0:00

Combatant Congressman,

0:03

Mac Gates. Mac Gates was one of the very few

0:05

members in the entire Congress who bothered

0:07

to stand up against permanent wash on

0:09

behalf of his constituents. Man Gates

0:11

right now. He's a problem with a different credit card.

0:13

And he can cause a lot of hiccups in

0:15

past the laws. Don't working keep running.

0:18

My story is to get ready. If

0:20

you stand for the plaid and kneel

0:22

and prayer, and you wanna build America

0:24

up and knock my hurt it brown,

0:27

but welcome my fellow patriots.

0:29

You are in the right place. This is

0:31

the movement

0:32

for you.

0:32

You ever watch this guy in television? Like

0:35

machine. Matt Gates. I'm

0:38

a canceled man in some corners

0:40

of the Internet. Many days, I'm the

0:42

marked man in cog us a wanted

0:44

man by the heat state? They aren't

0:46

really coming for me. They're coming

0:48

for you. I'm just in

0:50

the way.

0:54

The media will tell you that

0:56

Biden's closing message on ultramaga

0:59

and threats to democracy worked.

1:02

establishment Republicans will blame Trump

1:04

as they always do. Never mind

1:06

that other presidents from George w Bush

1:08

to Barack Obama failed

1:10

to keep their otherwise winning coalitions

1:13

together during non presidential

1:15

elections. As I wrote in a recent

1:17

column published in the daily caller, quote,

1:19

We had an economic boom under President

1:22

Trump, secured the border and rewrote the

1:24

political map. Why would we stop

1:26

the progress now and go back to Republican's

1:29

ordered by Wall Street. We shouldn't

1:31

bench our star quarterback in half

1:33

time. There are so many more accomplishments

1:35

left for us to achieve with president

1:38

Trump. There's still much swamp to

1:40

be drained in every administrative agency

1:42

of our government. There's still miles of wall

1:44

to be built and a long time

1:47

counterproductive foreign policies to be reversed.

1:50

President Trump was and is targeted

1:52

by the intelligence community because he applies

1:55

intelligence thought to avoid

1:57

wars not start them. The

1:59

saying goes, if you're taking flack, you're

2:01

over the target. president Trump

2:03

has not stopped taking flack

2:06

from the lying media, the nonstop

2:08

investigations, and that's because he's

2:10

the swamps worst nightmare. So

2:13

advocacy organizations will say

2:15

that unmarried women went overwhelmingly against

2:18

Republicans and that the red wave

2:20

hit a wall. Matter of fact, one

2:22

of our Twitch commoners just

2:24

put up that sixty eight percent of unmarried

2:26

women voted Democrat. Now substantial

2:29

data suggests that we've got work to

2:31

do there, and we shouldn't be so arrogant as to

2:33

assume we know how or why

2:35

that dynamic fully played out. So

2:37

we should listen,

2:38

learn,

2:39

and lead. But to

2:42

lead in a slim majority, we

2:44

need leaders. not people

2:46

who have sold shares of themselves for

2:48

such a long period of time. To

2:50

the lobbyists and packs that they

2:53

no longer have agency over their

2:55

own decisions. House minority

2:57

leader Kevin McCarthy wants to be speaker.

3:00

He is not my first choice. or

3:02

frankly, even

3:03

in my top one hundred.

3:06

Before the audio recordings

3:08

were leaked of conversations between McCarthy,

3:11

Liz Cheney, and Housewhip

3:13

Steve Skalise. Because I was

3:15

criticizing Liz Cheney. With

3:17

words, they thought I

3:19

might be putting people in danger Steve

3:22

Skalise, who wants to be majority leader,

3:24

said that my criticism of Liz

3:26

Cheney might have been criminal. Here's

3:28

my discussion with Tucker Carlson on that matter.

3:31

CONOMISAN, THANKS SO

3:33

MUCH FOR COMING ON. SO YOU ARE ACCUSED BY

3:35

Kevin McCarthy, THE GUY WHO IS IN LINE TO

3:37

BE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMITTING AN ACT OF

3:39

VIOLENCE BY GIVING YOUR OPINION, BY

3:41

SAYING HE WAS AGAINST THE FORMER PRESIDENT. LIKE

3:44

IS SPEECH VIOLENCE? WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THIS?

3:46

Well, I was just describing the

3:49

facts. You had a group of people who were

3:51

going to try to join with Democrats to

3:53

impeach president Trump, and that is precisely

3:55

what has played out. You you mentioned he's in line

3:57

to be speaker. I mean, I I don't know that Kevin McCarthy's

3:59

in line to be speaker. I don't know if the guy could get

4:02

an account on truth social at this point based

4:04

on the inconsistency between the

4:06

recordings WHAT HE SAYS TO US AND IT IS

4:08

DEBACING FOR REPUBLICANS TO

4:10

GIVE THIS GUY A STANDING OVATION AFTER

4:12

HE SMEARS TRUMP LIES TO the country

4:15

and then tries to sick big

4:17

tech and the DOJ on

4:19

members of congress whose views he doesn't agree

4:21

with and whose factual representations are

4:23

ultimately born out. And the crazy

4:25

thing about this tucker is that it was

4:27

all done for the sake of protecting

4:30

Liz Cheney. mean, at the time I was

4:32

protecting president Trump from impeachment

4:34

and Kevin McCarthy was protecting

4:36

Liz Cheney from criticism, and

4:38

now she is owning them with

4:40

their own words. And

4:43

maybe, Liz Cheney has done us a favor because

4:45

now finally, you don't have to be a

4:47

lobbyist with a five thousand dollar check

4:49

to know what Kevin McCarthy and Steve scalise

4:51

really think. You know, I was

4:53

upfront about the fact that I was going to

4:55

politically pose Liz Cheney. I

4:57

went to Wyoming. I made my

4:59

case there. This notion that you can have

5:01

these sniveling calls and try to foam

5:04

and action against Republicans

5:07

by Big Tech and the DOJ is

5:09

not fitting of leadership Well, that no. That's

5:11

exactly right. I mean, you can represent Republican

5:13

voters if you're personally annoyed with Trump.

5:15

Okay? But you

5:15

cannot represent Republican leaders if you're

5:18

calling on big tech to sensor

5:20

voices who criticize you and if you're

5:22

accusing people who criticize you of

5:24

committing in a legal act of violence as Steve

5:26

Skley's did. Now you saw Skley's today. Do you apologize

5:28

to you for that?

5:30

He said it was he was sorry if it

5:32

caused many problems, but what I

5:34

said to Steve Skolese is that if you

5:36

accuse someone of potentially

5:38

breaking the law. And by the way, he wasn't reacting

5:40

to something. He raised the prospect

5:43

of the illegality of my statement

5:45

that Liz Cheney was anti Trump. I

5:47

know I really went out on a limb there, Tucker.

5:49

But if you accuse someone of breaking the law,

5:51

you have to say what law you think

5:53

they broke and you have to present what evidence

5:56

you think you have. And if there is

5:58

no evidence, you need to acknowledge that.

6:00

And if not, then you're like maintaining

6:03

this fiction for the sake of your own pride,

6:05

and that's not what leaders do.

6:07

But what you're doing is reading the other side script.

6:09

I mean, listen to these guys talk and they

6:11

sound like MSNBC controversy. I'm so

6:13

triggered. He criticized me. That's

6:15

a crime. We should boot off. We should

6:17

censor him. I mean, they're equating speech

6:20

with violence calling for censorship and describing

6:22

disagreement as a criminal act. How

6:24

is that not? How is people not lip That's

6:26

what Liberals say. Like, what is this?

6:28

Well well, you see, I will be the one

6:30

criticized because people will say this is divisive.

6:32

We should be unified against the democrats.

6:35

The problem is the democrats win

6:37

if Republicans take power

6:39

and then think and talk and

6:41

behave just like the Democrats.

6:43

So I I'm presenting an alternative vision,

6:45

and it would be nice if the leadership wasn't

6:47

the lagging indicator on these things.

6:49

They were the last ones to realize Liz

6:52

Cheney should have been tossed out a leadership. I

6:54

was out there making the case and ultimately

6:56

they caught up, but leaders lead from the

6:58

front. They're not the lagging indicator.

7:03

For

7:03

Speaker of the House, in the

7:05

next Congress, I prefer

7:08

Ohio's Jim Jordan. and it is

7:10

not always easy for a guy from the deep south to

7:12

be for someone from a big ten state,

7:14

but I am certain that Americans didn't

7:17

hand Republicans this majority

7:19

in the House just to watch these

7:21

speakers gavel get handed from

7:23

one member of the California delegation

7:25

to another. Jim

7:27

Jordan is the hardest working, most

7:29

ethical, most talented member

7:31

of the House of Representatives. He is

7:33

the true leader of our caucus no

7:35

matter who has the fancy titles or

7:38

big offices. And so

7:40

with such a slim majority, we

7:42

shouldn't be starting the c team. We

7:44

need to put our star players in a position

7:46

to shine brightest so that we can

7:48

attract more people to our policies and

7:50

ideas. The policies Kevin

7:52

McCarthy has pushed, They are as

7:54

unhelpful as they are unserious.

7:57

His commitment to America is predicated

7:59

on

7:59

the notion of using federal tax

8:02

dollars to go hire two hundred thousand

8:04

more cops. You know what? In my community,

8:06

we hire our own cops and pay

8:08

for them out of our own tax funds.

8:10

And so if in Detroit, wanna go

8:12

defund the police, I don't think that

8:14

Floridians should have to pay for it.

8:16

Apparently,

8:16

Kevin McCarthy does. He also

8:19

thinks we should have the Congress rate

8:21

your local DA. guess what? In

8:23

Florida, we don't need anyone

8:25

in Congress rating our local DAs

8:27

because when we have local DAs who don't

8:29

follow the law, Our governor,

8:31

Rhonda Santos, removes them, as he did

8:33

recently with a central Florida

8:35

DA, who just said

8:36

he wasn't gonna enforce the law out of Wokeism.

8:39

So it

8:39

doesn't matter to McCarthy that

8:41

these ideas offend federalism and

8:44

Beli common sense. They

8:46

did

8:46

well in a poll tested survey, so

8:48

they must now be doctrine our

8:50

commitment. Aren't the

8:51

pollsters wrong in this last election

8:54

anyway? I have spoken with

8:56

many Republicans in Congress and

8:58

many who will join our ranks soon.

9:00

None are

9:01

actually inspired by Kevin

9:03

McCarthy. Though

9:04

many feel financially beholden

9:07

to him because he is the LeBron

9:09

James of special interest

9:11

fundraising. In this

9:12

last cycle, Kevin McCarthy,

9:14

his team, they raised half a billion

9:16

dollars in campaign money.

9:18

That buys a lot of friends. or

9:21

at minimum rents them. Like I

9:23

said, we don't know how many people will be in this

9:25

Republican majority, but I can assure you that

9:27

as of this broadcast, Kevin

9:30

McCarthy does not have the two

9:32

hundred and eighteen votes to become speaker of

9:34

the house and we should not give them

9:36

to him. Leverage is a

9:38

critical feature to understand politics.

9:40

My guest tonight is Russ Vogt. He

9:42

led the office of management and budget under

9:44

President Trump. He

9:47

has not been a bean counter, but

9:49

in fact, a strategist because

9:51

when you lead the office of management and

9:53

budget, you have to constantly be deploying

9:56

strategy in this swamp of

9:58

Washington DC to accomplish

10:00

the agenda, to get your priorities

10:02

funded. Rusted an

10:04

amazing job working for president Trump in

10:06

this role. He understands strategy

10:08

and leverage as well as anyone in

10:11

Washington, DC. Now

10:13

he leads the center for renewing America

10:15

and joins Firebrand exclusively.

10:17

So Russ, thanks for being here. What

10:19

is your argument about how

10:22

House Republicans should approach the

10:24

speaker's race. Thanks for having me. They have

10:26

an incredible opportunity. Right now,

10:28

after this last election, it

10:30

was a failure from the standpoint of where

10:32

the expectations were, and that was

10:34

largely because they never ran

10:36

on anything. And so this election did

10:38

reward people that had fought on

10:40

cultural issues, on America first agenda.

10:42

And so for the

10:44

members that are gonna vote for the speaker,

10:47

because it is such a small majority,

10:49

they now have the

10:52

numbers to be able to deny Kevin

10:54

McCarthy on the floor. What's important

10:56

to know, this is not there will

10:58

be a cartel vote

11:00

next week. that's when everyone goes

11:02

behind closed doors. They'll have a cart the

11:04

cartel will vote for who they want. But that's

11:06

not the actual vote. The actual vote is on

11:08

the House. of the floor of the house of

11:10

representatives, where every member will call

11:12

into with all cameras on them will have to

11:14

say, I'm for Kevin McCarthy.

11:16

or I'm Matt Gates or forever it is,

11:18

and they're gonna have to justify to their

11:21

constituents where they were. They're not gonna be able to

11:23

play the Excel game where they say, I am

11:25

with you. but I'm actually you weren't

11:27

behind closed doors. And so

11:29

because of that and because of the unpopularity

11:31

of leadership for decades

11:33

now, where we've never really had

11:35

someone that understood the conservative

11:38

movement, the America first movement, what

11:40

we're trying to accomplish to realize that the hour

11:42

is late, we're losing our country,

11:44

We have a

11:44

woke and weaponized government. You have seen

11:46

that firsthand, and we need

11:48

to go at them with everything

11:50

we got, with every tool we

11:52

have, the funding process, the

11:54

oversight process, someone like Jim Jordan

11:56

understands that. And

11:58

all we need is about

12:00

ten, fifteen, potentially twenty members to

12:02

go down there and say, Kevin

12:04

Parthys not happening. And because

12:06

this is a fundamentally a cartel

12:08

busting vote, I think there's all sorts of

12:10

leverage. Right now, I believe that he is

12:12

in deep trouble. And based on the

12:14

momentum for people like you and I

12:16

over the next several weeks, I think he's not

12:18

gonna be the speaker. There was

12:20

probably not a single consequential

12:22

decision made during your time in the White House that

12:24

you didn't weigh in on on or have a member of

12:26

your team weigh in on in a

12:28

very meaningful meaningful

12:30

way. What do you think it says to

12:32

Republican voters if they're a member of congress

12:34

votes for Kevin McCarthy? I think

12:36

it's business as usual. I think it's a

12:39

reflection that that member has

12:41

decided to not bring put

12:43

on their shoulders the reality

12:45

of leadership.

12:46

you as a member have the ability

12:49

and and you've taken this leadership and

12:51

go and run with it. You have a member to

12:53

be a lion. to roar and

12:55

to be able to say

12:57

the country can be

12:59

saved or not saved on

13:01

my watch. and we need

13:03

members to go out there and make public statements

13:05

that say, I'm not voting for Kevin

13:07

McCarthy. They do that. They'll be in a position so

13:09

that the House of Representatives with

13:11

the power of the purse, with subpoena

13:14

power, will be in the hands of someone like

13:16

Jim Jordan and not Kevin McCarthy who has

13:18

taken these options off the table. Do

13:21

you think it's problematic that the

13:25

fundraising apparatus in Washington

13:27

DC is very central to how

13:29

people think about leadership races.

13:31

I think it's tragic, number one,

13:33

because it means a

13:35

member doesn't think about what's necessary

13:37

to save the country. So we have this

13:39

situation with big tech firms that

13:41

are no they're not private companies.

13:44

have government benefits that allow

13:46

them to wield powers on they're the

13:48

arms of the regime. And

13:49

so instead of being able to approach

13:52

that, like you all doing the judiciary committee,

13:54

here's the antitrust reforms that we need,

13:56

here's a section two thirty repeal that we need.

13:58

Instead of doing that, you're

13:59

trying to play all the angle and to

14:01

be able to play it safe.

14:03

And we're a part of our country

14:05

right now where you can't play it safe anymore. And

14:07

so that's what's tragic. And it it doesn't

14:09

have to be that way. because the most

14:12

anti establishment members have

14:15

the ability to nationalize and be

14:17

leaders and people wanna fund that.

14:19

and and that's you know where that comes from? It doesn't come from

14:21

businesses with interest. It comes from people

14:23

with fifty dollars, a hundred dollars. That's

14:25

really hard to give, but they do it because they

14:27

know man, Margaret Taylor Green

14:29

and Matt Gates aren't gonna be

14:31

fearless and furloughed with their hard earned

14:33

dollars. Well, and we look at people like Bernie

14:35

Sanders and Barack Obama almost as a

14:37

model of certainly not good

14:39

policy choices, but

14:41

structurally liberating from

14:43

the corrupt features

14:45

of Washington that get people to serve

14:47

the special interests instead of their constituents. I

14:49

I can't tell you how liberating it is to

14:52

have the perspective that the

14:54

lobbyists and special interests don't own me

14:56

and can't even think that they do because they don't

14:58

even have the opportunity to rent me.

15:00

You talk about conflict

15:02

in a string of

15:04

tweets. Folks can find it at

15:06

Russ vote VoU GHT,

15:08

and you talk about how

15:10

Republicans in the upcoming majority need to

15:12

approach conflict. You say it

15:14

needs to be seized we need

15:16

to go out and find the areas

15:18

where people or where our government is being

15:21

weaponized and attack that. And you make

15:23

the criticism of Mcarthy that he will

15:25

steer a Republican majority

15:27

away from conflict. Why do you

15:29

believe McCarthy will steer people away

15:31

from conflict? And what do you think is the

15:33

consequence of that? Yeah. I used to be a

15:35

staffer here in house representative, so

15:37

I've I've seen in leadership how

15:39

they talk about their members how

15:41

they think about them. They use a phrase called

15:44

member management. And I used to

15:46

think that that was like, hey, Matt

15:48

Gates wants to be on some Codell or something it

15:50

really has nothing to do with that. It has

15:53

to be about how they

15:55

dangle certain fights for their

15:57

members who care about defunding plain

15:59

parenthood in a way to kinda distract

16:01

them away from

16:03

a vote or a consequence

16:05

that will be destabilizing to

16:07

their cartel. And so

16:08

I call it a cartel because there

16:10

is so much more policy gains on the table

16:13

that they could achieve, we could

16:15

achieve if they were willing to have

16:17

conflict and deal with risk. Not

16:19

massive, the roof caves in

16:21

risk, but the risk that the

16:23

country expects when they put Republicans

16:26

in charge. And and those are

16:28

things that are necessary when you use the

16:30

funding process, when you use the

16:32

opportunity of a debt limit increase, Those

16:34

are things that the

16:35

Republican leadership teams that we have seen

16:38

in recent memory have just

16:40

run away from. And,

16:41

yeah, there's risk involved. execution

16:44

will be something that you have to monitor if you're

16:46

trying to save the country. But you know what? People

16:48

deal with execution problems all over the

16:50

time and they overcome them. I love working

16:52

for Donald Trump because he ate

16:54

conflict and risk for breakfast. And

16:56

that was something that he woke up and said, we're

16:58

gonna save the country gonna take the

17:00

risk that's necessary to accomplish our

17:03

policy objectives. And as a result, he made

17:05

substantial gains. We need a speaker

17:07

like that. some

17:09

of the tools for member management

17:11

that our viewers might not be aware of.

17:13

We've talked about fundraising but also

17:16

committee assignments. whoever the

17:18

leadership team is of the

17:20

Republican and Democratic caucus have

17:22

a lot of say over whether or not you get

17:24

to be on a committee of interest to you

17:26

or whether you're sent out to pasture. And many

17:28

of

17:28

my colleagues

17:29

are concerned that if they don't

17:32

vote for McCarthy, maybe they

17:34

lose a committee assignment, maybe they don't get

17:36

promoted to a committee of interest. What

17:39

would be your message to people concerned

17:41

about that feature of their public

17:43

service? Two points.

17:43

Number one, when you fight, you become more

17:45

powerful. When you become more powerful, the

17:48

interests, the establishment, the cartel,

17:51

cannot take action against you. So if you're competent,

17:53

if you do your job, if you're back

17:56

home, you're explaining your

17:58

vote, and you're fighting and you're becoming

18:00

a national lion on the national

18:02

stage, they do not have the power

18:04

to get away with it. Number two,

18:06

Committees are not the end all be all.

18:09

So I have long believed that

18:11

committees was largely

18:13

a waste of time. I mean, there's the

18:15

judiciary committee where you make the best bang

18:17

for your buck, but it comes at a

18:19

consequence because there are so many

18:21

things happening at on the national stage

18:24

that require your leadership and, you know,

18:26

you look at Mars retailer Green, she's

18:29

become a national procedural leader

18:31

because they picked her off for committees, so she goes

18:33

to the floor. And next thing you know, she's, you

18:36

know, knows all the procedure,

18:38

and and that's a great story to tell.

18:40

And so it's not to say, you know,

18:42

your committee, you know, your armed

18:44

service, that's not important. It's just to say

18:46

that you're gonna land on your

18:48

feet. you know, leaders lines they land on their feet,

18:50

and you're gonna have the ability to serve the

18:52

country either on that committee or in a

18:55

different way. we need a pack

18:55

of lions, and here would be my

18:58

message to my colleagues. No

19:00

committee assignment is worth it. The

19:02

most important vote

19:04

you take is the vote for

19:05

speaker. And

19:07

really,

19:08

it's number

19:09

one through probably a hundred

19:11

in terms of the most important votes you'll

19:13

take. in the Congress in a given term.

19:15

And so don't give

19:17

that away for something

19:19

that

19:20

can be taken away. for something that

19:22

really doesn't define who you are

19:24

as a fighter and as a lion, as much

19:26

as where you stand on

19:28

the vision and direction and

19:31

leadership of the conference. But

19:33

one

19:33

feature of

19:33

this town is that The

19:36

swap always finds out what you want, and they

19:38

dangle it in front of you. For some people, it's an

19:40

appropriation they have to have, some pork

19:42

spending. For some people, it's a

19:44

title, a committee assignment. For some

19:46

people, it's renaming a post

19:48

office. And just don't

19:50

allow your public

19:52

service to be ransom ed in

19:54

such a way. There's there there Jim

19:56

Jordan told me when I was here in

19:58

my first term, if you wake up and

20:00

you want to go to battle on behalf,

20:02

of your constituents. There are so many battles that

20:04

are calling for you. Maybe it's a constituent

20:06

service matter where you can fundamentally change

20:09

someone's life by getting the

20:11

government to actually work for them, not against them. Maybe

20:13

it's the speech you give that inspires

20:15

someone to embark upon their own journey in

20:18

public service. but the notion that

20:20

filing some amendment and having a

20:22

certain committee on your letterhead

20:24

is so worthy of

20:27

compromise,

20:27

I think, is disrespectful

20:30

to the institution, certainly disrespectful

20:32

to the patriots that allowed us to

20:34

be the greatest country on Earth.

20:36

I was a bit unsettled to

20:38

see a recent tweet from Kevin

20:41

McCarthy saying that he was already naming

20:43

transition teams. to lead

20:45

on various issues. And

20:47

I thought, gosh, given that we haven't had

20:49

our leadership elections yet,

20:52

for him to be setting up transition

20:54

teams struck me as a bit premature.

20:56

I wonder aloud whether or not

20:58

some members will feel

21:01

as though that is already delegitimizing

21:03

their vote even

21:04

before he would presumably get

21:07

the gavel. Yeah. I think it's incredibly

21:09

disrespectful to his members to be

21:11

able to be that presumptuous. When he

21:13

knows he doesn't have the votes, when he

21:15

doesn't have the votes. We don't even know what his majority is.

21:18

And so, you know, my hope is that

21:20

something that should offend members of Congress

21:22

who have a vote on this and wanna have

21:24

a conversation behind closed doors

21:26

about the direction of the Republican Party and the

21:28

House of Representatives. And my view is

21:30

on this is a member

21:32

of Congress should do everything they can.

21:34

And honestly, citizens at the

21:36

local level should do this. Align your

21:38

life so that your interests

21:40

are about saving the country. you

21:42

you align your life so that you're serving God

21:44

and saving your country, you're not gonna go

21:46

wrong. And and that's don't make this about

21:48

a committee assignment. Don't make this

21:50

about a chairmanship. this about what's

21:53

necessary to save the country. And when you put that

21:55

filter on, this is an easy

21:57

decision and your voters will reward you. You'll

21:59

be a national

21:59

leader for it. There is

22:02

a movement among some in the House Freedom

22:04

caucus to request a delay in

22:06

the leadership elections because we don't

22:08

yet know who will be a Republican member of congress.

22:10

I think out in Pennsylvania, they'll be counting

22:12

for a few weeks, what a shame there

22:15

in Arizona. subject to a whole another

22:17

discussion. But, you know,

22:19

the the concept of holding leadership

22:21

elections without firming up the

22:23

precise size of the majority and

22:25

the precise membership of of the Republican conference

22:28

seems to, you know,

22:30

really be positive. So I support

22:33

the effort with the freedom caucus to

22:35

delay leadership elections at least until we

22:37

know who will be our

22:39

Republican team members and who will have a legitimate

22:41

vote in that election. I mean, it's something

22:43

for us to go complain about illegal

22:45

votes, diluting elections, in states

22:47

around the country to then

22:49

allow people who might not even be

22:51

elected to be casting votes and our leadership elections would

22:54

presumably dilute the

22:56

districts and constituencies that

22:58

ultimately will be sending Republicans to be sworn in. So I

23:00

want it clear on the record that I

23:02

support that effort from the

23:05

Freedom caucus. you know,

23:07

the the vote on

23:09

the floor, you make a point that

23:12

publicly, that's a

23:14

watershed moment. You

23:15

know, the

23:17

Democrats always seem to find

23:19

a way even with

23:21

small majorities to kind of rally together

23:25

you

23:25

worry that there'll be criticism from the

23:27

right that, you know, if it takes us a little bit

23:29

to work this out, oh, it means the Republicans

23:31

are in disarray or,

23:34

you know, It seems to be your perspective in mind that a little bit

23:36

of disarray here might be helpful at

23:38

ultimately reaching the more

23:40

consequential and meaningful decision in

23:42

the end. Yeah. I think that's a

23:44

that's an opportunity. Confirmation

23:46

is an opportunity for the media to report on

23:48

what's going on when the media ports, you

23:50

have an opportunity to get your message out that says, what would

23:52

that story be? Republicans are having a

23:55

debate about the future of the country and whether

23:57

they're gonna have leadership that

23:59

says, that does what it says it

23:59

does. And so I don't think that's that's

24:02

a negative in any

24:04

way. Well, Russ, I I appreciate your

24:06

perspective on this. it

24:08

is my expectation that we will hear

24:10

more voices contribute to this

24:12

discussion. Last night, Tucker

24:14

Carlson's commentary was that all those who were

24:16

involved in this disappointing election

24:18

cycle for Republicans really needed to

24:20

find something else to do and that it

24:22

wasn't personal

24:22

criticism of them from his

24:25

perspective. It was just if you don't

24:27

succeed, you typically don't get

24:29

promoted. You'll be on Steve Bannon's war and

24:31

podcast I really encourage

24:33

everyone to watch Russ there and

24:35

to get Steve Bannon's perspective

24:37

on this matter and Is

24:39

it your expectation that there'll be other groups,

24:41

other voices, encouraging the

24:43

boldness that you've encouraged tonight? Yeah. I think

24:45

we're gonna see a a movement arise from

24:48

grassroots movie. We just met and and talked with our national

24:50

leaders our call across the country. It

24:52

occurs on Thursday night, and they are

24:54

ready to go. well, take us

24:56

take us in the room. I mean, what's the what's

24:58

the sentiment? What's the feeling? What are the arguments

25:00

people are making? This is again, this is

25:02

not something where they need to be convinced. This is

25:04

something where their expectation is, what we

25:07

were gonna you were gonna swallow Kevin McCarthy

25:09

if you had a massive majority maybe with some

25:11

rule changes, but not after

25:13

the the majority is so slim

25:16

when everything they said would occur did not

25:18

occur. We didn't have an

25:20

opportunity to just rely on, hey, inflation

25:22

is bad when you have no plan to actually

25:24

deal with it. And so the

25:26

grassroots is gonna demand this action.

25:28

That's gonna build between now

25:30

and January. And that's what I that's what I'm

25:32

trying to articulate when I say,

25:34

that

25:34

leverage point doesn't go away

25:36

even next week if for

25:39

some reason someone hasn't arose to be the

25:41

candidate against speaker recognition. The

25:43

only vote that matters is the vote on the

25:45

floor. Exactly. Look, the vote in conference

25:47

is procedural. That's the

25:49

cartel vote. cartel vote. As you described

25:51

it, behind closed doors without

25:53

your name attached to it, that

25:55

is not the real vote. The real

25:57

action the live rounds, that's on

25:59

the floor of the

25:59

House of Representatives, that's in

26:02

January. And so I would encourage our

26:04

viewers

26:04

Contact your Republican member of

26:07

Congress. Encourage them to make a

26:09

decision not based on who raised

26:11

them the most money or who can

26:13

introduce them to the most lobbyists, but

26:15

can who can actually embrace

26:17

the conflicts that we've been discussing

26:19

that we absolutely must prevail on to

26:21

save the is the message that you need to deliver to

26:23

your Republican member of Congress. And if you're willing

26:25

to make a second phone call or send a

26:28

second tweet How

26:30

about hit up my man, Jim Jordan.

26:32

Get this athlete, get this champion,

26:34

get this line off the sidelines and

26:36

into this race. I believe Jim

26:38

Jordan has been pointed for this. I believe he is prepared

26:41

and I know he would

26:43

inspire the base of our movement

26:45

and he would bring more people in

26:47

Jim has a way to be encouraging and

26:49

to be thoughtful and to be persuasive.

26:51

If you've seen Jim Jordan on television,

26:53

if you've seen him in hearings,

26:55

you know this. We need to be a growing

26:58

movement. Look, that's the message. I think we need to take

27:00

from this midterm. We cannot be

27:02

stagnant. We need more people to want

27:04

to align with Republicans, I don't

27:06

think that's gonna happen with Kevin

27:08

McCarthy. I don't think it's gonna happen with

27:10

Mitch McConnell. don't think it's gonna happen

27:12

with Ronald McDaniel. I

27:14

think we need a clean sweep

27:16

and we need to get off of the Mc

27:18

Failure strategy and get into

27:20

the fighting spirit embrace the conflict

27:22

and do not be afraid. Our

27:24

movement should not be a fearful movement.

27:27

Our leaders should not be fearful leaders,

27:29

and they certainly shouldn't be the people who

27:31

have sold the shares of themselves on K

27:33

Street. Russ, tell us about the center for

27:36

renewing America the mission, the purpose

27:38

there, and how folks can follow your

27:40

work. There has

27:40

never been a institution

27:43

that has a cultural mission

27:45

on the America first issue. So when I left the

27:47

White House, I wanted there to be a place that

27:49

cared about the border, cared about

27:52

restraint and foreign policy, cared about drugs in

27:54

our communities, thought that critical

27:56

race there was something that you can actually get rid

27:58

of as opposed to something you have to tolerate as

28:00

free speech in our schools. And

28:02

there to nationalize those

28:05

issues, provide a solution, like

28:08

state governors declaring a

28:10

border invasion. Those are

28:12

the things that we put forward to

28:14

declare or get results and to

28:16

ensure fundamentally, and this is the

28:18

takeaway that Washington DC

28:20

in the aftermath of Donald Trump cannot

28:22

go back to business and usual around the

28:24

issues that we know are flawed

28:26

and don't that won't

28:27

save the country and don't allow us

28:29

to reach new voters. And so we're gonna keep

28:31

the agenda setting process so

28:34

fixed on the America first

28:36

issues that that's we're gonna be able to

28:38

learn from the lessons the last fifty years

28:40

where we did not know those. Donald Trump

28:42

changed that, and we're gonna keep the issues

28:44

on that agenda. you know, the

28:46

Floridians who embrace those fights were

28:49

very much rewarded by their voters for

28:51

doing so. And I think that's a model

28:53

on policy for the rest

28:55

of the country and certainly a model that our

28:56

Republican

28:57

conference should certainly embrace.

29:00

Russ, thanks for the work that you did for our

29:02

country serving alongside president Trump.

29:04

I'm I'm thinking through all the times. I went into

29:06

the oval and had meetings across the Resolute

29:08

desk, and I I can't remember

29:10

one of them you were not there, at

29:12

president Trump's right hand, and I know he

29:14

got great benefit from your wise counsel,

29:16

Krishna. And and the work we're

29:18

doing now, I think is

29:20

the continuation of that legacy and that

29:23

movement, and most importantly, that agenda. And

29:25

that agenda is not gonna happen

29:27

without strong leadership leadership

29:29

I know we could get from my buddy Jim Jordan

29:31

from Ohio. Thanks for joining us on firebrand.

29:33

Thanks to everyone for tuning in. Make

29:35

sure you're subscribed with notifications

29:38

turned on. be back next

29:40

week. Lot of session days. There'll be a lot of

29:42

firebrand. Thanks for joining us. Roll

29:44

the credits.