The Michael Knowles Show - EXCLUSIVE： Speaker Johnson on Iran War, Midterms, SAVE AMERICA Act with Michael Knowles

00:00:00.000 When you let aero truffle bubbles melt, everything takes on a creamy, delicious, chocolatey glow.

00:00:06.320 Like that pile of laundry. You didn't forget to fold it.

00:00:09.220 Nah, it's a new trend. Wrinkled chic.

00:00:12.100 Feel the aero bubbles melt. It's mind bubbling. 0.99

00:00:15.220 Mr. Speaker, thank you for taking the time.

00:00:17.280 Thanks for being here. Appreciate it.

00:00:18.540 So there are 237 days till the midterms, but who's counting?

00:00:25.580 Typically, in an off year after a presidential election,

00:00:28.620 especially if you win really big like we did last time, you face daunting odds.

00:00:33.780 The poll numbers seem to be getting worse.

00:00:36.520 There seems to be a chasm between political reality on the economy,

00:00:40.940 on foreign policy, and everything in between, and perception.

00:00:45.260 Major chasm, widening chasm.

00:00:48.060 How do we fix that in 237 days?

00:00:50.620 With a big dose of reality and with a clear message,

00:00:53.260 and we're working on both of those things.

00:00:54.940 The first ingredient is to have great candidates,

00:00:57.020 and we recruited extraordinary people to go flip blue seats to red this cycle.

00:01:01.540 And of course, our incumbents,

00:01:02.680 and all those who've been part of the big successes of the last year and a half,

00:01:06.340 almost, as we go into the election cycle,

00:01:09.600 are going to be out talking about their record of success.

00:01:12.260 It truly is promises made and promises kept.

00:01:14.960 I've made the case that the first year of the Trump administration

00:01:17.340 was arguably the most productive and successful in at least the modern era.

00:01:21.820 I think one of the top five in the history of Congress,

00:01:24.660 and I'm a student of all this,

00:01:25.960 because of all the substance and the big things that we passed and got it signed into law.

00:01:30.460 Now, there is an incredible media bias, as you know.

00:01:33.240 And the mainstream media, the legacy media, every day,

00:01:36.620 literally repeats, almost verbatim, 0.99

00:01:38.720 the talking points of Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, as crazy as they are. 0.92

00:01:41.540 And they try to censor and silence our viewpoint in various ways, as you know.

00:01:46.480 And so we've got to break through that and get the reality to the people.

00:01:49.580 So it will be a lot of direct candidate-to-constituent discussion.

00:01:53.620 They're going to be doing the candidate forums and the town halls and all that

00:01:56.460 to go out and share our message.

00:01:58.420 We gathered here at this work session,

00:02:01.080 this conference over the last couple of days,

00:02:02.840 was to talk about how to do that effectively.

00:02:04.440 So look, I'm very bullish about the midterms.

00:02:07.180 I'm absolutely convinced we are going to win the midterms and grow the majority.

00:02:10.620 It will defy the historic trend.

00:02:12.880 It's only twice in the last 90 years that a sitting president has picked up seats

00:02:16.520 for his party in that first two-year cycle.

00:02:18.800 But I can give you a very boring 90-minute slideshow

00:02:21.520 for all the reasons we're going to win.

00:02:23.700 But it boils down to a record of success, great candidates.

00:02:26.760 We have a fundraising advantage right now because the stakes are so high,

00:02:29.700 Republicans over Democrats, first time in 10 years.

00:02:32.400 Democrats are at historic lows in approval rating.

00:02:34.660 They have no leadership, no message, no vision for where they're going.

00:02:37.760 Their whole platform is they hate Donald Trump.

00:02:41.460 Well, good luck with that.

00:02:42.200 That's not exactly something to sell to constituents.

00:02:44.740 And then we're going into a cycle where the president of the United States,

00:02:47.740 the first midterm in history,

00:02:50.560 where a second-term president who can't be on the ballot again

00:02:53.340 is running like he's on the ballot himself.

00:02:56.020 It's going to make a big difference, big turnout difference for us.

00:02:58.720 I think in the end, as the economy continues to improve,

00:03:02.520 all of our policies go into effect,

00:03:04.040 I think people are going to feel better about that right about the time they go in to vote.

00:03:08.600 Well, the good news I saw on the polls on the economy

00:03:12.140 is that voters don't trust the Democrats on it.

00:03:15.560 Of course.

00:03:15.780 But the bad news I saw is they don't trust the Republicans either.

00:03:18.720 And some of the numbers have moved in a negative direction from January to today.

00:03:23.820 Now, I wonder how much of that has to do with the recent diversion into Iran,

00:03:28.400 oil jumping one hour, it's $115 a barrel.

00:03:32.220 Next hour, it's $85 a barrel.

00:03:34.320 How significant will the Iran war be looking at the midterms?

00:03:38.280 It will be wrapped up soon.

00:03:39.760 And, you know, I talk to the president multiple times a day,

00:03:42.120 and he says the same thing privately that he's staying publicly.

00:03:45.120 This is a very limited scope of mission and objective.

00:03:48.420 We have virtually accomplished the mission entirely, incredibly quickly.

00:03:53.700 That was by design, just as calibrated, as is the improvements in the economy.

00:03:58.680 Scott Besson, Treasury Secretary, said a few weeks ago,

00:04:01.220 he said 2025 was sort of like setting the table,

00:04:03.820 and the feast and the banquet in the economy is going to be in 2026.

00:04:06.680 The big, beautiful bill, the Working Families Tax Cut,

00:04:08.680 of our legislation was done and signed into law by last summer.

00:04:12.340 Remember, triumphantly, we did it on July 4th with B2s flying over the White House. 0.94

00:04:16.340 That was by design because we knew that it had to all be implemented and take effect

00:04:20.400 as we went into the midterm cycle to get relief to the people as soon as possible.

00:04:24.980 That is exactly what's going to happen.

00:04:26.440 Right now, people are getting bigger refunds for their taxes

00:04:28.940 because we changed the tax code and the law in their favor.

00:04:32.140 They're getting bigger paychecks, and that will continue.

00:04:34.700 So the little blip on the screen right now with Iran and oil prices

00:04:38.080 will be very temporary and quick.

00:04:39.880 I mean, this morning, Doug Burgum, Interior Secretary, is out explaining

00:04:43.720 what will happen quickly to oil prices.

00:04:45.880 It's all about supply and demand.

00:04:47.000 And long-term, we're going to be much better off with some stability in Iran 0.87

00:04:51.980 instead of an avowed enemy of the United States and Israel

00:04:54.680 trying to develop nuclear weapons to wipe us off the face of the earth.

00:04:57.980 This is going to be a good thing.

00:04:59.260 So this will be a blip.

00:05:00.440 People will have short memories.

00:05:01.760 And when their cost of living goes down, which is what we're fiercely devoted to,

00:05:05.780 we have done and we'll continue to do that this year,

00:05:08.380 they're going to be feeling much better about this,

00:05:10.340 and it's going to be reflected in the outcome of the election.

00:05:12.140 You don't need to persuade me that the potential upside in Iran is very serious. 0.99

00:05:16.740 I mean, from the perspective of grand strategy, I totally get it,

00:05:21.220 and I don't think any other podcasters are saying that because they're all opposed to it.

00:05:25.820 And this is one of my fears looking ahead to the midterms, is the war is unpopular.

00:05:31.100 It seems to be especially unpopular with the right-wing podcasters, with the influencers,

00:05:35.560 I don't know, with the new media.

00:05:36.440 And yet, one can see all of that potential upside.

00:05:40.960 So then my question is, heading in, what does unity look like?

00:05:46.100 There is complete division among the meta-political influencer new media set.

00:05:51.780 There seems to be substantially more unity among the Republicans who are actually in elected office,

00:05:57.060 with some exceptions, maybe your colleague Mr. Massey and others.

00:06:00.900 How does unity of the party look?

00:06:03.260 We'll have to pull everybody together going into the election.

00:06:05.420 We've done that on Capitol Hill.

00:06:06.640 I mean, we have the smallest margin in the U.S. history.

00:06:08.280 I have a one-vote margin, which means I have to get unanimity

00:06:12.180 because the aforementioned colleague of mine votes no almost every day.

00:06:15.500 So we've worked on that.

00:06:17.640 And, you know, we have a broad spectrum of opinion inside the House Republican Conference.

00:06:21.000 There's seven different major caucuses just along that conservative spectrum in there, 0.87

00:06:25.620 and I've got to get them all together.

00:06:26.840 Well, the thing that binds us together is adherence to our core principles,

00:06:30.600 and that's what we try to keep focus of all the time.

00:06:32.940 I call them the seven core principles of American conservatism.

00:06:35.820 I never ask a colleague to violate core principles.

00:06:39.580 We have to give up on our preferences sometimes because it's a deliberative body with hundreds of members, right?

00:06:45.700 You're never going to get 100% of what you want,

00:06:47.520 but our objective every day is to move the product to the most conservative place that we can

00:06:51.760 to gather the votes to pass it into law and get it to the president's desk.

00:06:55.100 We've been wildly successful with that, over 500 pieces of legislation so far this Congress,

00:06:59.480 100 of its executive orders codified, CRAs, the Congressional Review Acts.

00:07:04.380 We clawed back a record number of crazy regulations from the previous administration under Biden.

00:07:09.560 All that would not have been possible if we had not gotten everyone together around those core principles.

00:07:14.140 Individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength,

00:07:17.440 fiscal responsibility, free markets, human dignity.

00:07:19.640 Every day we're trying to move the ball further towards those objectives,

00:07:23.760 keep the party anchored to those things, and move the country forward.

00:07:27.200 And the results of that is good policy that's good for the people,

00:07:30.320 and I think it gets rewarded at the ballot box, and it will have a way, I think, of bringing everybody together.

00:07:34.880 We are not in the nation-building business.

00:07:37.360 We are not interventionalists.

00:07:38.820 We are not out trying to be the world's policemen.

00:07:41.200 No one in our party believes that.

00:07:43.060 Even the people that they call neocons are coming back to reality because of our financial situation.

00:07:50.040 We don't have the ability to do those things even if someone wanted to.

00:07:53.620 The Iran situation was real. 1.00

00:07:55.440 I'm in the Gang of Eight.

00:07:56.840 I got all the classified briefings from Marco and from John Ratcliffe, CIA director,

00:08:01.980 and from Hegseth and the president himself.

00:08:05.000 The intel said that we were in imminent danger of an attack on our personnel,

00:08:09.960 our service members, our civilians, our installations in that region,

00:08:14.400 that Iran was going to have a barrage of missiles.

00:08:16.740 This is all the unclassified part now.

00:08:18.140 It's all been important.

00:08:18.700 This would be in response to the Israeli attack, which was going to happen whether we wanted it or not. 0.98

00:08:22.680 Which was imminent because it was an existential threat for them,

00:08:25.820 and they saw their avowed enemy who said they wanted to wipe Israel off the map at a moment of vulnerability,

00:08:31.300 and they were producing new ballistic missiles in Iran at a rate of about 700 a month,

00:08:36.140 which is far outpacing what our regional allies there could keep up with,

00:08:39.820 and they were, of course, pursuing their nuclear ambitions again.

00:08:43.140 And so Israel was going to act unilaterally.

00:08:45.680 It's their right as a nation to do it, and there would be an immediate cause and effect,

00:08:49.000 and we had to act first to prevent mass casualties on our side.

00:08:54.200 Commander-in-Chief had a tough decision.

00:08:56.260 It's not a declaration of war.

00:08:58.360 It's a defensive, limited mission.

00:09:01.240 I think that mission is getting accomplished, and the world is going to be better off because of it.

00:09:04.500 You know, some of the arguments that I've heard, including from Capitol Hill,

00:09:08.260 that we need a formal declaration of war, obviously, are nonsense.

00:09:12.060 You can see that in the War Powers Act.

00:09:14.180 Obama took, what, seven months on Libya or something like that?

00:09:16.880 And not a single Democrat said a word about it.

00:09:18.300 Of course.

00:09:18.960 Biden was shooting the Houthis for a year without a declaration of war.

00:09:21.660 So I totally buy that.

00:09:23.040 Now, if President Trump's timeline is legit, as you seem to think it is, five weeks,

00:09:28.960 then I could see that not really mattering into the midterms.

00:09:32.780 Something that I could see mattering, perhaps even more, though, is you could say,

00:09:36.600 look, we've done our part in the House, and we've backed up the President's agenda,

00:09:39.800 promises made, promises kept.

00:09:41.000 But your colleague in the upper chamber seems to be really struggling even to bring a basic piece of legislation,

00:09:49.100 the SAVE Act, for a vote.

00:09:51.540 Voter ID, widely popular, what, 80% popularity.

00:09:55.760 So are you going to be punished for the Senate's inability to pass basic legislation?

00:10:01.640 Well, I hope not.

00:10:02.360 We passed the SAVE Act twice, previous Congress, this Congress.

00:10:05.440 Now we pass the SAVE America Act, because now it's voter ID and proof of citizenship together.

00:10:10.620 And then, as you might have noted, the President, the last few days, has added a few more bills and whistles.

00:10:14.520 He caused it the greatest hits.

00:10:16.620 And we'll do that again.

00:10:18.260 We'll pass it over there.

00:10:20.140 Leader Thune has a, John has a tough decision on his hands.

00:10:24.240 They are concerned that if they open the talking filibuster, as obvious as that seems to you and me in the Senate,

00:10:29.720 they have archaic rules.

00:10:31.180 And they're concerned, their reading of the rules is, Democrats could flood the field with thousands of amendments.

00:10:36.000 There's no germaneness limitation on the amendment.

00:10:37.880 They're going to add any crazy Democrat policy they want. 0.99

00:10:41.120 And if they're able to lure a couple of squishy Republicans over there, then we've got a live grenade.

00:10:46.220 The other problem is, the clerk, under the rules, is made to read every amendment into the record live.

00:10:52.220 Okay, so if they file 1,400-page amendments, they could tie the Senate floor up for months.

00:10:57.860 That's what they're concerned about.

00:10:58.680 Now, desperate times call for desperate measures.

00:11:01.360 You know, I've talked to the president about this and the risks versus the benefits, and he says, let's risk it and go for it.

00:11:06.460 Because you and I know, and we all know, and the reason we pass it so vigorously, the Save America Act is aptly named.

00:11:12.440 It would save election integrity, which preserves our republic.

00:11:16.780 You can't have a constitutional republic if people don't have faith in the election system.

00:11:21.000 So these are basic requirements.

00:11:22.540 There's 70% issues with Democrats.

00:11:24.760 There's no reason that they shouldn't be able to get 60 votes under regular order over there.

00:11:29.200 But the Democrats have dug in.

00:11:30.440 Why?

00:11:30.780 Because, as the president says, the only way and reason you could be against voter ID to vote and citizenship to vote is if you intend to cheat.

00:11:38.480 And, you know, they're showing us by their actions.

00:11:41.020 That's what the Democrats are about.

00:11:42.860 Two final questions, but they're basically the same question.

00:11:45.860 The people from my class, the podcasters, love to tell Congress what to do, sometimes without much knowledge of how Congress actually works.

00:11:53.920 So what would your message be to the conservative podcasters, influencers, pundits, and babbling types, one? 0.87

00:12:01.220 And then two, 237 days left, you've got to herd cats.

00:12:05.400 You have the toughest job in Washington, D.C.

00:12:07.400 I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

00:12:09.380 What do you say to all of your members is the unifying message, the coherent message that breaks through the noise,

00:12:16.680 that brings that chasm between perception and reality back together?

00:12:20.400 Well, you mentioned a widening chasm.

00:12:22.680 There's a widening chasm between the two parties.

00:12:24.480 This is not our grandfather's Democratic Party.

00:12:27.180 They're actual Marxists now.

00:12:28.540 They're insurgent far-leftists, and they will destroy the country in quick order if they get in charge again.

00:12:33.080 So we have to evaluate that, and then we've got to articulate that to the people, to the voters, to our constituents.

00:12:39.340 This election is about a contrast.

00:12:41.520 It's between common sense and crazy.

00:12:43.340 I mean, the president was right in the State of the Union. 0.99

00:12:44.860 They're crazy. 1.00

00:12:45.540 They are crazy. 1.00

00:12:46.320 That's their policies. 1.00

00:12:47.160 What they would do to this country is frightening.

00:12:49.460 So we've got to go out, articulate that clearly, consistently, with conviction and authenticity.

00:12:55.100 And we have the people that can do that, the people that serve in the House, battered as we are by fake news, by the left,

00:13:01.520 and misinformation sometimes on our side, well-intended folks, that there's always more nuance to it.

00:13:07.860 There's always factors behind this.

00:13:09.480 And what I would say to our allies and friends in the conservative movement is, now is the time for us to stick together.

00:13:14.660 And if you have questions or something seems awry or there's a big conspiracy theory brewing, there's usually some more facts behind that.

00:13:23.100 And if you would just take the time, take a pause, contact us, let us know.

00:13:27.040 We'll give you all the information.

00:13:28.140 And if we're off, I'm open to course correction every day.

00:13:30.760 But it's been said and written, and I think it's true.

00:13:33.400 I know it's true.

00:13:34.260 I'm the most conservative person that has ever held a gavel.

00:13:36.400 I'm a movement conservative.

00:13:37.640 Literally came up through the movement.

00:13:38.860 I was the attorney for most of the conservative groups that are, you know, leading in the policy arena and everything else.

00:13:44.380 Religious liberty, sanctity of life, all that.

00:13:46.240 I was that guy.

00:13:47.120 And so that's my worldview.

00:13:49.040 That's what I bring to the table.

00:13:50.340 And my objective every day is to move the ship of state to the furthest point we can on the conservative spectrum and to get public policy right.

00:13:58.680 We have a president who's fiercely devoted to fixing America and making America great again.

00:14:03.280 We have.

00:14:04.100 America's back.

00:14:04.880 But it will only stay on that trajectory if we all stick together.

00:14:09.020 If you're going to fire, don't do it inside our tent.

00:14:11.940 There's plenty of folks on the other side politically who can take that ammo.

00:14:15.400 I agree with that message entirely, Mr. Speaker.

00:14:18.200 I just wish that other members of the party and the movement would see things the same way.

00:14:23.660 In any case, you have meant much more to do, speaking of all that hurting cat.

00:14:28.500 So I appreciate you taking the time.

00:14:29.620 Thanks a lot, brother.

00:14:30.220 Great to see you.

00:14:30.600 Thank you.

The Michael Knowles Show - March 12, 2026

EXCLUSIVE： Speaker Johnson on Iran War, Midterms, SAVE AMERICA Act with Michael Knowles

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