The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz. Let's talk about the news. Bob Woodward's

00:00:22.020 book, Rage, getting a lot of news coverage in the mainstream media. I don't think it

00:00:27.580 was a good idea for the president to give 18 interviews to Bob Woodward, to give him the

00:00:33.080 opportunity to take things out of context and cast them in the most negative light. That seems to be

00:00:38.800 what Bob Woodward has done, no matter which president he's covering, just very negative,

00:00:44.060 very critical. The president and I were on Sean Hannity's program last night to talk about

00:00:49.180 the book, the president's response to coronavirus. And I think it's important to remember that

00:00:55.300 expectations at the beginning were that were really dire, that this virus would be perhaps

00:01:01.060 even 10 times worse than we've seen as far as death impact in the United States. We continue to see

00:01:07.760 survivability of the virus improve in the United States as a consequence of developed medical

00:01:14.280 treatments, better testing on the front end, and obviously we have maintained capacity within our

00:01:20.860 hospital system. You know, a lot of people don't talk about that now, but our hospital system was

00:01:26.260 predicted to be overrun, where people would be dying in the streets, unable to get ventilators, unable to

00:01:32.660 see physicians and receive treatments. And far, you know, from that has actually come to pass,

00:01:39.880 no American who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator. The president, you know, did

00:01:45.700 extraordinary things like turning the Javits Center into a medical center. He brought USS Mercy

00:01:52.060 and Comfort into areas that were heavily impacted so that they could deal with both coronavirus

00:01:58.000 patients. And at times, I think some of those vessels helped with non-coronavirus patients so that

00:02:05.020 we were able to have maximum capacity for those who were impacted in an unpredictable way and dealing

00:02:13.460 with unpredictable acuity in their medical condition. Here's the president and my discussion

00:02:19.320 with Sean Hannity last night. In the state of Florida, we've seen a Trump flag on just about

00:02:24.260 every boat. The president just banned offshore oil drilling in Florida. And when it comes to the

00:02:28.620 coronavirus, I think it really highlights the extent to which the media is a joke. When the president

00:02:33.820 urges calm, they say he's irresponsible. When he takes aggressive action, they call him a racist.

00:02:39.240 A great nation cannot respond to a pandemic by panicking or hiding in the bunker. President

00:02:46.760 Trump had a well-executed, focused plan. Initial estimates said that two million people could have

00:02:52.520 died of the coronavirus. It is going to be far less than that. And we're going to have an economy

00:02:57.060 capable of rebounding because we've had the strong leadership of President Trump.

00:03:01.600 All right. Reince Priebus and Congressman Matt Gaetz, I would keep you both longer,

00:03:05.640 but somebody outflanks you. They're up next. Joining us right now, live on the phone,

00:03:10.640 exclusive interviews in the White House tonight, President Donald Trump. Mr. President,

00:03:13.880 thank you for being with us. Well, thank you. They did a very good job, I will say.

00:03:19.060 Okay. They get good grades. Let me go to the Woodward book. I was first surprised that you spoke to him.

00:03:26.660 I don't think a lot of good comes from talking to Bob Woodward, my own personal opinion.

00:03:30.280 But let's go to the things that Karl Rove was pointing out that Biden said today.

00:03:36.560 Ten days after the first identified case, ten days, you put the travel ban in effect.

00:03:42.000 And it was a subsequent ban, the first quarantine in over 50 years. He said it was hysterical,

00:03:48.600 xenophobia, and fear-mongering on your part. Two and a half months later, he reversed himself,

00:03:55.060 at least according to a campaign ad. What do you believe that one decision? Ten days after the

00:04:02.660 first case in America, what impact did that have? And what were you saying to Bob Woodward?

00:04:08.060 Well, first of all, on the Woodward book, on the book itself, he called. I didn't participate in his

00:04:15.140 last one. And he does hit jobs with everybody. He even did it on Obama. But constant hit jobs on Bush.

00:04:21.600 I guess they did three books. They were all terrible. So I figured, you know, let's just

00:04:25.320 give it a little shot. I'll speak to him. It wasn't a big deal. I speak to him. And let's see. I don't

00:04:29.700 know if the book is good or bad. I have no idea. Probably almost definitely won't read it because

00:04:35.440 I don't have time to read it. But I gave it a little bit of a shot. Sounds like it's not going to be good.

00:04:40.620 But if you look at what I said today, I said, don't panic. We don't want to be jumping up and down

00:04:45.120 and going wild. Don't panic. I'm a cheerleader for this country. And I don't want to see panic.

00:04:51.240 And I thought what Matt said was fantastic because we would have lost two million, two and a half

00:04:55.760 million lives instead of the number we're talking about. Anything above one is no good. It's no good.

00:05:01.680 We can't have it. It was China's fault. They sent this to us and it's no good.

00:05:06.260 Steve Nash, the legendary Hall of Fame point guard, has been selected to be the head coach of the

00:05:16.720 Brooklyn Nets. Nash completing his playing career relatively recently, but widely regarded as one

00:05:23.560 of the best point guards to play the game. A diminutive guy, a guy that didn't always have the

00:05:29.520 electric athleticism, but with his knowledge of the game, with his vision, with his playmaking ability,

00:05:35.340 widely viewed throughout the NBA as one of the best teammates, one of the best motivators,

00:05:40.760 a real student of the game, and no surprise to see him in the ranks of head coaching.

00:05:46.440 But it has created all kinds of really unexpected and bizarre controversy. And wait till you see the

00:05:54.280 twists and turns of this story. It starts with the announcement from Brooklyn that he's getting the

00:05:59.280 job. And then Stephen A. Smith, very prominent ESPN commentator, probably one of the guys that

00:06:05.340 guys most wired into the scene in the NBA and basketball has a blistering commentary of the

00:06:12.980 decision. Take a listen to Stephen A. Smith on ESPN.

00:06:17.040 Congratulations to him. He deserves it. I get it. But this ain't about him, what I'm about to say.

00:06:25.200 Ladies and gentlemen, there's no way around this. This is white privilege.

00:06:30.200 This does not happen for a black man. No experience whatsoever on any level as a coach and you get

00:06:40.040 the Brooklyn Nets job. I know that Kyrie and KD have both signed off on this. I know they both

00:06:47.800 support this move, but I'm thinking about a champion that is Ty Lue passed up. I'm thinking about a guy

00:06:55.080 who built the foundation for the Golden State Warriors in Mark Jackson passed up. I'm thinking

00:07:00.700 about the years that Sam Cassell has served as an assistant first in the nation's capital in DC and

00:07:07.360 now with the Los Angeles Clippers passed up. And it's for a guy, my God, one of the best guys you could

00:07:15.760 possibly meet in your life and may do a fantastic job, but a guy that has no experience whatsoever

00:07:23.440 in these times where we're making all of this noise about social justice. I got news for y'all,

00:07:30.240 Molly and Max. I have said this to people on numerous occasions right here on this show.

00:07:35.560 Yes, that was the tipping point. George Floyd's killing, his murder, you know, violence against

00:07:41.800 black men who are unarmed. All of that stuff is true. But the frustration, the protest and all of

00:07:47.640 these things that you've seen in the streets throughout America emanating from the black

00:07:52.400 community and disenfranchised communities is that proverbial glass ceiling. And the fact that it

00:07:57.760 breeds a level of frustration that we can't even put in the word. Sometimes you just want to scream,

00:08:04.920 want to scream to the high heavens. How the hell does this always happen for somebody else

00:08:10.820 other than us? Why is it that we have to be twice as good to get half as much? Why is it

00:08:17.700 that no matter what we do and how hard we work and how we go through the process and the terrain

00:08:23.000 of everything, somehow, someway, there's another excuse to ignore that criteria, to ignore those

00:08:31.540 credentials and instead bypass it and make an exception to the rule for someone other than us.

00:08:38.480 This monologue sent shockwaves throughout the sports world, the media world, the fact that

00:08:45.300 someone of Steve Nash's obvious capability as a player and with that strong aptitude likely to

00:08:52.640 convey to a successful coaching career, one would not think that he would be attacked just for being

00:08:59.440 white and having been selected as someone who was white. And I find it even more bizarre

00:09:05.680 when evaluating Steve Nash's reaction. He acknowledged the white privilege. He said,

00:09:11.900 yes, I probably benefited as a consequence of white privilege in the NBA. And now he wants to

00:09:20.240 be a part of the solution. He says, here's my hot take. Steve Nash should not have to apologize for

00:09:27.360 being white. No person that is ever hired for a job should have to apologize for their skin color

00:09:33.660 or their background. And it is equally true that no one should be discriminated against based on

00:09:40.000 their skin color. And of course, we should find opportunities to build diverse teams and find

00:09:45.820 people who've had different experiences. But Steve Nash, in a way, is a diverse pick because he is someone

00:09:52.480 who so recently played the game. Usually you do get people from the coaching ranks and sometimes you see a

00:09:58.860 benefit from that out of the box pick, someone who's closer to their playing days. And it proves

00:10:04.820 that diversity is not just reflected in skin color. It is also reflected in experience and approach and

00:10:12.420 strategy. And so I think Steve Nash can be a diverse pick despite not being, you know, an African American.

00:10:19.840 I think that he can be a diverse pick by virtue of the diverse things he has done and the skill stack

00:10:25.880 he brings to the job. And I simply cannot believe that instead of defending himself, Steve Nash essentially

00:10:32.840 bows to the mob and says, well, you know, I probably got the job from white privilege and gee, I'll try to

00:10:38.300 be part of the solution from here. You know what the real way to be part of the solution is to stand for

00:10:43.840 the proposition of equality for all Americans, equal opportunity, no apologies, no discrimination,

00:10:51.700 no treating people bad because of their background or their skin color, and no having to say you're

00:10:58.740 sorry because you've got a job and you happen to be white. New York City mayor and failed presidential

00:11:07.820 candidate Bill de Blasio catching some shade from one of his fellow Democrats. That's right, Max Rose is a

00:11:16.000 Democrat who represents Staten Island in the United States Congress. I know Max, we actually get along

00:11:22.040 quite well. He's, he's a very jovial guy. He always has a very positive attitude. And here was the Max Rose

00:11:29.060 television advertisement. Bill de Blasio is the worst mayor in the history of New York City.

00:11:34.680 That's it, guys. Seriously, that, that's the whole act. And you have to wonder why a Democrat in a swing

00:11:46.400 seat, and by the way, Staten Island, New York, very much a swing seat was held by a Republican before it

00:11:52.600 was held by Max Rose. And I know it's one of the seats that will determine whether Nancy Pelosi is still

00:11:58.100 the Speaker of the House. But in a swing seat to have to come out and so forcefully attack Bill de

00:12:03.940 Blasio, I think, showcases how unpopular and how unsuccessful some of the policy proposals that

00:12:11.380 de Blasio has championed really have been for the people that he is supposedly serving. One of the

00:12:17.800 things most notable to the rest of the country is Bill de Blasio's negative treatment of law

00:12:22.380 enforcement. Regularly, you have boycotts, protests, you know, statements of no confidence and disapproval

00:12:31.460 from law enforcement leaders in New York regarding Bill de Blasio. Listen to Bill de Blasio in the

00:12:36.320 presidential debates talking about the treatment of successful people in America. This has to be the

00:12:41.520 party that's not afraid to say out loud, we're going to tax the hell out of the wealthy. So I guess

00:12:47.940 socialism, anti-law enforcement policies, catch and release for criminals, I guess that all hasn't been

00:12:54.960 very successful for de Blasio. And the proof is in the obvious distance that his fellow Democrats like

00:13:02.160 Max Rose are trying to put between his policies and their electoral success.

00:13:11.060 Donald J. Trump has put more federal judges on the bench by percentage than anyone I think since

00:13:17.600 George Washington. One of the reasons why so many conservatives are excited about the Trump

00:13:22.620 presidency is his impact on the judiciary, bringing constitutional conservatives into public service

00:13:29.660 in a way that allows us to preserve the values and principles that have made America the envy of the

00:13:36.940 world. Judges are supposed to interpret the law. They are not there to make the law. They are not there

00:13:44.860 to crowdsource prosecutions. They're there to review the law, to act as jurists in their capacity as

00:13:52.420 Article 3 judges. And I think that it's very exciting to see the new list of potential nominees to the

00:14:00.200 United States Supreme Court that President Trump released. And you'll remember back in the 2016

00:14:04.880 campaign, this was really the height of transparency. I had never before seen a potential president list

00:14:13.340 the individuals that they would pull from to potentially fill seats on the high court. But President

00:14:20.440 Trump put out that list, he kept the promise of selecting from that list in populating the Supreme

00:14:27.460 Court with Justice Kavanaugh, Justice Gorsuch. And there are some familiar names on the new extended list

00:14:34.760 should President Trump be elected in 2020. Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley from the United States

00:14:42.120 Senate. Cotton putting out a statement about how gratified and honored he was. And certainly it is an

00:14:48.520 honor to be listed among the top legal minds for consideration for the Supreme Court by the

00:14:54.140 President. Josh Hawley, our good friend from the Show Me State. He says he's not interested, that the

00:15:01.320 folks in Missouri sent him to serve in the United States Senate, and that's what he intends to do. So

00:15:06.400 somewhat withdrawing his name from consideration. And I also want to note we see a couple of Floridians

00:15:12.140 on the list. My good friend, Carlos Muniz, who Governor DeSantis had selected to serve on the

00:15:18.540 Florida Supreme Court, making the list. Justice Muniz is the first Nicaraguan American to serve

00:15:25.620 on the Florida Supreme Court. And we also have Barbara Lagoa, who currently sits on the 11th Circuit.

00:15:32.900 She also was selected by Governor DeSantis to serve on the Florida Supreme Court. President Trump then

00:15:38.400 selected her for the 11th Circuit. She was confirmed and is now serving in that capacity.

00:15:44.860 And so you start to see this Florida legal talent pipeline really starting to move with great folks

00:15:52.080 like Muniz and Lagoa. And I know there are a number of other great selections that Governor DeSantis has

00:15:58.900 made and that he's continuing to make to the Florida Supreme Court. And I know that that will be

00:16:04.140 potentially a real feeder system to the U.S. Supreme Court as we get these great jurists under

00:16:10.520 consideration. So great list by the president. Great job by our governor in Florida. Good to see

00:16:16.300 Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley making the list. I'm 38 years old. And if anyone is in my sort of

00:16:26.700 early millennial, zennial era, you are familiar with AOL Instant Messenger as a means of communication.

00:16:35.760 That's right. In my kind of high school, college and law school years, everyone had the AOL Instant

00:16:41.460 Messenger line of communication open to their friends, to their sports leagues, to their potential

00:16:49.240 romantic pursuits. And one of the features of the AOL Instant Messenger life was the away message.

00:16:57.000 So if you were working on something else or not at your laptop able to chat with people, you could put

00:17:03.220 up a message regarding what you were doing. And it was kind of like always the thing when you broke up

00:17:08.080 with someone and you wanted to check in on what they were up to, but you didn't want them to know

00:17:12.860 that you were checking in on what they were up to. You would check their away message. But the away

00:17:17.640 message also allowed folks that were maybe at the computer writing a paper or doing research to

00:17:23.900 focus on something other than immediate constant communication with other individuals. And at

00:17:31.520 10medium.com, they asked the question, is American life ready for an away message today? With so much

00:17:40.380 communication, with less of that chat going on through a laptop and more of it going on directly

00:17:46.920 through a smartphone, we are interrupted about five or six times per hour, according to this report. And

00:17:55.380 that really does have an impact on productivity. It also has an impact on our psychology. If we are able to

00:18:03.680 enjoy in-person socializing less because of so much chat that is going on through the phone, whether it's DMs on

00:18:12.000 Instagram, whether it's direct text messages, now everybody's got the peer to peer communication with

00:18:18.240 WhatsApp and Signal, we're enjoying our social time together less. And it's not really practical for us

00:18:25.300 to just turn off our phones. Because I mean, if someone really did need to contact us, you certainly want

00:18:31.000 a penetrable system of communication. But the away message gives you the ability to sort of,

00:18:38.480 you know, keep at bay some of the, you know, regular, constant, incessant flow of chat while you

00:18:46.420 focus on something else. So maybe something like an auto reply, an away message gives us a little more

00:18:53.100 flexibility to live our lives in these complex times. Bring us back to those early 2000s days

00:19:01.180 of the away message, says 10medium.com.

00:19:07.840 Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is building a wall around herself, her own home. That's the story

00:19:16.260 that Fox News' Morgan Phillips brings us. Michigan Democrat Governor's residents getting security

00:19:22.000 upgrades, including a new perimeter fence. It'll be about eight feet high. The Governor's Office calling

00:19:29.040 this a routine maintenance upgrade to ensure the safety and security and protection of any sitting

00:19:36.420 governor in the first family. Well, you know what? I'm for the wall. I want Governor Whitmer to be

00:19:42.440 protected. But are her fellow Woketopians calling the wall racist? Are they saying that she hates the

00:19:49.420 people on the outside of the wall? No. You know why? Because liberals in America, they actually know and

00:19:56.100 they understand that physical barriers work. They just think that their personal security and their

00:20:02.780 personal residence is more worthy of that protection than our nation. I believe if you love

00:20:09.460 our nation, you must strive to protect her and secure her from anyone that would do her harm or would

00:20:17.280 seek to come here without permission. Governor Whitmer doesn't want people coming to her home without

00:20:23.000 permission. She doesn't want her family to be vulnerable. And I agree with her. I just wish that

00:20:29.440 our fellow Democrats would agree that our nation is just as worthy of protection as the home of any

00:20:36.420 politician. Because if we did that, we would be more prosperous. We would be more secure. And we would

00:20:43.420 be serious about the type of immigration reform we actually need to ensure that the most talented

00:20:49.520 people in the world want to be in the United States, but are willing to follow our laws to be

00:20:55.640 here. And then we should ensure that those laws in order to benefit not of some globalist worldview,

00:21:02.280 but to the benefit of America and the American people first. America first policies, they work.

00:21:10.180 Let's put them to use for our great country. Thanks for listening to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman

00:21:15.200 Matt Gates. My website is gates.house.gov. Go there and make sure you sign up for our weekly

00:21:21.340 e-newsletter. And if you're on Apple, give us that five-star rating and whatever podcast platform you're

00:21:27.760 using, subscribe so that you can join us each and every day for more hot takes.

Episode 86 - De Blasio Burned By Fellow Dem. A Supreme Short List. America's Away Message？

Summary

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