The Charlie Kirk Show - Negotiating with the Border Arsonists

00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, thank the Charlie Kirk Show.

00:00:01.000 Senator Ron Johnson joins us for a rather important conversation.

00:00:05.000 Talk about immigration, border DeSantis, and more.

00:00:09.000 It's really illuminating.

00:00:10.000 It doesn't take long.

00:00:11.000 You can listen to it on your commute or while you're working out.

00:00:13.000 So make sure you listen to this and text it to your friends.

00:00:15.000 And what would you think about Senator Ron Johnson becoming Vice President of the United States?

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00:00:33.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:33.000 Here we go.

00:00:34.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:36.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campuses.

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00:01:32.000 Joining us now is one of my favorite senators.

00:01:34.000 He is fighting daily in Washington, D.C., Senator Ron Johnson.

00:01:39.000 Senator, thank you so much for taking the time.

00:01:42.000 Your initial reaction to Governor DeSantis dropping out of the presidential race.

00:01:46.000 I guess I was surprised that he was dropping out before New Hampshire.

00:01:50.000 I don't know why he wouldn't want to just go through the votes.

00:01:54.000 But that's his choice.

00:01:55.000 Now it's down to two.

00:01:57.000 And I'll, from my own standpoint, wait until Republican primary voters decide who our nominee is.

00:02:03.000 So one of the main issues that Republican primary voters are voicing concern about, and I know that this is really coming down to the Senate, is immigration.

00:02:12.000 And I want to drill into this with you because you've been so good on this issue, but there's a lot of questions of is there a deal being negotiated?

00:02:19.000 What are the contents of this deal?

00:02:22.000 What can you share, Senator, about the ongoing Senate negotiations regarding the border?

00:02:27.000 Well, first of all, this should not be about immigration reform.

00:02:31.000 This should be about securing our border.

00:02:33.000 And the problem any Republican would have trying to negotiate with Democrats and the Biden administration is they want open borders.

00:02:41.000 They caused this problem.

00:02:44.000 President Trump, using existing law, no help from Congress, virtually no help, was able to secure the border from his peak trial for about 12 months.

00:02:53.000 And then, of course, the Democrat presidential candidates talked about how they were going to end deportation, give free health care.

00:02:59.000 Single adults started rising before Biden took office, but once Biden took office, the border exploded because he opened it up.

00:03:08.000 What I find most disappointing about the current negotiations is I'm a Republican senator.

00:03:14.000 I called a conference meeting two weeks ago where we were supposed to have the text.

00:03:19.000 We were supposed to know what the negotiators were negotiating.

00:03:24.000 And to this day, I have not seen one word of text, and I honestly do not know exactly what the elements are that they're negotiating.

00:03:32.000 So I don't know what red lines, Republican leadership, what Lanford has told them.

00:03:37.000 I am disappointed that apparently Republican leadership took metrics off the table.

00:03:44.000 That was actually John Hovind's suggestion, but I pushed the fact that if we're going to get Ukraine funding, it should be contingent on thresholds actually being met of securing the border.

00:03:54.000 I thought that should have been table stakes with the lawless administration, but apparently our leadership said we're not even going to consider that.

00:04:01.000 So that wasn't even part of the negotiating mix, which does not make me happy.

00:04:05.000 Yeah.

00:04:06.000 So, Senator, I just have to ask a broader question here.

00:04:09.000 Is this standard operating procedure nowadays in DC where, I mean, you're a very well-respected senator.

00:04:15.000 You've been around for a while where they just kind of cast you aside and they negotiate.

00:04:20.000 I mean, it's bad enough that the American people are not in the room to understand what's going on.

00:04:26.000 But now only, not only is it the elite that are negotiating the deal, it's five or six people where they don't even tell you what's going on.

00:04:35.000 And can you be more specific?

00:04:37.000 Is it Senator Langford that's involved in this or is it Mitch McConnell or is it Senator Barrasso?

00:04:42.000 And I know these are your colleagues.

00:04:44.000 I'm just curious, who are the ones actually doing the quote unquote negotiating?

00:04:49.000 So first of all, this has become standard operating procedure, you know, primarily in how we plunder and mortgage our children's future.

00:04:57.000 But in anything big like this, you know, neither side trusts the public.

00:05:01.000 And I basically lay the responsibility at Leader McConnell's footsteps here.

00:05:06.000 We've been talking internally about this.

00:05:07.000 I've been pressing hard about details.

00:05:09.000 I've been pressing hard for those metrics that they have to meet these thresholds if they're going to get Ukraine funding.

00:05:16.000 And he doesn't comment at all.

00:05:18.000 Instead, he apparently tells our negotiator, and listen, James Langford, very knowledgeable on the border.

00:05:24.000 I think he's pushing hard.

00:05:25.000 But again, we're not getting the details of this.

00:05:28.000 They always say, well, it's too complicated.

00:05:30.000 One element affects another element.

00:05:33.000 And we really can't discuss this right here.

00:05:35.000 It's going to blow up the negotiations.

00:05:37.000 Now, I think that's total BS.

00:05:39.000 I think the American public deserves to know what are the elements.

00:05:43.000 This is one thing we're Republicans.

00:05:45.000 Since I've been in the Senate, there's not been an issue where the majority of Americans agree with Republicans on this.

00:05:52.000 So what are we afraid of?

00:05:53.000 We ought to be very upfront.

00:05:55.000 These are the elements.

00:05:56.000 This is what Democrats are agreeing to.

00:05:58.000 This is what they're not agreeing to.

00:06:00.000 We should be putting, applying public pressure because, again, we're basically negotiating with the arsonist to put out the fire.

00:06:08.000 And that doesn't work very well.

00:06:10.000 And my guess is Democrats, they're really not looking for a secure border.

00:06:14.000 Right now, they're looking for political cover because Mayor Adams said that this was going to destroy New York City.

00:06:20.000 So the mainstream media has had to report on this a little more honestly.

00:06:23.000 So they're feeling pressure.

00:06:25.000 But my guess is they're mainly negotiating for political cover.

00:06:28.000 I don't know why we would give them that cover.

00:06:30.000 Let's have this out in the daylight.

00:06:32.000 Let's talk about what elements.

00:06:33.000 Let's see, is this going to actually secure the border?

00:06:36.000 Or is the goal really just providing the tools for a serious president to secure the border, which by the way, would not be trivial, but it's certainly not the expectations of the public right now in terms of these negotiations.

00:06:48.000 Senator, you hit it perfectly.

00:06:50.000 They have no interest in actually solving the problem.

00:06:53.000 They want to just check an imaginary box, say that they have some sort of bipartisan thing and move on.

00:06:59.000 And potentially, if the contents of the deal that Chuck Schumer and Langford are negotiating are true, which we don't know because no one's seen text, but if the rumors and if the sources are correct, it would undermine a future president from actually being able to do his job.

00:07:15.000 For example, issuing millions of work permits will only, that is soft gateway drug amnesty, essentially, meaning that that is the first step towards amnesty once you give work permits to people that should not be here in the first place.

00:07:34.000 I've been taking balance of nature for several years, and I feel the energy level of 27.

00:07:41.000 I endorse it.

00:07:42.000 I believe in it, and I would recommend it.

00:07:44.000 My name is Barbara, and I'm a registered nurse, and I take balance of nature.

00:07:49.000 I really love gardening.

00:07:51.000 I love being outdoors and I love watching things grow.

00:07:55.000 Gardening is just kind of an extension of enjoying nature.

00:07:58.000 You get the sunlight, you get the breeze, you listen to the birds.

00:08:03.000 It's the whole thing.

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00:08:33.000 So, Senator, what I'm failing to understand, though, is this backroom deal is being negotiated.

00:08:41.000 They're going to propose it and try to act as if there's this big bipartisan consensus.

00:08:46.000 Just looking at the Republican conference, which is 49 people strong, if I'm not mistaken, do you think that a majority of the Republican conference is going to go along with this?

00:08:58.000 Where do you think the can you give us some insight into a temperature check of rank and file Republican senators when it comes to doing a deal with the Democrats that actually wouldn't secure the border?

00:09:11.000 So it completely depends on what the deal is first.

00:09:14.000 I think there is a fair amount of sympathy for the fact that Democrats are talking about making concessions on border security that they've never even talked about without amnesty.

00:09:25.000 So there's probably progress being made.

00:09:28.000 But again, the problem is this administration, these Democrats in Congress don't want to secure the border.

00:09:35.000 They want recover.

00:09:36.000 And Republican negotiators, as well as the Republican Conference, have to understand that.

00:09:41.000 But again, the arguments being put forward that we couldn't even possibly get as good a deal if we had the presidency, less than 60 senators, and the House.

00:09:51.000 That's probably true.

00:09:53.000 But I'll remind everybody that President Trump, under existing law, was able to secure the border.

00:10:00.000 So how important are those?

00:10:02.000 Listen, it'd be helpful to a President Trump if we'd passed higher standards than Credible Fear, if we had elements in place.

00:10:09.000 But again, the expectations right now is if there's going to be a deal done, particularly in exchange for Ukraine funding, it better secure the border.

00:10:17.000 And that's no small task.

00:10:19.000 That's not easy because when President Trump finally got Title 42 authority, he'd already secured the border down to 1,200 people a day, which is still massive.

00:10:28.000 But now it's 10,000 people a day on average in December.

00:10:33.000 During the entire Biden administration, it's been 7,500 people per day.

00:10:37.000 It's an order magnitude worse.

00:10:39.000 Do we have the personnel even to implement what good language they may end up negotiating?

00:10:45.000 But do we have enough people to actually utilize that language to secure the border?

00:10:49.000 Those are the questions not being answered.

00:10:51.000 Yeah, and you make such an important point.

00:10:54.000 And I really hope that we can get your perspective into the mainstream networks, which is they act as if we need this new deal and we need all this new stuff.

00:11:03.000 The laws are on the books.

00:11:05.000 They need to enforce the law.

00:11:06.000 Senator, can you riff on a second?

00:11:08.000 It seems as if some very cunning and dare I say definitely deceptive borderline evil intellectual on the left realized that if you control the executive branch, you could just ignore enforcing the law and say you're doing it anyway.

00:11:23.000 It's almost their new glitch in the system.

00:11:25.000 It's as if they just have Maorca say, oh, no, no, the border's secure.

00:11:29.000 We're enforcing the law.

00:11:30.000 When in reality, they aren't.

00:11:31.000 Can you riff on that?

00:11:33.000 Because it seems as if this is their new way to undermine the Republic is they don't control the House.

00:11:38.000 They're not able to get big transformational change for the Senate.

00:11:42.000 So they just have cabinet secretaries turn a blind eye and say, you know, we just, we get to enforce what laws that we like.

00:11:50.000 Your thoughts on that?

00:11:51.000 Sure.

00:11:52.000 Well, the Democrat Party, these administrations have been lawless.

00:11:55.000 I mean, they first engaged in something called sue and settle.

00:11:58.000 Go to a friendly court, sue the agency to get the policy change you want.

00:12:03.000 The court blesses it, and all of a sudden, we're doing things that you never could pass during Congress.

00:12:08.000 This particular president, well, the lawlessness really started under Obama.

00:12:12.000 You know, the way he abused discretionary prosecution or prosecutorial discretion, he did that with DACA.

00:12:21.000 You know, prosecutorial discretion should be meted out on a case-by-case basis, not for hundreds of thousands of people.

00:12:28.000 This administration did the same thing with parole.

00:12:30.000 Prior to this administration, generally, we were granting parole to about 5,000 people a year.

00:12:37.000 Parole should be used for humanitarian reasons.

00:12:39.000 If you've got cancer, you need treatment, you come in temporarily and you go home, or you come in for a funeral and you go home.

00:12:45.000 This administration has given it to hundreds of thousands, if not more than a million people.

00:12:49.000 But just take a look at what else this president has done.

00:12:50.000 This lawless.

00:12:51.000 The Supreme Court rules that eviction moratorium is unconstitutional.

00:12:55.000 He extends it anyway.

00:12:56.000 They rule that forgiving student loans is unconstitutional.

00:12:59.000 He continues to forgive them.

00:13:01.000 So that's the other point with Republican negotiators.

00:13:04.000 Why would anybody think that this lawless president would implement any agreement that they negotiate?

00:13:12.000 That's why you need metrics.

00:13:14.000 That's why you need to make the funding of Ukraine contingent on them actually securing the border.

00:13:20.000 I think that's just a table stake that Republicans should have embraced, but unfortunately, Mitch McConnell didn't want to.

00:13:26.000 Why?

00:13:27.000 Why doesn't Mitch McConnell want to?

00:13:29.000 Because his top priority is funding Ukraine.

00:13:32.000 I guess he's more concerned about Ukraine's border than our own.

00:13:35.000 He doesn't apparently figure that the open border in America is a clear and present danger and should be our top priority as every American to get control of our border and try and reduce the risk.

00:13:47.000 But that risk already exists.

00:13:49.000 Are we going to make it worse?

00:13:56.000 Hi, I'm Adriana, a politics major at Hillsdale College.

00:13:59.000 Here's Hillsdale President Dr. Larry Arn with a Constitution Minute.

00:14:03.000 America's founders recognized an obvious fact of life: human beings differ in terms of physical attributes and talents.

00:14:09.000 Because of this, some people will be better at some things than they are at others.

00:14:13.000 But they also recognize that the tall and the short among us, the swift and the slow among us, are still human beings if we are recognizable as human beings.

00:14:21.000 And therefore, we are equal in terms of the rights that pertain to human beings.

00:14:25.000 Rights attached to human nature, rights that come from God.

00:14:29.000 The Declaration of Independence names three of the big ones: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

00:14:34.000 Exercising these rights is necessary if we are to be truly free.

00:14:38.000 In our own time, many influential people believe that only government can decide what our rights should be.

00:14:43.000 This is dangerous.

00:14:44.000 Understanding our rights and how the Constitution protects them is vital to our freedom.

00:14:49.000 To learn more and get a free pocket constitution, visit constitutionminute.com.

00:14:56.000 So, Senator, I'm going to ask you about one of your colleagues, the curious case of John Fetterman.

00:15:01.000 He has been more outspoken about securing the border than some Senate Republicans.

00:15:06.000 Can you help me understand?

00:15:08.000 Have you spent any time with him?

00:15:09.000 Part of me wonders: is this a shtick so that when Biden wants to win Pennsylvania, Fetterman can win over MAGA-type voters to give credibility?

00:15:19.000 What's going on with Senator John Fetterman?

00:15:22.000 Well, quite honestly, I really don't have a relationship with him.

00:15:25.000 He still has problems communicating.

00:15:27.000 We don't run into each other too often, other than in the hallway.

00:15:30.000 Unpleasant, we say hello to each other.

00:15:32.000 That's about it.

00:15:33.000 Let's face it, in the realm of politics, everything's political.

00:15:36.000 So, it wouldn't surprise some of the statements he's being made, which quite honestly kind of surprised me as well.

00:15:42.000 Would probably try and appeal to Pennsylvania so we can get elected to another term.

00:15:47.000 That seems to be the primary motivating factor of far too many people in Congress is just get re-elected.

00:15:53.000 So you'll be willing to say or do anything to achieve that goal.

00:15:57.000 That's certainly not my motivation.

00:15:58.000 I like your cynicism.

00:16:00.000 I share it completely, and that's a great answer.

00:16:02.000 Senator, I want to close here talking about the great state of Wisconsin.

00:16:07.000 The electoral math that has been in front of us for the last year and a half and that people are starting to realize is that there are very few paths to the White House if you don't win Wisconsin.

00:16:16.000 You are the most qualified to give us the wisdom of what's happening, what's not happening in Wisconsin.

00:16:21.000 You have won three times when you have had hundreds of millions of dollars each time spent against you, from Russ Feingold to the gentleman last time that you beat despite all the money and the abortion issue.

00:16:34.000 Give us a little bit of an analysis.

00:16:36.000 Do you think that Republicans are making the proper investments in the state of Wisconsin?

00:16:41.000 Do you think that we are doing what is necessary?

00:16:44.000 Or is it time to sound the alarm and deploy more energy and attention in the great state of Wisconsin?

00:16:50.000 I remember Pat Toomey always used to talk about Pennsylvania being Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between.

00:16:56.000 And I think an awful lot of states are like that, including Wisconsin.

00:17:00.000 So it's a lot easier for Democrats.

00:17:02.000 They've got Milwaukee, they've got Madison.

00:17:03.000 They gin up those voter bases with an abortion issue like abortion. 0.99

00:17:09.000 Republicans have to go and get votes from every little town throughout the state.

00:17:14.000 It's just a much more challenging task.

00:17:16.000 So we need to spend money on a ground game.

00:17:18.000 You know, less money on advertising.

00:17:20.000 You need it, but really focus your most efficient dollars spent.

00:17:24.000 It's going to be on a ground game, having paid field staff, members of the community that will talk to their friends, family, and neighbor.

00:17:31.000 It's about getting votes one at a time.

00:17:34.000 And can you just add a little more?

00:17:36.000 I mean, you did this amazingly, county by county.

00:17:39.000 What are the swing counties that we should really emphasize?

00:17:42.000 I look at Waukesha, Kenosha.

00:17:45.000 These are the ones that are kind of up in the air.

00:17:48.000 That, you know, that kind of Wisconsin moderate sensibility we need to win over.

00:17:53.000 But your focus on the border, I imagine, is driven by your constituents' emphasis on the border.

00:17:59.000 Speak about the counties and the issue set that you think is going to be decisive coming into this later this year.

00:18:05.000 Well, we've had a bleed in some of our strong wow counties from inner city Milwaukee as they head out.

00:18:11.000 But again, on a statewide election, that doesn't really factor in.

00:18:16.000 You've got to get votes everywhere.

00:18:17.000 So we need to mining as many votes out of Madison and Milwaukee.

00:18:20.000 We need to make sure we've got the paid poll workers, which we have now.

00:18:24.000 We recruited a lot of poll workers, keep an eye on the process to make sure there's a, or as best as possible, guaranteed there won't be cheating.

00:18:32.000 And then again, it's just every county, every little city is important.

00:18:38.000 You need the data, you need to follow up, but spend money on that ground game, on the data, and extracting every vote.

00:18:45.000 We're all into early voting now.

00:18:46.000 We're encouraging absolute balloting.

00:18:48.000 Get those banked so that we can spend our time on Election Day focusing on the people who haven't voted for us.

00:18:54.000 Senator Johnson, thank you for your excellent work.

00:18:57.000 And if I was in charge, which I'm not, I would deploy you to be in charge of all Wisconsin strategy.

00:19:04.000 Nobody knows Wisconsin like you do, and you have the battle scars to prove it.

00:19:09.000 You have defeated the national Democrat machine time and time again, and you have such wisdom to share.

00:19:15.000 Senator, keep fighting.

00:19:16.000 Thank you so much.

00:19:17.000 I will.

00:19:17.000 Take care.

00:19:18.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:19:19.000 Email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:19:22.000 Thanks so much for listening.

00:19:23.000 God bless.

00:19:26.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk.com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - January 23, 2024

Negotiating with the Border Arsonists

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