00:00:35.000His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
00:00:44.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
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00:01:04.000The future of Kevin McCarthy and the speaker's race is unfolding.
00:01:09.000It's happening right now as the votes are going to be tallied for another round of, let's just say, roll call.
00:01:19.000So basically, here's what's happening right now on the House floor.
00:01:22.000The 118th Congress is now official, but technically, these are all congressmen-elects.
00:01:28.000They're not even allowed to swear people in.
00:01:30.000So one of the funniest things I saw yesterday is that George Santos, the pathological court-jesting liar from New York, basically sent out an email last night saying, I'm so honored to have been sworn in as a congressperson.
00:02:24.000And so when the Speaker of the House race begins to unfold and there are holdouts, which Republicans are withholding from the vote, the essence of what is happening on the floor right now is the Speaker of the House race is in complete and total turmoil.
00:02:48.000So let's play some tape here as I'm trying to figure out what's happening on the screen.
00:02:53.000This was Kevin McCarthy yesterday, play cut one.
00:02:55.000We're going to be doing the votes for Speaker Locked in tomorrow.
00:02:58.000I think we're going to have a good day tomorrow.
00:03:04.000What are your conversations like in that mirror?
00:03:07.000Are you from here to make more concessions in exchange for us for?
00:03:12.000Hope you all have a very nice New Year's.
00:03:15.000And so that was Kevin McCarthy yesterday.
00:03:18.000So look, here is the big bet that Kevin McCarthy placed.
00:03:20.000Kevin McCarthy said, look, I believe that if this goes to the floor and these holdouts surface themselves, they are going to look unreasonable and eventually they're going to break in our direction.
00:03:38.000Kevin McCarthy's calculus was incorrect.
00:03:40.000Kevin McCarthy's calculus was that they were going to be about five to ten rebels and they were going to voice their opposition.
00:03:49.000And eventually, after a couple rounds of votes, they were going to consolidate in my direction.
00:03:54.000So I talked to several House Freedom Caucus members for over an hour yesterday.
00:03:59.000And I listened and I heard their arguments, some of which I agreed with, some of which I found to be preposterous.
00:04:05.000For example, one House Freedom Caucus member said, look, it really doesn't matter who ends up becoming speaker.
00:04:10.000What matters is the process and eventually, you know, exposing the cartel for what it is.
00:04:17.000That sounds good, but I, for one, would love to have investigations and subpoenas over Anthony Fauci, over the FDA, over Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, Afghanistan withdrawal, southern borders.
00:04:30.000I find that to be rather preposterous.
00:04:32.000I understand the spirit of what was being said, but I don't find that to be strong.
00:04:35.000What I did find to be a good argument, though, after talking to several House Freedom Caucus members last evening, who will remain nameless, is the rules changes that they wanted to make.
00:04:44.000And one of the most persuasive arguments that I heard from the House Freedom Caucus was that, Charlie, this $1.7 trillion omnibus bill that happened in December was an outrage.
00:04:56.000It was a raging, throbbing middle finger into decent, normal Americans who wanted to live their life, have a functioning government, and this $1.7 trillion omnibus bill that sent money to Ukraine, that sent money for border security abroad, that did all these different sorts of things while not securing our own border.
00:05:19.000We have to go about fixing the rules so that something like this never happens again.
00:05:24.000So there's a component of Congress, and it's very wonky and it's not always fun to talk about that, but it's important, called the Rules Committee.
00:05:34.000The Rules Committee meets on Sunday evenings before a whole week of Congress, and they go through the rules of the procedure, the votes, of what it is going to take to get bills to the floor, effectively controlling the machinery of Congress.
00:05:49.000Now, that's something that is rather uninteresting for a lot of us that are not in the weeds of parliamentary tactics in Congress, but it's critically important.
00:06:01.000So the House Freedom Caucus, and I told them this, I said, if you guys are going to win the messaging war, make it less about Kevin McCarthy and talk about how you want to get specific rules changes so that we do not have another $1.7 trillion omnibus bill.
00:06:20.000I find that to be more reasonable than just saying we're going to oppose Kevin McCarthy out of personal politics.
00:06:28.000And so after speaking to them, here's basically what unfolded.
00:06:31.000And this is mostly public and some of it's private, is that there was, there were a series of negotiations that were happening at the very last moment on the evening of January 2nd.
00:06:41.000A delegation, a group of House Freedom Caucus members came and met with McCarthy, and they said, we want changes on the rules committees.
00:07:16.000In the last minute, you're not going to get everything you're asking for.
00:07:18.000However, the spirit to say we do not want another $1.7 trillion omnibus bill to be passed, I find that to be a persuasive argument.
00:07:28.000I think that omnibus bill was one of the most insulting pieces of legislation that we have seen, so damaging to our republic, to our ability to function and flourish as a civilized country.
00:07:40.000And now trying to remedy the process and the machinery, I think is admirable.
00:07:47.000Now, it seems as if everybody is applauding right now.
00:07:49.000I'm guessing somebody just nominated Kevin McCarthy to become Speaker.
00:07:55.000That is my guess of what is happening right now, just looking at the standing applause around him.
00:08:03.000So, someone just stood up and nominated Kevin.
00:08:05.000Now, what's going to happen next, I'm told, is historic based on my sources.
00:08:09.000I'm told that the Freedom Caucus is about to nominate somebody that is going to be new and unique.
00:09:11.000I'm still young, but I hear there's something very sobering that happens when you're over 50.
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00:10:40.000Yesterday, my first vote for Speaker of the House was for Byron Donalds.
00:10:48.000Today, I'm rising to nominate Byron Donalds for Speaker of the House of Representatives.
00:11:00.000Byron is a dear friend, a solid conservative, but most importantly, a family man who loves dearly his wife, Erica, his three children, has a proven track record as a businessman, public service in the Florida legislature, and now is a member of the United States Congress.
00:11:27.000Now, here we are, and for the first time in history, there have been two black Americans placed into the nomination for Speaker of the House.
00:11:47.000However, Enter Speaker, order Or, Madam Clerk, order.
00:11:57.000We do not seek to judge people by the color of their skin, but rather the content of their character.
00:12:14.000Byron Donalds is a good man raised by a single mom who moved past adversity, became a Christian man at the age of 21, and has devoted his life to advancing the cause for his family and for this country.
00:13:45.000We should debate whether it should be more or less.
00:13:47.000We should debate whether it should be paid for.
00:13:49.000We should debate what the result we should demand.
00:13:53.000The only way you're going to get that is if you change the rules and have the leadership to advance the rules to make sure that we can do that.
00:14:06.000Now, we've had a conversation for two months to try to advance the ball, and we have had success in doing that.
00:14:15.000We're not at the place where we need to be to guarantee, to guarantee that we're going to be able to stand up in the face of the swamp that continues to step over the American people on a daily basis and spend money we don't have and to continue to leave our borders open and to continue to fund bureaucrats that are stepping over the freedoms of the American people.
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00:15:48.000We received an email here that I want to read.
00:15:51.000This is one of the most consequential moments in recent GOP history, a rare moment where power can be challenged and Trump found himself on the wrong side of it.
00:16:01.000That is what one of our listeners said.
00:16:07.000So just before we go to Mike Davis, Byron Donalds, who has not self-selected a run for the speaker, has been nominated by one of his colleagues, Chip Roy.
00:16:18.000I find the whole thing to be rather ingenious by the House Freedom Caucus.
00:16:23.000Now, I don't like this affirmative action stuff.
00:16:26.000I find it nauseating where we have two black people running.
00:16:31.000And Chip Roy, who I consider to be a friend and really smart, sort of contradicted himself there.
00:16:36.000He's like, we have two black people running for Speaker of the House, and we don't care about skin color, and we care about the content of one's character.
00:16:44.000So, and then he did say that Byron's character is terrific, which by the way, I can attest to that.
00:18:00.000They had Jim Jordan do his endorsement speech on the House floor, thinking that that would bring these dissenters or defectors over to Kevin McCarthy.
00:18:10.000Not only did it not work, he actually lost another vote.
00:18:43.000Yeah, so I agree that he doesn't have the votes, but he does have enough votes to make turn this into a long negotiation and or standoff, right?
00:18:52.000Because I mean, there are probably 100 people that are saying we're going to only vote for Kevin.
00:19:47.000Steve Scalise is worse than Paul Ryan.
00:19:50.000I mean, Kevin McCarthy, for all his faults, was going to put Marjorie Taylor Greene on oversight.
00:19:55.000Like, if your argument is Steve Scalise, like, that's not compelling to me at all.
00:20:00.000Well, I'm not a champion for Steve Scalise.
00:20:03.000I just think by default, he's going to become the speaker.
00:20:06.000But then, then, then your argument needs to be confronted and defeated then, because Kevin's better than Scalese.
00:20:14.000I actually don't think Kevin is better than Scalise in many different ways.
00:20:19.000Well, I'll tell you on big tech is the biggest reason for me.
00:20:22.000I run the Article 3 project and I run the Internet Accountability Project, as you know.
00:20:26.000We have been fighting for three years now to take on big tech from the right, to hold big tech accountable, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple.
00:20:36.000And the biggest impediment to our fight is Kevin McCarthy.
00:20:40.000And our second biggest impediment to our fight is Jim Jordan.
00:20:42.000And the reason is, is that they take big tech's money.
00:20:46.000They pretend like they're warriors against big tech and they do big tech's bidding.
00:20:49.000And Kevin McCarthy is the worst at this.
00:20:52.000He has Jeff Miller as his top advisor.
00:20:54.000Jeff Miller has been Kevin McCarthy's top advisor for decades.
00:21:01.000He is a lobbyist who has taken millions of dollars from Apple and Amazon.
00:21:05.000And Jeff Miller is running Kevin McCarthy's race to become speaker.
00:21:09.000There is no chance that if Kevin McCarthy becomes the Speaker of the House, that we will update and enforce our century-old antitrust laws and break up big tech.
00:21:17.000Big tech will actually thrive under Kevin McCarthy because he does their bidding, and that will continue.
00:21:23.000Steve Scalese, for whatever faults he may have on Liz Cheney and other issues, he is much more gettable on the big tech issue, which I think is one of the most important issues that House Republicans will face over the next two years.
00:21:39.000If we don't break up big tech's gatekeeping power over information and commerce, they will continue to throw elections for Democrats.
00:21:48.000They will continue to censor, silence, deplatform, and cancel conservatives and others with whom they disagree.
00:22:02.000It's a horrific investment for Elon Musk, but it's been great for conservatives and free speech.
00:22:06.000Okay, what happens when the advertisers crush Elon Musk with their advertiser boycotts?
00:22:12.000What happens when the Google, Google, and Apple do what they did to Parlor and kick Twitter out of the app store duopoly because Twitter, they think, doesn't censor enough?
00:22:21.000What happens when Amazon kicks Twitter off the internet?
00:22:24.000Our free speech in this country is hanging by a thread, and we must break up the trillion-dollar big tech monopolist or we're going to get crushed again.
00:22:35.000I mean, I agree, but Steve Scalise took money from Netpack too, man.
00:22:39.000And I'll tell you, I'll tell you this, Charlie, as someone who's worked on this issue every day for three years, I can assure you that Steve Scalise is a lot more gettable than Kevin McCarthy.
00:22:50.000Okay, I mean, I won't fight you on that.
00:22:52.000You do have more understanding of that.
00:22:54.000But I mean, he did take money from Google's PAC, too, right?
00:23:31.000What is your relationship like with your Republican counterpart, Kevin McCarthy, who wants to be the speaker?
00:23:36.000When was the last time you spoke with him?
00:23:39.000I haven't had a conversation with Leader McCarthy Carthy recently.
00:23:43.000I do have, I think, a much warmer relationship with Steve Scalise.
00:23:48.000Now, that could just be friendship, right?
00:23:50.000Mike, I don't want to misrepresent that, but do you understand the skepticism of be careful what you wish for?
00:23:56.000No, I understand that, but he wouldn't be.
00:23:59.000If you're in the House leadership, you wouldn't be having conversations between the House Republicans' top leader and their number two or number three leader.
00:24:07.000You work with your counterpart across the aisle.
00:24:10.000So Speaker Pelosi would work with House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and the Whips would work with the Whips.
00:24:17.000And, you know, that's just how it works.
00:24:19.000I don't think because Hakeem Jeffries has a working relationship with Scalise and he doesn't have a working relationship with McCarthy is unusual or says anything.
00:24:30.000How many rounds do you think this is going to go?
00:24:32.000Well, we're in our fourth round right now.
00:24:34.000We'll see how that goes after the Trump endorsement.
00:24:38.000And, you know, it's going to go as long as Kevin McCarthy wants to drag this out.
00:24:45.000He doesn't have the votes to become Speaker.
00:24:48.000And we just need to come to that reality.
00:24:49.000He doesn't have the votes and he's never going to have the votes.
00:24:51.000And so what we have to figure out is what is the next option?
00:24:55.000Look, I don't think Steve Scalise is the perfect option, but he's, I think, the only one who's going to get the 218 votes necessary in this narrow conference to become the speaker of the house.
00:25:38.000This is the problem I have, Charlie, is Kevin McCarthy's team is floating the idea that they're, you know, you talk about Scalise having a working relationship with Hakeem Jeffries.
00:25:47.000Kevin McCarthy's team is actually floating that they're going to go to Hakeem Jeffries and get Democrat votes to vote for president.
00:25:56.000So let's, I mean, who's making the deal with the devil with Hakeem Jeffries?
00:26:00.000You know, Scalise has a civil relationship with him.
00:26:03.000McCarthy, who only cares about becoming Speaker, I don't know if McCarthy has a conservative bone in his body or a guiding principle other than he wants to become the speaker.
00:26:12.000And that's my problem with Kevin McCarthy.
00:26:14.000And I will say, though, that is correct in some sense.
00:26:28.000But in some way, that can be used to one's advantage to try to get concessions.
00:26:34.000And the fear is if you go to Steve Scalise, there's a chance that MTG on oversight, Jim Jordan as a chairman, there is a risk that we have to say that it could be a much more moderate Congress where it could have been more conservative because McCarthy really wanted to be Speaker.
00:29:25.000Let's go to Cut 33, Chip Roy, on the speaker race, play cut 33.
00:29:31.000But, Congressman, is it better to not have a speaker at all and to not have a functioning house than do you think anybody in America right now is like, oh my God, there's not a speaker, right?
00:29:43.000Because what is somebody who lives right now in like Des Moines, Iowa, and they're going to their job, they're going to school.
00:29:49.000Oh, no, 24 hours without a speaker in the house.
00:30:22.000The average welder in Whitefish, Montana is not like, boy, I'm going to have a tough day at work today because I don't have a speaker of the House.