The Great America Show - January 04, 2023


GOP REFORMERS MAKE HISTORY AS THEY DEFEAT THE CORONATION OF RINO KEVIN MC CARTHY, FORCING MORE VOTES


Episode Stats

Length

21 minutes

Words per Minute

163.74942

Word Count

3,555

Sentence Count

208

Misogynist Sentences

3

Hate Speech Sentences

6


Summary

The third most powerful job in Washington, D.C., in our federal government, is all hanging in the balance as the House votes to determine who will be the Speaker for the next two years. After three previous rounds of voting, 20 congressmen have blocked Kevin McCarthy s quest for 218 votes, and Congressman Matt Gaetz nominated Congressman Jim Jordan to the Speakership against his wishes.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hello, everybody. I'm Lou Dobbs, and welcome to The Great America Show.
00:00:04.500 Great to have you with us on what is another historic day, the battle for Speaker of the
00:00:11.220 House, the third most powerful job in Washington, D.C., in our federal government. That is after
00:00:18.460 the President and the Vice President. It's all hanging in the balance as the House is voting to
00:00:23.860 decide who will be the Speaker for the next two years. California Congressman Kevin McCarthy
00:00:30.500 had expected to be coronated as Speaker of the House, and why not? It's been that way for a very
00:00:36.660 long time. But he now finds himself fighting for that job, and he so far is losing the fight to a
00:00:43.760 group of Republican reformers who want to restore integrity to the leadership and rules of the
00:00:50.320 House. How about that? Another round of voting resumes today. After three previous rounds,
00:00:57.900 20 congressmen have blocked McCarthy's quest for 218 votes, and Congressman Matt Gaetz nominated
00:01:06.040 Congressman Jim Jordan to the Speakership against his wishes. Jordan, in fact, has supported McCarthy
00:01:13.640 for Speaker. Jordan maintains that he doesn't seek the job while effectively being grafted by
00:01:20.240 the reformers, and he now has 20 votes. Those 20 votes mean that McCarthy can't win so long as
00:01:28.380 Jordan supporters hold the line, and they obviously mean to do just that. McCarthy has refused to adopt
00:01:36.220 any of the reforms asked for by the congressmen who want to make the House transparent to voters
00:01:42.260 and the American public to make the legislative process more open and assure accountability and give
00:01:49.620 committees more power and independence. This is truly a battle between America First reformers
00:01:56.560 and the rhino establishment wing of the Republican Party. For example, Republican strategists Karl Rove,
00:02:04.240 Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the RNC, and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich all have been among
00:02:10.760 those the last week fear-mongering the very idea of the Republican conference actually having a voice
00:02:17.820 in betting and deciding who will be their leader, their Speaker of the House. And as I said, it is the
00:02:25.780 third most powerful job in our government. It's been a hundred years, think of this, it's been a hundred
00:02:32.780 years since more than one round of voting for Speaker has been necessary. Now, Karl Rove said there would be
00:02:40.700 chaos, utter chaos. Ronna McDaniel warning of terrible, terrible consequences. And Newt Gingrich,
00:02:47.680 well, he said the life of the very Republic could be threatened as democracy seeps into the House of
00:02:55.360 Representatives. Those scare tactics were laughable, of course, except all three of those folks are doing
00:03:02.340 the bidding of the establishment. That's how much the global corporatists and Marxist Dems truly fear a
00:03:09.820 powerful, transparent, responsible House of Representatives. They wanted their Martinette,
00:03:16.200 Kevin McCarthy, to be in place. Reliable and pliable, compliant and uncomplaining. Good old Kevin,
00:03:24.220 that was the deal. And that's the very deal that's being broken up at this very moment, we hope.
00:03:30.880 The reformers led by Congressman Andy Biggs, who was running against Kevin McCarthy for Speaker,
00:03:36.980 threw his support to Jordan on the second round. Biggs was joined by Matt Rosendale,
00:03:43.060 Ralph Norman, Bob Good, Matt Gates, Mary Miller, Chip Roy, Mike Cloud, and Keith Self, and Eli Klain,
00:03:50.760 Paul Gosar, Dan Bishop, Josh Breshen, Lauren Bulbert, Andrew Clyde, and Andy Harris, Anna Paulina,
00:03:58.660 Brandon Ogles, and Scott Perry, Byron Donalds, and Keith Self. That is an honor roll that I just had to
00:04:07.460 share with you. I know it's a long list, and I hope we should pray that that list gets much,
00:04:13.760 much longer. Our guest today is Congressman Ralph Norman. He's from the great state of South Carolina.
00:04:19.980 He's represented the 5th District of South Carolina since 2017. He is a great American. We talked with
00:04:27.120 Congressman Norman at the conclusion of the third round of voting yesterday. It was a day of high
00:04:32.740 drama. It was historic. And the Congressman joined us from the Republican cloakroom, just as Congress
00:04:38.760 was adjourning. Welcome, Congressman, to the Great America Show. I want to begin by thanking you and
00:04:44.500 your 19 colleagues for standing up for the integrity of Congress, opposing more rhino establishment rule
00:04:51.560 in the Republican Party. Congratulations on making history. For the first time in 100 years,
00:04:58.440 the speakership will be decided by more than one ceremonial vote. Congratulations on handing Kevin
00:05:05.180 McCarthy three straight losses in today's rounds of voting. Is this battle going according to plan
00:05:11.540 for your group of reformers? Yeah, you know, you go into this and you never really know what I'm proud
00:05:17.720 of. I mean, first of all, it's such an honor to serve in Congress. And it's a good feeling to be able to
00:05:23.840 finally do something. I mean, we pick a speaker for the next two years, and it should go through this
00:05:29.420 process. You ought to vet them just like you would vet a head of a CEO of a company that's going to take over
00:05:36.220 that's struggling. And you want to vet them as to what their blueprint for solving it is. And that's what we're doing
00:05:42.340 with Kevin. And he just has got a history, a 14-year history of just spending, and he's never stood up to it.
00:05:48.620 And if not now, we need it. The cancer in this country is the debt. And the cancer of this country is accepting
00:05:56.020 what Democrats give us from the Senate. And we're going to be in nine months, and Lou, you know this,
00:06:02.500 we're going to be back looking at the raise the debt ceiling or shutting the government down.
00:06:08.000 And that's one of the questions Kevin's going to have to commit to, to shutting the government down unless
00:06:13.440 we get a handle. And the, you know, we'll sit here as long as it takes, because it's, I think the numbers
00:06:21.940 will grow. Whether it'll grow for the sufficient amount, I don't know. The good news is, though, if we sit,
00:06:29.320 I think it's for another six days, all of our pay gets cut. And if we're not, if we're not legislating,
00:06:35.160 then we, then that's a good thing. Let's cut the money. And then we'll see what happens then.
00:06:40.760 Well, I think, I think that's, that's something that certainly I hadn't thought of. I imagine
00:06:44.600 there are a few other people hadn't thought about that impact, which is something of a hammer to have,
00:06:50.800 have on your, in your hand. Let me ask you this too. I get the feeling that each of you
00:06:59.440 is very resolute in continuing. How confident are you that your, your, your original group of five
00:07:08.460 then add the, the, the nine that have been added on and then other members, including Lauren Bovert,
00:07:15.440 Mike Cloud, Anna, Paulina, Luna, Mary Miller, all of them joining in. Are they as resolute as the
00:07:24.080 original five? Yeah, I think we are. I mean, you gotta, we went to a conference today, which is
00:07:29.880 basically the Republican conference was a strong-on conference, you know, threatening to kick us off
00:07:35.640 committees unless we vote for McCarthy and for him never saying anything about it to say he has given
00:07:42.520 us, given us everything we want. And that, you know, it's because he was magnanimous. Luke, some of the
00:07:49.420 things we asked for, he had two months ago. We didn't, we heard crickets, nothing. And the reason
00:07:54.920 is he thought it was going to be a red wave. He didn't need us. Now he's come to the table, but
00:07:59.480 it's a little too late. And, you know, we're, we're as resolved now something could change, but I don't
00:08:06.260 think so. And it's the vacate the chair has gotten most of the publicity, but that's not the big thing.
00:08:12.100 Spending and out of control entitlements are something that we have got to deal with. And I know a lot of
00:08:19.220 a lot of us, uh, that's come up today, every meeting that he fits his oblivious to that.
00:08:24.780 And, and it's clear that the, the Marxist, as I call them, Congressman, the Democrat party,
00:08:31.140 uh, they are intent on spending as much this Biden regime. It's as if he means to break the,
00:08:39.500 break the government, uh, break the budget, uh, break the finances of the entire country. Uh,
00:08:47.340 this is not an accident. This is a strategy that is being followed by these radical dams.
00:08:54.000 And now the, the rhinos, as I refer to them, uh, in this case, uh, we're talking about Kevin
00:09:00.800 McCarthy. He's, he's Paul Ryan trained and endorsed, uh, there in a chain of, uh, uh, folks that go back
00:09:08.460 to Boehner to Ryan. Uh, this is, uh, it just, to me, I, I, he was expecting a coronation and if it
00:09:16.160 weren't for you all, uh, there would be a coronation and it would be a coronation of what
00:09:22.700 the Marxist stems, uh, uh, have put up as an agenda, which is to bankrupt the country.
00:09:28.280 Socialism is right here. Unless we stop it to at least make some attempt, then, uh, we might as well
00:09:35.420 just say goodbye to America as we know it. And we just not going to, we just are not going to let
00:09:40.580 that happen. And the good news is maybe something, maybe he will at some point get us, you know,
00:09:48.560 get 19 of us that are growing in a room and say, look, what can we do? And, you know, we told him,
00:09:56.260 we said, look, start with appropriators, uh, before you name chairman, say, look, you've got to come to
00:10:01.400 this number that will help solve the budget crisis. You got to do it in a seven year,
00:10:07.960 10 max cash. If you won't do that, then no, we'll just continue to sit in it. But I don't know what
00:10:14.820 else it's going to take, but I know giving in is not going to work. I was, I was surprised to see
00:10:21.940 Congressman Byron Donalds switch over in particular from McCarthy to Jordan. Uh, he, as a matter of fact,
00:10:30.400 I was surprised that he was supporting McCarthy because the man has, I think, uh, first of all,
00:10:36.680 I think he's a very talented fella, but he's also very pragmatic about the budget. He is a practical
00:10:43.400 man. He understands exactly, uh, you know, what you're expressing here, that this country just
00:10:49.220 can't continue on this path. Uh, there are a lot of people who are thinking that you and I talk about
00:10:53.760 the budget right down the midst of this high drama, uh, is, uh, you know, it may be boring
00:10:59.600 them, uh, but it's, it really is critical to the nation's future, uh, that we come to terms with
00:11:05.980 it. And the only adults in the room, and when I looked out there and saw 434 of our congressmen
00:11:11.900 in that room voting on this, uh, you know, I, I haven't seen you guys in committee with hearings,
00:11:17.860 uh, with amendments. You haven't been in regular order. I don't know for how long, uh, seven years,
00:11:24.820 uh, seven years. Uh, and to think that that has to be a demand to get a vote for the speaker of the
00:11:33.360 house. Uh, it's outrageous. The American people have a right to know what their government is doing.
00:11:38.860 They need to be part of the process. We haven't had a discussion on the budget. We haven't had a
00:11:44.720 discussion, a debate, a national debate with our representatives in the house and the senators.
00:11:51.040 This is, this is government on, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's just automatic pilot. Only we can't
00:11:58.360 find the pilot. Well, we're going, we're going to do something, uh, to find somebody who will leave
00:12:05.160 this country. Uh, speaker is third in line for president, as you know, and I would argue the
00:12:10.700 most powerful position in the country. You set the agenda. And the reason George's name just keeps
00:12:17.020 coming up is we know he will fight. We know when he goes in with a Mitch McConnell, uh, one, he just
00:12:23.220 won't capitulate and say, we're going to take the leftovers. That 1.7 tree just proved that. And by
00:12:29.900 the way, only half the members were present. Only half the members were in the chamber. Half
00:12:35.140 of what you see in, uh, now voted and allowed a 1.7 trillion to pass to raid the treasury.
00:12:43.620 And that's the other thing. McCarthy should have had us months ago. This, this wasn't a secret that
00:12:47.880 what the Senate did. You know, we should all be having press conference saying, look, we're not
00:12:52.360 taking it. We're going to throw it back at you. But it's just, you know, he's never done that.
00:12:56.800 And so if you've got a track record of not doing it, how's he going? Uh, and I told Jordan,
00:13:03.800 I says, like he was a great wrestler. I says, like having somebody that's lost every match
00:13:08.480 and then put him in the championship and expecting a different result. Right. So he's, uh, he's
00:13:14.920 getting up. Congressman, you're talking about Jim Jordan. Uh, and he was the champion, uh, wrestler
00:13:21.940 at, uh, and, uh, and I, I just want to get to the, to the point. He doesn't want to be
00:13:27.600 speaker. And, and I liked what Matt Gates said. It's about time we got somebody who didn't
00:13:34.360 want the job instead of somebody who would sell their soul to get it. Uh, and exactly right.
00:13:40.940 And so he, he's the right guy. Have you talked to, to Jim? Do you have the belief that he will
00:13:48.480 stand up for the, and take the job if indeed, uh, he is drafted? It's my belief that as we
00:13:57.560 keep gaining votes, we keep sitting here and gain votes, um, that he will, he will come to
00:14:05.260 the table. As I told him, it's a higher calling. I know he wants to be head of the judiciary,
00:14:10.300 but as speaker, he can do so much good in this country. He has the trust. People know that
00:14:15.220 when he says he's going to fight, he'll fight. And so I think he will. I think he's the thing
00:14:21.440 that I like about him is what he's showing to, to McCarthy. Now he's loyal to him. And,
00:14:28.080 um, and this isn't personal with McCarthy. I like him as a person, but we need somebody
00:14:33.340 personalities are not going to get this country, uh, not, not going to cure the cancer in this
00:14:38.040 country, which is spending and draft and greed and, and, uh, you know, serving the powers that
00:14:46.480 be, they're taking the tax base money. You know, Congressman, I, these, there are moments
00:14:52.340 where this country does take some, uh, there are inflection points where the country does pivot.
00:14:58.780 I believe this could be one of those. I think you've already accomplished a great deal,
00:15:03.140 just in, and demonstrating to your fellow Congressman, what, what courage looks like
00:15:09.400 and what the independence of judgment looks like while being faithful to your, to your
00:15:16.580 values and philosophy, uh, as a Republican, but first Americans, I just can't, I just can't
00:15:25.140 tell you how excited I am about the potential opportunity that's awaiting the country with
00:15:30.940 what you all are achieving there, uh, today. The fact is the Republican party is a moderate
00:15:37.200 party. It's not a rhino party, a wild eyed, uh, left-wing party. The reason that the Republicans,
00:15:45.380 it seems to me, have elected rhinos to their leadership for so long now is because they think
00:15:50.120 they'll get along best with the Democrats. And like you said, we need a man like Jim Jordan,
00:15:55.760 who will fight, uh, the awful agenda of these Marxist Dems who are in charge of the democratic
00:16:02.800 party. And certainly are the masters of this puppet president in our white house right now.
00:16:09.900 Yeah. And if not now, when I see the rent, the runway very short, um, you know, the, the debt,
00:16:16.500 uh, and I, you know, they keep saying 33, 31, three, it's more like 60 when you put Medicare,
00:16:23.060 Medicaid, social security, because every agency that I know of is insolvent. So, you know, we're
00:16:29.560 at the point now we didn't deal with it and force, uh, some, some change or some concessions,
00:16:36.320 but, uh, that's when we have got to take the time. And as I told them, the, uh, you know,
00:16:42.720 we went out 172 days last year, last session, that's 5.7 months. We can't take a week to decide
00:16:51.940 what's the best for this country and give the taxpayers what they want, which is conservative
00:16:56.520 government that they control. They're not controlling it.
00:17:00.220 Now it's, you're exactly right. And one of the impacts of this high inflation that Biden has
00:17:07.100 delivered to the country, I don't think people realize, even though we've got almost a $32 trillion
00:17:12.240 national debt in this country, uh, that the interest rate on that money has risen by 50%
00:17:20.120 in just over the past year. Uh, this is, this is a mad course that we're on with a president who is
00:17:28.500 impaired in my judgment and who is certainly following an agenda that will bankrupt the nation
00:17:36.880 and worse because it's also the foundation of our national security, national security,
00:17:42.760 economic security is national security. If we don't face it now, we'll be under the China regime,
00:17:48.300 which Biden is sold out to the, uh, everything he's doing is intentional from the border to lawlessness
00:17:55.500 to the speed. And, uh, again, this is highlight, hopefully we'll highlight that and get a man that'll
00:18:01.160 fight. Uh, we're not going to get through, you know, Biden is going to reject everything. He's going to veto
00:18:06.640 everything we have. Uh, we can't get a three force vote, but we're going to make it so hard. Uh, and the bad
00:18:14.600 legislation's got to stop and it starts with the spirit, but spending is spending is the number one issue
00:18:22.520 that is on all of our minds. And that's what's holding us together. And as I listened to Steve
00:18:27.680 Scalise on the floor, uh, with his nominating speech for McCarthy, uh, in the third round,
00:18:32.640 uh, you know, I just, he was, you know, I'm not going to accuse him of lying, but he knows better
00:18:40.120 than what he said. There is no way that the Republicans can sit there and do anything basically
00:18:47.140 that he said without, without a vote from the Senate, which is democratically controlled
00:18:53.400 and the signature of a president who is absolutely opposed to everything, uh, that the country needs
00:19:00.360 right now, which is the Republican agenda, uh, of, uh, prudence and responsibility and fiscal
00:19:07.420 management, uh, in terms of a modest, but robust foreign policy, uh, and to turn this country
00:19:15.260 around and a government that right now is rampantly corrupt. There is so much to, for, to be done in
00:19:22.260 this critical existential moment of our history. And, and you are all at the point of the spear
00:19:29.400 in making that happen. Uh, and I just want to congratulate you and tell you how much I'm grateful
00:19:36.820 to you, uh, and, uh, for taking time and also ask you as we wrap up, we always give our guests
00:19:44.260 the last word, uh, your thoughts about what you faced to tonight and in the, in the days and weeks
00:19:50.180 ahead.
00:19:50.960 I think again, we're going to pick up steam and I think we're going to, uh, at the end of the day,
00:19:55.800 we're going to sit here as long as, as long as it takes to get some kind of resolve and hopefully,
00:20:03.020 uh, that they can have something concrete that we can believe in. And you're right. Steve
00:20:10.180 Scalise knows that one, right? And he knows exactly that. I mean, we're, we're doing the
00:20:14.620 hearings, um, delaying that. When has there ever been consequences for the hearings? I mean,
00:20:20.240 is, is, uh, Hillary in jail? No. Uh, is so we're not doing the good business. The government
00:20:26.560 is doing the business. It shouldn't take place because it's been bad. And that's what this
00:20:30.640 is highlighting. So I really appreciate what you do, the messages you have. And, um, I just
00:20:36.300 urge people to get involved. It's their, you know, it's, it's their government. It's not
00:20:42.320 the bureaucrats and politicians up here, which gets confused sometimes. Yeah. And as you say,
00:20:49.180 that's a thought that has been lost over the, uh, these last years, uh, the last decade or so,
00:20:55.640 maybe longer than that. But, uh, again, we appreciate everything you're doing. Thank you.
00:21:00.540 And God bless you. Thank you. Happy new year. Congressman Ralph Norman, a great American who
00:21:05.500 today, along with his colleagues in the house made more history. And we certainly hope they prevail
00:21:11.260 for the good of this great nation. Our guests upcoming include Congressman James Comer,
00:21:17.060 Congressman Chip Roy, and the renewing America's Kash Patel on more revelations about the deep state
00:21:24.720 corruption. Please join us here tomorrow. Follow me on Twitter and truth social at Lou Dobbs. That's
00:21:30.920 at Lou Dobbs on Twitter and truth social. And please be with us tomorrow till then. Thanks for
00:21:38.440 being with us. God bless you and may God bless America.