The Charlie Kirk Show - The Power of The Grassroots — Exclusive Interview with Matt Gaetz

00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, my conversation with Matt Gates that we had live at AmericaFest.

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00:00:29.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:29.000 Here we go.

00:00:31.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:32.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

00:00:34.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

00:00:38.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

00:00:40.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:00:42.000 He's an incredible guy.

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00:01:29.000 Matt, welcome.

00:01:30.000 I wish they were all members of the United States Senate.

00:01:33.000 I really, really do.

00:01:36.000 You would have sailed through confirmation.

00:01:39.000 I would be happy with the results of any election held at Turning Point.

00:01:44.000 Well said.

00:01:45.000 I could be elected Pope.

00:01:47.000 I'm a Baptist.

00:01:49.000 We talked about the Pope yesterday.

00:01:51.000 We're not doing that again.

00:01:53.000 So, Matt...

00:01:55.000 You had the pleasure of not being involved in this latest CR. You are now totally detached, so I just want to get your analysis and explain what happened this last week.

00:02:06.000 Something that's never happened before.

00:02:09.000 For eight years in Congress, I tried to break a system where there is rhythmically a December omnibus spending bill, usually thousands of pages, spending money we don't have, borrowing money from one country to go send it to another country as if somehow that makes us more powerful, and never Individually scrutinizing anything in the budget.

00:02:34.000 And if your elected member of Congress has concern over the efficacy of a program or the level of spending in an agency or the constitutional authority of one, and so I would dutifully vote against these things.

00:02:47.000 And time and again, I thought, what can we do to break that system?

00:02:50.000 Do we have to extract promises from a Speaker of the House?

00:02:53.000 Do we have to fire a Speaker of the House?

00:02:54.000 And yet again, rhythmically, this would occur over and over again.

00:02:57.000 And for the very first time, we beat them.

00:03:00.000 And the reason we beat them is because the full power of the lobby corps in Washington DC is not as strong as the movement led by President Trump, animated by Turning Point, encouraged by Elon Musk, and motivated by millions of patriotic Americans on X and throughout the country.

00:03:24.000 Now, Matt, before we celebrate too much, there was an attempt to do a 1,500-page boondoggle.

00:03:29.000 Sure.

00:03:30.000 So what was that?

00:03:31.000 Where did that come from?

00:03:32.000 Do you think that after the election, the entire lobby corps of Washington, D.C. just gave up?

00:03:37.000 Do you think that the swamp creature self-evicted?

00:03:40.000 Just because Trump was in or McCarthy was gone or whatever changed.

00:03:45.000 No, no, no, no.

00:03:45.000 They believe they are more resilient than that.

00:03:47.000 And they dig in and they burrow in.

00:03:49.000 And then in the last minute, you saw this 1,500-page bill emerge, as it always does.

00:03:54.000 And then you heard the same old line, oh, we have to vote for this for our troops and for our border patrol.

00:04:00.000 And then it had literally the funding of the very censorship industrial complex that we organize conferences like this to combat.

00:04:07.000 And so you...

00:04:09.000 Every single lobbyist firm in Washington wanted that bill to pass.

00:04:14.000 Every single one of them.

00:04:15.000 Because they all had something in it.

00:04:17.000 And you know what?

00:04:17.000 They will be back.

00:04:18.000 But the good news is, we've had the taste of victory in our mouths a little bit now, and I think we're hungry for more.

00:04:25.000 And we're going to stay on the case.

00:04:27.000 So Matt...

00:04:29.000 Speaking more broadly about how Congress operates, what were some of your big takeaways?

00:04:35.000 I mean, you resigned and you said it was like the greatest day of your life, right?

00:04:40.000 Besides marrying Ginger.

00:04:42.000 My beautiful wife Ginger's here. 0.95

00:04:44.000 Obviously marrying her was the best thing I ever did.

00:04:49.000 For her, I'm not so sure, but for me, definitely the best.

00:04:53.000 What was it about how Congress operates that was so disappointing for you and something that you want every American to internalize and know?

00:05:02.000 The game you are watching is not even the game that is being played.

00:05:06.000 Most of the members of Congress are merely actors that are reading scripts that are written, produced, and directed by others.

00:05:14.000 And if you read the scripts that they give you, if you hand your vote card to the leadership and your calendar to the lobby corps, then life's pretty good.

00:05:23.000 They're able to bring you data that says 97% of you get re-elected.

00:05:28.000 Those are pretty good odds.

00:05:31.000 Professionally, most people would want to be in the 97% and would follow the path that most did to achieve that status.

00:05:37.000 And all it costs you is your soul, and then it's cost us our birthright as Americans to live in the greatest country on earth.

00:05:45.000 And we are not extending that because we tolerate this system.

00:05:49.000 When they go down into Bay, Charlie, no one's even watching.

00:05:53.000 It's phony.

00:05:54.000 It is fake.

00:05:55.000 And the real work is being done by powerful special interests who fund the campaigns.

00:06:01.000 And when I was in Congress, I was the only Republican who refused every donation from the lobbyists and the political action committees, and more ought to take up that cause!

00:06:13.000 Now, that didn't win me any.

00:06:15.000 You remember when we were at Mar-a-Lago and Charlie, I'll tell you that a lot of people know this, but Charlie did so much to help me communicate with senators who I really had no relationship with.

00:06:24.000 A lot of the phone calls would be like, hello, Senator so-and-so.

00:06:28.000 What tweet was that that I sent?

00:06:30.000 Oh no, that was a staff member, and he was fired the next day.

00:06:33.000 But Charlie was working so hard for me, we were at Mar-a-Lago, we were around the pool, and this group of big tech lobbyists come up.

00:06:41.000 Oh, well Matt, it's so nice to see you.

00:06:43.000 And I could just see in their eyes when we met them that they were going to organize everything they could To oppose my confirmation.

00:06:48.000 And so when it became clear that there were calcified votes against me serving as Attorney General, it was not hard to trace those back to the very interest groups that I have been pushing back against and who I would have fairly and justly pursued if given the opportunity to do so.

00:07:05.000 So the big defense contractors didn't want me because I don't think we should spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build stuff that doesn't work while we haven't taken care of war fighters, 8,600 of them, that were unfairly driven out because of an unconstitutional vaccine mandate.

00:07:19.000 And big tech didn't want to see me there because I actually believe...

00:07:29.000 I'm a bit of a bull moose Republican.

00:07:32.000 I think there are times where market power can be used against the American people, and there is nothing virtuous about embracing this neo-libertarian theory that you ought to let big business crush people and make the terms of service on some tech platform more important than the values that undergird the Constitution of the United States of America.

00:07:50.000 And...

00:07:50.000 There were big pharma lobbyists who were real concerned that we were going to take an aggressive approach at some of the things they've been doing to keep America unhealthy and sick.

00:08:00.000 I am so encouraged that we finally have somebody to lead HHS that wants a healthcare policy to make America healthier.

00:08:09.000 What a novel concept!

00:08:13.000 All we've been talking about is who's going to pay for how sick we become, and then keeping you sick creates an economic pipeline and an economic incentive system for interest groups to continue to get paid.

00:08:25.000 So maybe their stock prices won't go up as much, but your life expectancy will go up, the life expectancy of your family members, and I think that is the role of government.

00:08:34.000 We don't live in a place with no rules.

00:08:36.000 There is order, there is national interest, and we are going to pursue that interest without apology.

00:08:43.000 Love that.

00:08:44.000 So Matt, before we open it up for questions, from Donald Trump saying, I want Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General, to going through that process, what did you learn?

00:08:55.000 Walk us through that whole process.

00:08:57.000 Well, I learned that there are a lot of Republicans in the United States Senate who may articulate tacit support for Trump.

00:09:06.000 They may even take a photo in the red hat.

00:09:09.000 But at the end of the day, they don't want Trump to succeed because they want to revert the Republican Party to the old ways where we were for endless immigration and forever wars And any trade deal, even if it hollowed out the middle class in this country, that's not this party anymore.

00:09:28.000 Donald Trump has shown us how to win by being a multi-generational, multi-racial party who are unapologetically patriotic, who are faithful, and who believe that there is a responsible role for government and that currently government has far exceeded that constitutional architecture.

00:09:44.000 And so there are folks who I think, you know, needled me or were challenging for me because they thought, if we let this guy in there, It really reinforces this whole Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Matt Gaetz, Tucker Carlson, Charlie Kirk wing of the Republican Party.

00:10:02.000 But we're not a wing anymore. 0.98

00:10:03.000 We're the whole damn body. 0.93

00:10:05.000 Hey, everybody. 0.98

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00:11:14.000 So Matt, talk about the power of the grassroots.

00:11:17.000 And there are some senators that are still giving Donald Trump's nominees a hard time.

00:11:21.000 We have pledged at Turning Point Action and Turning Point PAC, if you get in the way of President Trump's agenda, we will primary you and remove you from office.

00:11:29.000 Will that help send a message?

00:11:31.000 Yeah, I mean, everybody acts like we're the ones that are against democracy.

00:11:35.000 Well, guess what?

00:11:36.000 This is what democracy looks like.

00:11:37.000 The people holding their elected leaders to account when those leaders start deviating from your interests.

00:11:43.000 Like, you know, the people in Mississippi aren't for sending billions more to Ukraine, but yet they have a senator who votes that way.

00:11:51.000 And elsewhere in the country, people have gotten Potomac fever.

00:11:55.000 They go to Washington, and it's like a city surrounded on all sides by reality, And they are infected irrevocably.

00:12:03.000 And, you know, sometimes you got to dip them back into a little dose of reality and having strong primary contests is important.

00:12:10.000 Now we won't win all of them.

00:12:11.000 Look, the establishment is established for a reason.

00:12:14.000 They're good at it.

00:12:15.000 They have very talented operatives.

00:12:17.000 They have very exquisite data.

00:12:19.000 They know the skills of deception on how to get to the type of voters who might not come to conferences like this.

00:12:26.000 So let us not act as though they are a defeated force.

00:12:30.000 But you know what?

00:12:31.000 We get a few of them.

00:12:32.000 And we send a message to a few more that that 97% is not something they should rely on, that they will be held to account, and you get a few of them in the right type of contest, and you defeat a few of them, I think it will have a very positive impact on the entire body.

00:12:52.000 So Matt, learning from prior Congresses, what mistakes happened previously that Donald Trump has to try to avoid coming into this 2025 legislative session?

00:13:04.000 You know, it's a great question.

00:13:06.000 I think that you have to start with what is your core mandate right now.

00:13:11.000 And if you deviate too far off the core mandate early, we found it was hard to get back to it.

00:13:19.000 You know, here the core mandate is to save this economy, to secure this border, and to create peace and prosperity in the world with strong leadership where we don't see all this conflict erupting everywhere.

00:13:31.000 And if we do those basic things well, I think that will invite people in.

00:13:36.000 I think that sometimes there are issues before us that function as a shiny lure, and I think that if we chase after every shiny lure and get off of that core mission of Of peace abroad, prosperity at home, security of the border, then we run a greater risk of the midterms going a different direction.

00:13:56.000 Daisy, let's start to do some questions here.

00:13:58.000 Matt, tell us about your plans.

00:14:00.000 What are you doing now that you're not in Congress?

00:14:02.000 I'm speaking at 9.30 tomorrow morning.

00:14:05.000 Well, hold on, you laughed.

00:14:06.000 That's right before the president, so that's a good slot.

00:14:09.000 That's a good slot.

00:14:09.000 You always take very good care of me.

00:14:11.000 No, I mean, oh, you think I'm throwing Matt on the 9.30 Sunday.

00:14:14.000 Usually you'd think that's a throwaway.

00:14:15.000 No, no, no, no.

00:14:16.000 That'll be the most packed the room has ever been.

00:14:18.000 Yeah, I got a lot on my chest I still want to share.

00:14:20.000 So I hope you'll come and listen to it.

00:14:23.000 There'll be some new jokes.

00:14:24.000 It'll be some of the same jokes, but you laughed at them.

00:14:27.000 But look, I think that I was elected when I was 26 years old to the state legislature, and I'm 42 right now.

00:14:34.000 And so...

00:14:36.000 There is an important part of someone's life where you need to live under the laws that you have helped write.

00:14:41.000 And if you do this for 20 years or 30 years in elective service, even someone who I think, you know, I do everything I can to stay connected to my voters and my bosses, but it's just not something you're supposed to do forever in life.

00:14:54.000 You know, I got the itch to go and be a part of reforming the corrupt institution at the Department of Justice.

00:15:00.000 And I'm excited for Pam Bondi.

00:15:02.000 I'm going to be an advisor and an encourager of hers all the way in her mission.

00:15:07.000 And I'll be ready when God or President Trump or Charlie Kirk call with the next mission.

00:15:12.000 Oh, we'll be calling.

00:15:16.000 All right.

00:15:17.000 Yes, sir.

00:15:19.000 Howdy.

00:15:20.000 My name is Owen Shelley.

00:15:21.000 I'm from the great state of Texas.

00:15:22.000 My question is, there's a lot of races, especially in my home state, where it's a pretty close race, especially for House congressional seats.

00:15:31.000 Is it worth it with these incumbent Republicans that have been in there for 20 years or so that are kind of more rhinos than conservative Republicans, getting them out of office and trying to put someone else in when it also comes with the possibility of losing the race? 0.57

00:15:48.000 Yes.

00:15:48.000 That's a smart question.

00:15:49.000 Yeah, it's a really smart question.

00:15:50.000 And Texas is one of the states where MAGA is overtaking what was a very strong establishment.

00:15:56.000 That establishment in Texas goes back to the bushes.

00:15:59.000 It's very ingrained.

00:16:01.000 It's very well financed.

00:16:02.000 And so it took a lot of MAGA energy to get some of the victories we have.

00:16:07.000 You have an outstanding attorney general in Texas, Ken Paxton.

00:16:11.000 He might primary Cornyn.

00:16:13.000 He might.

00:16:14.000 He might.

00:16:14.000 There are a few.

00:16:15.000 Ronnie Jackson's another good member and excited for him.

00:16:18.000 Jody Arrington's the budget chairman and really actually believes we should have a budget, which is nice for the budget chairman to believe in.

00:16:25.000 But I do think it's important and here's why.

00:16:28.000 That 97% number doesn't fully account for the retirements that you get when it starts to look like someone's in jeopardy.

00:16:35.000 You got a few of them in Texas where, I mean, if they haven't already seen the light, they can see it flickering, okay?

00:16:43.000 And if you get energetic candidates with strong capabilities and a compelling message, some of those folks might find something else to do in their waning moments.

00:16:53.000 I think I see a Gig'em shirt, so I'll say Gig'em.

00:16:55.000 Are my eyes deceiving me?

00:16:56.000 I'm right.

00:16:57.000 Howdy.

00:16:57.000 Yep.

00:16:58.000 What's next?

00:16:58.000 Thanks for taking Jimbo Fisher off our hands.

00:17:00.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:17:02.000 Where am I at, Daisy?

00:17:04.000 If you want Mike Nervell, we can work something out.

00:17:07.000 He'll soon be available.

00:17:09.000 Daisy, where are we?

00:17:11.000 Hi, Charlie Kirk.

00:17:12.000 I'm Sophia.

00:17:13.000 I'm 16 years old.

00:17:15.000 And I've been involved in politics for this whole election.

00:17:20.000 I did my best to get Trump elected.

00:17:23.000 But I do have...

00:17:25.000 So the one question I have for you is that...

00:17:35.000 So my friend Quinn, he's also been involved, and he wants to know if Trump will be inaugurated even when California has a state of emergency that is threatening to keep the current president to remain in office.

00:17:50.000 So if there's going to be a chance to stop that and make sure that Trump gets in office.

00:17:55.000 Sophia, if that's an issue, we're going to call you to resolve the entire matter.

00:18:00.000 So I'm going to need to make yourself available.

00:18:03.000 But no, the national emergency in that case is not going to stop the transfer of power.

00:18:09.000 You did enough.

00:18:10.000 We all did enough.

00:18:12.000 You don't have to worry about that.

00:18:14.000 Start worrying about the midterms right now, Sophia.

00:18:17.000 But you don't have to worry about this last election.

00:18:20.000 You got that W already secured.

00:18:23.000 And congratulations on it.

00:18:24.000 Thank you.

00:18:25.000 And thank you for being involved.

00:18:30.000 Hi, my name is Fred Theroux and I'm 73 years old and I voted for Reagan twice.

00:18:37.000 But one of the things that I've noticed is we the people, why are we allowing non-people like corporations and unions and PACs to give money to influence the election when we the people are the ones that should be getting the votes and financing the Yeah, I would love if you replaced me in Congress.

00:19:00.000 That's exactly my view of the subject.

00:19:03.000 And a lot of groups have to do it because it is what is required by the federal campaign finance laws.

00:19:08.000 But the core philosophy of that infrastructure is really just money laundering.

00:19:13.000 It's getting money that otherwise wouldn't be appropriate for elections into the electioneering sphere.

00:19:18.000 And everybody knows it, and both sides participate in it.

00:19:21.000 And the question I want you to ask yourself is...

00:19:24.000 Would you be willing to cross the aisle and work with Democrats who you might otherwise really, really have negative views of to accomplish those objectives?

00:19:34.000 Because I have been willing.

00:19:35.000 I've worked with AOC and Ro Khanna and Ilhan Omar because while they disagree with me on a wide scope of issues, they actually agree that you shouldn't have this money in politics.

00:19:49.000 Now, they tend to hold that view because they think they can beat us at that game.

00:19:53.000 But I think if this is truly a contest of ideas and who can ignite the actual people of this country to engage politically, we'll win every time.

00:20:02.000 We'll smoke them.

00:20:03.000 And so I'd rather join in concert To ultimately get rid of the entities that are often in control no matter which side wins elections.

00:20:13.000 That's what's so frustrating to me when the power changes and it feels like the agenda doesn't even change because both sides are working for the same special interests.

00:20:22.000 The only way we break that is to totally change our campaign finance system and I will work with anyone to do it.

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00:21:30.000 .

00:21:32.000 You guys, thank you so much for everything you're doing for our country.

00:21:35.000 We love you.

00:21:36.000 I am from California.

00:21:38.000 I live in Dana Point.

00:21:40.000 I go to a church called Calvary Chapel South O.C., and Pastor John Randall always says thank you.

00:21:45.000 John Randall is one of the best in California.

00:21:47.000 You go to a great church.

00:21:48.000 And he says, thank you for not leaving California.

00:21:51.000 Jack Hibb says it, too.

00:21:52.000 It's getting harder and harder.

00:21:54.000 My question is, is there any hope for us?

00:21:57.000 You all are just...

00:21:59.000 It's like a blur.

00:22:00.000 California, save us. 1.00

00:22:02.000 Is there any hope for California?

00:22:04.000 Well, didn't you see how the trajectory moved this last election?

00:22:07.000 Were you watching that, Charlie?

00:22:08.000 Are you a California resident now?

00:22:09.000 I'm a Florida man.

00:22:10.000 I will live and die as a Florida man.

00:22:14.000 No other identity I will hold.

00:22:16.000 Okay.

00:22:16.000 Just checking.

00:22:17.000 But did you watch that?

00:22:18.000 Everything moved to the right.

00:22:20.000 Everything did.

00:22:21.000 I wonder when the people of California will kind of wake up to this.

00:22:26.000 Because how do you go from the most temperate climate in the hemisphere, boundless natural resources, some of the most intelligent, creative class people in the world assembling there, And then you let it all become like a homeless encampment where you treat the homeless the way we treat a bald eagle's nest.

00:22:48.000 Like in Florida, you can't get too close to the bald eagle's nest, can't make any loud noises around it, can't really disrupt it.

00:22:55.000 But like if the hobos just set up on the street corner, we would turn on the irrigation until they left.

00:23:01.000 But in California...

00:23:03.000 You do it the other way.

00:23:04.000 And so you've got to fix that.

00:23:06.000 There's not going to be the investment and the hope and the energy that you see in the rising places in our country and throughout the world if you have surrendered to the people that are urinating in the mailboxes.

00:23:18.000 Those people can't win.

00:23:19.000 We have to beat those people, I think.

00:23:22.000 What do you think, Charlie?

00:23:23.000 Matt Gaetz is really special, everybody.

00:23:26.000 He's a special talent.

00:23:28.000 Could you imagine him as Attorney General with the one-liners like that?

00:23:34.000 For the record, I did more than most to try to make that happen.

00:23:38.000 Charlie was like my Sherpa, my communications director, my nightly therapist.

00:23:45.000 I went all in.

00:23:46.000 There was the one time that Charlie did not allow me to get my protein shake on the way to Mar-a-Lago because Charlie's like, We have to go because Elon is there.

00:23:54.000 We cannot miss our moment with Elon.

00:23:56.000 And Erica are like, but we really want a protein shake. 0.98

00:23:58.000 Charlie, we ultimately acquiesced and then Elon became an even bigger sponsor and supporter of Turning Point.

00:24:05.000 So pretty good job, Charlie.

00:24:07.000 What do we have next?

00:24:08.000 Daisy, where are we at?

00:24:12.000 Oh, thank you.

00:24:13.000 So I have two questions really quick.

00:24:15.000 One for Matt Gaetz, one for Charlie Kirk.

00:24:18.000 Matt Gaetz first.

00:24:19.000 What are the top three things you expect to get done between 2025 after the new Congress has settled in in midterms?

00:24:29.000 Top three things.

00:24:30.000 Well, the first will be the reconciliation bill.

00:24:33.000 And when I start talking about the federal budget logistics, people's eyes start to glaze over.

00:24:37.000 Explain what reconciliation is.

00:24:38.000 Yes, this is almost anything.

00:24:41.000 A Mother's Day resolution in the United States Senate now requires 60 votes.

00:24:46.000 But there's a special provision of the budgeting rules that say if you're making budget policy and reconciling the budget, you only need the simple majority.

00:24:55.000 So a lot of the things that we want to do, we're trying to shoehorn into the budget reconciliation process so that the threshold is 50 votes plus J.D. Vance not having to go convince a bunch of Democrats that the largest deportation and cutting $2 trillion out of the bureaucracy is a good idea.

00:25:13.000 I don't know that they'll go along with that.

00:25:15.000 And so that reconciliation process begins immediately in January.

00:25:20.000 Folks have got to be on the ball, and if we get that successfully achieved, we'll get the tax cuts extended, we'll get some of our important immigration priorities funded, and we will really cut away at some of these agencies that do not have a constitutional basis.

00:25:35.000 When people ask How are you going to cut the budget?

00:25:39.000 You just have to use the Constitution and you gotta start cleaving away the things that are not in the Constitution have to go to the states.

00:25:45.000 And sometimes the states will succeed and sometimes they'll fail.

00:25:49.000 But that is the system in this country.

00:25:50.000 And then we hope that people have enough sense to see what best practices are working and then to copy those through the decisions of the states and the people.

00:25:59.000 That has been the path to prosperity, and it's only when we've surrendered to the behemoth bureaucracy and the omnibus spending bills and the continuing resolutions that we've seen our nation decline.

00:26:08.000 That's great.

00:26:09.000 Fantastic answer.

00:26:10.000 Thank you so much.

00:26:11.000 I actually came here from New Hampshire.

00:26:13.000 My dad had a heart attack on Friday.

00:26:15.000 That's why I was not here for most of the day.

00:26:18.000 He's doing better.

00:26:18.000 Thank you so much.

00:26:19.000 I personally would love to get an opportunity to be on your podcast, Charlie, and talk about abortion and how we can actually defeat it Because it's destroying this country. 0.56

00:26:27.000 It's destroying marriages. 0.64

00:26:28.000 It's destroying future children.

00:26:29.000 It's destroying how we actually are going to be a righteous people and under God and under faith and not be opposed by God.

00:26:37.000 I'd love to do that.

00:26:37.000 I'd love to get a time to do that.

00:26:38.000 I think you just were, sir.

00:26:39.000 You are on my podcast.

00:26:41.000 I think that was a self-actualizing moment for you.

00:26:45.000 You are on the podcast.

00:26:46.000 And I will tell you, being a member, once a week, you guys can call in and you are on the show.

00:26:53.000 You're live on hundreds of radio stations, millions of people online, and also post as a podcast.

00:26:58.000 That is one of the perks of being a member.

00:27:00.000 Sometimes in my sleep, I hear freedom at charliekirk.

00:27:03.000 See?

00:27:04.000 It works.

00:27:05.000 The repetition.

00:27:06.000 You guys know how to email me.

00:27:09.000 I love that.

00:27:10.000 Thank you.

00:27:13.000 My name's Paul Kitzke.

00:27:14.000 I'm from Eastern Washington.

00:27:16.000 This question is our current congressman.

00:27:19.000 I think Congressman Gate knows.

00:27:22.000 Dan Newhouse was re-elected.

00:27:26.000 You can boo this one.

00:27:27.000 What state?

00:27:28.000 Washington State.

00:27:29.000 Notice the people from Washington.

00:27:31.000 They want you to know if they're from East Washington.

00:27:33.000 Yes, absolutely.

00:27:34.000 That was his way of saying, we didn't have the Chaz in East Washington. 1.00

00:27:39.000 But my question is, the candidate that ran against him was endorsed by Donald J. Trump the week before it happened.

00:27:45.000 I want people to know this.

00:27:47.000 Speaker Johnson and Steve Scalise came in for private fundraisers for Dan Newhouse.

00:27:52.000 How do we...

00:27:52.000 And I'm an LD chair.

00:27:55.000 Constantly, I've been challenging Congressman Newhouse because of his policies.

00:27:59.000 Nothing's changed.

00:28:00.000 How do we do that when you have leadership that's going against the Donald Trump...

00:28:07.000 Well, the way the Republican conference works is the Speaker has a constituency of 222 members, and the Speaker is there to serve that constituency.

00:28:18.000 And when there's a weak one in the herd, as Mr. Newhouse was politically for a time because of that impeachment vote, a bunch of the other ones that one day think they might be the weak one in the herd are only going to follow the one that's the strong one that protects the weakest in the herd.

00:28:34.000 Right?

00:28:35.000 Does that make sense to you?

00:28:36.000 And so you may not like that, but that's the incentive structure where the way the speaker stays the speaker is to always make sure that the weakest in the herd are protected.

00:28:47.000 We had Tony Gonzalez on the run in Texas.

00:28:49.000 We had a great candidate, Brandon Herrera, running against him.

00:28:52.000 Herrera raised a million dollars, which is pretty good to do against an incumbent, and Speaker Johnson and others raised over $10 million for Tony Gonzalez, and Mr. Herrera lost that race by under 400 votes.

00:29:04.000 And so there are times when the resource advantage that the establishment has becomes their cudgel against us, and that's why stuff like Turning Point, getting interconnected, You know, having Elon involved in resourcing more efforts like this, that's what's going to build us into a more comparable fighting force.

00:29:22.000 And maybe we'll never have them one to one on the dollar spent on some of these key campaigns.

00:29:27.000 But I think on some, if we only get outspent maybe one and a half to one or two to one or two and a half to one, you're going to start to see those outcomes change.

00:29:37.000 Hey everybody, Charlie Kirk here.

00:29:38.000 I'm going to be realistic about my diet in December.

00:29:40.000 It slips a little bit.

00:29:41.000 It's got to be one of the worst months of the year in terms of eating right.

00:29:44.000 I'm inevitably going to find myself stuffing treats, meats, and dishes into my mouth, leaving very little room for the right stuff.

00:29:51.000 But I will take balance of nature every single day.

00:29:54.000 Balance of Nature is made from whole fruits and veggie ingredients, and I'll not skip taking those daily supplements.

00:29:59.000 It's one thing I'll get right, because feeling good is important to me, especially in December.

00:30:04.000 Join me in pushing back against the dreaded December diet crash.

00:30:08.000 Get Balance of Nature today.

00:30:10.000 Use my discount code CHARLIE and sign up as a new customer to get 35% off plus free shipping and their money back guarantee.

00:30:16.000 This is an awesome December discount, but you must use my discount code CHARLIE. So call them at 800-2468-751 and use my discount code CHARLIE or order online at balanceofnature.com.

00:30:27.000 That is discount code CHARLIE to get 35% off plus free shipping.

00:30:31.000 balanceofnature.com promo code CHARLIE balanceofnature.com promo code CHARLIE Hey, Mr. Gates.

00:30:40.000 I'm Mr. Kirk.

00:30:40.000 I'm really big fans.

00:30:41.000 My name's Caleb.

00:30:42.000 I'm 17 from upstate New York.

00:30:44.000 And I lean very Austro-libertarian.

00:30:47.000 My question would be on big business.

00:30:50.000 Is big business what's hurting Americans or is it big government support of big business and the force of government allowing business to hurt Americans?

00:31:01.000 I think that we have seen the greatest fusion of big business and government at any other time in our nation's history.

00:31:08.000 And the way business is able to get government to wrap itself around a particular business model.

00:31:15.000 We saw this in big tech where they built in all these immunities Right?

00:31:19.000 That we're supposed to protect a free marketplace of ideas.

00:31:22.000 And now that became the function of the censorship that so many of us have endured.

00:31:27.000 And so I shared on Timcast last night, I think the biggest threat to your liberty is big government.

00:31:34.000 The second biggest threat to your liberty is big business.

00:31:37.000 And the third, homeowners associations.

00:31:42.000 And...

00:31:44.000 Some know.

00:31:45.000 Actually, Al Qaeda started as a homeowner's association. 0.59

00:31:52.000 It's both.

00:31:53.000 It's a fusion of both.

00:31:54.000 I mean, I've read all the Austrian economics literature.

00:31:57.000 It's fine.

00:31:58.000 It's just wrong about a lot.

00:31:59.000 But, I mean, look, the idea is this, is that there's a lot of corporations that hate us and there's parts of government that hate us.

00:32:05.000 I'll give you one example that has nothing to do with the government.

00:32:08.000 BlackRock should not be allowed to buy single-family homes and make our young people have to compete against them.

00:32:16.000 I'm not picking on you, I'm just saying the Austrian economics say, oh free market, I'm sorry that's insane, that our young people have to compete against a 10 trillion dollar company to be able to buy a home.

00:32:25.000 Another idea is that the Chinese Communist Party should not be able to own farmland in this country.

00:32:30.000 Period.

00:32:32.000 And they say, oh, free market.

00:32:34.000 Nope, that's where I draw the line.

00:32:35.000 Our enemies should not be able to own farmland next to military bases and be able to use it against us.

00:32:40.000 So, look, we love free markets because markets serve people.

00:32:44.000 When markets fail to serve people, then we should be prudent about how we intervene.

00:32:49.000 And look, we're a country that has an economy in it, not an economy that happens to be in a country.

00:32:54.000 And I think that's an important distinction.

00:32:56.000 But look, I've read all this stuff.

00:32:58.000 I've read Mises, Rothbard, Hayek, Henry Hazlitt.

00:33:00.000 It's good stuff.

00:33:01.000 It's really interesting philosophical doctrine.

00:33:05.000 And then you have to ask yourselves, am I just going to live in an abstraction or do I actually want to live in a nation?

00:33:10.000 Thank you.

00:33:11.000 Next question.

00:33:11.000 Hello, guys.

00:33:13.000 Zach Kern over here from Kansas City.

00:33:15.000 As a segue and follow-up to that, you mentioned in the other room that it's not a constitutional right to housing, and you should keep the private equity out of it.

00:33:26.000 So then what would be your proposal to solve the millions of affordable housing shortage crisis that we have in America?

00:33:35.000 Better zoning laws.

00:33:36.000 Yeah, better zoning laws.

00:33:37.000 But also, I mean, I can go first.

00:33:39.000 Yeah, please.

00:33:39.000 First thing is that it's a supply and demand issue.

00:33:42.000 When you have 12 million people come into the country, they need to live somewhere. 1.00

00:33:46.000 And so maybe if we deport 12 million people, all of a sudden the demand for housing will go down.

00:33:50.000 And when the demand for housing goes down, definitionally the supply.

00:33:55.000 I mean, when you artificially allow 12 million people into the market, they have to live somewhere.

00:34:01.000 And then we subsidized the housing for a lot of these illegals, which is insane. 1.00

00:34:05.000 Then also, just everything has been more expensive because we decided to artificially create about $8 trillion of unnecessary federal spending post-COVID, and that money has to go somewhere, and that money has gone into hardware.

00:34:16.000 Everything is more expensive.

00:34:17.000 It's more expensive to be able to ship your windows to a new home.

00:34:19.000 It's more expensive to buy a hammer, to buy nails for labor.

00:34:22.000 And so hyperinflation is a direct corollary to the rising price of housing.

00:34:26.000 Matt?

00:34:28.000 Yeah, I would agree.

00:34:28.000 We were able to create more opportunity in housing in Florida by decentralizing some of the authorities.

00:34:35.000 where we had a state entity that had to approve every subdivision, and we abolished that state entity, and we were able to get more shovel-ready projects underway.

00:34:48.000 At the end of the day, it can't cost as much as it does to build a house and to secure land, and if it does, that price will be unattainable for many Americans, particularly Gen Z. 0.75

00:35:00.000 Next question.

00:35:02.000 Thank you.

00:35:03.000 Matt, Charlie, Tim Miller from Chicago.

00:35:07.000 First one for Matt, second one is really more Charlie, I think.

00:35:12.000 What is it, these lobbyists, what are they doing on a daily basis, like a day in the life of a lobbyist specifically, you know, in a brief way?

00:35:20.000 And then Charlie, can we replace them with the people?

00:35:25.000 Like just get, let's just grow this thing to the point where we could just get the people over there in their faces all the time.

00:35:32.000 Now you're thinking.

00:35:35.000 What the lobbyists do, like a lobbyist would wake up and then go to a breakfast where they would hand members of Congress, you know, $1,000, $2,000, up to $5,000 for their campaign.

00:35:48.000 And right as they're delivering the money, they make a specific ask.

00:35:51.000 Congressman, we really need you to sign on to this amendment.

00:35:54.000 We really need this bill filed.

00:35:56.000 And they go around and do it.

00:35:58.000 And it was just...

00:35:59.000 For me, when I first got there, before I swore off the money, it was hilarious, because we'd be like, we are Lockheed Martin, and we'd like you to support this weapon system.

00:36:06.000 And the next group would be like, we're the Cannabis Association of America.

00:36:10.000 And I just brought together the weirdest of people.

00:36:13.000 But...

00:36:15.000 So that's what they'll do in the morning, and then they work the halls throughout the day with staff members who hope to one day become lobbyists, saying, you know, we were there for the breakfast fundraiser, and your member really said they'd sign on to this letter for us or institute this amendment, and then they would extract those demands.

00:36:32.000 The other thing that lobbying firms have figured out is you don't even need to use the campaign finance system if you hire people's otherwise unemployable family members.

00:36:42.000 The number of spouses and children of members of Congress who become lobbyists is astonishing.

00:36:49.000 Senator Richard Burr, a former senator from North Carolina, his wife and son both became lobbyists.

00:36:56.000 And he was the chairman of the Intelligence Committee.

00:36:58.000 So how would you feel if your interests were adverse to the people who were paying the chairman of the Intelligence Committee's wife and kid?

00:37:09.000 Do you think that they had special persuasion skills, or was it their familial relationship that they were monetizing?

00:37:15.000 As far as how we replace it, that's where Turning Point comes in, hopefully long term, and we're getting there, where we need to demand that more members of Congress, and very few do, do what Matt did.

00:37:25.000 No PACs.

00:37:26.000 We're not going to take any money from PACs, special interests of corporations.

00:37:29.000 Very, very few members do what Matt did, because it's hard to finance.

00:37:33.000 It's hard to finance your campaign if you don't go for the easy money.

00:37:37.000 But yes, there needs to be a long-term accountability project in charge of the Republican Party. 0.56

00:37:42.000 And that's always been my whole thing.

00:37:43.000 It's not just about winning majorities.

00:37:45.000 It's about keeping majorities accountable to actually do the things they said they were going to do when they campaigned.

00:37:51.000 It's not enough to say, oh, we're going to cut spending.

00:37:52.000 Did you actually cut spending?

00:37:53.000 Did you actually build the border wall?

00:37:55.000 And the most naked example of this, and frustrating, is the money in Ukraine.

00:38:01.000 No one here wants more money to send to Ukraine.

00:38:03.000 Not a single Republican primary voter wants more money sent to Ukraine.

00:38:06.000 It's an indefensible position.

00:38:08.000 And yet every single one of you wants a secure border.

00:38:13.000 And yet they don't care.

00:38:14.000 Because that's not where the money is.

00:38:17.000 Well, we could.

00:38:18.000 We could take money and we could start a pack.

00:38:21.000 That was my model, sir.

00:38:23.000 I had 200,000 people around this country who'd give me $5, $10, $25, and they didn't need anything from me other than for me to go be me.

00:38:34.000 You're talking about a $2 billion a year project.

00:38:38.000 Yeah, you're not going to beat...

00:38:39.000 But guess what?

00:38:40.000 Guess what?

00:38:40.000 We just beat them all.

00:38:42.000 This last week, they wanted that 1,500-page bill, and they lost.

00:38:46.000 So now you've got to start wondering, what are they going to do next?

00:38:50.000 Last question, Daisy.

00:38:52.000 Hi, my name is Michelle Cortez.

00:38:54.000 I'm from McAllen, Texas, so right there on the border, literally seven miles away.

00:39:00.000 And I would like to run for Congress in District 34 to take this seat away from Vicente Gonzalez, who, I don't know how many of you know, has actually been Nancy Pelosi's attorney for many years, and he has done nothing for our district.

00:39:16.000 But I do not want to fall into the trap of lobbyists.

00:39:21.000 How would you recommend, or is there any advice that you can give me, staying true to the party and accountable to my constituents, assuming that I win?

00:39:31.000 Here's the advice I would give to anyone considering running for office.

00:39:35.000 You have to have a path to victory.

00:39:37.000 You have to see where are my skills going to be deployed with the right partnerships and the right team members to achieve victory.

00:39:45.000 Because if candidates run and come in, Fifth out of seven, they've done less for our movement.

00:39:51.000 It's better to find a place where you can run and win.

00:39:53.000 I didn't start by running for Congress.

00:39:55.000 I cut my teeth in the state legislature.

00:39:57.000 I'm a better congressman because I had other experience before serving in that role.

00:40:03.000 What I've also found is you have to show people you're willing to fight for them.

00:40:07.000 I think at the end of the day, when people go into the voting booth, they're not voting for the one that's the most attractive.

00:40:12.000 Sometimes they're not voting for the one that sent the most flyers.

00:40:15.000 I think most people go in and say, if my tail's on the line, which one of these people will actually care about me and try to do something for me?

00:40:23.000 And the best way to do that is to showcase it, and you don't have to be elected.

00:40:27.000 Before I was elected to anything, my local county tried to institute a pet tax.

00:40:31.000 And so I got together all the pet owners, very eclectic group of people, and we went in and we prevailed on the local leaders to repeal the pet tax.

00:40:42.000 And then people were like, oh, well, when a position in the state house came up and people thought, well, that guy actually cared enough to stop me from paying the pet tax, maybe he'd be a good lawmaker for us.

00:40:52.000 So find a fight where people need a champion and do what you can to lead and showcase those capabilities.

00:41:01.000 Matt Gaetz, everybody!

00:41:02.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:41:06.000 Email us, as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:41:08.000 Thanks so much for listening, and God bless.

The Charlie Kirk Show - December 28, 2024

The Power of The Grassroots — Exclusive Interview with Matt Gaetz

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