The Michael Knowles Show - Rep. Jim Jordan ｜ Republicans Who Do What They Say They Will Do

00:00:00.000 I'm very pleased to be joined now by the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee.

00:00:11.980 Now, very shortly, I'm expecting him to be the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

00:00:17.440 The Republicans are looking pretty good for 2022, but there's a long way to go.

00:00:20.720 I am joined by none other than Congressman Jim Jordan, author of the new book,

00:00:25.860 Do What You Said You Would Do.

00:00:28.200 One of the things that Jim Jordan said he would do is come here to Nashville to be on the show.

00:00:32.080 Congressman, thank you for being here.

00:00:33.360 Thank you for having me, Michael, and thank you for all you do for the cause of freedom.

00:00:37.820 We appreciate it.

00:00:39.060 Well, that's very kind.

00:00:40.420 I'm so glad that you could be here because freedom is under threat.

00:00:45.320 I'm not just talking about pie-in-the-sky freedom.

00:00:48.240 I'm not even talking about economic freedom.

00:00:50.300 We hear a lot about that.

00:00:51.160 I'm talking about the freedom to raise your own kids.

00:00:54.860 And you have been calling out the attorney general, Merrick Garland, on this.

00:00:59.840 Merrick Garland said, I have not labeled parents, white supremacists, domestic terrorists,

00:01:07.440 for wanting to stop crazy gender and race theories in their schools.

00:01:11.060 But a whistleblower seems to have thrown that story upside down.

00:01:16.100 Did the attorney general lie?

00:01:17.360 Yeah, he said that on October 21st and just so happened when he said that the day before,

00:01:22.300 the head of the counterterrorism division at the FBI, so not just anybody at the FBI,

00:01:27.320 the head of the counterterrorism division had sent out an email to FBI agents around the country

00:01:31.680 saying do what Merrick Garland said that he wasn't doing just 24 hours later

00:01:35.520 to actually put a threat tag on parents, on people, moms and dads showing up at school board meetings. 0.89

00:01:42.040 I mean, they were showing up to protest this crazy, racist, hate America curriculum.

00:01:48.300 So, yeah, I think he misled the committee. 0.89

00:01:50.200 We've asked for him to come back.

00:01:52.240 And he should because he's got to answer some, I think, pretty important.

00:01:55.220 Here's one question I think.

00:01:56.360 The first question you ask him is, how many?

00:01:58.980 What's the number?

00:02:00.440 How many parents have the tag or the label?

00:02:03.180 When I first saw our staff at the district committee showed me the correspondence from the whistleblower

00:02:09.620 and the email that went out, when I first saw it, I thought the first thing that came to mind is

00:02:14.500 this is what the IRS did 10 years ago, 10, 12 years ago, when they had the BOLO list,

00:02:19.440 be on the lookout for these people, these types of groups saying, using terms like freedom and patriot.

00:02:25.180 Imagine that.

00:02:25.820 All those terrible, terrible terms.

00:02:27.360 So this is just another example of weaponizing the government to go after people

00:02:32.380 with a different political belief than what the left has in the government.

00:02:37.740 The creepiest part of this to me, well, there are many creepy parts.

00:02:40.700 I don't want to make that claim.

00:02:41.840 But one of the creepiest parts is that these parents who show up and say,

00:02:45.560 we don't want critical race theory in schools.

00:02:47.380 We don't want radical gender theory in schools. 1.00

00:02:49.140 They are labeled by the federal government, domestic terrorists or whatever.

00:02:54.180 It's not as though they're being charged with a crime.

00:02:56.440 It's not as though they're going to get to have their day in court.

00:02:59.820 They're just having that label put on them.

00:03:03.060 And in many cases, they won't even know it.

00:03:04.880 Yeah, no, that's your, and it's the federal government.

00:03:08.480 I mean, it shouldn't be anybody in government doing it, but the idea that the big federal

00:03:12.020 government's coming in, and if there is some kind of violence or something happening at

00:03:15.380 school, well, then the local government, local sheriffs, local police, they can, they

00:03:18.540 should handle it.

00:03:19.100 That's how it's supposed to work in our, in our federal constitutional system.

00:03:22.280 But when you have the FBI doing this, here's the other thing I think, as I look at the

00:03:25.660 timeline on this, remember the letter comes from the School Board Association on September

00:03:28.940 29th.

00:03:29.840 Four days later, the letter asks for, it talks about parents, talks about the Patriot Act.

00:03:33.720 And asks the Biden administration to go after these moms and dads. 0.98

00:03:38.140 Five days later, Merrick Garland, the Attorney General of the United States, issues a memorandum,

00:03:42.380 which does just that.

00:03:43.340 Puts in place task force in all 94 U.S. judicial districts, the U.S. attorney districts around

00:03:47.940 the country.

00:03:48.860 And then we go through this, and Merrick Garland comes testify.

00:03:51.640 But we now have learned that through, it's been reported, that the White House was working

00:03:56.580 with the School Board Association before the letter was ever sent.

00:04:00.040 So I don't think this was actually the School Board Association initiating this.

00:04:06.040 I think it came from the government.

00:04:07.980 And I think they just used the letter as the pretext to do this, to go after.

00:04:12.760 They didn't like the parents were showing up protesting.

00:04:14.740 They said, we're going to stop it.

00:04:15.960 And we're going to stop it by this chilling impact of the Attorney General of the United

00:04:20.180 States, issuing a memo that says, we're going to treat parents as a, give them this label

00:04:25.980 of a terrorist tag, a threat tag.

00:04:28.520 The one thing they didn't bargain for, though, moms and dads said, like, heck you are.

00:04:32.940 These are my kids.

00:04:34.100 I mean, I always say, no lobbyist, no bureaucrat, no government official will ever beat a mom

00:04:40.580 on a mission.

00:04:41.340 And these moms said, we're not going to tolerate this. 1.00

00:04:43.740 And moms and dads stood up.

00:04:44.620 And that's what they didn't expect.

00:04:46.520 And it was so much so that the day, less than 24 hours after Merrick Garland testifies,

00:04:52.300 the agency, this left-wing political group, they issue an apology for the initial letter.

00:04:56.960 I've never, you follow politics.

00:04:58.740 I've been in politics a long time.

00:05:00.100 I have never seen that happen.

00:05:01.620 24 hours later.

00:05:03.120 Oh, and here's the language.

00:05:04.460 We regret and apologize for the letter.

00:05:07.940 Wow.

00:05:08.420 So they didn't bargain for that.

00:05:10.500 And the Biden administration, I think, though, so it didn't go from the school board association

00:05:14.120 to the government.

00:05:14.880 I think that went the other way.

00:05:16.360 That's the scary part.

00:05:17.460 Now, do you think that this movement has legs?

00:05:20.700 Because I think you're totally right.

00:05:22.240 I think that the government and the Democrats and the liberal establishment broadly saw this

00:05:27.420 education issue as a big threat.

00:05:29.540 It just cost them a governorship in Virginia.

00:05:32.000 They saw parents of all stripes, of all shapes, of all colors showing up and saying, we're going

00:05:36.640 to protect our kids.

00:05:37.560 We have the right to raise our kids.

00:05:38.740 Not you, Terry McAuliffe.

00:05:40.160 Not you, Joe Biden.

00:05:41.940 It seems to me this is the first issue-driven grassroots movement on the right since the

00:05:47.540 Tea Party.

00:05:48.080 You had the Tea Party.

00:05:48.880 Now you have the CR Tea Party, if you'll pardon the lame pun.

00:05:52.720 Do you think that this just wins us, Virginia?

00:05:55.960 Maybe it helps a little in Jersey and it fizzles.

00:05:57.780 Or does this movement about education from the right have legs?

00:06:02.040 No, it has legs. 0.95

00:06:03.160 And you asked the question because you know it has legs.

00:06:05.220 Or you believe the same thing I do.

00:06:07.380 It's funny you say that because the October 21st, a few weeks ago, when Merrick Garland

00:06:13.060 testified, I gave my opening statement.

00:06:14.640 You know how these committee things work.

00:06:16.060 Jerry Nadler, the chairman, gives the opening statement.

00:06:17.800 Then the top Republican gives the opening statement.

00:06:19.580 And at the end of my opening statement, I said, Mr. Attorney General, I think this memo,

00:06:24.180 I think this was the last straw.

00:06:25.620 I think this is a catalyst for a great reawakening, kind of revival-type mindset in this country

00:06:31.980 for freedom, for Judeo-Christian principles and values.

00:06:36.000 And I think that's catching on.

00:06:37.980 I really do.

00:06:38.920 And then, of course, it was a few weeks later, as you point out, where the voters in Virginia

00:06:44.000 said, time out.

00:06:45.560 We're going to make Glenn Youngkin the next governor of our state because we don't like

00:06:49.620 where this is going.

00:06:50.660 And it happened on top of what we've been through over the last year, where, frankly,

00:06:55.240 every single right we enjoy as Americans under the First Amendment has been assaulted by

00:06:59.500 the left.

00:07:00.540 And so in that framework, they now find out, and now they're going to label us terrorists

00:07:06.600 and they're coming after, they think they're smarter than we are as moms and dads about

00:07:10.600 our kids.

00:07:12.440 Time out to that.

00:07:13.300 So I think it is going to grow.

00:07:14.420 I think it really is.

00:07:15.660 Even this word education, we think of it as just reading, writing, and arithmetic.

00:07:19.400 Education means raising a kid.

00:07:22.420 I mean, that's the root of the word.

00:07:24.400 And so it's about a lot more than that.

00:07:26.220 And, you know, to your observation here that a lot of this is about losing Christianity,

00:07:31.800 our Christian morality, losing the regular old patriotism that we used to have.

00:07:36.160 Now we're being taught all the opposite of that in schools.

00:07:38.780 But there's obviously a moral component.

00:07:41.520 There's obviously a religious component.

00:07:42.820 If you teach a kid, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal

00:07:46.260 and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.

00:07:49.060 That's a religious statement.

00:07:51.060 And it's something that we are teaching.

00:07:52.660 For a long time, Republicans said, we don't want to touch it.

00:07:56.360 We don't want to touch the culture issues.

00:07:58.480 We don't want to touch anything about religion or morality.

00:08:00.700 We're going to cut taxes, and that's that.

00:08:04.480 Obviously, it hasn't served us very well.

00:08:07.000 Do you see the Republican Party getting behind this kind of thing?

00:08:11.220 I do.

00:08:11.780 I do.

00:08:12.420 I really do because, I mean, think about this.

00:08:15.440 You go to any major urban public school district in the country, and the graduation rate is

00:08:20.760 some ridiculously low percentage.

00:08:22.700 Kids reading at grade level.

00:08:23.860 Third graders in Detroit reading at grade level is 30.

00:08:27.180 I'm just making up a number.

00:08:28.080 But we know it's bad.

00:08:29.140 30%, 40%.

00:08:30.420 And so this is happening in all kinds of urban public schools and now some other schools

00:08:35.160 around the country.

00:08:36.820 And what do Democrats say?

00:08:38.300 Here's our answer.

00:08:39.160 We're going to make your kid wear a mask all day at school.

00:08:41.940 We're going to teach them critical race theory. 0.98

00:08:43.540 We're going to tell them that their country stinks.

00:08:45.740 And meanwhile, parents are saying, well, I don't like all that.

00:08:48.640 And I'd also like you to teach them to read and write and learn the basics.

00:08:52.180 So I think what we should be saying is, voters out there, do not vote for anyone who's not

00:08:59.780 for school choice.

00:09:00.620 Don't vote for anyone who doesn't say, moms and dads should determine what's best for

00:09:04.600 their kids' education.

00:09:05.420 And if you've got a candidate running for office and they're not for that, don't help

00:09:08.880 them.

00:09:09.660 And work against them or find a candidate to run against them.

00:09:13.020 That's how we have to do it.

00:09:14.400 And I think that will catch on.

00:09:15.940 We've got much more with Congressman Jordan coming up.

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00:10:28.200 You know, I saw the day after Yunkin's victory in Virginia.

00:10:32.320 I saw some, I won't name names, but some members of Republican leadership.

00:10:36.340 They said, this was a victory against socialism.

00:10:38.780 That was the message.

00:10:39.680 And I thought, look, I hate socialism. 0.54

00:10:41.300 Socialism's evil.

00:10:42.260 Yeah.

00:10:43.000 This had nothing to do with socialism. 0.85

00:10:45.600 Terry McAuliffe is a regular crooked corporate Democrat.

00:10:48.940 He's not Che Guevara.

00:10:50.820 You know, this is a Clinton Democrat.

00:10:52.260 He's a Clinton Democrat.

00:10:53.460 And I just think if we just run against socialism, we're going to have the same old coalition we always have.

00:11:00.180 Yeah.

00:11:00.540 But if we can somehow convince whole swaths of people that the Democrats are indoctrinating your kids with a bunch of nonsense that's going to screw them up for life.

00:11:09.480 Yeah.

00:11:09.720 Which has obviously happened.

00:11:10.800 We got the receipts for that.

00:11:11.920 Yeah.

00:11:12.080 Maybe we have a chance into 2020.

00:11:14.740 Right.

00:11:14.960 Maybe 2024.

00:11:15.980 Yeah.

00:11:16.380 The American people are smart people.

00:11:18.080 The American people have common sense.

00:11:19.880 And I think they have now seen the big picture.

00:11:21.780 Remember, the guy who's in the White House, he campaigned on, I'm not Bernie Sanders.

00:11:25.660 Right.

00:11:25.880 He campaigned on, I'm Scranton Joe.

00:11:27.720 I'm moderate Joe.

00:11:28.760 I'm middle class Joe.

00:11:29.980 And, you know, it wasn't true.

00:11:31.440 But that's what he sold to the American people.

00:11:34.780 And he got in office and what did he do the very first day?

00:11:37.260 Signed all those executive orders.

00:11:38.520 One of those was getting rid of the 1776 commission.

00:11:41.500 That's right.

00:11:41.820 This commission that says, let's focus on American history and what a great country we have.

00:11:46.740 Not perfect, but the greatest nation ever built on a principle, as you said, in the Declaration of Independence, endowed by our creator with these inalienable rights.

00:11:54.520 So he changed that on day one and has been Bernie Sanders plus since day one.

00:12:00.880 And that's not how he marketed himself to the country.

00:12:05.560 And in that context, and then we see what every policy area they've touched has been a disaster.

00:12:10.460 The border, inflation, tax policy, you name it.

00:12:14.420 It's energy policy.

00:12:16.420 And now, oh, and now you're going to come after moms and dads?

00:12:21.240 In that context, the voters are saying, no way are we going to tolerate that.

00:12:25.520 So I do think it's growing.

00:12:27.300 And this education issue is kind of the issue that I think kind of brought it all together in that larger framework.

00:12:33.360 So polls are looking good.

00:12:35.420 Right now, Joe Biden is, what, 37%, 38%.

00:12:38.320 Kamala Harris is 28%.

00:12:40.560 Dick Cheney, after the Iraq war and after shooting a guy in the face, was 30.

00:12:45.060 He was doing better than Kamala Harris is today.

00:12:47.360 Shot Harry.

00:12:47.740 Remember when you said that? 0.92

00:12:48.400 I've shot Harry.

00:12:49.160 Yeah.

00:12:49.760 And he was, right, exactly.

00:12:50.900 Yeah.

00:12:51.140 And he was still polling higher.

00:12:52.440 So they're really not looking good.

00:12:54.780 Let's say the Republicans take back the majority in the House in 2022.

00:12:59.200 What's the first thing you do?

00:13:00.780 The first thing we do is, now, we won't be able to make law because Joe Biden is still going to be able to veto everything.

00:13:05.380 First thing we do in the Judiciary Committee, which, Lord willing, I'll have the chance to chair, is we pass this Section 230.

00:13:12.440 We get rid of the Liability Protection for Big Tech, who is censoring folks like you and I.

00:13:17.640 So that's the first piece of legislation.

00:13:19.900 It won't become law, but it's important to let the country know we're doing everything we can in that area.

00:13:25.920 This is what AOC did with the Green New Deal.

00:13:27.860 They put it out there, and everyone laughed about it, and she was persistent, persistent, persistent.

00:13:31.800 Now it's a mainstream idea.

00:13:33.000 It might become law.

00:13:33.680 Right.

00:13:33.920 I mean, that's how politics works in America.

00:13:35.660 You frame it up, and then you have a big presidential election.

00:13:38.540 And if one party gets control of government, they get to push the stuff that they campaign on.

00:13:43.140 They get to do what they said they were going to do.

00:13:44.540 Right.

00:13:44.660 And I do think it's going to happen, by the way.

00:13:47.080 I do think you hate to – you don't want to be overconfident.

00:13:50.840 We've got to work hard.

00:13:52.020 But I do think Republicans are going to take it back.

00:13:53.900 I mean, the polling two weeks ago showed they asked the right track, wrong track question.

00:13:58.520 71% of our fellow citizens think the country's on the wrong track.

00:14:02.900 I mean, when I first heard that, I actually said, I want to meet the 29%. 0.99

00:14:06.300 I want to meet the 29% who think we're on the right track.

00:14:08.540 There hasn't been anything go well in the last 10 months.

00:14:10.600 So I do think it's shaping up as a win for us.

00:14:15.080 If we win, what we have to do is undo as much as we can of the Biden administration.

00:14:20.100 It'll be tough because he's still going to be in the White House, but we have to frame it up.

00:14:24.680 And yesterday I had a debate on the House floor with Jim McGovern, Democrat chair of the Rules Committee.

00:14:29.000 And he says, Republicans blame Joe Biden for everything.

00:14:32.340 Never tell us what they're for.

00:14:34.000 And it made me mad.

00:14:34.800 So I spoke once.

00:14:35.960 I got back up and spoke again.

00:14:37.120 And I said, I'll tell you what we're for.

00:14:38.560 We're actually for a secure border, which we had under President Trump.

00:14:42.760 I'll tell you what we're for.

00:14:44.120 We're actually for stable prices, which we had under President Trump.

00:14:47.320 I'll tell you what.

00:14:48.140 We're for wages going up, real wages going up, like we had just 10 months ago.

00:14:52.080 I'm for energy independence, like we had 10 months ago.

00:14:54.680 I'm for a DOJ that doesn't go after its citizens, doesn't use the awesome power of the FBI to go after its citizens.

00:15:03.340 I'm for a DOJ that doesn't pay illegal immigrants $450,000 for breaking the law and coming into our country.

00:15:09.640 So that's what we have to demonstrate to the American people if we're given the chance to lead the Congress.

00:15:18.020 You know, I'm glad you brought up all of those specific policies because we think, oh, nothing really changes.

00:15:24.600 It's not a big deal.

00:15:25.420 Both sides always get hyperbolic about how the other side is the cause of all evil.

00:15:30.600 Under Trump, real wages increased for the first time in a very long time.

00:15:34.160 Under Trump, at least the first part of his presidency, the problems at the border really did diminish.

00:15:38.980 Sure did.

00:15:39.560 Considerably.

00:15:39.980 Sure did.

00:15:40.920 Under Trump, you actually did have manufacturing confidence at record highs.

00:15:45.320 Under Trump, you know, you had unemployment at all-time lows or very nearly all-time lows.

00:15:49.740 And then it all changed.

00:15:50.940 And things can change very quickly.

00:15:52.080 And people are seeing that at the gas pump.

00:15:53.400 And they're seeing that to go out Thanksgiving shopping.

00:15:55.940 So one of the zanier ideas that has been floated is that if the Republicans retake the House,

00:16:03.920 the Speaker of the House does not need to be a member of Congress.

00:16:07.580 The Speaker could be, for instance, a brash billionaire from New York who now resides in Florida.

00:16:13.300 What do you think the likelihood of that has?

00:16:15.480 I think he's going to run for president.

00:16:16.940 I want him to.

00:16:17.780 I've said it.

00:16:18.500 I'm for him.

00:16:19.160 I'm for him 110%.

00:16:20.820 No president in my lifetime has done more of what he said he would do than President Trump.

00:16:26.880 And he did it with everyone against him.

00:16:29.360 That whole town.

00:16:30.460 Every single Democrat.

00:16:31.420 But, I mean, adamantly crazy against him, as we all know.

00:16:35.840 Everyone in the mainstream press was against him.

00:16:37.800 Everyone in the bureaucracy, which is the real problem, was against him.

00:16:42.520 And a bunch of Republicans.

00:16:44.200 And yet, in spite of that, he said he would cut taxes.

00:16:46.160 He did.

00:16:46.480 He said he would reduce regulations.

00:16:47.640 He did.

00:16:47.960 He said he would have the best economy.

00:16:49.340 We did.

00:16:49.760 He said he'd stand up to China. 0.95

00:16:50.860 He did.

00:16:51.140 He said he'd build the wall.

00:16:51.960 He said he'd build the wall.

00:16:54.020 He did.

00:16:54.260 He said he would get out of that crazy Iran deal.

00:16:56.220 He did.

00:16:56.560 He said he'd put the embassy in Jerusalem.

00:16:57.960 He did.

00:16:58.360 And a bunch of other things.

00:16:59.780 And I'm like, I'll take a guy like that.

00:17:02.220 Who actually kept, when he first got to the White House, I was in the West Wing with Mark Meadows and I.

00:17:06.680 We were there several times.

00:17:07.460 But early on, they had a big whiteboard.

00:17:09.920 And they had written out every campaign promise.

00:17:11.660 Every single one.

00:17:13.220 And they were literally checking it off.

00:17:15.580 That's leadership.

00:17:17.180 That's what you want in our country.

00:17:18.820 And frankly, I think there's a yearning for it now.

00:17:20.720 I had a lady in a, she was an older lady. 1.00

00:17:23.880 It was kind of like a quasi-town hall in a little town in the 4th District of Ohio.

00:17:28.380 And she's probably mid-70s. 0.80

00:17:30.780 And she started talking about what you're just saying, how crazy it's gotten in 10 months.

00:17:36.560 Yeah.

00:17:37.000 And her eyes started, I mean, they started to glass up as she was thinking, because she loves the country, like we all do, like President Trump does.

00:17:45.220 And she sees what's happening.

00:17:46.700 And so that's what's so encouraging about what we're seeing, what we saw happen in Virginia.

00:17:51.620 Courage is contagious.

00:17:53.420 It's a mom at a school board meeting.

00:17:55.360 And then the next meeting, it's five moms and a few dads.

00:17:57.880 And then pretty soon, it's pretty soon people are, it's the Chicago Police Union saying, you know what?

00:18:02.560 The vaccine should be a choice.

00:18:03.800 This virus is serious.

00:18:05.020 You want to get a vaccine?

00:18:05.720 Great.

00:18:05.960 But it's freedom.

00:18:07.000 I mean, it's contagious.

00:18:08.380 And you're going to see that spread, I think.

00:18:10.980 And it's going to mean, I think, potentially a wave election in 22.

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00:19:30.360 I feel uncomfortable by how optimistic you are right now.

00:19:34.060 As a conservative, I feel odd when people are optimistic.

00:19:38.620 But it does seem like there are signs of hope.

00:19:41.700 However, just a few months ago, now I guess more like a year ago, a lot of Americans didn't

00:19:49.100 have faith in the presidential election.

00:19:51.440 Four years before that, a lot of other Americans didn't have faith in the presidential election.

00:19:55.320 But at least 16 years before that, a lot of Americans didn't have faith in the presidential

00:19:59.680 election.

00:20:00.520 Terry McAuliffe actually still doesn't accept the results of the 2000 presidential election

00:20:04.220 or the Georgia gubernatorial election.

00:20:06.440 So there was the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict that just came out.

00:20:09.860 A lot of Americans don't have faith in the justice system.

00:20:11.920 I think that gives us a little glimmer of hope for the justice system.

00:20:14.820 But people's faith in these institutions and in the rule of law has really broken down recently.

00:20:20.700 And so do you think that there is a glimmer of hope to restore, not just to win an election,

00:20:27.380 but to restore confidence in the institutions?

00:20:29.460 Or are things always darkest before they go pitch?

00:20:32.520 No.

00:20:33.020 Well, I mean, a lot of times it looks pretty bad until it gets better.

00:20:37.660 I would say a couple of things.

00:20:40.140 One, Americans are optimistic by nature.

00:20:42.040 We're Americans.

00:20:42.740 I think it's in our DNA.

00:20:44.540 It's like some people even kind of push that whole idea that maybe there's some truth

00:20:49.960 to it because you think about the folks who came here.

00:20:51.840 They told them in Europe, you've got to practice your faith a certain way.

00:20:53.960 And they said, no, we don't.

00:20:56.000 And we're willing to get on a ship, risk it all, and come to this place called America

00:20:58.780 where we can do it the way we think the good Lord wants us to.

00:21:00.960 And that's been the American, Americans hate being told what to do.

00:21:04.440 That's just who we are.

00:21:05.840 So I do feel like there's a, I do feel optimistic because it's, first of all, America.

00:21:11.180 Someone once said that in this country, every third generation's had to do something big.

00:21:17.520 Today, the founders did something amazing when they started this experiment in freedom we

00:21:22.680 call America.

00:21:23.700 Three generations later, Lincoln and held the country together, got rid of the evil of slavery.

00:21:28.400 Three generations later, the greatest generation defeated the evil of Nazi Germany and Imperial 0.99

00:21:33.640 Japan.

00:21:34.060 And here we are three generations later.

00:21:35.920 And it's the left.

00:21:37.000 And it's the people who want to destroy the Constitution and are on this accelerated march

00:21:42.080 to communism.

00:21:43.800 So, but we'll, we'll, I feel optimistic.

00:21:46.880 I really do.

00:21:48.340 I think, I think Americans get it.

00:21:52.320 I'm encouraged.

00:21:53.340 I've said it now a couple of times and you referenced it as what happened in Virginia.

00:21:56.720 I think it's going to build.

00:21:58.340 I really do.

00:21:59.460 And the Rittenhouse decision is a, is a, in my mind, just a God bless America kind.

00:22:05.100 I mean, it's a victory for due process for our system of justice for the second amendment.

00:22:10.240 I mean, if that wasn't self-defense, I don't know what was.

00:22:13.720 And the jury, with all the, the intimidation factors that were swirling around that courthouse

00:22:20.700 in Kenosha, made the right decision.

00:22:23.000 That's great.

00:22:24.160 And I think, I think Americans are like inspired by that and proud of how the system worked.

00:22:29.700 Um, how our due process and everything worked for, um, this situation.

00:22:35.300 So yeah, I'm, I'm encouraged what the Mike Pence vice president used to tell us in the

00:22:40.720 house.

00:22:41.020 He said, uh, I'm a conservative and I'm not mad about it.

00:22:44.120 Right.

00:22:44.360 They're like, we might as well, we should be the happy warriors.

00:22:46.860 Cause we, for goodness sake, we live in America.

00:22:48.820 Right.

00:22:49.300 And I'm just going to say my background's wrestling.

00:22:51.380 I've traveled to the Soviet union and wrestling back in the eighties.

00:22:54.260 Yeah.

00:22:54.800 Go to places like that.

00:22:55.740 You think the good Lord, you live here.

00:22:57.220 And, and we're, I think in the long run, we're going to get through this.

00:23:00.480 Forget about Soviet union.

00:23:01.640 I go to Italy for a week and say, get me out of here.

00:23:03.680 These people don't even know how to conduct business here.

00:23:06.400 I think there's, there's a lot to that.

00:23:08.440 And obviously a conservative, almost in his very nature is going to be a little happier

00:23:13.860 with the way things are.

00:23:14.960 You know, we're a little maybe better adjusted to things.

00:23:17.180 We're not out screaming with crazy colored hair and throwing Molotov cocktails.

00:23:21.400 So, so that's all, all great.

00:23:22.900 And it gets to something you mentioned right at the top.

00:23:25.860 And I guess it's really what we're all talking about here.

00:23:28.280 Freedom.

00:23:29.180 You know, from what I'm seeing, and you're seeing it much more closely in Washington,

00:23:34.640 it seems like the right is coming to terms a little bit with freedom in a way that we

00:23:40.240 haven't in recent decades.

00:23:42.300 You know, for the left, freedom is do whatever you want, whenever you want to do it.

00:23:46.500 Right.

00:23:46.700 Just if it feels good, do it.

00:23:47.900 Right.

00:23:48.320 For the right, that was never really what freedom was.

00:23:51.460 It's right, you know, the founding fathers said liberty cannot be abused to licentiousness.

00:23:55.580 John Adams' constitution is built for moral and religious people.

00:23:58.640 And all of a sudden, you're starting to see the right kind of crack out of that libertine

00:24:02.980 language.

00:24:03.480 And they're saying, actually, no.

00:24:04.980 We're going to say no to critical race theory in schools.

00:24:07.640 Yep.

00:24:07.800 It's going to limit your freedom in a certain, some kind of freedom, but not really.

00:24:10.920 It's actually going to expand your freedom.

00:24:12.280 Yep.

00:24:12.420 We're going to say no to this desiccated, degraded culture, and we're going to say yes 1.00

00:24:18.720 to the higher constraints of liberty.

00:24:21.640 I mean, do you see that message resonating, or do people just want to do whatever they

00:24:26.500 want?

00:24:27.200 Well, human nature is such that you want to do whatever you want.

00:24:29.420 But you're right.

00:24:29.900 Real freedom flows from discipline.

00:24:32.640 And we all fall short.

00:24:33.540 This is why we need a savior.

00:24:36.360 So we all fall short, and certainly I do.

00:24:38.880 But true freedom is built on discipline and self-discipline, because if you're disciplined

00:24:43.500 to do things right, it gives you more opportunity, greater ability to chase your goals and dreams.

00:24:47.820 And so that's the understanding that we need to have.

00:24:52.900 So yeah, I do think that's the case.

00:24:54.500 I also think, though, I would add one thing to your description of the left.

00:24:58.080 They're not only for doing anything.

00:24:59.760 They're for doing anything as long as you don't criticize me, too.

00:25:02.200 So it used to be you could have a debate.

00:25:05.020 To me, this is the scariest thing happening, is the attack on the First Amendment.

00:25:10.320 Because it used to be, I talk about this in the book, Dennis Kucinich is a friend of

00:25:14.220 mine.

00:25:14.780 Dennis Kucinich is an old-school liberal.

00:25:16.780 He believes in the First Amendment.

00:25:18.540 And Dennis showed up at our oldest daughter's wedding.

00:25:21.700 I mean, he's a friend.

00:25:23.600 I don't agree with him. 1.00

00:25:24.380 He's a crazy lefty. 0.99

00:25:25.240 He doesn't agree with me. 0.97

00:25:26.340 But he believes in the First Amendment.

00:25:28.900 Have a debate.

00:25:30.020 Make your best argument.

00:25:30.920 Let's see who wins.

00:25:31.540 Then we'll move on to the next issue and have that debate and see how it plays out.

00:25:34.720 Today's left is different.

00:25:35.840 Today's left is, if you don't agree with me, you're not allowed to talk.

00:25:39.160 And if you try, I'm going to call you a racist, and we're going to try to cancel you.

00:25:43.860 And America said, no, you're not.

00:25:45.980 We've had it.

00:25:47.100 We're sick of the terms, call us deplorable, call us racist, call us those hillbillies

00:25:52.940 and flyover country.

00:25:54.420 That doesn't work anymore.

00:25:55.800 Forget it.

00:25:56.280 You can call them.

00:25:56.900 I've been called every name you can imagine.

00:25:58.720 I know you have, too.

00:25:59.540 You go to college campuses, which is really brave.

00:26:01.720 So we're tired of that.

00:26:03.460 We're going to stand up and speak the truth, and we're going to defend the First Amendment

00:26:06.040 because over the last year, every single right we enjoy as Americans under the First Amendment

00:26:10.480 has been assaulted.

00:26:11.680 And I think Americans have had it.

00:26:13.020 You're right to practice your faith.

00:26:16.560 You're right to assemble.

00:26:17.500 You're right to petition your government.

00:26:18.800 Freedom of the press.

00:26:20.000 Freedom of speech.

00:26:20.820 Everyone's been attacked.

00:26:21.780 There are places in America today, a full congregation still can't meet on a Sunday morning.

00:26:25.720 Right.

00:26:26.380 In America?

00:26:27.380 Right.

00:26:28.680 So I think that's one of the unifying themes for conservatives and for making our conservative

00:26:36.720 movement even bigger.

00:26:37.780 But, Congressman, what the left will tell you, and frankly, what I think some of the squishes 0.97

00:26:41.960 even on the right will tell you, is a lot of the incursions into free speech are not

00:26:47.400 being pushed by the government exactly.

00:26:49.880 When Facebook and Twitter and YouTube kick you off, even if they kick off the duly elected

00:26:54.640 sitting president of the United States, well, they're private businesses.

00:26:58.340 Freedom demands that we let Mark Zuckerberg and hipster Rasputin, Jack Dorsey, and all the

00:27:03.540 rest of them control the speech in our republic.

00:27:06.460 Go build your own Google, they say.

00:27:08.800 Right.

00:27:09.280 Well, why doesn't that argument hold up?

00:27:11.160 Yeah, because, I mean, first of all, this is why, the one bill we talked about earlier,

00:27:15.520 this is why you've got to take away their liability protection.

00:27:17.900 Second, one of the pieces of legislation we're looking at putting together, now, again, we'd

00:27:23.140 have to have a Republican majority and a Republican president, but it's an expedited way to get

00:27:27.400 these antitrust issues to the Supreme Court.

00:27:29.960 Justice Thomas, as indicated, seems to me, he's pretty clearly indicated he wants to deal

00:27:34.300 with this issue.

00:27:34.940 So we need to get that to the court in a much quicker fashion than traditionally happens with

00:27:41.940 antitrust issues.

00:27:43.340 So I think those are on the legislative side.

00:27:44.980 But you're right.

00:27:45.500 When you've got someone this big having this much influence, I mean, it was, I think I write

00:27:51.140 about this, too, but it was like three years ago in the summer.

00:27:55.300 I'm literally walking in the Rayburn office building, and I get a call from Matt Gates.

00:27:59.560 And he didn't even say hello.

00:28:01.820 He just, typical Matt, he's always, he's got ADD like you and I got.

00:28:05.880 But he goes, Jim, Twitter is shadow banning us.

00:28:08.820 And, you know, Matt's young like you guys.

00:28:10.840 And I was like, Matt, that sounds terrible, but what's shadow banning?

00:28:13.540 Go on.

00:28:14.580 So he explained it to me, and it turned out they were.

00:28:17.660 And they were, think about it, they were shadow banning four members of Congress.

00:28:21.120 Gates, Meadows, Nunes, Jordan.

00:28:24.320 And I'm like, oh, interesting, four.

00:28:26.820 And, you know, 435 members in the House, 100 senators, 535, only four.

00:28:33.520 And Jack Dorsey said, well, it was just a glitch in their algorithm.

00:28:37.740 And I'm like, yeah, I was being interviewed, and I said, glitch in your algorithm?

00:28:41.280 What did you put in the algorithm?

00:28:42.500 The names Gates, Meadows, Nunes, Jordan.

00:28:44.720 It's like a monkey on a typewriter writing Shakespeare.

00:28:47.560 Yeah, exactly.

00:28:48.160 Yes, it could happen.

00:28:48.920 Maybe.

00:28:49.520 Maybe it was just chance.

00:28:50.600 So, yeah, this is what, and as the example you point out, the Ayatollah can tweet, but

00:28:56.400 President Trump can't?

00:28:57.660 Like, give me a break.

00:28:58.600 So Americans see it, and we're looking at different, you know, alternative platforms.

00:29:04.560 All that's good.

00:29:05.540 But in the end, Congress is going to have to act.

00:29:07.960 And I think those two avenues certainly are where we should start, and it may have to be

00:29:12.360 more.

00:29:13.060 It's in a way ironic, though maybe not, that conservatives used to be on the side of the

00:29:19.440 big tech, before they were really, really big tech, because the new media gave conservatives

00:29:24.260 an opportunity to break through the gatekeepers of the old media.

00:29:27.280 But they didn't like that very much, and especially after 2016, they hated it.

00:29:30.740 So they clamped down on us.

00:29:31.960 And I guess it just seems like a matter of priorities.

00:29:35.460 Of course we want flourishing free enterprise.

00:29:37.960 We want entrepreneurship.

00:29:39.000 We want all these things.

00:29:40.840 Not at the expense of our most basic political rights to speak.

00:29:44.340 If Sundar Pichai at Google is shutting me up, it doesn't make me feel better that he

00:29:49.800 doesn't technically work for the government.

00:29:51.600 I need my right to be able to speak and control my own government.

00:29:55.700 Yeah, because that's the most fundamental liberty we have.

00:29:58.140 I tell people, it's even more important than your right to practice your faith.

00:30:02.340 Because if you can't talk, how can you practice your faith?

00:30:05.540 How can you share your faith?

00:30:06.820 You have to be able to speak.

00:30:08.640 It is fundamental.

00:30:09.440 And again, I go through, because I'm just shocked by this, your right to assemble, this

00:30:16.480 was six, seven months ago.

00:30:17.720 I spoke to the New Mexico Republican Party in Amarillo, Texas, because they had to go

00:30:23.020 to Texas to get freedom to assemble, because their Democrat governor wouldn't let them get

00:30:28.040 together.

00:30:28.560 I mean, in America, this kind of stuff is, until a couple weeks ago, you couldn't even

00:30:32.080 come to your Capitol to petition your member of Congress to redress your grievances, because

00:30:37.660 Nancy Pelosi wouldn't let you in.

00:30:39.600 But all that's terrible.

00:30:41.560 But the biggest one is, when you can't talk, when you can't communicate.

00:30:45.680 And when last election, 2020 presidential election, when big tech and big media colluded

00:30:52.580 to keep the American people, in just the weeks right before the election, to keep the American

00:30:57.120 people from hearing the number one story that they should have had access to at that

00:31:00.120 time, the Hunter Biden story, they said, oh no, it's misinformation.

00:31:03.500 We had an eyewitness.

00:31:04.980 We had documents.

00:31:06.240 We had a laptop.

00:31:07.020 We had photos.

00:31:07.440 Yeah, it's like, but no, no, it was misinformation.

00:31:12.120 That's frightening.

00:31:12.980 And that's why this is so important, and we have to get a remedy.

00:31:15.900 Yes.

00:31:16.440 And so much of what you're saying has this kind of religious aspect to it.

00:31:22.740 I mean, even down to the word revival, or down to our rights, or, you know, the freedom

00:31:28.000 to practice, I mean, literally the freedom to practice our faith when they shut down the

00:31:30.980 churches.

00:31:32.500 Just to sound a little pessimistic again, and I hope you shut down my pessimism, America

00:31:37.840 seems to be getting more secular.

00:31:39.700 America seems to be getting more liberal.

00:31:41.340 That's what the polls say.

00:31:43.880 I agree with you.

00:31:45.100 I feel that there is some deeper pulse in the American people, and maybe it's about to

00:31:49.560 jump out.

00:31:50.580 But looking at those numbers, one, do you think that we can recover the American tradition

00:31:56.040 if we lose our faith, if we become more and more secular?

00:32:00.240 And two, what does the revival look like?

00:32:05.480 Well, no, good questions.

00:32:09.640 I think part of the reason that we sort of summon the blame, if we're not as Christian-focused

00:32:16.840 as we should be, which I think is accurate, some of the blame comes to us.

00:32:21.520 You know, I look at, like, standards that we all have in our personal life where maybe,

00:32:25.080 well, okay, we need to improve and set that better example.

00:32:27.740 So I think part of it is we've got to look at ourselves as well.

00:32:30.600 Main and mirror.

00:32:31.120 Yeah.

00:32:31.640 I mean, exactly.

00:32:33.200 But I don't know.

00:32:34.180 I just...

00:32:35.480 I mean, you live in America, you've got to be optimistic.

00:32:38.540 I think it happens.

00:32:40.020 I think it is electing conservatives who will actually go fight for the things they told

00:32:46.760 you they were going to fight for.

00:32:48.200 I think it's a focus on the Constitution.

00:32:50.660 I think it's a real focus on people in office and the country understanding better the rights

00:32:56.880 that we've enjoyed, that were given to us, passed down to us, that we have under the First

00:33:02.400 Amendment.

00:33:02.780 I always say my favorite scripture verse, I guess one of the reasons I got an optimistic

00:33:09.760 attitude about it, my favorite scripture verse is 2 Timothy 4, 7.

00:33:14.060 And Paul's the old guy giving advice to the young guy, Timothy.

00:33:17.000 And he tells them to fight the good fight, finish the course, keep the faith.

00:33:21.460 And I always say I like that verse because it's not a wimpy verse.

00:33:25.960 It's a verse of action.

00:33:28.000 And Americans aren't wimpy people.

00:33:29.340 We're not timid people.

00:33:30.600 We're Americans.

00:33:31.540 Like, what's the goal?

00:33:32.340 Let's go make it happen.

00:33:33.160 It's fight, finish, keep.

00:33:35.580 So I think that's in us.

00:33:37.860 And I just feel like we'll do it.

00:33:40.700 And it manifests itself in putting people in office who understand that, understand the

00:33:49.180 Constitution.

00:33:50.160 And then probably also just in communities where get involved.

00:33:54.020 I think we're going to see more people get involved.

00:33:55.560 I mean, whoever thought we'd have the number of people showing up at school board meetings?

00:33:58.900 Right.

00:33:59.660 And people actually run in for school board.

00:34:01.320 That's got to be the worst job in history, right?

00:34:03.200 Being on a school board, who would want that job, you know?

00:34:05.160 And who would have thought they'd be talking about critical race theory, this bizarro leftist

00:34:10.660 academic lens from Harvard Law School.

00:34:13.480 But the American people see it.

00:34:15.860 They see the effects of it.

00:34:16.860 They show up for this terrible job.

00:34:18.340 You know who else loved that verse that you quoted?

00:34:21.260 Ronald Reagan.

00:34:22.260 Oh, really?

00:34:22.620 Ronald Reagan would quote it.

00:34:23.300 I didn't even know that.

00:34:24.020 And I love, I mean, this is, I guess, the point of the book.

00:34:28.000 Do What You Said You Would Do, is that we need to do it.

00:34:31.820 It is all too often, I feel, that these young, older conservatives, they just want to dig

00:34:40.160 up the corpse of Ronald Reagan.

00:34:41.400 They want to reanimate him somehow and have him fight all of our battles for us.

00:34:44.940 And just say the same old things that we said in the 80s and try to go back to the glory

00:34:48.360 days.

00:34:49.160 But no, we've got to fight.

00:34:50.500 He fought his battles.

00:34:51.780 We have to fight our battles too.

00:34:53.680 Politicians need to do what they said that they will do and not pass the buck.

00:34:57.560 And I say it truly without any flattery.

00:34:59.480 You are one of the guys doing it.

00:35:00.840 And it's a great inspiration.

00:35:02.440 You're doing the hard work, man.

00:35:03.680 You go to college campuses and God bless you, man.

00:35:08.340 Our security is not as good.

00:35:09.860 That's true.

00:35:10.700 The rotten tomatoes go further.

00:35:12.280 But Congressman, thank you very much for coming on.

00:35:14.900 I hope that everyone goes and buys the book.

00:35:17.920 Do What You Said You Would Do.

00:35:20.240 And then, Congressman, I hope that you are the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

00:35:24.520 And I hope you will do what you said you will do.

00:35:26.580 And I'm certain and confident that you will.

00:35:29.140 Thank you.

00:35:29.580 Thanks for having me on.

00:35:30.280 Well, thanks for coming on.

00:35:30.960 You bet.

00:35:31.220 With 20 years reporting on the markets, I know that some industries are built to last,

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The Michael Knowles Show - November 26, 2021

Rep. Jim Jordan ｜ Republicans Who Do What They Say They Will Do

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