35.100
Well, and I think you, not only, uh, is, is that solution set correct in terms of driving
00:26:40.720
toward capitalism, you correctly diagnose that we are on the wrong path right now.
00:26:45.160
And we need to be honest with people with the passage of this omnibus legislation that
00:26:50.120
the lame duck Congress facilitated, you are on the march to socialism right here in the
00:26:56.160
And that's why our organizing principle last week to change the house of representatives
00:27:01.020
was to ensure that our rules would never permit another omnibus bill like that to ever be
00:27:08.740
And, you know, another thing we fought for, Eli, was term limits.
00:27:11.780
And, uh, I have worked in the state legislature in Florida where we had term limits.
00:27:18.880
And to me, it's like a basketball game with and without a shot clock, right?
00:27:23.060
You know, when there's a shot clock in a basketball game, you gotta, you gotta advance your objective.
00:27:29.860
And then the whole thing sort of resets on the next possession.
00:27:33.980
And sometimes I feel around here, like people are just dribbling the ball around for a while,
00:27:38.300
uh, out in the country, term limits is like an 80% or higher issue with the American people.
00:27:45.560
And it seems to only be unpopular here in Washington.
00:27:48.160
And while the American people support term limits, we don't even take votes on term limits.
00:27:52.580
So you can hear people out on the campaign trail, pound the chest about how much they support it,
00:27:57.660
but they never actually have to be accountable for that.
00:28:03.840
What's the feedback you've gotten from people on that issue?
00:28:07.300
You know, and you're right, Matt, it's so many people come up here and quickly, especially
00:28:11.920
in Congress, where you run every two years, the focus half the time is on just getting
00:28:17.720
And I think if there was term limits and we had to actually go here, represent our constituents
00:28:22.100
and then go back to regular, our regular lives, I think this place would look a lot
00:28:26.580
different because as you know, a lot of people, you know, um, come here and it becomes all
00:28:30.920
about reelection and gaining power and power and power.
00:28:33.920
And, uh, so I'm, I think it's great that we're actually going to force people to take a position
00:28:39.420
on term limits because like you said it, the American people know it's one of the biggest
00:28:45.400
And then you know what, if you're a member of Congress doesn't vote for term limits, then
00:28:50.140
you can maybe impose a term limit on them through our election process.
00:28:54.960
And the other thing I've noticed about term limits is it makes the institution younger.
00:28:58.900
And the 118th Congress is the third oldest Congress in American history.
00:29:05.760
Uh, and I just, I just don't believe that the most powerful nation in the world can be governed
00:29:10.540
by a gerontocracy where the people making the decisions might not be around to see the
00:29:19.180
And our, our generation, you know, interfaces with the digital world differently.
00:29:23.180
Uh, we recognize the challenges with big tech, maybe more than the boomer generation.
00:29:27.900
And so I think it's a unique challenge for us as two younger members here, but it also
00:29:32.940
reinforces what changes are needed to kind of get out of the, um, uh, the, the gerontocracy
00:29:41.380
Um, but to do all these things to, to get it done, to see them through, we don't view last
00:29:49.060
And I want to talk to you a little bit about how you think about teamwork because, you
00:29:54.040
know, as a seal, as a business owner, it's teamwork or death.
00:29:58.080
And, uh, Maggie Haberman, who absolutely loathes me, had, had some comments on that subject
00:30:07.240
And we heard Speaker McCarthy right there say that Donald Trump deserves a lot of credit.
00:30:13.520
Um, you know, considering that he had endorsed McCarthy and early in the week made a public push
00:30:17.660
for him that he hadn't wanted to make, he had to do it because he gave some mealy mouth
00:30:20.800
comment to an NBC reporter, uh, and that didn't do anything, but he, he did matter at the end.
00:30:26.000
And in that very final, uh, motion to adjourn right before they voted in McCarthy, he did
00:30:31.280
make calls to people like Matt Gaetz and he did have some influence there.
00:30:34.740
That's a problem for Kevin McCarthy is that it's not just Scott Perry and the House Freedom
00:30:40.740
And Matt Gaetz kept his folks together and he is now in a pretty, uh, strong position
00:30:49.640
So Maggie Haverman assesses that it's a bad thing that we stuck together, hung together.
00:30:55.540
It's, it's not the Freedom Caucus you should be afraid of.
00:30:58.820
Uh, you know, I have found in life that the strongest relationships are forged by fire in
00:31:07.140
And I just wanted to give you a chance to talk about how you assess teamwork as a function
00:31:12.280
of getting through this place with real results for our constituents.
00:31:18.740
And, uh, you know, even when you look at just that isolated incident of the floor fight that
00:31:24.180
we got in last week, there were, you know, unlike the Democrats, we actually have independent
00:31:29.540
thinkers over here and there were, you know, how many conversations, phone calls, meetings
00:31:34.120
where you and I in, where, you know, there was a lot of debate and disagreement amongst
00:31:38.920
But in the end, the only way we got to where we got was because we stuck together, you know,
00:31:44.760
and not, you know, some people, you know, we didn't all move in complete unison, but at
00:31:50.660
the same time, you know, it, that, that's what I'm, that's what I'm most excited about.
00:31:55.580
When I look at this Congress is the fact that there were, you know, at least 20 people who
00:32:01.120
were willing to step up and stand up to the establishment.
00:32:05.080
And so, but on that note, Matt, you do, do deserve a good amount of credit because you
00:32:16.400
And, you know, it's like when you go into a situation like that, whether you're going
00:32:20.000
into combat or whether you're going into something, a pressure cooker like that, it's
00:32:24.920
on full display for everybody to see courage is contagious.
00:32:28.820
And that's one thing I always noticed about you.
00:32:31.100
I noticed it with Andy Biggs, Matt Rosendale, Bob Good, and several other people who were
00:32:36.640
just courageous and they were willing, they were willing to put themselves out there.
00:32:40.260
They were willing to deal with the repercussions that, you know, might very well come our way.
00:32:44.840
And it, you know, it made me feel in many ways, like it reminded me of being back in a,
00:32:50.340
you know, elite group of people that were willing to risk everything for something bigger
00:33:03.040
And we have different expertise on different subject matters and issues that will come before
00:33:09.560
It's a sign of strength to say, hey, look, you know, is there something maybe, you know,
00:33:13.160
you can help me learn more about or get a good frame on?
00:33:16.800
And is there something you've been through in life that can allow me to serve my constituents
00:33:22.040
And I have never been more optimistic about the teamwork atmosphere than what we went
00:33:31.540
And throughout life, it's just something you have to rely on and demand.
00:33:35.280
Do we have the photo of the, some of the floor action down there we can put up for our,
00:33:43.660
Some of the, some of the very discussions you're talking about.
00:33:46.320
But that's a big Eli Crane right in the middle.
00:33:49.040
And we're working with our friend, Matt Rosendale from Montana, another solid conservative.
00:33:58.360
Through all of this past week and through all we worked on, there were tense moments.
00:34:03.840
But I did not see you perk up with a brightness on any matter more than when you were bragging
00:34:12.140
And you talked about the communities that you serve, the enduring love of country that
00:34:19.160
And I just wanted you to share with our viewers a little bit about your district and the type
00:34:30.040
So for those of you guys looking at a map, it's the rural area of North, Northeastern Arizona,
00:34:35.460
but it's so big, Matt, it even comes down South of Phoenix.
00:34:38.080
And I mean, these are, these are American patriots.
00:34:43.520
You got ranchers, you know, you've got, you know, a lot of small business owners, you know,
00:34:48.460
you've got a bunch of just amazing people who love this country and they're tired of watching
00:34:54.780
And I think that's why they sent a guy like me here that didn't have any, any history in
00:35:01.440
Most of my campaign, I've got a lot of tattoos.
00:35:03.480
They were like, this guy might actually be crazy enough to go in there and, you know,
00:35:08.120
And they picked somebody who looked completely different from most politicians.
00:35:12.180
And I'm honored to serve the, you know, the people of Sedona, Flagstaff, Pine Top,
00:35:17.060
Show Low, Flagstaff, you know, Maricopa City, all of you guys.
00:35:23.980
And that's why I took this stand that I did, because I, I didn't want to be a guy that listened
00:35:29.120
to you or acted like I listened to you and then came up here and then my vote was for
00:35:33.660
special interests or lobbying or, or party leadership.
00:35:38.720
But hey, before we, before we close, I do want to say this about Matt Gates, because,
00:35:43.080
you know, Matt, you are a firebrand and you kind of have like this, you know, this, this
00:35:47.820
deal where, you know, a lot of people love you, but there are people that hate you.
00:35:53.180
And I know most of you watching this love this guy, but I actually saw some behind the scenes
00:35:57.980
baseball, I actually saw a pretty generous side of you that a lot of people don't get
00:36:02.920
And I saw a part of you that a lot of people don't get to see just out there in the media.
00:36:10.660
I saw you being willing to sacrifice for other people.
00:36:13.240
And I won't go into the specifics of it, but when there were six of us in a room and I
00:36:17.240
saw you step up big time for another, another one of us, that meant something to me because
00:36:22.080
you know, not everybody would have done that in that situation.
00:36:25.700
And I won't discuss the specifics of it, but that was really cool to be in a group where
00:36:30.680
other members are willing to be selfless and lay, you know, lay down their own personal,
00:36:35.120
you know, issues or beefs or, or even, you know, what you're trying to get at for somebody
00:36:42.800
And one thing I know about Washington, sometimes it's not easy to draw people into the fight
00:36:47.780
because it's easier to sort of be on the outskirts of things and to be a non-playing character.
00:36:52.780
Uh, and when you invite people into the fight, you can never have them leave in worse shape
00:37:00.100
And so I always want to make sure that when we go to battle, not for ourselves, but for
00:37:04.460
the American people that we serve, that our constituents come out better as a consequence
00:37:11.960
And there are many fights ahead on these issues, on the budget, on the border, on term limits,
00:37:19.940
We have a Senate, like you say, that is going to be an enemy combatant at times.
00:37:24.380
And we have an administration that we fear has been weaponized against our people.
00:37:29.000
And we're going to have to check them as our constitution demands and as duty requires.
00:37:33.740
And I believe as our oath requires, and there are just a, no, there are none better than
00:37:41.340
And we're going to be bringing more of these brave new members of Congress who I, I have
00:37:45.840
such hope and confidence that they are going to change this institution for the better.
00:37:51.340
Make sure that you are following, supporting, and encouraging my friend, Eli Crane.