The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - Episode 82 LIVE： Make Congress Work (feat. Rep. Eli Crane) – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

00:00:00.000 Matt Gaetz was one of the very few members in the entire Congress who bothered to stand

00:00:07.580 up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents.

00:00:10.920 Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem for the Democratic Party.

00:00:13.720 He could cause a lot of hiccups in passing applause.

00:00:16.760 So we're going to keep running those stories to get hurt again.

00:00:19.900 If you stand for the flag and kneel in prayer, if you want to build America up and not burn

00:00:26.040 her to the ground, then welcome, my fellow patriots.

00:00:29.360 You are in the right place.

00:00:31.040 This is the movement for you.

00:00:33.140 You ever watch this guy on television?

00:00:35.500 It's like a machine, Matt Gaetz.

00:00:37.880 I'm a canceled man in some corners of the Internet.

00:00:41.040 Many days I'm a marked man in Congress, a wanted man by the deep state.

00:00:45.460 They aren't really coming for me.

00:00:47.620 They're coming for you.

00:00:49.640 I'm just in the way.

00:00:50.960 Welcome back to Firebrand.

00:00:56.660 We're broadcasting live out of room 2021 in the Rayburn office building on the Capitol

00:01:01.460 Complex in Washington, D.C.

00:01:03.240 And I apologize for not putting a show out last week, as you may have seen.

00:01:07.460 We had some other stuff going on, but we have a great show today.

00:01:10.900 I've got big Eli Crane here, one of our newest and most inspirational members of Congress from

00:01:16.880 the great state of Arizona.

00:01:18.260 We're going to talk about how we're going to make Congress better and make it different.

00:01:22.860 What we continue to hear from our constituents, people all over the country, is that Congress

00:01:27.460 has to change so that we actually meet the needs of the American people and stop this nation

00:01:32.140 from going down a path of demise.

00:01:35.020 We deserve better than that.

00:01:36.460 So Congress is going to be different.

00:01:38.380 We've got to get the country to go in a different direction.

00:01:41.680 And what I can say with absolute certainty is that there is something different about Eli Crane.

00:01:46.540 He's become a leader in the freshman class, took a really nontraditional path to politics

00:01:52.680 and to the Congress.

00:01:53.640 We're going to get into that.

00:01:55.200 And Eli, I think you're the first member of Congress who also was involved in Shark Tank

00:02:00.260 as an entrepreneur.

00:02:01.100 Is that right?

00:02:02.340 Yeah, I don't know if anybody has done that, but I don't know of anybody.

00:02:06.840 So that was a wild experience, Matt.

00:02:08.900 It was a total blessing because it happened.

00:02:10.760 And we were actually on the set of Shark Tank while I was still in the military on terminal

00:02:15.580 leave. 0.99

00:02:16.580 And I didn't ask for permission on that one.

00:02:21.280 But it was just a blessing.

00:02:24.140 And it gave me and my wife something to sink our teeth into as we were getting out.

00:02:28.400 And I think that's one of the things that a lot of veterans struggle with when they get

00:02:31.980 out of the military is just a new mission and something that they can actually sink their

00:02:37.240 teeth into, that's not just a job that provides, you know, health care and a paycheck.

00:02:42.700 And it was just so cool because we got to manufacture our products in the USA.

00:02:45.820 We got to hire veterans.

00:02:46.880 And it gave me something to, you know, really, really fight for.

00:02:50.600 I've got the district in the country with the highest concentration of active duty military

00:02:55.000 and veterans.

00:02:56.300 And it's so interesting to watch that transition because it seems to require a sense of purpose.

00:03:02.720 You have such purpose through wearing the uniform and serving in the most elite elements of

00:03:08.720 our military.

00:03:09.460 But then a job can't just be a job.

00:03:11.980 You know, it has to be something more meaningful.

00:03:13.940 I want everyone to get a sense of Eli in that moment, pitching on Shark Tank.

00:03:19.820 Take a listen.

00:03:22.680 Hi, Sharks.

00:03:23.880 My name is Eli Crane.

00:03:25.360 I'm his wife, Jen.

00:03:26.660 Our business is Bottle Breacher.

00:03:28.420 We are seeking $150,000 for 10% equity stake in our business.

00:03:33.780 At Bottle Breacher, we make the finest personalized .50 caliber bottle openers on the market.

00:03:40.080 You might be asking yourself, why would anybody want a .50 caliber bottle opener?

00:03:43.880 Short answer is, they're awesome.

00:03:45.980 As a former Navy SEAL, I knew I needed to figure out a way to provide for my family when I got

00:03:51.900 out of the Navy.

00:03:53.140 Bottle Breacher has given us the ability to do that.

00:03:55.900 And it's actually really simple.

00:03:57.300 Most guys like drinking beer.

00:04:00.600 Most guys think that large caliber bullets are very cool.

00:04:04.480 At Bottle Breacher, we've combined the two to create the ultimate manly gift.

00:04:09.260 We've managed to create a successful company.

00:04:11.400 But we know with your help, we can breach this thing wide open.

00:04:14.420 You made a deal.

00:04:19.220 You achieved success.

00:04:20.680 And you know, Eli, people come to Congress frequently through military service, and they

00:04:25.060 also come frequently through business work.

00:04:28.100 You seem to have had both paths.

00:04:30.440 I think that's going to inform your service greatly.

00:04:32.340 But I got to know, like what was more pressure going on national television on Shark Tank in

00:04:39.160 front of 10 million people, or the experience we just went through this last week to try to

00:04:43.520 make Congress more responsive to the people?

00:04:46.040 You know, both were definitely, you know, a pressure cooker.

00:04:49.160 But last week, I think, was definitely more pressure.

00:04:52.500 As you know, Matt, I mean, I know you've been in a lot of fights up here.

00:04:56.460 That was definitely the, you know, first fight for me.

00:04:59.680 But when you're a freshman, and you're trying to figure out where the bathroom is, and then

00:05:03.220 you walk into that, it was intense, man.

00:05:07.040 I mean, think about it.

00:05:08.220 You know, a lot of us, if you get five, you know, people in your circle surrounding you

00:05:12.840 telling you, hey, you're on the wrong path, we need you to reverse course here.

00:05:17.100 But that's a lot of pressure, five people.

00:05:19.020 But when you're going up against, you know, 200 people on your own side of the aisle, then 1.00

00:05:23.820 you've got a lot of the media heads talking about what an idiot you are, and you don't know 1.00

00:05:28.420 what you're doing, and then you've got somebody that you and I both respect, President Trump, 1.00

00:05:32.640 you know, calling you and telling you, hey, you know, you need to get on board with this.

00:05:36.660 You know, that's tough.

00:05:38.980 But, you know, Matt, I just kept going back to, what did my constituents want?

00:05:44.140 What did they tell me for the last year and a half?

00:05:46.480 And I know that I'm here to represent them.

00:05:48.700 And so, I think as long as you never forget that, you'll be a good representative.

00:05:53.600 I mean, it's in the title, representative.

00:05:55.320 And I think so many of us forget that when we get to this town, because it's built, this

00:06:00.840 swamp is built to, you know, influence you and take you away from representing your actual

00:06:07.180 constituents.

00:06:08.200 We are live with Eli Crane, and the live stream is fired up.

00:06:11.820 We got folks that are watching from Kentucky, Texas, and even France on Facebook, so all the

00:06:18.200 way across the pond.

00:06:19.140 We talked about your military service, and we've just got breaking news from the Department 0.91

00:06:24.500 of Defense that they are going to cease all separations as a consequence of this very foolish

00:06:30.420 and misguided vaccine mandate.

00:06:33.100 Talk about some of the feedback you've received from people from the SEAL community or the military

00:06:38.560 community and how that vaccine mandate negatively affected people and your reaction to the separations

00:06:45.340 being suspended now. 0.98

00:06:46.380 You know, I think it was extremely destructive, and I do think it was foolish.

00:06:50.620 You know, my little brother was in the Marine, he was a Cobra pilot in the Marine Corps.

00:06:54.960 He left the service at 19 years and I think eight months, four months shy of his retirement

00:07:01.220 because he wouldn't take the vaccine.

00:07:03.200 I mean, everything that guy went through, all the deployments, he doesn't get his retirement

00:07:07.100 now.

00:07:07.680 I think it's atrocious.

00:07:08.860 And I talked to a lot of, you know, veterans that I know, SEALs that I know that wouldn't

00:07:13.620 take it.

00:07:14.180 They didn't, you know, they didn't trust it.

00:07:16.780 And it not only did it really disenfranchise and hurt those individual members, but it hurt

00:07:22.860 our military overall.

00:07:24.720 I mean, it hurt the readiness of the military.

00:07:27.560 And, you know, when you take those individuals who were not, you know, really susceptible

00:07:33.180 for the most part to, you know, some of the adversity that came with, you know, folks that

00:07:39.080 ended up getting COVID-19 just because of their age and their health, et cetera, et cetera.

00:07:44.460 It was really hard to watch because when you look at everything else going on in our military

00:07:50.420 and how woke it's got and how the focus has turned from being the best fighting force in

00:07:55.100 the world, you know, to a lot, are we the most inclusive group in the world?

00:07:59.740 You know, what are your pronouns?

00:08:01.280 I remember even before I got out, Matt, it was like, you know, we were taking, we were

00:08:05.340 half the time we couldn't even do our job as SEALs because we were taking some, you know,

00:08:09.540 survey or some tests to make sure that, you know, we were up on, you know, our Navy

00:08:14.160 knowledge online and just courses and so on and so forth that had nothing to do with

00:08:18.520 our job.

00:08:19.060 And that's the direction of the military.

00:08:20.820 And I also know that's a passion of yours.

00:08:22.740 So, you know, I, I hope that, you know, we're able to work together to try and, you know,

00:08:27.560 bring other members of Congress into making sure that this military is focused on the very

00:08:32.240 real threats that we have around the world.

00:08:34.680 Undeniably, we have got to get this guy a huge following online.

00:08:37.600 Make sure you follow at Rep Eli Crane on Twitter.

00:08:40.080 Is that right?

00:08:40.640 Yeah.

00:08:40.800 Is that right, Zach?

00:08:41.940 That's how new I am here, Matt.

00:08:43.140 You know, I'm trying to figure, trying to figure it out, but I think that's right.

00:08:46.220 You know, the courage you showed this last week, I could tell my constituents very candidly,

00:08:51.240 I would not have had the courage to do that.

00:08:53.100 If I was in my first week, I would have probably been the guy wondering how to get my phones

00:08:57.680 hooked up and I would have wanted the safety of swimming with the school of the rest of

00:09:01.600 the fish.

00:09:02.120 But actually, well, the SEALs are different, man.

00:09:05.580 You're, you're, you're different and, and you stood up to it.

00:09:08.320 Um, the SEAL community actually led on a lot of these vaccine issues.

00:09:12.400 Some of the early litigation and injunctions that were obtained were from Navy SEALs.

00:09:17.120 And I remember reading those lawsuits getting filed and the orders coming out and just like

00:09:21.760 thinking about the SEAL community, the best of the best elite in mind and body.

00:09:27.500 And I thought back to like the early, most virulent versions of COVID, like you're always

00:09:32.680 scared of the unknown.

00:09:33.660 It's human nature when you don't know the full impact of something to be concerned.

00:09:38.460 The day I, or the week, I guess I became like way less afraid of COVID was when Chris Christie

00:09:44.180 and legendary FSU coach who I adore Bobby, the late Bobby Bowden now both survived COVID

00:09:50.440 the same week.

00:09:51.120 And I thought, well, you know what?

00:09:52.040 If, if Chris Christie, who probably has like never driven past a donut stand without pulling

00:09:57.080 in and like Bobby Bowden, who was like over 90 years old.

00:10:00.400 And I mean, the next step in human evolution, probably Bobby Bowden, uh, as a noel, but when

00:10:05.520 they both survived it, I thought, huh, maybe we shouldn't be like forcing Navy SEALs of all

00:10:10.380 people out of the military.

00:10:11.940 And what I was so offended by from some of these Pentagon officials is that they preached

00:10:16.940 to us that they were doing the mandate for readiness.

00:10:20.900 And it was just the opposite.

00:10:22.240 Talk a little bit about the, the money and time and effort that goes into just training

00:10:28.060 one Navy SEAL.

00:10:29.740 Yeah, no, it's true.

00:10:30.760 I mean, they spend millions of dollars on you.

00:10:32.840 And by the, by the time you start, if you go straight through at this point, it, you

00:10:36.680 know, when I went through, it took a year.

00:10:38.400 If you went straight through, didn't get rolled back, didn't get hurt.

00:10:41.160 Now, um, when I got out, I think it was up to a year and six months.

00:10:45.320 So they spend a ton of time and money on these individuals.

00:10:48.740 And here's the thing, when you're in a SEAL platoon, you work with about a 20 man group.

00:10:53.440 And so you'll have different specialties within that group.

00:10:56.140 You'll have snipers, breachers, calm guys, you know, et cetera, corpsmen, you know, medics,

00:11:01.840 et cetera.

00:11:02.180 So if you, if you lose one of those guys, I mean, you just, you lost a massive percent

00:11:07.240 of your operational readiness.

00:11:08.900 And so, um, it, it was really detrimental, um, to the, to the community.

00:11:14.020 And, uh, I know a lot of great guys got out because of it.

00:11:17.960 And to me, that's unsat, especially with how many threats that we have around the world.

00:11:22.040 Let's talk about those folks that, that were separated because if you're watching this and

00:11:26.580 you're thinking, well, I'm, I'm glad the next round of Patriots isn't going to be forced

00:11:30.380 out, but there are people who were coerced out of the military.

00:11:33.680 There were people who just left because they said, I don't want to go through this.

00:11:37.320 I, I feel like the department of defense isn't concerned about me anymore as much as they

00:11:43.040 are kind of going along with the narrative.

00:11:45.660 I think it would be a huge mistake for Republicans in Congress to just declare victory on this

00:11:51.540 issue and walk off the field. 0.99

00:11:52.820 I think that we need a real strategy to make reparations for the people whose lives were

00:11:58.740 negatively affected by this mandate.

00:12:00.940 And we need aggressive outreach to get people back into service who are otherwise totally

00:12:10.100 willing, able, ready to put that uniform on for our country.

00:12:14.700 Uh, I think that that, that's a job that we have to get our colleagues to understand this

00:12:18.900 is not over.

00:12:19.880 Yeah, you know, and I, I think one of the coolest things about this Congress in particular is

00:12:24.040 you, um, we have a ton of veterans in this Congress, a lot of new ones as well.

00:12:28.960 And I've talked to several of them and I know that a lot of them would support that type

00:12:32.620 of legislation where we do try and make sure that these individuals don't get left behind

00:12:37.600 like my little brother, you know, that isn't going to get his retirement cause he he's shy

00:12:42.160 four months.

00:12:42.800 And so, um, I, I hope that we can join, you know, a bunch of us get something like that

00:12:48.520 over the finish line and, uh, try and, uh, make that wrong.

00:12:52.420 Right.

00:12:52.960 Yeah.

00:12:53.120 Even people who didn't get their promotions because they were deemed not deployable or not able

00:12:58.800 to participate in the activities where they have to check the boxes to move up.

00:13:02.420 So there are people in the military now who were negatively affected by this, who weren't

00:13:06.900 separated, but saw their careers negatively impacted.

00:13:09.620 There are people not in the military who should be, and we need to get those folks back in the 0.99

00:13:14.340 fold.

00:13:14.960 And then there are people who left the military when it did something else and don't want

00:13:18.480 to come back.

00:13:19.100 But I think we owe them something for having put them through this, uh, without a basis.

00:13:23.960 And, you know, in order to address, uh, those challenges, I think you open up the envelope

00:13:29.420 too, about just the broader wokeism push at DOD, even beyond the vaccine mandates.

00:13:35.480 And it almost feels like there is an intentional purge to get people who think a certain way

00:13:42.460 out of the institution.

00:13:44.100 Do you get that sense from some of your colleagues?

00:13:46.840 100%, Matt.

00:13:47.680 You know, I think that a lot of us used to, you know, look at a lot of these radical ideologies

00:13:52.780 like the socialism, Marxism, communist nonsense.

00:13:56.160 And we knew that it, it lived in a couple of different verticals.

00:14:00.420 The college campus was one that it had taken over.

00:14:02.960 I think many of us had given up on, which I'm glad guys like Charlie Kirk has said, no,

00:14:06.720 we're not giving up on that one.

00:14:07.860 We're actually going to go attack it.

00:14:09.720 Um, but there were a couple that I think were sacred cows that even us conservatives were

00:14:13.560 like, oh, they'll never come after our kids.

00:14:15.200 Kids are off limits and our military is off limits.

00:14:17.960 Well, we've seen that there is nothing off limits to these, these individuals.

00:14:21.980 They want to destroy everything.

00:14:23.960 And, uh, you know, so that's why it's going to be a fight.

00:14:26.920 I think that's why so many of us have jumped into, you know, politics, some, somewhere we

00:14:31.940 never wanted to be because we're like, Hey, I'm going to go stand with Matt Gates.

00:14:35.880 I'm going to go stand with, you know, all these other guys that are out there willing

00:14:39.720 to put themselves in that pressure cooker so that we can try and turn this country around

00:14:43.520 and make sure that our kids and our grandkids get some of the freedom and opportunity that

00:14:47.460 we grew up with.

00:14:48.680 Amen to that.

00:14:49.560 Well, in order to meet those challenges, we have to have a house of representatives that

00:14:53.560 is a fighting force that can marshal that sense of duty that so many of the new members

00:14:59.120 of Congress have so many of our veterans who, who patriotically serve in Congress have,

00:15:03.680 and we have to drive the necessary changes.

00:15:06.520 And, you know, uh, gosh, a few weeks ago, I think we had fewer tools to drive those changes

00:15:12.680 than we do now.

00:15:13.580 And you mentioned there might've been some talking heads in the media that questioned

00:15:17.320 our, our tactics and our strategy, but they've come around for sure.

00:15:21.800 Take a listen to Fox news is Jason Chaffetz, uh, certainly giving a great deal of adulation

00:15:27.520 and congrats to our efforts to try to make this a more productive institution.

00:15:32.120 I want to put this up from the Washington post, an opinion piece.

00:15:37.180 It says the McCarthy speaker circus is a good argument for voting Democrat. 0.61

00:15:41.720 They say the never Kevin rebels who oppose him have made it painfully apparent that no

00:15:46.960 one will be able to impose and enforce the kind of discipline that Pelosi maintained on

00:15:51.260 the democratic side.

00:15:52.280 Jason.

00:15:52.760 Hallelujah.

00:15:53.600 That's a good thing.

00:15:54.860 I, the way Pelosi ran the house was awful.

00:15:57.500 Members couldn't offer amendments.

00:15:59.160 We didn't get single issue bills.

00:16:00.720 The appropriations processes, as it was laid out in the 1974 budget act, where you look

00:16:06.400 at 12 individual appropriations that never happened.

00:16:10.320 So I think people on both sides of the aisle are actually going to look back at this and

00:16:14.380 say, hallelujah, these people stood up so that we could have a more normal process in

00:16:19.140 every member, no matter where they are in, in the pecking order of seniority can actually

00:16:25.100 participate in the process.

00:16:26.660 Those are all really good things.

00:16:28.240 Hallelujah says, uh, former Congressman Jason Chaffetz Fox had maybe taken a different editorial

00:16:35.820 position before the result, but we, we often learn that, you know, failure is an orphan,

00:16:40.780 but success has many fathers.

00:16:42.300 Right.

00:16:42.760 And, and, uh, now I want to get into some of the specific things that we fought for that

00:16:48.920 were really important to us.

00:16:49.920 And I want to start with the border.

00:16:51.180 You're from Arizona, a border state, you know, it's not enough to just pass, show me bills.

00:16:56.660 We have to actually get results that don't just involve finishing the wall.

00:17:01.580 That to me is the bare minimum.

00:17:02.940 Now we need internal enforcement of our immigration laws because so many people have come to our 1.00

00:17:07.980 country illegally.

00:17:09.340 Talk about how your district and your state think about this border crisis and particularly

00:17:14.680 the concessions we got to get policy changes on internal enforcement of, of immigration

00:17:20.460 laws.

00:17:21.420 Yeah.

00:17:22.060 Well, everybody in Arizona and anybody that lives in a border state, you know, knows how,

00:17:27.000 um, damaging this administration's border policies have been to the United States of

00:17:31.960 America.

00:17:32.300 I mean, it's, you've got so much, it's even hard to find a place to start from sex trafficking

00:17:37.880 coming over the border, all these illegal drugs, fentanyl coming over the border, MS-13

00:17:43.160 gang members.

00:17:44.320 You even, like last year alone, you had 18 members, I think on the terrorist watch list

00:17:48.220 come through that Southern border. 1.00

00:17:49.580 And it's, it's just mind blowing how stupid and foolish, you know, this, this administration's 1.00

00:17:56.280 policy. 1.00

00:17:56.860 But Matt, I feel like I see this type of destructive, um, leadership everywhere I look around the

00:18:03.000 country.

00:18:03.240 It almost seems like you take, you know, the common sense approach and these guys just

00:18:07.900 do the opposite every time.

00:18:09.560 And so that's why I'm glad that I got to get up here when I did with the group that I'm

00:18:15.160 with so that we can start affecting some of these changes.

00:18:18.140 But as you, you know, I mean, we don't have the Senate, we don't have the executive branch.

00:18:23.080 And so, you know, you could make the argument that, you know, even though we will continue

00:18:27.400 to play offense and we will continue to, you know, be ready to throw down, there's only

00:18:31.540 so much we can do it at this point.

00:18:33.460 But, um, you know, I am looking forward to doing everything I can, you know, with all

00:18:39.400 the reps from Arizona and from all over the country that are willing to actually throw

00:18:43.920 down on this fight because, you know, it's affecting people's lives every single day.

00:18:48.460 Some of the members from Arizona are, I think, some of the best informed and most thorough on

00:18:54.900 these policies.

00:18:55.660 And what Congressman Biggs has shared with me and Congressman Gosar has shared with me

00:19:00.140 is that you can't trade amnesty for enforcement.

00:19:04.480 No.

00:19:05.020 And there are a lot of more of our moderate colleagues and colleagues who maybe aren't

00:19:10.520 from states physically on the border that feels like every state's a border state these

00:19:14.640 days.

00:19:15.000 Right.

00:19:15.740 They think, well, you know, maybe we can get some asylum reform, but we need to do an amnesty 1.00

00:19:21.580 in exchange for that.

00:19:22.560 What would be your reaction to that paradigm?

00:19:25.440 I think it would be destructive.

00:19:27.240 And I think, uh, you gotta, first you gotta, you just gotta take this one step at a time.

00:19:32.080 I think it's, uh, irresponsible to, you know, talk about immigration reform before you actually

00:19:37.860 shore up the border.

00:19:38.960 Because I think that when you start talking about that before you take step one, um, it

00:19:43.960 really encourages even more people to come over here before the gates are closed and the

00:19:48.260 walls are up.

00:19:48.920 And so I think step one has to be, you, we, you know, we, we have to shore up that Southern

00:19:55.080 border.

00:19:55.380 And that, that you were talking about a wall a second ago, that's a big part of it, you

00:19:59.460 know, um, you know, bringing back, you know, remain in Mexico, you know, making sure that 0.99

00:20:04.240 our border patrol agents that were not, um, you know, trying to destroy them and disparage

00:20:09.960 them on national TV, talking about them whipping people when they're not, it's just, you know,

00:20:14.880 it's going to take, it's going to take a lot of different things, but I don't think

00:20:18.960 incentivizing other people who want to come here, even though I understand why they want

00:20:23.800 to come here, Matt, they want a taste of the American dream.

00:20:26.040 They want a better life.

00:20:26.820 I get that as a human being, I get that.

00:20:29.140 But if you start incentivizing that, you know, I think it's just going to increase the problem.

00:20:35.560 And so I agree with, you know, Congressman Biggs and Gosar who were right there with us in

00:20:40.760 that fight last week, and I don't know what it is about us Arizona guys, man, but we were

00:20:45.340 well represented in that fight.

00:20:46.920 Absolutely.

00:20:47.620 Arizona, I, there's, there's no greater inverse of better members of Congress and worse election

00:20:54.220 administration than the state of Arizona.

00:20:56.580 Our elections are a joke, man.

00:20:58.300 They, they really are.

00:21:00.160 That could be its own podcast.

00:21:02.100 You don't have to, here's my, here's what I could tell you on the elections.

00:21:05.080 You don't have to live this way.

00:21:06.580 Florida used to be the laughingstock of the country on elections. 0.95

00:21:09.340 And then you fire the people who don't follow the law.

00:21:13.340 You have laws in place on ballot custody.

00:21:15.900 You have paper ballots so that you're able to assess that an actual human being intended

00:21:21.640 to vote that ballot.

00:21:22.800 And it's actually not that difficult.

00:21:24.520 It almost seems like if you're not doing it the right way, maybe it's chaos on purpose.

00:21:28.800 And, you know, an area where we've had chaos has been in the federal budget and spending.

00:21:33.300 And I know like me, you heard from a lot of your constituents about the crushing impact

00:21:38.800 of inflation on a family budget.

00:21:41.300 We believe that government spending is a driver of inflation.

00:21:45.620 It's, it's such an obvious statement.

00:21:47.200 I can't even believe I have to say it out loud, but this town will never balance a budget

00:21:51.740 if we do not have to, because at the end of the day, some people want some stuff, other

00:21:56.560 people want other stuff.

00:21:57.560 And instead of having a zero sum negotiation about that, we just end up doing all of it

00:22:02.720 and printing more money and individual programs don't get individual review.

00:22:07.380 When we began this fight at the beginning of last week, we had no guarantee of a balanced

00:22:13.260 budget ever coming to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote.

00:22:17.380 And now we do.

00:22:18.800 Talk about the importance of getting that commitment for a balanced budget vote.

00:22:23.220 Well, I think it's huge.

00:22:24.480 And I agree with you, Matt.

00:22:25.360 It is, you know, it does, it is a main driver of inflation and it's just, it blows my mind

00:22:31.040 up here that we continue to print and spend money that we don't have.

00:22:35.360 It just, it doesn't make any sense to me as a, you know, as a business owner, as a father

00:22:40.160 who has personal finances.

00:22:42.040 And, and you're right.

00:22:43.240 It's like, if you, if we don't force the issue up here, if a certain number of us don't

00:22:48.300 force the issue up here, nothing will get done about it.

00:22:50.780 Because the, the sad truth is many people campaign, they, they run as, you know, fiscally

00:22:56.800 conservative and then they get up here and it's just like, Hey, show me, show me the

00:23:01.800 money.

00:23:02.040 Who's got the best deal for me.

00:23:03.260 It's transactional.

00:23:04.480 You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. 0.97

00:23:06.440 And, and that's why we need some real fighters up here. 0.94

00:23:09.120 And that's why it was exciting to see, you know, 20 people, you know, stand against status

00:23:14.180 quo, the establishment in the swamp last week.

00:23:16.640 And I, and I'm pretty confident that that, you know, that trajectory and those fighters

00:23:21.000 are going to coalesce on the next one and the next one and the next one.

00:23:24.200 And I know you and I will be right there, you know, trying to turn, you know, turn this

00:23:28.720 around and, you know, resume some fiscal responsibility back to this federal government.

00:23:34.820 These balanced budgets are going to require tough choices.

00:23:37.920 We're going to have to tackle entitlement spending.

00:23:40.660 It's not going to be okay to say that able-bodied people who could go to work, but just choose

00:23:45.860 not to, should be able to get the largesse of the federal government for their entire

00:23:50.620 lives and for multiple generations that get stuck in government dependence.

00:23:56.360 And so the Democrats and the media will, I'm sure, you know, reinvigorate their tired

00:24:01.340 old arguments that were pushing granny off the, off the hill.

00:24:04.880 That is not our objective.

00:24:06.200 Our objective is to make sure that every American realizes their full potential through work

00:24:12.420 and contribution to our society.

00:24:14.440 And I think that doesn't only help on our budget issues, it helps with our workforce

00:24:18.620 issues and so many of the small businesses that are struggling to keep workers because

00:24:22.960 we're paying people to sit at home.

00:24:24.820 No, absolutely.

00:24:25.560 I'm a, you know, I've been a small business owner.

00:24:27.780 My wife and I sold our business this last year, but I have a lot of friends that are small

00:24:32.240 business owners and they, you know, they, they tell me the same thing that it's impossible

00:24:35.960 for them to fire, you know, hire and find employees because, you know, so many Americans right

00:24:41.560 now are incentivized to stay home.

00:24:43.240 And that, that's not a good thing, you know, for small business.

00:24:46.020 And it's not a good thing for individuals either.

00:24:47.920 You know, when you, when you don't have something to work for, you know, work and, you know, discipline,

00:24:53.380 those are good things for all human beings.

00:24:55.480 And, and I think that, uh, you know, there's a couple of different buckets here, but it's sad

00:25:00.380 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.

00:25:10.000 And that's how they control them. 0.85

00:25:11.540 And, uh, I really hope we're not that foolish that we're going to go down that path, but 0.52

00:25:16.960 that looks like the trajectory that this country is on. 0.82

00:25:19.160 And it really is concerning to me, Matt.

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.

00:25:30.880 How scary is that, man?

00:25:31.960 It's like the most debunked economic idea of all time.

00:25:36.340 It's never worked.

00:25:37.300 Yeah.

00:25:37.400 If socialism were this, uh, this great opportunity, the island of Cuba would be a Caribbean paradise,

00:25:44.560 not a hellscape.

00:25:45.840 Yeah.

00:25:46.240 You know, absolutely, absolutely, man.

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, 0.71

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

00:26:17.680 it's a perfect case study.

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

00:26:29.340 its citizens to thrive.

00:26:30.740 And, you know, there you go.

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

00:26:55.060 United States of America.

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

00:27:06.840 forced onto the American people.

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.

00:27:17.140 I've worked here where we don't.

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.

00:27:28.520 You gotta take your shot.

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.

00:27:45.280 Right.

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.

00:28:00.340 You and I demanded a vote on term limits.

00:28:03.840 What's the feedback you've gotten from people on that issue?

00:28:05.920 No, they love it.

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

00:28:16.460 reelected, you know?

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

00:28:43.200 problems with our political system.

00:28:45.260 Yeah.

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. 0.99

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.

00:29:05.260 Really?

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

00:29:16.620 full impact of the decisions they make.

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

00:29:39.860 that we find ourselves in.

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

00:29:46.460 week as the end.

00:29:47.480 It is, it is just the beginning.

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

00:30:03.460 recently.

00:30:03.840 Take a listen.

00:30:06.440 Hey, Maggie.

00:30:07.240 And we heard Speaker McCarthy right there say that Donald Trump deserves a lot of credit.

00:30:11.200 Uh, does he?

00:30:12.580 I don't know about a lot.

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

00:30:38.720 Caucus.

00:30:39.240 It's this Matt Gaetz group.

00:30:40.740 And Matt Gaetz kept his folks together and he is now in a pretty, uh, strong position

00:30:46.940 with McCarthy.

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.

00:30:57.860 It's the Gaetz group.

00:30:58.820 Uh, you know, I have found in life that the strongest relationships are forged by fire in

00:31:05.680 business and politics and otherwise.

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.

00:31:16.980 Well, it is imperative.

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

00:31:38.500 ourselves.

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

00:32:10.460 were as strong as anybody in that group.

00:32:12.840 And that was noted.

00:32:14.320 That was noted by many of us.

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

00:32:54.260 than themselves.

00:32:55.480 And politics is a team sport.

00:32:57.420 People need to know that.

00:32:58.760 We all have different skills.

00:33:00.560 We have different contributions to the fight.

00:33:03.040 And we have different expertise on different subject matters and issues that will come before

00:33:07.740 us.

00:33:08.120 And it's not a sign of weakness.

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

00:33:21.480 better?

00:33:22.040 And I have never been more optimistic about the teamwork atmosphere than what we went

00:33:28.720 through because it showed people's true metal.

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,

00:33:41.820 all right, there we go.

00:33:43.160 There we go.

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.

00:33:55.020 You know, Eli, I want to end on this note.

00:33:58.360 Through all of this past week and through all we worked on, there were tense moments.

00:34:02.760 There were tough 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

00:34:09.960 about your constituents in Arizona.

00:34:12.140 And you talked about the communities that you serve, the enduring love of country that

00:34:18.240 exists there.

00:34:19.160 And I just wanted you to share with our viewers a little bit about your district and the type

00:34:23.500 of people that, that you work for.

00:34:25.800 Yeah.

00:34:26.000 So I represent an amazing district in Arizona.

00:34:28.460 It's the second congressional district.

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.

00:34:41.940 A lot of them are blue collar folks.

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

00:34:53.160 it be destroyed from within.

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

00:34:59.360 politics.

00:34:59.800 I wore a ball cap.

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,

00:35:06.940 actually fight for us.

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.

00:35:20.480 And I, I want to, I want to say this.

00:35:22.880 I heard 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.

00:35:37.160 That's not what I'm going to do up here.

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.

00:35:51.800 I want to say this about this guy.

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

00:36:02.500 to see.

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.

00:36:07.760 I saw you take some hits for other people.

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

00:36:40.320 else.

00:36:40.620 So that was really cool.

00:36:41.460 I appreciate you saying so.

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

00:36:58.900 than they came in.

00:36:59.840 Yep.

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

00:37:09.240 of us making a brave, bold decision.

00:37:11.960 And there are many fights ahead on these issues, on the budget, on the border, on term limits,

00:37:17.140 on opening up the process in Congress.

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

00:37:38.920 Eli to be right alongside us in that fight.

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.

00:37:50.060 Thanks for joining me.

00:37:51.340 Make sure that you are following, supporting, and encouraging my friend, Eli Crane.

00:37:56.620 They don't make them any better.

00:37:58.600 Subscribe.

00:37:59.340 Make sure to like our channel.

00:38:00.780 We'll be back with more Firebrand.

00:38:02.420 Roll the credits.

00:38:03.240 Thanks, brother.

00:38:03.740 We'll be right back.

The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - January 11, 2023

Episode 82 LIVE： Make Congress Work (feat. Rep. Eli Crane) – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

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