The Great America Show - REP MATT GAETZ SAYS WE’RE A COUNTRY IN DECLINE WITH A PRESIDENT IN DECLINE. WE HAVE TO WAKE UP A LOT OF AMERICANS TO FACE OUR THREATS

00:00:00.000 Hello, everybody. I'm Lou Dobbs, and welcome to this edition of The Great America Show.

00:00:05.140 Thank you for being with us, as always.

00:00:07.800 I'd love to be talking with you today about the brilliant sunrises, the beautiful clouds,

00:00:13.860 the soaring hawks above our farm, or maybe what we're all doing for Christmas.

00:00:19.040 But the country is in too bad a shape to be having that discussion today.

00:00:24.220 The country is, in fact, in a tightening grip of urgency and deep concern for our future as a nation.

00:00:31.980 There is no way not to recognize the battle for the soul of this country that is now underway.

00:00:38.540 A battle that many of us had hoped and prayed would be resolved by the midterm elections, at least in part.

00:00:45.160 But that's not the outcome we got, is it?

00:00:47.900 Beginning in January, we won't have one-party government any longer.

00:00:51.980 We'll have a voice, and we will have, at least, at least we'll have representation in the House of Representatives.

00:00:59.640 And that's considerable progress under this Marxist-Dem regime, isn't it?

00:01:04.140 Now, in full view, the battle for our way of life.

00:01:08.000 It's intensifying, that battle.

00:01:10.220 And there is no way you and I can avert our eyes, even if we wanted to.

00:01:15.460 And you and I are in the fight, no matter what.

00:01:18.780 Because the Marxist-Dems and their allies, domestic and foreign, mean to end the American dream, to destroy our way of life, the American way, justice, and truth.

00:01:31.920 And nothing scares the totalitarian Marxist-Dems more than truth.

00:01:36.540 Look at what Elon Musk has revealed at Twitter.

00:01:40.540 The Justice Department and FBI directing censorship of free speech on Twitter to serve the left.

00:01:47.520 To suppress Trump supporters and conservatives and anything that undercut Biden and the Marxist-Dems. 0.52

00:01:54.900 No foreign government had ever done such damage to the American public's constitutional rights, to our right to know, to our freedom of speech, and influenced a presidential election to boot.

00:02:09.300 And, in fact, changed history.

00:02:12.060 And worse, they covered up their heinous assault on America.

00:02:15.760 And, to this point, they've gotten away with it all.

00:02:19.780 I repeat, to this point, they have gotten away with it all.

00:02:26.080 And you and I, all of us, have got to make certain our elected officials stand up.

00:02:31.400 And make certain that they go to war against the Marxist left in this country.

00:02:37.740 The Democrats aren't merely a political party anymore.

00:02:42.000 They are a full-fledged criminal enterprise.

00:02:45.760 A fifth column with their own ideology within our nation.

00:02:51.020 And they are hell-bent on destroying America, destroying even the idea of America.

00:02:57.680 And they even told us they would do it.

00:03:01.280 President Obama talked about the fundamental transformation of America.

00:03:06.460 Do you remember?

00:03:07.740 The fundamental transformation of America.

00:03:10.580 And he meant what he said.

00:03:13.560 And he has done something about what he said.

00:03:17.020 And here we are, these years later, with some Republicans still thinking we can get along, go along, with those who mean to tear down this country.

00:03:27.360 Let me say this.

00:03:29.520 If you hear a Republican talk about bipartisanship, you've just heard a Republican admit that he or she is a collaborator with the party that means to destroy truth.

00:03:44.220 Our media, by the way, is already gone.

00:03:46.620 With justice.

00:03:47.600 Do you really, really want the FBI knocking on your door? 0.99

00:03:53.260 The FBI, the Department of Justice, are corrupt fascists.

00:03:57.540 And our courts, not many, aren't in the hands of the Marxist Dems and the American way. 0.64

00:04:04.160 We don't hear much about America these days, do we?

00:04:07.580 They mean to take us down, and America with us. 0.93

00:04:12.280 Our impaired president was asked this week why, while in Arizona, he still wouldn't go to the southern border.

00:04:20.400 President Biden said, because there are more important things going on.

00:04:25.200 This, from a president who obviously doesn't care about the hundreds of thousands of Americans who've been killed by fentanyl and opiates brought into the United States across that border.

00:04:38.240 Because Biden keeps that border open to not only deadly drugs, but sex trafficking, human smuggling, and the millions of illegal immigrants who've entered the country in just the past two years.

00:04:51.640 So, folks, let me say this.

00:04:53.460 This is not a time for Republicans, for independents, to be compromising, or to accommodate or appease the Marxist left.

00:05:03.600 And the Republicans who want to just go along, the RINOs, the McConnell, McDaniel, Thune, Romney, and in the House, Kevin McCarthy, who wants to be Speaker of the House, of course.

00:05:16.640 Paul Ryan's choice to be Speaker, hand-picked.

00:05:20.080 You see why I use the term RINO.

00:05:22.120 Thank God Congressman Andy Biggs has challenged Kevin McCarthy for the Speakership.

00:05:29.580 And thank God four other congressmen are standing with Biggs to assure the House begins representing the people, and not K Street, the lobbyists, special interests, and the Marxist Dems.

00:05:41.380 Those other congressmen standing with Biggs, Matt Rosendale, Ralph Norman, Bob Good, Matt Gaetz.

00:05:48.960 They're doing a great thing for this country, and they're doing it under tremendous pressure and attack.

00:05:56.680 Our guest today is Congressman Matt Gaetz, member of the House Judiciary Committee, the Armed Services Committee.

00:06:03.780 And Congressman Gaetz, first, congratulations on what you and your colleagues are doing for this country.

00:06:10.900 And my thanks, and I know everyone listening to our voices today, thank you as well.

00:06:17.280 I know you mean to take the challenge to the RINO leadership all the way.

00:06:21.300 What do you see unfolding as your challenge progresses?

00:06:26.360 Well, I think the American people know that Washington is broken.

00:06:30.640 And we have a corrupt system that advances people through leadership based on their ability to launder special interest money from the PACs and the federal lobbyists into the coffers of members' campaigns.

00:06:43.820 And I think we ought to raise our gaze and be better than that and do something other than maybe what Washington would expect of us.

00:06:52.300 I think we need a fresh start.

00:06:54.160 I think in a very slim majority, we're going to need a speaker with broad credibility across every aspect of the Republican conference.

00:07:02.880 And we've got to find somebody who doesn't have five objectors.

00:07:06.100 And at the end of the day, we're in a process of elimination exercise right now.

00:07:11.800 I think there are 221 members of Congress out of the 222 I'd be open-minded to at least listen to and see if there's a vision to bring us together and to win against the Democrats.

00:07:25.120 Because what I recall out of Kevin McCarthy, when he was Paul Ryan's majority leader, and we actually had subpoena power, and Jim Jordan and Ron DeSantis and Mark Meadows and I were asking for it to expose a lot of these deep state lies before they manifested into what we see today, Kevin McCarthy sat on his hands.

00:07:45.740 He wasn't an advocate for strenuous oversight.

00:07:48.860 He was right there to do the bidding of Paul Ryan.

00:07:52.160 And I just don't think that he has passed the leadership test in the time that he's served in these various roles.

00:08:00.060 And I think if we had somebody new, we'd be far more effective.

00:08:04.560 And I think there are a lot of people who agree with you.

00:08:07.540 And what's really interesting to me, as I've covered these leadership battles over the years and votes, is that this is an outright threat against the conference.

00:08:20.000 It's Kevin McCarthy saying, you know, I mean, basically it would be Armageddon and the Democrats would take over.

00:08:26.840 And a lot of nonsense is spewed here.

00:08:30.240 When point of fact, what you're not doing is proceeding to follow the leader, as has been the case for the Republicans.

00:08:37.720 And it's how the Republicans got in this shape, in my opinion, Congressman, is they they are elected by moderates and conservatives and independents across the country and then come to Washington and then turn the whole thing over to rhinos. 0.72

00:08:53.220 And by the way, the Democratic Party doesn't have a counterpart to rhinos. 0.79

00:08:57.280 They don't have dinos.

00:08:58.340 So why do you guys always find a rhino to take over a conservative MAGA agenda, for example?

00:09:06.800 Well, the rhino is actually in its natural habitat at a lobbyist fundraiser.

00:09:12.140 They are the most adept and skilled and, you know, I think capable in an environment where basically you trade your vote to special interest groups that often have America last principles on trade and immigration that that they embrace.

00:09:30.260 And so the rhino is actually quite skilled at being able to convert special interest money into campaign money.

00:09:37.700 And it just so happens that's sort of the principal covenant of leadership to the members of the House of Representatives.

00:09:44.120 But it doesn't have to be that way.

00:09:46.380 We have work to do to investigate this administration on the border with the use of politics at the FBI,

00:09:54.020 with these horrible realizations that we're seeing through the Twitter files released by Elon Musk.

00:10:00.960 We have so much work to do.

00:10:02.620 And I just, you know, don't believe that we ought to begin that effort with somebody who, when the chips are down, seems to make poor judgment calls.

00:10:11.800 I mean, you'll remember when I initially sought the ouster of Liz Cheney after she backed impeachment and wouldn't shut up about it.

00:10:19.800 Kevin McCarthy stood before the conference and kept her in that position for months before ultimately acquiescing to her removal.

00:10:28.300 Like, that wasn't a good judgment call.

00:10:30.440 That's not someone who has passed the test of leadership.

00:10:33.600 You know, he was recorded on a phone conversation saying that because I traveled to Wyoming,

00:10:39.140 actually did your show from the steps of the Wyoming Capitol to make my political critique of Liz Cheney,

00:10:46.820 he said that that might have been provoking violence in our politics.

00:10:52.220 And, you know, I think we deserve leaders who understand that critique and debate are actually the things that stop a civilized society from devolving into violence.

00:11:02.800 But the argument people make for Kevin is that he's raised more money than anyone in the history of time for Republican candidates.

00:11:10.360 And so they think he just deserves it as a consequence.

00:11:13.740 And I don't think the country is well served if that is the principal metric.

00:11:18.920 And going to the metrics that I agree with you that do count, what has been his leadership moment?

00:11:25.360 What has been that decision he's taken, that position that he has staked out that required courage and principle and true leadership,

00:11:38.100 that for which he should be memorialized and also which would be the foundation of his seeking the speakership?

00:11:47.400 Well, he would point to the fact that he holds the record for the longest speech ever on the floor of the House of Representatives.

00:11:57.200 And to cite that in the absence of substantive wins for our people,

00:12:02.260 I think tells you all you need to know about the bloviating and blather that often constrains Washington, D.C., 0.94

00:12:09.240 rather than directing us to actually solve the problems that people are facing.

00:12:13.720 You know, the hobgoblin argument that's been thrown out there is that, oh, well,

00:12:20.100 if Republicans are divided on McCarthy, that somehow Hakeem Jeffries is going to become speaker.

00:12:25.800 The reality is Hakeem Jeffries has 212 votes and it takes 218 to become speaker.

00:12:31.400 And there are not six Republicans.

00:12:33.340 There's not one Republican that would vote for a Democrat, even the impeachers, even the most moderate among the group.

00:12:40.720 But, you know, the true question is whether or not Republicans will get into the posture of realizing that this is a process of elimination exercise,

00:12:51.160 or if we're going to begin our term in the majority unable to elect a speaker.

00:12:57.440 And I've got to tell you, Lou, that could be a very real possibility.

00:13:00.700 We could go to the floor.

00:13:02.320 No person could be able to achieve 218 votes.

00:13:05.160 And we might have to work that out for a while.

00:13:08.780 And it might not be easy and it might not be quick.

00:13:11.520 But I'd rather make the right decision for the next two years than, you know,

00:13:16.860 have a bunch of hand rigging and bedwetting over whether or not it's going to take us two weeks or two months to figure it out.

00:13:24.140 Well, I think you're making excellent points.

00:13:26.840 And I think also there's a consideration here to which you've alluded.

00:13:31.340 I mean, I happen to like Kevin McCarthy.

00:13:35.140 I don't think there's a soul in Washington who doesn't like Kevin McCarthy.

00:13:39.500 He's a very likable fellow.

00:13:41.620 But at the end of the day, he's been disloyal.

00:13:44.880 He has, in fact, been disloyal to the leader of the party and the president of the United States

00:13:50.640 when both President Trump was both president and post-presidency.

00:13:56.740 He's been groomed and endorsed enthusiastically now by Paul Ryan to be speaker.

00:14:03.240 And for me, that's all I need to know about the man, to be honest with you.

00:14:10.240 Yeah, I think that there will be a lot of people in the Washington elite circles of lobbying

00:14:17.520 and special interest groups who will be very thrilled if he is selected to be the speaker.

00:14:22.740 But there are enough of us who want to change this place.

00:14:25.540 And I think we need to focus on what some of those goals are.

00:14:28.740 I don't think we should have a top-down speakership.

00:14:30.780 I think the members should be able to actually vote on amendments and contribute to ideas.

00:14:34.980 I think it's crazy that we have things like national water policy linked to the National Defense Authorization Act.

00:14:42.860 I think it's crazy that when Republicans were in power, we somehow had, like, war powers in Yemen linked to a vote about the farm bill.

00:14:50.260 I think we need single subject.

00:14:51.880 I think we need time to review the legislation.

00:14:54.360 I believe that the motion to vacate the chair should exist, as it did for more than 200 years,

00:14:59.900 as envisioned by Thomas Jefferson and is ultimately utilized by Mark Meadows.

00:15:04.720 I mean, these are things that allow the Congress, I think, to be more dynamic and more effective and less dangerous to people.

00:15:13.580 A lot of times the really bad stuff that happens to people happens as a result of the tools the leadership uses to force people to take votes,

00:15:21.340 where if you want to pay the troops, you have to greenlight wokeness.

00:15:25.380 If you want to ensure that America's resilient on manufacturing, you have to give on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

00:15:33.500 And I'm tired of those deals.

00:15:35.140 I think the American people don't want to see their elected leaders compromised.

00:15:39.820 And when the leadership structure incentivizes that and forces it upon the membership,

00:15:45.000 I think we're far less effective at winning the battles we have to win to win the country.

00:15:49.100 And I think this gives me a chance to use the name Paul Ryan one more time.

00:15:54.940 Who was it who ended that 200 years of vacating the chair?

00:16:00.020 That's right.

00:16:00.780 It was Paul Ryan who conditioned his acceptance of the speakership on altering the motion to vacate,

00:16:07.440 where it required a certain percentage of people and it was no longer the power vested in each and every single member.

00:16:14.220 And look, we wouldn't want any speaker to feel as though, you know, someone was hanging the sword of Damocles over them.

00:16:21.220 But at the same time, there's something about having the consent of the governed, whether that's in society or within a legislative body.

00:16:29.060 And so, you know, right now with a majority of only four seats, I think it was disappointing, not as a result of bad candidates,

00:16:38.080 but really bad strategy on the leadership side.

00:16:41.200 You know, you had Ronna McDaniel, who seems, you know, poised to lead the Republican National Committee again.

00:16:47.420 What a disappointment that has been.

00:16:49.960 You know, no real effective building of people's skill stack to stop the craziness like we saw go on in Arizona this last election.

00:16:58.100 You have Mitch McConnell, who's a re-election in the Senate.

00:17:01.000 You know, I don't know that there's like a whole contingent of like McConnell Republicans out there that are going to swing us back into broad power throughout the country.

00:17:09.540 And then you have Kevin McCarthy, who has been campaigning for this job essentially for 18 years.

00:17:14.940 And, you know, will he get the votes?

00:17:17.020 I don't know.

00:17:18.300 But I can tell you right now he doesn't have them and he doesn't have mine.

00:17:22.340 And how many no votes do you think there are?

00:17:26.540 Andy Biggs said he felt there were 20 hard no votes on McCarthy.

00:17:31.960 Do you have a count?

00:17:33.160 Well, Andy Biggs is a better vote counter than I am.

00:17:38.320 So I wouldn't disagree with Andy.

00:17:40.620 I can tell you that, you know, I try to be accountable for my own vote.

00:17:44.320 And I think that, you know, certainly for every person who's made their attention known, you know, there are others who've made their attention known only to Kevin McCarthy.

00:17:53.360 So Kevin McCarthy actually knows that the number is considerably larger than five of us.

00:17:58.840 Some folks have tried to, not in the public eye, but go meet with him privately to express that they just simply can't get there to voting for him and that it would probably be best if he allowed us to consider other candidates and released his votes.

00:18:11.160 And we'll see how he goes through that deliberative process that if we end up in some situation where we look, you know, kind of ungovernable on January 3rd, that will be by Kevin McCarthy's hand.

00:18:25.740 That will be because his his quest for power meant more than the math equation that we find ourselves in with the majority of our of our current size.

00:18:36.580 Yeah, because this could have well been handled by through negotiation with the Freedom Caucus, with the five of you and others in the conference.

00:18:47.000 What I also find interesting is whether where the Dems have an opportunity here to to really bring great, great gravitas back to the House and to to actually reform the system, which is broken, frankly, on both sides of the aisle.

00:19:08.080 They they really are talking substantively.

00:19:11.080 Why would they not want to decentralize power to the committee?

00:19:14.600 Why wouldn't they want to decentralize power to the individual representative?

00:19:20.580 Why wouldn't they want hearings and amendments and a return to the traditional process in the House of the people?

00:19:29.780 Well, there actually are some who may.

00:19:32.100 And we'll see if we can get consensus on the issues we can get consensus on, not that give the Democrats, you know, any additional advantage,

00:19:40.900 but that simply give Americans the advantage of seeing what bills are being introduced.

00:19:45.760 I mean, I have been actively talking with Democrats about about rules that were not waivable, that that required legislation to be available for review with time to read it and cross reference it and talk to our constituents about its impact on their lives.

00:20:02.940 Because so much of the law of this place is the surprise element that the leadership really visits on the rest of us.

00:20:10.480 And so, yes, is the answer to your question.

00:20:13.000 We should be reaching out to anyone who would try to unlock the mystery of this place because it's the smoke and mirrors.

00:20:22.200 It's all of the gamesmanship that ultimately works against average folks who just want strong borders, safe streets, a government that does not restrict their freedom or limit the choices they have in their lives.

00:20:34.880 And, you know, a U.S. economy that actually gets people optimistic again.

00:20:39.420 I mean, Lou, how many conversations have you and I had about economic issues where we're talking about, you know, new areas of productivity under the Trump administration, new companies choosing to reshore capital, you know, additional investment going into the jobs of tomorrow.

00:20:54.540 And now we seem to be a country in decline with a president in decline, and we don't have to live that way.

00:21:02.040 President Trump showed us that we can will our way and we can use smart policy to execute on great prosperity.

00:21:09.100 But I don't think that's going to happen with Joe Biden as president.

00:21:11.980 I think we're going to have to showcase to the American people how corrupt these folks are, how weaponized this government is against them.

00:21:18.620 And we're going to have to wake up a lot of Americans to the realities and the challenges that we face in this day and in this era.

00:21:26.420 And it's not going to be the politics of the past that get us to electoral success again, but certainly the America First vision is the way to create that coalition of winning.

00:21:38.760 And I love the fact that people like Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, think for some reason that they are major factors in national American politics because they had the good fortune to have a president by the name of Donald J.

00:21:57.220 Donald J. Trump, who disrupted the system and gave the party both direction and light and a philosophy that that people rallied to and still do.

00:22:10.140 It's it's remarkable.

00:22:11.600 And at the same time, we look at the Freedom Caucus.

00:22:16.000 There's a possibility here that some of the most conservative members of the House truly are the ones who have the ability to shape a reformed House

00:22:24.480 and move together in a bipartisan fashion with the Democrats rather than the RINOs who would want to trade off every every element of MAGA and America First,

00:22:41.260 bury it and do it the Democrat way that is the Marxist dem way.

00:22:45.840 So as we are wrapping up here, let me ask you this with with all of this in prospect, what do you think will be the outcome,

00:22:59.160 the most likely outcome here over the next couple of weeks?

00:23:03.480 Is there immense pressure within the conference to come to some sort of resolution?

00:23:09.020 Just closure is are those forces at work and how strong are they?

00:23:14.400 Well, I think Kevin has a sufficient number of people who, despite our critical mass of objectors,

00:23:21.620 that they are willing to go to the floor and cast their vote for Kevin McCarthy.

00:23:26.520 The question is whether or not they're they're willing to delay their prize committee posts and their chairmanships and the ability to convene meetings under the House rules

00:23:37.700 because we're unable to elect a speaker.

00:23:40.140 And so we may end up in an extended standoff.

00:23:43.600 And I guess the news I'm sharing with you is that I'm ready for that.

00:23:47.940 If it means that we have to take weeks or months to organize, I would rather get it right than just continue to follow the same script that has been written over managed American decline for decades in Washington, D.C.

00:24:03.180 And I just won't be a part of it anymore.

00:24:05.740 And that's why I think that, you know, the likely outcome is a floor fight over the speakership, a potential delay in the selection of the speaker,

00:24:16.220 and then hopefully ultimately the embrace of a paradigm that has us draw to the conservative center of our conference that wants to expose the truth about the Biden administration

00:24:27.500 and that understands that we have to use every point of leverage in this majority to stop the country from being lost.

00:24:34.740 Well, I want to I want to tell you, I salute you, Congressman Biggs, Congressman Good, Ralph Norman, Congressman Rosendale, all of you.

00:24:47.160 Your your fortitude in this is important to the country.

00:24:51.880 And I think the American people are now awakening because of your actions and what you are bringing to the forefront of the public consciousness.

00:25:00.340 I think they're aware of the service that you're providing to the nation because we cannot continue to have the this is, after all, a government that requires the consent of the governed.

00:25:13.480 And if the House of Representatives can't represent, it's not much of a house, is it?

00:25:19.060 Well, we are the people's house, and I think it would be best if we did our work in great service to them.

00:25:27.400 And we can do that, and we should.

00:25:29.740 Well, it's great of you to be here.

00:25:31.340 Thanks again for all you're doing.

00:25:34.140 Congressman Matt Gaetz, one of the best in Congress, if I may say, a great American.

00:25:38.900 Among our guests coming up, more great Americans, including the Attorney General of the great state of Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton.

00:25:46.500 Joining us also, the co-chair of the Freedom Caucus, doing great work for the country, Congressman Scott Perry.

00:25:54.540 And Senator Tommy Tuberville, member of the Armed Services Committee, as I said, a great American.

00:26:01.480 And thanks again to Congressman Matt Gaetz today.

00:26:04.760 Please join us here tomorrow.

00:26:06.240 And until then, God bless you.

00:26:08.760 And may God bless America.

00:26:10.860 Thank you.

00:26:11.460 We'll see you tomorrow.

00:26:12.200 Bye.

00:26:12.480 Bye.

00:26:12.880 Bye.

00:26:13.580 Bye.

00:26:13.720 Bye.

00:26:13.960 Bye.

00:26:14.980 Bye.

00:26:15.520 Bye.

00:26:15.880 Bye.

00:26:16.900 Bye.

00:26:18.000 Bye.

00:26:19.180 Bye.

00:26:19.880 Bye.

00:26:20.720 Bye.

00:26:23.420 Bye.

00:26:26.540 Bye.

The Great America Show - December 08, 2022

REP MATT GAETZ SAYS WE’RE A COUNTRY IN DECLINE WITH A PRESIDENT IN DECLINE. WE HAVE TO WAKE UP A LOT OF AMERICANS TO FACE OUR THREATS

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