Episode Transcript
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time for our main event.
0:50
Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety
0:52
Program, fellas. That was Secretary Mayorkas
0:56
long before he was impeached
0:59
by the House of Representatives. Impeached
1:02
probably for something like that.
1:04
Yeah. Right? Turns
1:07
out it wasn't too secure. No, it turns out the
1:09
security was a little bit more in flux than he'd
1:11
let on. Hey, he just goofed. You
1:13
know? Unbelievable.
1:17
I mean, this guy, you know what's so
1:19
funny to me about this entire story? I
1:21
mean, obviously they failed to
1:23
impeach him by one vote last week and
1:25
there was nothing but stories about the
1:28
disaster that that was and whatnot. And
1:31
then they impeached him this week and it felt kind
1:34
of like an also ran type story,
1:36
like first time in 130 years
1:38
that that's happened. But
1:40
it's all process-based. It's
1:43
all like, well, this happened and then this happened and here
1:46
are the arguments. It's like nobody's
1:48
actually taken the time from a media perspective
1:50
to be like, it's interesting that
1:52
they've taken the unprecedented act
1:55
of impeaching somebody. Maybe
1:57
we should examine in greater detail why it is that
1:59
he's here. was impeached. Right? I
2:02
mean, there's plenty of coverage on
2:04
the crisis at the border at this point. That's
2:06
not my objection. His culpability in
2:08
all of that, it's like, how
2:11
do you ignore it? And there's just
2:13
no interest by the press. I'm glad you raised
2:15
this because it is one of the most infuriating
2:17
aspects of the whole thing. You
2:19
know that if Mayorkas was a
2:21
Republican, it would be detailed stories,
2:23
magazine pieces, features about what he
2:25
didn't do and what's happening because
2:28
of it. It reminds me
2:30
a little bit of like, you remember that Bush
2:32
FEMA director back in the day, Brownie?
2:34
Yeah, heck of a job. Yeah.
2:38
Where he was presiding over
2:40
Katrina, which is like a
2:42
generational hurricane, right? And
2:45
obviously there were problems going on,
2:47
but everybody had a lens
2:50
of mismanagement. They couldn't possibly have
2:52
been an incredibly
2:55
specific disaster that hit
2:57
at the specifically purposeful,
3:00
terrible spot to hit.
3:03
It had to be somebody's fault for the whole
3:05
thing and it all became Brownie's fault. Yeah. It
3:08
sounded like he built the levees, right? Right. This
3:10
guy showed up six months earlier, like I pop
3:12
up tents and serve hot meals. Yeah. But
3:14
if you would have read the story, if you would
3:17
have read the stories, you would have thought he actually
3:19
smoothed the concrete on every single lens. Well, I guess
3:21
that's my point. My point is that the coverage of
3:23
that situation, granted, there's a lot of you listening that
3:25
don't remember all of that. I remember it in real
3:27
time very vividly, but
3:30
the stories were all about what
3:32
this guy could have done
3:34
differently and how it would
3:36
have prevented the disaster. We
3:39
have a disaster that
3:41
many would argue is many,
3:44
many exponentially times more
3:46
significant for the country than
3:48
that was. Because it's not a natural disaster. It's
3:50
a disaster that's unfolding before our eyes every single
3:52
day and has for years. It's a man-made disaster.
3:54
For years. We've hit it. They've
3:58
done it deliberate. Deliberate. As
4:00
we say. they your and the
4:02
writing program and he they're not
4:04
examining that yeah. There. Are
4:06
examining. The. Process by which sleaze to
4:08
shown up at like he was on Sunday
4:10
shows. Imagine. It's first Guy
4:12
hundred thirty years to be impeached. As.
4:15
A sitting secretary and is to and
4:17
Sunday shows like not there and of
4:19
even afraid about my router Aromatics have
4:21
you not? In fact top line talking
4:23
point. Joe Biden is vibrant so Christmas
4:26
effects after a bit of these are
4:28
you concerned about his own eyes is
4:30
is a great point. You know
4:32
it says it's really remarkable feel
4:34
like you think at some point.
4:37
Everybody. Would come to the conclusion that
4:39
perhaps this guy did something wrong here
4:42
and maybe we that's worth examining. No,
4:44
No. It's a
4:46
crazy republican caucus that the
4:49
can't shoot straight. As.
4:51
Evidenced by their failure. Where
4:53
the week before to impeach him and now
4:55
they did it. And so we want
4:57
newcomers. Isis and I
5:00
I think that's the right take
5:02
I think. also a it bears
5:04
kind of focusing in on I
5:06
think all the things he did
5:08
or not. Out. Of.
5:11
Being. Incompetent. I think it's if you
5:13
logically. This. Is this is where
5:15
he said what during confirmation? Ah I
5:17
remember he was facing some challenges because
5:20
he along with so many members as
5:22
ministration had worked for in concert with
5:24
was the dark money groups Jen Psaki.
5:26
Another prime example from so much of
5:29
this administration was put place by the
5:31
groups that got by an elected and
5:33
to push their ideology and are messy
5:35
know. Just like is that tv show. You
5:38
know, this guy turned of the border
5:40
into absolute chaos because it illogical, you
5:42
know, black of lovely dark money donors
5:44
like. It's unbelievable how much of this
5:47
administration is just acting on behalf of
5:49
their paymasters. Some it's just so sick,
5:51
it's disgusting. And those are real problems
5:53
that we ought to be talking about
5:55
earnestly. But we're get. we've got a
5:58
good show for your we're like. And
6:00
things up. Yeah, I just gonna be
6:02
all negativity. We got a good shot.
6:04
Tony Gonzalez from the great That a
6:06
Texas Texas twenty Three He's the Man
6:08
on the Border is the guy whose
6:10
district is Eagle Pass and with so
6:13
many places of even talking about over
6:15
the last you know now feels what
6:17
three and a half years. It's the
6:19
entire by demonstration whatever that is he's
6:21
the guy. Who. I
6:23
think we're almost more than any
6:25
feels the direct impact. Of
6:28
this immigration crisis, he also happens to
6:30
be remarkable norton remarkably normal human being
6:32
moon I'd somebody you'd choose to go
6:34
have a cocktail with, which by the
6:36
way, furnished us with some. Terrific
6:40
stuff here which we owe entering a long
6:42
way or on the Friday perhaps will have
6:44
that Eric online. Very easy to bribe for
6:46
victory. We are very very love were very
6:49
easy but you're gonna love an interview and
6:51
I think you're probably going to learn a
6:53
lot about it. Ah, wouldn't play get. Play
6:57
some king of the hell causes.
6:59
Thursday was right as one does.
7:01
oh Yoda Friday. And there. Is
7:03
the including some pop tart news which is very
7:06
sad. To
7:08
switch is a me and around with some stuff
7:11
so I want us to keep attacking. Is very
7:13
concerned about scaring. Suggests
7:15
You know? I guess we can just jump into
7:17
this for a minute. But. This is
7:19
Wild. Yeah. Like I have,
7:21
he has. Ah, Member.
7:24
Of Congress on the I Think is
7:26
Ahead of Fear and Dead and Chairman
7:28
of The House Select. An
7:30
old as many while they're silver
7:32
imminent danger thread that the president
7:34
should discuss the country and then
7:36
it instantly it takes off like
7:38
what the how could this be
7:40
was very impressive and the don't
7:43
see that a lot like typically
7:45
intelligence committees and leaders within Congress
7:47
which they collect a big for
7:49
the big four are the people
7:51
get real time briefings that the
7:53
administration gets on. Threats.
7:56
Intel that's important for this
7:58
national security. Big For
8:00
is basically just think about the
8:03
republican democrat and leaders on both
8:05
sides and ended the eight is
8:07
a expand that out into the
8:10
Intelligence committees on both sides and
8:12
once that crew has been briefed
8:15
on something typically you don't hear
8:17
a lot about it. If
8:20
it's something that's very significant, The
8:23
President addresses it from the oval. We all
8:25
know if that doesn't happen between the hours
8:28
of one pm and three Pm, the chances
8:30
of that are very slim with this administration.
8:33
So. Perhaps I don't know what he's thinking
8:35
by airing miss out on Twitter mean basically
8:37
Turner. Said. There's.
8:40
A grave national security threat Any urged
8:42
the by administration to declassify pieces of
8:44
it so we can all see and
8:47
hear about. You know, I
8:49
don't get that. are. You. Don't
8:51
see that very often so it of
8:53
again everybody's mind races than what it
8:55
possibly be united far be it for
8:57
me to speculate what that would be
8:59
but that's concerning and then he had
9:01
speaker John to come out say this
9:04
is not like. An imminent.
9:06
Threat. To the like united States are
9:08
you graduate from all the was like what
9:11
the hell of other problems Might Yards has
9:13
got on his plate. Like all the said
9:15
he's gotta charities like every thread me like
9:17
ah jeez you know he's galloway try to
9:20
warm that over but my understanding is this
9:22
theory is is the phone. They
9:25
did the briefings with the big four.
9:27
They've got a briefing scheduled with Turner
9:29
and the intel guys tomorrow. Look,
9:33
I don't have a lot of. Confidence in the
9:35
by administration any. Form or
9:37
facet, but I think there's plenty
9:40
of communication going on. Question is,
9:42
what is it. And
9:44
whether or not that something the American
9:46
people immediately as to be us remember
9:48
that are reason why don't declassify stuff
9:50
here Lotteries It's because there are some
9:53
things that are. Well.
9:55
as we found out during
9:57
the bush administration declassifying things
10:00
that may not be true can
10:02
be problematic. Can be problematic.
10:04
Well, hopefully by the time this airs, we
10:07
know more. Yeah. Because I
10:09
want enough. I bet we won't. I bet we
10:11
won't. I mean, like, again, if this is a
10:13
decision that needs to come down to the Biden
10:15
administration providing transparency to the American people, I'd
10:18
bet against that one, like every time. Yeah. Yeah,
10:21
I'd bet against that piece of it, but I don't know
10:23
that I would bet against members
10:26
that have been briefed that
10:28
find pieces of this
10:31
that they can safely discuss.
10:34
Yeah, we'll see. I mean, these are things that obviously
10:36
need to be taken seriously, but to a point that
10:38
was made earlier, the House has not canceled votes for
10:40
today. So
10:44
maybe there's not a nuclear weapon pointed
10:46
at the Capitol. Perhaps. Perhaps
10:49
not. So
10:51
look, the top story
10:53
coming out of the
10:55
politics side of things this week
10:59
was the special elections. You'll
11:02
recall the reason for the
11:05
marquee event here, which was
11:07
a New York special election, was
11:10
George Santos and
11:13
his eviction. From
11:15
the House of Representatives, for a whole
11:17
wide variety of issues. When
11:19
Smoggin pointed out, fair
11:23
to ask whether or not that was
11:26
ultimately a wise decision. It seems like
11:28
an absolute terrible decision now, more than
11:30
ever. Until he's convicted
11:32
of a crime, I mean,
11:37
this shows the absolute idiocy
11:40
of that move. When you have Menendez
11:43
from New Jersey, the senator, Democrat
11:46
senator from New Jersey, who
11:48
has essentially been just working for
11:50
foreign governments, news has come
11:52
out that his wife's engagement ring was a
11:55
bribe. It is actually comical how bad it
11:57
was. This has been going on for 20
11:59
years. with Bob Menendez. It started
12:01
out with the alleged Dominican
12:03
prostitutes. And then it moved into
12:06
money laundering
12:08
weird stuff that he ultimately
12:10
was indicted and then acquitted
12:12
of in New Jersey. Now
12:14
it's moved into a whole
12:18
different level where he had stolen
12:20
gold bars in his
12:22
house. What is it? Yes,
12:24
because he was like, well, you can't trace
12:27
the transaction if I'm paying gold bars. And
12:31
then he was googling how much is
12:33
a gold bar worth? Yeah. Boomer crime.
12:35
And that guy is currently a United
12:37
States senator. Bingo. And that's the thing.
12:40
Until he is voted out, until
12:43
someone who's taking gold bars from foreign
12:45
governments, his wife's wedding ring is
12:47
a bribe. And did you see
12:50
Republicans say, oh, this is beyond the pale.
12:52
Well, I can't believe this. The
12:54
movements act immediately to get this person
12:56
out of this august body. Here's the
12:58
thing. No, you don't get that. You don't get that.
13:01
We'll do it to our own though. I
13:03
saw on the House floor, Representative Max Miller
13:05
of Ohio alleged that George Santos had defrauded
13:08
himself and his mother. He stole money from
13:10
the Senate. On the police report,
13:12
press charges, go to trial. Okay.
13:14
I mean, I hear you. It's just, I
13:17
think like that just sort of embraces the
13:19
politics of nihilism that's driven our country into the ditch
13:21
where we find ourselves. Well, I think it's pretty clear
13:23
that the other side is willing to do whatever it
13:25
takes to take control. Oh,
13:28
yeah. No, I don't deny that they're evil. So
13:30
I don't be any potent unilaterally disarming, which is
13:32
exactly what happened here. To be evil too. To
13:35
it? 100%. Well,
13:37
this is the thing is until you make the
13:39
situation uncountable for the other side. I
13:41
hear you. They don't stop. I hear you. And there's, I mean,
13:43
look, they're laughing. They've got Menendez there for all
13:46
the votes they need. He's voting. Menendez is
13:48
voting still. Is it a process for
13:50
removing someone from the United States Senate? Is it similar to the
13:52
House? No, it's a very different
13:54
situation. It's a very different situation. I mean,
13:56
they're similar in some ways, but
13:58
there's more of a process. I mean,
14:00
what happens is when somebody is
14:03
indicted, they are
14:05
removed from the committees, if they
14:07
have a chairmanship or something they're removed. And
14:09
that's happened with Menendez. But
14:13
a conviction is when you get
14:16
potential. More often than
14:18
not, what happens is you ultimately get a
14:20
resignation. You
14:23
can think of recent examples of things
14:25
like Al Franken, right? Yeah.
14:27
Torres-Selly back in the day. You
14:30
have to have a little bit of class and dignity
14:32
and then see yourself out. Like a house is more
14:34
like a bar, like a bouncer can just throw you
14:36
out. Yeah, that's exactly right. But
14:38
I mean, I think that's the thing is,
14:41
now this is a whole new
14:43
ballgame in the sense that look at all the
14:45
things that the House committee has unearthed
14:47
on Joe Biden and Hunter Biden. During
14:50
an election, we were told this is all fake
14:52
news, this is Russian disinformation. And we've all now
14:54
been shown complete... We've seen
14:56
Treasury documents, the suspicious
14:58
activity reports of all this money from China getting
15:00
wired over to the Bidens. You know what I still...
15:03
He's not resigned. You know what I saw, Smug? You'll
15:06
love this and it's related
15:08
is the number one reporter
15:12
who was covering the Hunter
15:14
Biden laptop who put out
15:16
that story that said... Natasha
15:18
Bertrand? Yeah. She said that
15:21
intelligence officials believe Hunter
15:23
Biden's laptop is Russian
15:25
disinformation. She just got
15:27
promoted by CNN. Her
15:30
reward for being historically wrong
15:32
at a critical moment in our democracy is more
15:35
money. Meanwhile, Catherine Herridge, the other
15:37
side of that coin, who's like one of
15:39
the preeminent intelligence and military reporters... Like an
15:41
actual, powerless time. One of the few left.
15:44
Was fired from CBS this week. Yeah,
15:47
it's just awful. Partisanship. Partisanship
15:49
in the supposedly nonpartisan news outlets
15:51
is getting worse and worse and
15:53
worse. And Josh mentioned Bob Torricelli.
15:56
You remember this guy was a New Jersey
15:58
senator who was also... got caught
16:00
on corruption similar to what Bob
16:02
Menendez is doing. Oh
16:05
wow, you didn't expect that in New Jersey, right? Similar to what Bob
16:07
Menendez is doing. At Torricelli? In New Jersey? Oh, Jesus.
16:10
No, I didn't think that. I forgot some story. He's
16:12
just in waste management. The difference
16:14
with Torricelli is that the media like
16:16
nailed him to the wall and they
16:19
didn't let up. It was a different era. It
16:22
was a different era where they were left of
16:24
center but they still like hit each party equally
16:27
and like it's getting worse and worse. At this Smug's
16:29
point, you know what ultimately happened there? He
16:31
was in the down the stretch of his
16:34
own reelection race and New
16:36
Jersey Democrats changed the rules so they
16:38
could replace him on the ballot with
16:40
former Senator Frank Lautenberg. They took him
16:42
off with three weeks to go, put
16:44
Lautenberg in. He beat the Republican who
16:46
had been leading Torricelli up to that
16:48
point. Now
16:50
there's a train station named after Frank Lautenberg. That's
16:53
my take. It was a
16:55
terrible move. Republicans
17:00
are always happy to eat their own while
17:02
Dan's always circle the wagon. That's the lesson you take away
17:04
from this one. That's
17:06
not the only thing. They also ran
17:09
Kevin McCarthy out of Congress. That's
17:13
the other reason why we're now at a one
17:15
seat majority is that that sucker
17:17
is also open and there will be a
17:19
special. I hope we win it,
17:21
but it is what it is. Also shows you
17:23
how important candidate recruitment is. Why
17:27
in the world is somebody like George
17:29
Santos the Republican standard bearer for that
17:31
district anyway? I mean because he won. He
17:34
won. Well, I know it's because he won. He won.
17:36
I know it's because he won, but we
17:38
have to build our party and put competent
17:41
people in these positions so that we aren't in
17:43
this situation. I won't win. That's all
17:45
that matters. I'm very clear that what this state
17:47
might would settle for in terms
17:49
of your elected representative. But in
17:51
terms of what happened in New York, Democrat
17:54
Tom Swazee won the New York
17:56
special election according to NBC News.
17:59
He's heading back to Congress after
18:01
he won the special election in
18:03
New York's 3rd district to replace
18:05
George Santos. Was his victory Tuesday
18:08
over Republican Maisie Pillip. Cuts
18:11
for Republicans already raised their thin house majority
18:14
by one seat, making legislating even
18:16
more difficult going forward. It can provide a guide
18:18
for, this is the most important part that I
18:20
think is sort of interesting. It
18:22
could provide a guide for Democrats
18:25
competing in similar competitive districts this
18:27
fall, especially when it comes to
18:29
navigating their political vulnerability on immigration
18:31
and border security. So
18:34
what Democrats have done a pretty good job of is
18:37
providing some latitude for
18:39
Democrats to campaign with
18:43
the image of their district in mind. They
18:46
don't have to, the total fealty to like one thing
18:48
is never that
18:51
important to them because they figure once they get them into Congress
18:53
they all vote the same way anyway, which they do. So
18:56
how they campaign is totally up to them. Republicans,
18:58
anytime somebody steps out of line at
19:00
all, they just get dive bombed by
19:03
the online right. Like George Santos, do
19:05
this exactly what I'm saying. Any
19:08
way you can. You just vote
19:10
with the party anyways. I mean this guy
19:13
basically campaigned as like a border hawk. Totally
19:17
outside of the step of where Democrats are and
19:19
that's what got him there. Now,
19:22
it also, there were some mechanical issues
19:24
that I think portend a bigger issue
19:27
that we've talked about a lot of
19:29
the variety program, which is Democrats are
19:31
very good at banking early votes, vote
19:34
by mail, things like that. And it turns
19:36
out what happened Tuesday in New
19:38
York. Oh, it's no storm. Yeah.
19:41
It's when you count only on election
19:43
day turnout as a Republican party, it's
19:46
difficult to win elections when Democrats are
19:48
banking. I think I saw they banked,
19:51
it was like 86 or 83 or
19:53
whatever, was the
19:55
breakdown of absentee in early. That
19:57
is dramatic. It's a tough thing to overcome. saw
20:00
some innovative things, I must say,
20:02
in this election. CLF got snow
20:04
plows out to plow the streets.
20:07
But it's really, it's just sort of like an indictment
20:09
of the current system we
20:11
find ourselves in as Republicans that Donald
20:14
Trump just discouraged mail-in voting and stuff and
20:16
sort of changed a culture in the Republican
20:18
Party that existed for my entire lifetime and
20:20
that is Republicans show up early and they
20:22
vote. And we're not doing that as much
20:24
and we, you know, we got to dig ourselves out of a hole
20:26
every election day now. And in places like
20:28
this, we're like, you know,
20:34
New York was an aberration in 2022, Florida as
20:38
well, you know, huge swing
20:40
for Republicans. You know, we
20:42
were winning seats that were like D plus
20:45
nine, D plus 10, like Mike Lawler comes
20:47
to mind, things like that. It's
20:49
going to be hard to recapture that magic we had
20:51
in a place like New York in 2022,
20:53
again in 2004,
20:56
if we don't change on the basic mechanics
20:58
of the election and start banking votes. Yeah.
21:00
Yeah. Well, a lot of campaigns are in
21:02
on it and people are
21:05
trying to do as much to try to
21:07
influence that culture as they can. But again,
21:09
there's this overriding assumption in the Republican electorate,
21:11
the only way to vote is voted on election
21:13
day. And I knew we were in deep shit. I was
21:15
sitting on the set of special
21:17
report last night at 6 45 and they
21:20
had a guy in one of the precincts doing
21:22
a live report and he's like, yeah,
21:24
this has been open since 7 a.m. I've been sitting
21:26
here and so this is 6 45 p.m. He's like,
21:28
so far
21:30
22 people have voted today. And it's
21:32
like a midst of a massive snowstorm. And I'm
21:35
like, well, I already
21:37
know what the results going to be. It was a
21:39
Republican district, right? Republican
21:41
precinct. So anyway, yeah, got to get
21:43
better at that. We also had a,
21:46
this is actually, I think, more significant,
21:48
not in terms of like federal governance,
21:50
which is of primary
21:52
primary significance. But in terms
21:55
of election significance, Pennsylvania
21:58
Dems seal House majority. with
22:00
a special election win, where it
22:02
was is concerning. This
22:05
is from Politico. Democrats retain a slim majority in
22:07
the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Tuesday after voters
22:09
elected a former school board member. Everybody knows things
22:12
have been going great at the school, so I
22:14
can see how he had a nice platform to
22:16
run through to represent them
22:18
in a Philadelphia suburb that had
22:20
been trending more to the left.
22:23
Jim Prokopiak, I think that's how you
22:25
say his name, was
22:27
elected to the Bucks County seat. They will
22:29
give Democrats a 102-100 majority in the House,
22:33
and they have sought to defend in
22:35
four special elections in the past
22:37
year. This was all because of
22:39
a Republican resignation that happened there.
22:42
Here's the problem, and this is like
22:45
just a brief primer on Pennsylvania. Those
22:48
Philadelphia suburbs, Bucks County, Chester
22:51
County, Delaware County, are
22:53
majority makers in statewide
22:56
elections in Pennsylvania. They're
22:58
vote-rich. They're areas that
23:01
fundamentally changed during the Reagan Revolution.
23:03
H.W. Bush overperformed
23:07
there, and Republicans held it for a large part of
23:09
the last 30 years, mostly 30 years. In
23:12
fact, everything from Congress all the way
23:14
down to your county board seats and everything else, it was
23:16
all Republican.
23:19
Starting in 2016, and then every
23:22
year afterwards, Republicans have lost those
23:24
counties. Those counties are
23:27
huge, high
23:30
information flow. Affluence
23:34
the wrong word, but it's definitely
23:36
middle class, and there are upper-class
23:38
parts of the communities that
23:41
have voted for Republicans for 30 years
23:43
and all of a sudden stopped and went the
23:45
other direction. This is the
23:47
issue that we flagged on this program
23:49
time and time again that
23:52
I understand entirely when you hear
23:54
people talk about the changing demographic
23:56
in the Republican Party. It's now
23:58
a working-class party. I think that's a
24:01
positive thing, but it doesn't
24:03
have to be mutually exclusive. It
24:05
really doesn't. There are people
24:07
whose economic alignment with conservative
24:10
issues are entirely located within
24:12
the Republican Party. Democrats
24:14
have absolutely no pitch to make to
24:16
these people about their pocketbooks. They have
24:19
nothing, and yet they've now
24:21
won it for six straight years. You've
24:23
got to ask some questions about that. You've
24:26
got to ask some questions about that. We are not
24:28
doing a good enough job, and I don't know anything
24:30
about the candidates. I don't know anything about
24:32
the campaign or anything about it, but
24:34
when you're consistently losing those counties, just
24:38
put it on your radar. Unless something changes
24:40
between now and next November, you're going to
24:42
have a lot of disappointment there. I
24:45
think a guy like McCormick, who's the Senate candidate there,
24:47
has got deep resonance in places like that, speaks
24:50
the language of people that live in
24:52
those communities, has the capacity to
24:54
over-perform Republican expectations there,
24:57
but this has happened with too much
24:59
frequency in states that
25:01
Republicans need to win the presidency in
25:04
Senate elections and Governor's elections to
25:07
not be concerned about it. All right? Yeah,
25:10
I mean, because it isn't just a Bucks County problem. It
25:13
means it's also a Maricopa County problem. It
25:16
means it's a problem in those counties in the north
25:18
suburbs of Atlanta. There you go. And
25:20
those are states we have to win to regain
25:22
the presidency. It's just simple
25:24
mathematics. It's a Charlotte problem. Yeah. Well,
25:27
look, look, and last night there was
25:29
also a special in Oklahoma, this area
25:31
called Edmund, which is on the northern
25:34
reaches of the Oklahoma
25:37
City area. And
25:39
this is a district that Trump won by
25:41
like 26 points in 2020, and the Republican
25:43
won last
25:46
night by five points. So
25:49
it is a real issue that has
25:51
to be taken seriously if we want
25:53
to succeed this fall. And
25:55
I think, look, I've got more
25:57
confidence in this Trump campaign for all the reasons.
26:00
that we've talked about, about understanding and knowing
26:02
that those, that is a demographic you can't
26:04
alienate, you got to go try to compete
26:06
for those votes. What has
26:09
been problematic within the party is you've got a
26:11
huge segment of the base at this point that
26:13
has embraced the working class piece, which is great,
26:16
but they've also done everything they can do to
26:18
try to say like, there's no room in this
26:20
party for anybody with economic
26:22
concerns. And there's no room
26:24
in this party for anybody with international
26:27
concerns or anything else. And
26:29
what you do is you eliminate a
26:31
whole bunch of high information flow voters
26:33
who follow this stuff. Like
26:36
it's not just about the pothole that's outside
26:38
of their house. Like they've got like broader
26:40
concerns. Perhaps they're in business,
26:43
perhaps they're, you know,
26:45
they have farmers with
26:47
international trade, perhaps there's a whole bunch of
26:49
different things that go into it, but
26:52
you can't like add
26:54
by subtraction. Like we
26:57
just need to just keep broadening this tent
27:00
a little bit more than we have over the
27:02
last six years, or this is prophetic. It's
27:04
prophetic. I mean, this is what will happen.
27:07
This is what will happen. It's not like, which is
27:10
a disaster. You've got 18, 20, 22, maybe three election
27:12
cycles where this exact
27:16
same thing happened. Now you have
27:18
special elections on a random
27:20
Tuesday in February. The same
27:22
damn thing happened. Well, everybody's like, ah,
27:25
it's bad candidate, bad, bad, bad, bad.
27:29
Not for six years. Not
27:31
for six years. Like there's something
27:33
going wrong there. I mean, we need to
27:35
hear a plan from somebody about
27:38
how they intend to recapture
27:41
reliable Republican votes for 30
27:43
years in the current iteration
27:46
of the Republican party. Just need to do
27:48
it. Otherwise, you're all going to be disappointed
27:50
in November. We're all going to be looking
27:52
for somebody to blame. We're all,
27:54
you know, I mean, it's the same old story and
27:56
it's like, oh, victimization. Look what happened to us. I
27:59
think. that's bullshit. I've never done anything
28:02
in my life where that is a
28:04
satisfactory answer. Like, oh, we would
28:06
have won except for. You
28:08
know? I just don't understand it. And I don't like
28:11
to associate with it. So anyway,
28:14
we're blowing the whistle on that sucker. Keep
28:16
an eye on it. Um,
28:18
alright. Should we just play a game? Yes.
28:21
Let's do it now. Yes, that was so depressing. Let's
28:24
play a game. Holmes, why'd you make me so depressed?
28:26
You made me say all these things that are just
28:28
make me angry. Well, I just, you know,
28:30
it's like you listen to this program because you want a little
28:32
bit of truth. It is true. If
28:34
I just wanted to blow sunshine up your skirt. I appreciate
28:36
it. I would go on like fucking band and show or
28:39
something like that. I would tell you how great everything is
28:41
if you just close your eyes and think a lot. Yeah.
28:44
But it's not going to change anything. No. So,
28:46
but what does change something is
28:49
my reigning championship here in King of
28:51
the Hill. Well, yes, it is Thursday
28:53
and that means the signature
28:55
game of the variety program, King of the Hill.
28:57
I'm judged this week. So handsome.
29:00
And I'm bailiff. And that looks a challenger.
29:03
Smug. Smug being bailiff is always a great
29:05
wild card. I really appreciate that. I do too. You
29:08
never know what you're going to get. Quite possibly the best bailiff
29:10
in the history of the game. Well, I like hearing that. I
29:13
just, you know, in in in
29:15
transparency's sake, I
29:17
have to inform the defending
29:19
champion that the challenger really tried to butter
29:21
me up today. Oh, no. Yeah.
29:24
There was extracurriculars? He came in my office and he brought
29:27
up the lint roller and he was like, can I help
29:29
you, pal? You got a little lint
29:31
on your shoulder. You need a zen. Look what he's
29:33
doing. It's unbelievable. Okay, so you have our defending champion,
29:35
right? I
29:39
do. Yeah, David Fromm. Yeah.
29:41
And who are you bringing as the challenger,
29:43
Ashbrook? I'm bringing an oldie but goodie, Sherry
29:46
Jacobus. Oh, well. Sherry Jacobus. Sherry
29:49
Jacobus. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
29:53
It's been a while, to be honest. And then to Patrick Mahomes
29:55
in the playoffs. It
29:57
is. Okay, well, let's go.
30:04
Ladies and gentlemen, your
30:07
attention please. It's
30:09
time for King of the Hill
30:12
in the blue corner fighting
30:14
out of her own Twitter
30:16
account. Cammie
30:19
Cherry Jacobus.
30:22
And now in the
30:24
red corner fighting out of
30:27
who knows where. David,
30:30
where did you
30:32
come from? Outstanding.
30:34
It's always good. It's always good.
30:37
Our defending champion goes first in
30:39
round one. Okay,
30:42
Spaghetti, I'm going to go with
30:44
exhibit five to start things
30:47
out. This is from
30:49
David from Putin's Last Hope
30:51
is Speaker Mike Johnson. Holy
30:54
cow. Short
30:57
and sweet. Yeah, no. No, no. Seven
30:59
words. Just the hell with it. Known
31:01
communist. I
31:03
don't think it even requires commentary. I know. I'm not going to leave.
31:05
I'm just going to leave it. Ashbrook,
31:09
what do you got for me? Okay.
31:14
Nick, let's go to exhibit 11. And
31:20
I'm just going to describe this
31:22
as a tweet from someone talking
31:24
about how Melania Trump is good.
31:26
Okay. And Cherry Jacobus
31:29
quote tweets, soft core
31:31
porn, gold digging foul mouth, plastic
31:33
idiot who lied about her college
31:35
degrees hates fucking
31:38
Christmas and keeps
31:40
her immigration legal status secret like
31:42
that. Oh, there's
31:45
a lot there. This
31:48
is just on this is on top
31:50
of some unsuspecting random person who says
31:52
Melania Trump is nice. Wow.
32:00
It's a lot to contend with there. Well,
32:02
it's uh This is
32:04
a really tough decision for the judge and
32:06
jury. I mean they're both going on hinge
32:09
in the first round Yeah, and I appreciate
32:11
that ashbrook didn't just roll over and give
32:13
you round one and he he threw back
32:15
a really strong take Although with sherry, you
32:17
never know he might have three like two
32:19
more bangers. Yeah, you never know you never
32:21
know I
32:24
just I just simplicity is what I
32:27
argue here. It's like putin
32:30
Last hope is mike johnson. Yeah, you know I
32:32
I I
32:35
I normally agree and I I do believe that
32:37
you know brevity is the soul of wit however
32:42
Just that screed and the attack of
32:45
a woman on a woman In
32:48
a way that is just so unhinged
32:52
uh I just got
32:54
to give sherry round one. Wow
32:56
the deliberate bias for sherry's style
32:58
is Unmistakable in
33:00
this courtroom. How dare you sir?
33:04
One one more one more outburst like that and you're
33:07
going to be sanctioned by this court. You can't do
33:09
anything to me How does mike
33:11
spaghetti? Look
33:15
let let let the judge explain this
33:17
a little bit further. It wasn't just
33:20
An unhinged take she put a lot
33:22
of time in that nick. Can we put that up
33:24
again real quick? Soft
33:27
core porn gold digging foulmouth
33:30
plastic idiot I
33:33
mean she probably put that in microsoft word before she put it out
33:35
in a tweet Yeah, you know She really
33:37
put a lot of thought in that and I think
33:40
we need to appreciate that genius of sherry jacobis And
33:42
for that reason ashbrook is again the winner of round
33:44
one. It's on to you for round two Um
33:50
your honor, uh, I I know
33:53
that you're aware of this but the
33:55
house representatives warned everyone about
33:57
a national security threat and
34:00
And I believe it's been declassified with
34:02
exhibit number 12. Megyn
34:08
Kelly, whose tweet I will not read,
34:10
but I will describe, of course, she's
34:12
a friend of the program. She's
34:15
just tweeting about an issue of concern.
34:19
Cherry Jacobus about Megyn Kelly.
34:22
Her performative white nationalism is
34:24
a strategic career move after
34:26
she tried once for 10
34:28
minutes to straddle that fence,
34:30
and it didn't result in instant success for
34:33
her. Cherry Jacobus. Okay.
34:38
Holmes? Okay.
34:42
So from, I'm going to go with the
34:44
exhibit number three here, which
34:47
I find, again, in its brevity
34:49
to be completely hilarious. Meanwhile,
34:51
Trump looks to plunder the
34:53
Republican National Committee. Here's
34:56
the painting. Is this apropos of nothing? Apropos
34:59
of nothing. It
35:02
is like he saw a headline
35:05
and went right to Twitter with it. What's
35:07
so funny about it is that there is
35:09
a storied tradition within the Republican Party of
35:11
any nominee, likely nominee,
35:15
to begin a transition of a Republican National
35:17
Committee that they didn't install to put their
35:19
own people over there to ensure that they've
35:22
run a seamless campaign between the campaign and
35:24
the RNC itself. It's
35:26
what always happened. It's happened every
35:29
cycle I've been alive. It's what
35:31
always happened. It's what always happens.
35:35
And this is a plundering.
35:39
Now can I ask one question about that? Yeah. Do
35:42
you have a timestamp? What time you dropped that at?
35:44
I don't have a timestamp on this one. I wish
35:47
I did. Because if I ballpark this, like, I
35:50
guess it's in the early end, maybe
35:52
one or two a.m., it's
35:54
just wild. I'm
36:01
not talking crazy. Plunder.
36:03
As if David Frum has
36:06
spent a solitary second of his
36:08
life thinking about the
36:10
health and well-being of the Republican
36:12
National Committee. Yeah. Your
36:15
Honor, my client
36:17
said that Megyn Kelly is a performative white
36:19
nationalist at the Strategic Career Movement. You know
36:21
the thing is with that take, it's one
36:24
of Sherry's weak ones where there's like no
36:26
oomph to it. The first one had an
36:28
artifice in gusto, right? It had artistry in
36:30
there. This one's just like Megyn Kelly
36:32
is a white nationalist where it's like no one
36:35
believes that no one cares. It's just hot air.
36:37
Thank you, Bailiff. I appreciate
36:39
your support because I too agree.
36:45
You may think I am biased, Holmes, but I
36:47
think my threshold for being outraged at a Sherry
36:49
tweet is actually pretty high. I
36:51
found that one rather pedestrian for her. And
36:55
for that reason, Frum's
36:58
apropos of nothing tweet, it
37:00
wins round two. Like I've always
37:02
said, this court is a harbinger
37:04
of fairness in the dictionary definition
37:06
of integrity. And I can't disagree.
37:11
Okay. Well,
37:15
you know, I'm trying to get a
37:18
little different look
37:21
at all of these variety of things that
37:23
he's weighed in on here because I don't
37:25
like to overlap a whole bunch. But I
37:27
think this one in particular rises
37:30
to a level that the
37:34
hyperbole of it is
37:37
worthy of in and of itself.
37:39
Okay. I'm going
37:41
to go with the exhibit six, Spaghetti. Like
37:47
the equal fierce fight over the Lend-Lease
37:49
in 1941, this is a night that
37:51
will define the
37:55
U.S. Senate for a century to come.
37:58
What he's talking about is the passage of
38:01
the foreign aid to
38:04
Ukraine, Israel, and
38:06
Taiwan, a very contentious and
38:09
modern standards debate.
38:13
For those of you who need a little education on the
38:15
Lin-Lise Act, that
38:18
is the policy under which the
38:20
United States supplied the United Kingdom
38:24
and other allies in
38:26
preparation for the Second World War. Yeah,
38:28
a little different. Against Hitler. So,
38:31
so, so I think in context. It's
38:36
not in detail. Feels
38:39
a little hyperbolic.
38:43
What I love about it
38:45
is the opponents
38:48
of aid abroad
38:51
in this situation will tell you we're going
38:53
to start World War III, and it sounds
38:55
like David Fromm welcomes that. Wow.
38:59
Not just welcoming it. It's
39:02
a premonition at some point of
39:04
what he's predicting to come. My
39:06
Lord. The good news for all
39:08
of you listeners is that David Fromm does not have
39:10
a terrific history in terms of
39:12
predicting these sort of world events.
39:16
We'll be great as liberators. Brutal,
39:19
dude. That hurts. Got
39:22
him good. Okay,
39:26
exhibit 10, please, Spaghetti. Cherry
39:29
Jacobus says,
39:33
since there are precisely zero
39:35
things, this is again, is
39:38
a reminder of former Republican, since
39:41
there are zero thing, precisely zero
39:43
things to hit Biden on with
39:46
policy and accomplishments, Garland's
39:48
team took the cheapest shot and only hit
39:50
they could age. Here's
39:54
where she gets interesting. Trump
39:57
is far older physically and
40:00
mentally, but Garland Herr went
40:02
with a dog whistle to scare people
40:04
about a black woman VP. Oh
40:06
my... That's a bomb,
40:08
dude. I mean... That's a
40:11
killer. The brain worms have
40:14
wiggled down so deep to
40:16
the stem of this woman's brain. They have motor
40:18
function now. They have totally
40:21
controlled her fingers. The
40:24
way that she seamlessly goes from
40:27
Biden to Garland to
40:29
Trump to Herr to
40:32
then this also being a conspiracy
40:35
to undercut Kamala Harris. I'll
40:39
remind the court that the context of
40:41
this tweet is immediately following... You don't
40:43
need to remind her. You don't need
40:46
to remind her. May I... No,
40:48
you can't. No, I think we can jump in
40:50
here. Immediately following President Biden's press
40:52
conference, she says that Trump
40:55
is older mentally and physically. I think
40:57
that context is well provided. I got
40:59
that part, but the whole thing is
41:01
just a... it's a symphony. And for
41:04
that reason, we have a new champion.
41:06
So here's the thing. Wow,
41:09
that was so strong. When he started with
41:11
the Garland thing, I
41:14
thought I was in the ball game here. Yeah, because
41:16
Garland is a frequent... She's always with the Garland stuff
41:18
like Garland is doing X, Y, and Z. And I
41:20
was like, I'm in the ball game. Right
41:22
up until the last two words of the tweet. And
41:25
it was like that all was some
41:27
sort of a deeply racist play. It
41:30
was like she executed a perfect triple sauco
41:32
right at the end. There's like the whole
41:34
iceberg. You got the lure of like Sherry's
41:36
against Garland. You got to the day, like,
41:38
oh, this might be like her usual thing.
41:40
But no, no, she always finds new
41:43
ways to innovate. I deeply
41:45
thought I could compete with predicting
41:47
World War III. Yeah. I
41:49
mean, that wasn't that wasn't weak at all. No, I thought I was
41:52
going to get home. How much is wrong, round three? I thought I
41:54
was going to get home. If I had... But I
41:56
just don't know why Ashbrook, even after you won, you just like keep
41:58
thinking you're defending, dude. I'm not defending. I'm just
42:00
pointing out things I thought were interesting because
42:02
if I had the soundboard here, you know,
42:04
I would press the button and it would
42:07
be Scott Hamilton saying,
42:09
double axle triple Can
42:14
we have a conversation with Lee about this? We
42:17
brought this up several times. He seems to be
42:19
deliberately depriving us. It shows us strong without Ashford
42:21
having the soundboard. I like the way things are
42:23
going. I don't. I don't. Wow.
42:27
He causes problems. First of all, it's rude.
42:29
I don't remember that. I don't
42:31
want him to do the theme song. We're talking 300 episodes. I
42:33
want the West Wing. I
42:35
want the racist button. I'll give
42:37
it some thought. I think this show... Oh, yeah. What
42:43
an amazing thing. I'll
42:45
give it some thought. Wow. Very
42:48
kind and deferential. Yes, yes, yes. Fellas,
42:53
William Bill Post, the inventor of
42:55
Pop-Tarts, is dead at 96. This
42:59
is a man that has played a little
43:01
role in all of our formative
43:04
years by creating the Pop-Tart,
43:06
the beloved toaster treat, as
43:09
the New York Post phrases it.
43:11
He died on Saturday, his family announced he was
43:14
96, a
43:16
Michigan native, son of immigrants who worked his
43:18
way up from a truck washer to a
43:20
senior vice president. He brightened millions of Americans'
43:22
mornings with a sweet pastry that hit
43:24
the shelves in He
43:27
should be able to... They
43:29
have a state funeral in the capital. Just
43:34
for creating the S'more Pop-Tart. Little in the
43:36
whole thing. That one alone earned him that
43:38
right. Yeah, S'more Pop-Tarts were kitty cocaine. Brilliant
43:41
arc. Fantastic. Also, just the cinnamon
43:43
ones. And then who can forget?
43:45
Just on a more low-key day?
43:48
Like classic strawberry frosted. Which is
43:50
so good. And
43:52
you know what? I want to sell a debate that I've
43:54
seen rage for a very long time and I think the
43:56
science has settled on this one. Pop-Tarts
43:59
are better than toasters. Yeah,
44:01
they're better than toaster. I don't think there's a question
44:03
Yeah, there's lots of people who are like oh well
44:05
the toaster students better No, toaster school is absolutely not
44:07
the toaster the toaster your product the toaster shrewd will
44:09
requires you to do some work Yeah, it's like you
44:12
gotta get out the icing everywhere the thing can get
44:14
too hot and turn it like molten lava when you
44:16
take a bite Yeah, right right heart never killed anybody
44:18
right if I wanted to do work in the morning.
44:20
I'd have an omelette The
44:24
only reason they eat food before I went to school for
44:26
every day little something sweet and send you on your way
44:30
It's very kind all right well There's
44:33
a good you guys ever watch Brian Regan. It's
44:35
a great comedian. He's very funny He
44:38
may have this joke about pop tarts on the
44:40
side of the box or instructions for how you microwave
44:42
a pop tart People
44:50
ain't got that kind of time The pop
44:52
tart was like the hack for parents who
44:54
are like very bad at time management Oh,
45:01
you know it's like kids get in the car I'm throwing
45:04
these silver packets at you because you don't even have to
45:06
throw them in the toaster No, that's an optional step. You
45:08
know parents port time management can't
45:11
make their kids breakfast or whatever just Jacked
45:16
on sugar for the first hour of the day. Yes send
45:18
you to your teacher more
45:22
parenting lessons from comfortable I Need
45:27
to play the clip on this one because I need the
45:29
context of it before we get into it clip
45:31
one if you wouldn't mind spaghett's this is
45:33
a We'll
45:36
just get into it But in
45:38
North Carolina aquarium are scratching their heads after
45:40
a stingray in their lab Got
45:43
suspiciously pregnant hmm that steam ray named
45:45
Charlotte is expecting But the aquarium says
45:47
they don't have any male stingrays in
45:49
their case Analysts say
45:52
there might be two ways Charlotte ended
45:54
up in this condition and won't know until the pups
45:56
are born One is a very rare
45:58
process in which the develop on their
46:00
own and create a clone of
46:03
the mother. The second she was mingling with
46:05
one of the young sharks that stayed in
46:07
the tank. Wait what? Last July. Oh. I
46:10
also have a lot of questions here. Yeah I
46:13
hope we can keep up with that. So
46:15
it seems to me like there are,
46:17
I agree, two options. First
46:20
is there's some kind
46:22
of a bestiality thing going
46:25
on. As we've read about in the New York
46:27
Post over this week, people have
46:29
been interacting with animals in unspeakable ways.
46:32
The second is that
46:34
it's Jesus. No
46:36
no no it's the Antichrist. Have
46:39
you seen Omen? This is some dark
46:41
stuff. Did he come back as his thing right? Singtus,
46:44
dominoos. No
46:47
I don't like, I kind of think it's
46:49
more like Jurassic Park. You
46:51
know Jeff Goldblum? Yeah. Life
46:54
finds a way. It finds a way.
46:56
Remember in Jurassic Park they had only female
46:59
dinosaurs. And life finds a way. Did
47:01
no one pay attention to the
47:03
second half of that segment? Like
47:05
the dude said that this could be because
47:07
she was hanging out with sharks. Yeah. Yeah.
47:09
I didn't even know they could crossbreed. You
47:12
gotta kill it dude. Like you want now
47:14
sharks with like, being great prods dude? Like
47:16
you want to further arm these damn things.
47:18
No. We can't take that chance. God knows
47:20
what comes out of there. No I'm glad
47:22
you raised that smug. How
47:24
does a shark bang a stingray dude?
47:28
I mean I don't think, I mean it's tough for anyone
47:30
to kind of fight a shark you know. Now he's
47:32
alleging some kind of a good
47:36
priority. Yeah I bet that shark is
47:38
a criminal. They all are
47:40
in general. They have no morals. They should all be
47:42
killed if you ask me. But like
47:44
we can't take that. Imagine the shark stingray
47:46
dude. It can't be allowed to
47:49
happen. Like first off it's got these jaws
47:51
and then you want to have a stingray
47:53
too? Like where's possible? It's a very good
47:55
point. Yeah. What, Smash, what is that is
47:57
that I assume that runs along the
47:59
line? of the animal war that
48:01
you've been conducting? They're doing everything they can
48:04
to overcome us. And I'm glad this monk
48:06
pointed this out, because we have to be
48:08
vigilant, we have to stop them, and we
48:10
have to continue to ring the alarm here
48:12
at the people for the protection of people.
48:14
Well, because we've been talking a lot about
48:17
this war, but we've never thought
48:19
about how the enemy
48:21
might adapt. Yes. Right?
48:23
And like, if they are starting to invest
48:25
a lot of their resources into the creation
48:27
of hybrids, with upgraded
48:30
weapon systems, because now you've got a
48:33
stingray shark hybrid. It's a stingray, dude. Yeah, it's
48:35
gonna happen. We can't allow that. It's a stingray.
48:37
No stingrays, dude. My watch.
48:39
Yeah, I'm with you. Apparently
48:42
this has happened with Komodo dragons and
48:44
yellow-bellied water snakes. Are you for real?
48:46
Yeah, no, so you're right to be
48:48
all over this. We ought to blow
48:50
it. There's a lot of animals that
48:52
need to die. It's in Charlotte. Yeah.
48:55
North Carolina. And this is the problem, is we
48:57
have a Democrat governor in North Carolina that love
48:59
this kind of shit. Yeah. Did
49:03
you know? I mean, this might
49:05
be the threat that Mike Turner was
49:07
alluding to, being a national security threat.
49:09
This is what Mike Turner was talking
49:12
about. It's the stingray. We need an
49:14
unguided air-to-air missile in Charlotte media. Yeah,
49:16
where's the genie when you need it?
49:19
Oh my God, that just
49:21
says it's positively ridiculous.
49:25
It is in North Carolina. That's what he said. Komodo
49:28
dragon and what kind of thing? No, no,
49:30
no, no, that was other things. Just the
49:32
stingray. Yeah, that's the stingray. It's the only
49:34
thing that I know that is in North
49:36
Carolina. I don't know of any other immaculate
49:38
conceptions in Charlotte. And this thing's an abomination. Bottom line, it's gotta
49:41
go. Yeah, it's gotta go. It's gotta go. All right, well. And
49:43
it's easy to make that happen. Yeah. You just pick it up
49:45
out of the water and throw it on the ground. Ha ha
49:47
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
49:49
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Then it's done. Ha
49:51
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
49:53
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. You don't need a
49:56
long needle. Picking clean. Just
49:58
throw it. Just throw it. throw it in the mulch. And
50:01
then one of these. Yeah. Chomp
50:03
and done. Chomp and done. All right.
50:13
So with that spectacular intro, I think we
50:15
ought to get to our main event here
50:18
with our interview
50:20
with Congressman Tony Gonzalez.
50:24
I want to welcome to the program a good friend of
50:26
ours, a guy we've had on once before, but it's been
50:29
a little while. He
50:31
represents the great state of
50:33
Texas in Texas 23, Tony Gonzalez. How are
50:35
you, sir? I'm great. Thanks
50:37
for having me. I
50:39
think the first time we did this was like over a Zoom or something.
50:42
Yeah. It's back in our gritty sort
50:44
of startup garage band days.
50:47
Yeah. No, it's good. And
50:49
it's good for me. Anytime I get off the hill, I'm in. Yeah,
50:51
I bet. I'm in. It's
50:53
rough out there. I
50:55
know. Glad I made it here alive. I
50:59
mean, only a 20-year veteran that
51:01
I had confidence in. Exactly. Exactly.
51:04
Exactly. One of America's
51:06
heroes, not just in his day
51:08
job as a congressman, but in the effort
51:10
that he's had on behalf of all of
51:12
us in the armed services. Thank you very
51:14
much for your service in the Navy and
51:16
everything else. Of course. Much appreciated.
51:18
Listen, a lot of important stuff.
51:22
You have been, for better or
51:24
worse, sort of an emissary to
51:26
the rest of Congress
51:29
and the administration on border
51:31
issues because of where your district is
51:33
and because you have
51:35
just sort of a practical take. I remember the first
51:37
time we talked to you, there was
51:41
a very real concern that people were expressing about
51:43
body bags. Yeah, that's it. And
51:46
I remember being shocked by that. You
51:50
see a lot more interest now than there
51:52
was initially when everybody thought this was like
51:55
a right-wing problem. Yeah. And now it seems
51:57
like an everything problem. Left,
51:59
right, and center seem to be a problem.
52:01
Be concerned about amazing what happens when it's
52:03
not just taxes that migraine lists and up
52:05
in the Us all over the country Omelets
52:07
you take. In
52:09
my district in particular, people are tired,
52:11
were exhausted, were tired of being on
52:13
the news. No one heard of Eagle
52:16
Pass three years ago, no one heard
52:18
of these little towns and and were
52:20
just exhausted. But it's not just in
52:22
Texas. I met with sob last week
52:24
I met with for mothers at lost
52:26
their children to Fentanyl. Misses the nexus
52:28
that touch touches everybody and it's it.
52:30
You know, distance no longer border communities,
52:33
it's all throughout the country. There is
52:35
some form or fashion. Last week I
52:37
met I've I've visited the F. B. I
52:39
headquarters in San Antonio and for one
52:41
particular reason to talk about terrorism, counterterrorism
52:43
and also to weave in these trans
52:46
national crime. Cm so these these yeah,
52:48
there's a new Venezuelan gangs that out.
52:50
That is that it. I mean these
52:52
guys gobble up And Mr. T folks,
52:54
no one's talking about him, they're called
52:57
that on. There are a lot of
52:59
a eighty eight. Votes.
53:01
No one's talking about him now. Three years
53:03
from now, we're going to be talking about
53:06
himself. This is the threat I think that
53:08
has so many people. Go and wait
53:10
a second here. We don't feel safe. Yeah
53:12
yeah. We also says why we look you've
53:14
you are. Obviously early to
53:16
this just in terms of proximity
53:18
been. Also, you're concerned you're in
53:20
urging of practical solutions and know
53:22
be could wrap their mind around
53:24
all that. We don't seem to
53:26
be any closer to solutions particularly
53:28
with this administration. Ah, but what
53:30
what do we don't? I get
53:32
mean I imagine like the stand
53:34
off between Gov have it in
53:36
the federal government images underscores the
53:38
issue the Ubuntu lagging are all
53:40
on. Yeah, that something to as
53:42
you know restocking about shall be
53:44
part. they're less. one mile a thousand
53:46
miles to the land right and a
53:49
thousand miles of the right is open
53:51
principally right ourselves yeah that's a shiny
53:53
object and but but that does in
53:55
isn't going to get any closer to
53:57
solving it i've hosted twenty two different
53:59
code else at the border, nearly 200, over 200 members.
54:02
You're like a concierge. It's crazy. Yeah. I
54:04
told, Caesar's my chief of staff. I told
54:06
him, hey, if this gig doesn't work out,
54:08
we'll just be Tony's border tours. We've got
54:10
to all walk in. Did
54:12
you get one of those double-decker buses
54:14
and get out and walk backwards? Well,
54:16
I want to see them, I want
54:19
people to see it unfiltered, untapped, hearing
54:21
straight from people, the sources. Because once
54:23
you do, once you see it, you
54:25
can't unsee it. I mean, it just
54:27
changes. Just does. These stories are
54:29
very real. They're gritty. It's
54:32
ugly. And so we've done a lot of that.
54:34
Probably, I'd say, one of the most effective things
54:36
we did is I hosted Elon Musk at the
54:38
border. Yeah. I heard about that. And I kind
54:40
of just hit a wall. I'm going, I'm hosting
54:42
all these people. And more people want to come.
54:44
Don't get me. They're going, hey, can you host
54:46
me next week? And I go, nothing
54:49
has changed. So I reached out to Elon.
54:51
We got him down. And on
54:53
his phone, very Elon, he's like,
54:55
hey, I'm just going to video us. You're
54:57
live and talk. And
55:00
I had a sheriff there. I had mayors, people
55:02
that lived there. It was Democrats
55:04
and Republicans. It wasn't like, oh,
55:07
I stacked the deck with this, that, or
55:09
the other. And they're just kind of relaying,
55:11
along with myself, relaying what happened. That video
55:13
got 110 million views. Incredible.
55:15
I mean, those aren't Fox watchers. Zones
55:17
aren't CNN watchers. Those aren't, I mean,
55:19
and it's just across the board. And
55:22
so I thought that kind of got
55:24
into the bloodstream. But you hit up
55:26
another point, too, is what about solutions?
55:28
I think everyone can identify the problem
55:30
now. And the Biden administration can't
55:32
run away from the problem. What about some
55:34
damn solutions to fix it? I mean, that's
55:36
got to be the most frustrating part. Go
55:38
ahead. It is. Well, I mean, I was
55:40
going to say, I'm so glad that you're
55:42
down there showing people what exactly is happening.
55:44
Because there's so much misinformation out there on
55:46
the internet, never or else. But if you
55:48
can see the images for yourself, the images
55:50
don't lie. What the border patrol is doing,
55:52
they're doing their best to get
55:55
the information out to people. And what we
55:57
now know is it's not just Guatemala.
56:00
Malin family is coming up for a better
56:02
life. There are people literally shipping
56:04
over the Atlantic, shipping over the
56:07
Pacific, fighting age men from China
56:09
who are crossing into our country.
56:11
I mean, the uptick in that has got
56:14
to have, I mean, you've seen a lot
56:16
of change in that in
56:18
your time. I have. And, you know,
56:20
I was walking through the halls
56:22
today and a reporter comes up to me and
56:24
goes, hey, Tony, I'm glad I caught you. Yeah,
56:27
I'm glad you caught me too. Right. And
56:29
he goes, nothing. I love more than talking to
56:31
a friend. I'm like, are you just roaming the
56:33
halls? Like, what are you doing? He's like, Oh,
56:35
I'm glad I caught you. And he goes, what
56:38
do you, what is your take on the numbers
56:40
going down in January? And I go, the
56:42
numbers going down in January, there are
56:44
7000 people crossing illegally. This
56:47
is the worst January we've had in the
56:49
history of our country. Is it as bad
56:51
as December? No, but it's still the worst
56:53
January in history. So it's a lot of
56:55
it is how you frame it. And
56:57
what I've tried to do is just show
57:00
it unfiltered, untapped and let people be the
57:02
judge and also go, this is wrong on
57:04
all levels. And how do we make it
57:06
stop now? You know, add, add politics into
57:09
it, right? And you get some presidential year
57:11
complicated, all these different things. What I've
57:13
said to House Republicans is let's take
57:15
a down payment in 2024. And
57:18
we come back for the rest when we win
57:20
the White House. I think we have to do
57:22
something. We can't just be throwing rocks and yelling
57:24
at the top of our lungs. People demand something.
57:26
Yeah. I mean, this is the point that we've made in the variety
57:29
program, which is like, look, it's very
57:31
unique for the rest of the country to be in a
57:33
situation where you're like, yeah, well, you know what, we'll just
57:35
change the president out and we'll fix it. Granted,
57:38
all that may be true. When you look
57:40
at the record that former president
57:42
Trump had towards the end of his administration with
57:44
the success that they had at the border, but
57:47
that doesn't give any relief to folks
57:49
like you and a border district who
57:51
are looking at the next nine months. Like what
57:53
the hell are we supposed to do with it?
57:55
Exactly. Exactly. And we also have to, we can't
57:58
let the administration run away from this. Right. You
58:00
know, they absolutely wanted this. Two
58:02
years ago, the vice president was
58:05
hosted by a member of Congress
58:07
in—a Democrat member of Congress in
58:09
El Paso. They did a press
58:11
conference there, and that
58:13
member said, welcome to the new Ellis
58:15
Island, right? And they go,
58:17
this is exactly what they want. So it's
58:19
systematic. They have to own these policies that
58:21
are failed. As
58:23
Republicans, we can't just be pointing that out.
58:26
I think we've done a damn good job
58:28
doing that. Now we've got to be the
58:30
party of solutions, real, tangible solutions. What
58:32
I've said, look, doing nothing, not an option.
58:35
But doing something just to say you've done
58:37
something, also not an option, right? What's
58:39
real, what's tangible, and it's difficult in
58:42
this political environment. You've got
58:44
so many different people kind of nipping
58:46
at it, but what I've always told folks is
58:48
you're never going to outboard on me, right? Yeah,
58:50
I'm kidding. Eight hundred and twenty-three miles to the
58:52
southern border. I have two-thirds of the Texas-Mexico border.
58:55
I know this problem set inside and out. Three
58:57
weeks ago, two and a half weeks ago, I went to Mexico
58:59
City. I visited with the president of
59:01
Mexico. I visited with the two leading candidates
59:04
who are going to be the next president. This is
59:06
something no one's talking about either. Mexico is about to
59:09
have a huge election in June. The
59:11
president, their entire Congress,
59:13
and nine governors are
59:15
up for elections. So what's going to happen is
59:17
essentially they're carrying the Biden administration for
59:20
a couple rounds, right? They're going to
59:22
kind of quell everything down a little
59:24
bit. Security's not too bad. And then
59:26
I suspect after June, once everything changes
59:28
back up, let's turn the volume back
59:30
up. I mean, how
59:32
can the volume get higher? I know, I
59:34
know. I mean, that's the thing. Yeah. It's
59:37
like if this is toting it down. Exactly. How's
59:39
the president of Egypt polling in that? Well,
59:41
better than Biden is doing. You
59:46
can't make this stuff up. I
59:51
know. You can't. And you
59:53
know what? It's comical, but it also should scare the hell out of us.
59:56
Right. And
59:58
then everything that's happening with the Sec Dev. You
1:00:00
know, he's out every other clearly the guy
1:00:02
has has health issues, right and all these
1:00:04
other, you know My orcas you go down
1:00:06
the list and you're going like it's it's
1:00:09
comical But it also like we're the leader
1:00:11
of the free world. Yeah, like we shouldn't
1:00:13
be embarrassed about You know
1:00:15
our president can't even put a sentence together,
1:00:17
right? Yes, so so there's some
1:00:19
obvious things that the administration and you
1:00:21
know, president Biden could do You
1:00:23
know with the with a pen right now, you know
1:00:25
remain in Mexico and all those sort of things
1:00:28
and obviously they Won't
1:00:30
do all of those things but outside of
1:00:33
that, you know If you had if you
1:00:35
had that magic wand and there were two
1:00:37
or three things you would do Tomorrow to
1:00:39
at least stem the tide between now and
1:00:41
Donald Trump being sworn in as the next
1:00:43
president United States What would they be? I
1:00:45
think the two things I would do is
1:00:47
get Biden to resign and then It's
1:00:50
gotta be a do
1:00:52
for them with addition
1:00:54
by subtraction. Yeah, you
1:00:57
know It's
1:00:59
pretty simple. I mean it really is
1:01:01
this and every administration's had to do
1:01:03
this Bush Clinton Obama Trump It's
1:01:06
deport people if you're here illegally you don't
1:01:08
qualify for asylum you get deported and you
1:01:10
know what this administrator You remember the Haitians?
1:01:12
Yeah, the Haitians under the bridge in Del
1:01:15
Rio thousands of Haitians I was there unlike
1:01:17
dairy on day two. I was there and
1:01:19
all the humanitarian Christ. Oh, it's horrible Yeah,
1:01:21
but then all of a sudden it went
1:01:23
away right like covered it for two weeks
1:01:25
And then it went away remember the Eagle Pass December 20th
1:01:28
I was there on the ground thousands of people
1:01:30
under the bridge and then all of a
1:01:33
sudden it went away Well, why did it go
1:01:35
away because they started to implement these deportations
1:01:37
are called they're called repatriation flights You
1:01:39
just turn them up a little bit doesn't have to be a lot
1:01:41
So what was happening in the case of the Haitians? They
1:01:44
were getting they were deporting them back to Haiti and
1:01:46
all these a lot of these Haitians. They weren't living
1:01:48
in Haiti anymore They were leaving in Chile and Peru
1:01:52
They had long since moved long since moved
1:01:54
and restarted their life and then they came to they're
1:01:56
like Oh now's the time to come to the United
1:01:58
States and they get rid of their documentation The
1:02:00
messed up part is now we started deporting them
1:02:02
back to Haiti. They're like, no, no, no, I'm
1:02:04
not from Haiti. I'm really living for root. Too
1:02:07
bad your ass is getting on a plane and
1:02:09
you're going back. And the minute we did that
1:02:11
just a little bit, guess what? It
1:02:14
all stopped. That's the Haitian love. Exactly.
1:02:16
Because word spreads. Word spreads. And
1:02:18
they know that it's over. Exactly. The border is
1:02:20
closed. You can say these things, but you have
1:02:22
to do these things. And
1:02:25
the other part too is this administration.
1:02:27
What about legal immigration? What about the
1:02:29
people that are legally trying to seek
1:02:31
work and legally fleeing religious
1:02:37
and political persecution? Legitimate ones. Those
1:02:39
people are getting mixed in with
1:02:41
everybody else. So in many cases,
1:02:43
they're putting the people that are doing it, and
1:02:45
it's not just in immigration. It's everything. It's why
1:02:47
Americans are so mad. They're putting, you're doing all
1:02:49
the things you're supposed to be doing. And all
1:02:51
of a sudden, you're in the back of the
1:02:53
line. But somebody who's cheating and
1:02:56
doing these things in the front of the line,
1:02:58
it's turned upside down. And there's
1:03:00
the people that are exploiting the
1:03:02
asylum system itself. Yes. I mean,
1:03:04
and we need to find a
1:03:06
way to basically expedite the system of review
1:03:08
for the claims, and then deport
1:03:12
people back when they clearly don't
1:03:14
qualify for asylum as it exists
1:03:17
legally. There's
1:03:19
a backlog of like eight years, 10 years,
1:03:21
these people aren't getting reviewed. Sure. Sure. So
1:03:23
how do we do that? You
1:03:26
essentially, it's the rocket dockets work. The last
1:03:28
one in is the first one out. You
1:03:30
start doing that, and then you kind of
1:03:32
stop the bleeding, if you will. You stop
1:03:34
the hemorrhaging. The other piece of it too
1:03:36
is we need our Border Patrol agents to
1:03:38
get back out in the field. They're no
1:03:40
longer doing their job. Yeah, they're out doing
1:03:42
paperwork. Exactly. And this is very
1:03:44
systematic. From the
1:03:47
inside out, have changed this organization
1:03:49
from a law enforcement agency into
1:03:51
a kind of the last
1:03:53
chain, if you will, in this human smuggling piece.
1:03:55
And it's really unfortunate. So we got to get
1:03:58
them back out of the field. catching
1:04:00
those bad actors, catching the drug, catching the,
1:04:02
you know, the fentanyl that's killing all our
1:04:04
kids. Those are some things that
1:04:06
the administration can do today, and they know they
1:04:08
can do that, but they choose not to, and
1:04:11
that's where we got to hold them accountable. But
1:04:13
also, once again, Congress has to find a way
1:04:15
to go, what? Hey, look, you know, I sit
1:04:17
on the Appropriations Committee and nothing says, I love
1:04:19
you, but like money or taking money away. Yeah.
1:04:22
And go, here's the deal. We're not gonna play
1:04:24
any games. We're gonna zero out that account, right?
1:04:26
And if you want money for flights all
1:04:29
day long, let's boost that up. You
1:04:31
want money for these soft-sided facilities that are
1:04:33
just magnets? You're not getting it.
1:04:35
So it's that level of granularity. You can prioritize.
1:04:37
Not just like close the border, since you're the
1:04:39
border. Like, what does that mean? No, I mean,
1:04:42
like what you just described there with the appropriations
1:04:44
process is the stuff that like, people
1:04:46
don't talk about on cable news. Yeah, it's almost like
1:04:48
he knows how to legislate. Right. What are you doing
1:04:51
in Congress? That's outrageous.
1:04:53
It's a side hustle. He figured out the levers
1:04:55
and the daily stuff? Get out of here. The
1:05:01
border is obviously the biggest issue on the
1:05:03
minds of everybody in the country, but you're
1:05:05
also a Navy vet and vets who are
1:05:07
coming back from, or who have come back
1:05:09
from Afghanistan and from other, from
1:05:11
other wars are really struggling in our country. I know you're doing
1:05:13
a lot to help them. Yeah, you
1:05:15
know, I spent 20 years in the military, five
1:05:17
years in Iraq and Afghanistan right after 9-11 and
1:05:22
it's something where veterans, you don't, I mean, they're
1:05:24
tough people. They don't, usually, you know, you don't
1:05:26
know what it takes for a veteran to wake
1:05:28
up in the morning to get up, go through
1:05:30
the day, go to bed at night, and you
1:05:32
don't always see, they're not always missing an arm
1:05:35
or a leg or an eye or something. You
1:05:37
know, they're just kind of very resilient people. Last
1:05:39
people to ask for help. The last people to
1:05:41
ask for help. And they're the
1:05:43
ones that in many cases need the help
1:05:45
and they get frustrated with the bureaucracy. They're like,
1:05:47
you know what, I'm out. So this is something I
1:05:50
think, once again, that's not partisan. Like, hey, let's take
1:05:52
care of our veterans. They fought for us.
1:05:54
We need to fight for them in all
1:05:56
things, you know, not just mental health is a big
1:05:59
part of it. But also just resources
1:06:01
and i'd say this too like my
1:06:03
generation is different than other generations We're
1:06:05
not going to the vfw. We're not
1:06:07
going to the american legion and talking
1:06:10
about fallujah and condahar like, you know
1:06:12
Our generation wants like I just want my meds Uh,
1:06:14
I want to take an uber there. I want to
1:06:17
get my meds and I want to go back and
1:06:19
get back on Youtube or netflix
1:06:21
or whatever, you know, I mean so just you
1:06:23
gotta tackle the problem different So are you saying
1:06:25
that the issue there is isolation? It's like there's
1:06:27
not as much community as there was maybe 20
1:06:29
30 years ago with today's veterans that are coming back from
1:06:31
these places 100 percent. I mean
1:06:34
you used to be in here you used to
1:06:36
be in part of something Yeah, and then all
1:06:38
of a sudden you're removed from that i'll give
1:06:40
you i'll give you a personal example So today's
1:06:42
today's lint I went I went uh, I went
1:06:44
to church earlier today And i'm
1:06:46
thinking what i'm gonna get what am I gonna give up for
1:06:48
lint right and I made the mistake last year I
1:06:50
gave up meat for lint and
1:06:52
i'm a huge meat eater, right? So I was like hold
1:06:55
that was the longest 40 days. You didn't think that totally
1:06:59
And so so this year i'm going all right,
1:07:01
what am I gonna give up, you know Is
1:07:03
it gonna be like something it may be a
1:07:05
little easier and I I couldn't I couldn't think
1:07:07
of it I'm walking going through all these different
1:07:09
things and the father I go to uh, st
1:07:11
Joseph's, uh off of capital hill on the senate
1:07:13
side when I was a senate suffer for marco
1:07:15
rubio That was that's that's the catholic church i'd
1:07:17
go to so even to this day. That's where
1:07:20
my son was baptized No way. Yeah, all right.
1:07:22
So I was there today i'm listening i'm listening
1:07:24
to the father and he goes not
1:07:26
everything's Not everything's about giving stuff up, right?
1:07:28
He goes it's also about adding to the equation
1:07:31
And so one of the things that he mentioned is
1:07:33
try to bring people in your life that have left
1:07:35
that are no longer there Well, my younger brother speaking
1:07:37
of veterans i'm tying this in my younger brother. I
1:07:39
hadn't talked to him in three years, man Ever
1:07:42
since I got into politics this this happens Sadly
1:07:45
a lot, you know, sometimes within your family you
1:07:47
have the division And so we
1:07:49
kind of haven't been talking for three years because
1:07:51
of politics And i'm not one of
1:07:53
those guys that eats breeds and sleeps politics, man.
1:07:55
That's you know Yeah, he strikes me as one
1:07:57
of the very few well-adjusted people When
1:08:01
I come home, I got six kids. When I
1:08:03
come home, it's like, hey, grab a kid and
1:08:05
get you a price. Jack Drake, you got politics.
1:08:08
I get that, thank you. So
1:08:12
I go, you know what? For Lynn, I'm going
1:08:14
to reach out to my younger brother, and we're
1:08:16
going to reconnect. And you'll like this,
1:08:18
too. I
1:08:21
got a bottle of, a friend had given me a
1:08:23
bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 20. Oh, man.
1:08:25
What a great way to reconnect. I'm not even a
1:08:27
big drinker, right? I'm
1:08:29
not a big drinker. My brother's a huge
1:08:31
bourbon guy, right? So I'm like, you know
1:08:33
what? Pappy is going to bring this family
1:08:35
back together. So I tie it in a
1:08:37
little bit of faith and everything else. But
1:08:39
that's kind of like the veterans that have,
1:08:41
they were part, he was a veteran, he
1:08:44
served in Iraq, they were a part of
1:08:46
something, you leave, and you got
1:08:48
to find a way to kind of reconnect. That's
1:08:50
so cool. That's a great way to look at
1:08:52
that, too, by the way. This guy gave up
1:08:54
Twitter for Lent. Oh, yeah. Think that's going to
1:08:57
last? I don't know. It's not like giving
1:09:00
up meat, it's like giving up head trauma. He
1:09:04
tweeted that and his dad, his actual dad
1:09:06
immediately replied, you're not even Catholic. I don't
1:09:08
know if the Vatican is going to arrest
1:09:10
me. You
1:09:12
got to lower your dead dunks on your own Twitter.
1:09:16
Yeah, that's great. It's great. My
1:09:18
dad's a character. Yeah, well played. I'm
1:09:21
glad to hear that. So listen, you
1:09:24
got all this stuff going, politics in the
1:09:27
backdrop of trying to do your day job,
1:09:29
obviously a big march ahead of you in
1:09:31
terms of the appropriations process and everything else.
1:09:36
How does that work out? Do we get through this
1:09:38
without any sort of like government shutdowns and things, or
1:09:40
do you think it's just going to be complicated? I
1:09:43
think we do. I think at
1:09:45
least part of the government, we've been working
1:09:47
really hard. I think something comes together on
1:09:49
that. And this is what I've been arguing
1:09:51
is, hey, look, we got a lot of
1:09:53
conservative wins in these approped spills on the
1:09:55
house. We worked very hard to
1:09:57
kind of get as much conservative wins as we possibly can.
1:10:00
We could take your W. Yeah, you
1:10:02
know, you're not gonna get everything take your win
1:10:04
Well, we got a one-seat majority. Yeah, exactly
1:10:06
Yeah, we just got our you know, we just
1:10:09
got our ass kicked in New York 3 here
1:10:11
Yeah, like take or your wins when you can
1:10:13
get your wind and then once again you come
1:10:15
back for the rest I think that happens of
1:10:17
the government shit there. Don't get me wrong. There's
1:10:19
a lot of people that want to see the
1:10:21
government shut down Yeah, and you don't want it's
1:10:23
an easy message to deliver to our base Yeah,
1:10:25
you know the spending's out of control all these
1:10:27
wool programs I get all that but you don't
1:10:30
the way you defeat them is you zero those
1:10:32
accounts out. Yeah, you put them on you don't
1:10:35
DHS all together you go you're not gonna
1:10:37
get money for soft-sided facilities, but you're gonna
1:10:40
get more money for bortac Yeah, those are
1:10:42
the guys that are you know, manhunting and
1:10:44
doing all kinds of different things It's
1:10:46
that level I think of work that we've done
1:10:48
on the House Appropriations Committee. Now, let's go get
1:10:51
these wins Yeah, I mean, it's good message I
1:10:53
hope you can sell it because I I agree
1:10:55
I think a good conservative win where you can
1:10:57
take it where you have a one seat majority
1:10:59
Yeah, and a minority position in the
1:11:01
Senate and obviously the White House You
1:11:04
guys do what you got to do and not give
1:11:06
them a weapon to hit over your head in the
1:11:08
process That's right in addition that probably helps your people.
1:11:10
Yeah, right. I mean, these are the people who need
1:11:12
it most That's exactly right. I can't go home and
1:11:14
be like well, we decided to shut down because it
1:11:16
wouldn't give us everything we wanted exactly Exactly. How do
1:11:19
you think we're gonna keep these seats? Yeah, somebody has
1:11:21
to be able to go not only to identify the
1:11:23
problem But we've done at least one two things to
1:11:25
fix it. Right that we've built all that out in
1:11:27
the approach bills Yeah, we just got to get them
1:11:29
over the finish line. Yeah. Well,
1:11:31
listen Tony. It's refreshing to hear somebody
1:11:33
who's actually We'll take a
1:11:35
win There's
1:11:38
I mean you look left right and center you get
1:11:40
a lot of crazy stuff in politics He's good It
1:11:42
seems to me like anybody who spent the
1:11:44
kind of time that you have on the ground You
1:11:47
have no other choice but to try to do
1:11:49
everything you can do to provide some solutions That's
1:11:51
it and you can't back we can't back down
1:11:53
There's too much at stake and we got to
1:11:55
hold people accountable our own side their side You
1:11:58
just got to hold people accountable and Keep fighting. It's
1:12:00
the minute we just go. Oh, this is the
1:12:02
new norm. That's what I've been pushing on the
1:12:04
border This cannot be the new norm when that
1:12:06
reporter goes. Oh, the numbers are down. I'm like
1:12:10
7,000 last day and you're you're trying to
1:12:12
get yourself on the back. Oh, give me
1:12:14
good news Yeah, he's
1:12:16
like oh man, you can just see his
1:12:18
world deflated. It's like here's the deal man
1:12:20
We this this goes away when you keep
1:12:22
pushing for it But you know what man?
1:12:24
I will say there's a lot of there's
1:12:27
a lot of good solid members on the
1:12:29
hill that truly want to find solutions and
1:12:31
deliver It's just the politics gets in the way
1:12:33
and you got to have people bold enough to
1:12:35
be able to go no No, no, no, we're
1:12:37
not we're not this nothing squishy
1:12:39
about this that or the others like we're delivering
1:12:42
Conservative wins we take a little bit
1:12:44
at a time. Yeah. Yeah, no question
1:12:46
brass tax politics a lot of
1:12:48
discussion over the last four years about Your
1:12:51
region of texas in particular and kind of
1:12:53
a changing political environment How
1:12:57
do you think that all breaks down in the context
1:13:00
of 2024 I mean clearly the border is Issue
1:13:03
a1a I imagine there's economic
1:13:05
issues Associated with all
1:13:07
of that and then just larger You
1:13:10
think like does trump trump win your district? You think
1:13:12
in 24? Yeah. Yeah, no doubt. No doubt He won.
1:13:15
He won. He won the last time. It was close.
1:13:17
I think a little over 1% It's
1:13:19
right on that razor's edge where you gotta ask,
1:13:21
you know, yeah, it really is it really is
1:13:23
but uh, my district's over 70 Hispanic, so I
1:13:28
I can it's mexican american I mean it's important
1:13:30
to to know like the different porta ricans are
1:13:32
different Cubans and I mean just everyone's different in
1:13:34
there amazing how the left just sure Throws
1:13:36
you all in there. You're all latin x I've
1:13:41
never heard that before but okay, it's not
1:13:43
spanish. They're all the same So
1:13:46
yeah, exactly, but this is the interesting part and
1:13:48
this is what i've been telling folks is Latinos
1:13:51
are all over the country and they're not
1:13:53
where we're yeah, we're talking about Texas
1:13:56
and you know southern florida new
1:13:58
york and california But
1:14:00
now they're they're everywhere man. Yeah, they're absolutely everywhere
1:14:03
and this is I think a block We
1:14:05
can win places that you don't expect if we
1:14:07
just that'll be the margin that gets you over
1:14:09
the finish line And you know what we don't
1:14:11
have to change a damn thing You just tell
1:14:13
them this is what we stand go compete. We
1:14:16
go compete and you show up Yes,
1:14:18
that's how we win over and over again.
1:14:20
You show up the other side ain't gonna
1:14:22
show up No, the other they've gotten so
1:14:24
crazy on the other side people are going
1:14:26
like hey, man Yeah, that's I mean up,
1:14:28
you know I'm a lifelong Democrat,
1:14:31
but that's insane So
1:14:33
I think I think well and that's the
1:14:35
thing right in these multi-generational communities that you're
1:14:38
talking about There has
1:14:40
been a history of voting Democrats. Yes you
1:14:42
do Yeah, and now you know because of
1:14:44
being a multi-generational community you look at it
1:14:46
and you're like Doesn't
1:14:49
seem like those guys are totally representative Biden
1:14:53
right, you know he stumbles over, you
1:14:56
know two sentences and you're like, yeah, no, I'm
1:14:58
out This guy ain't exactly doing I
1:15:03
mean it is incredible to me that they just
1:15:05
sort of take this vote for granted over and
1:15:07
over again But I think because of guys like
1:15:09
you There has been not
1:15:11
only progress made on educating people on the issues
1:15:14
but showing up You gotta show showing up and
1:15:16
competing for the vote. That's it and changing these
1:15:18
communities as a result Yeah, I think I think
1:15:20
it's gonna be really exciting I think you're gonna
1:15:23
see the next generation of conservatives come on board
1:15:25
and it has nothing to do with where you
1:15:27
from or Background it has everything
1:15:29
of what you know shocker goes back to
1:15:31
our principles We're in what we stand for
1:15:34
and delivering and all that. So I'm really
1:15:36
I'm really Excited about
1:15:38
the future of kind of where things
1:15:40
timeless stuff Listen if our
1:15:42
listeners want to help you out obviously
1:15:45
because of the critical role you play
1:15:47
in serving up
1:15:49
conservative victories where you can get it it
1:15:51
makes you a target and That's
1:15:54
in the political arena something you got to fight back
1:15:56
against and so our listeners have always been interested in
1:15:58
that if they want to Help you out where
1:16:00
they go. Tony Gonzalez for Congress, Tony
1:16:04
for Texas is my Twitter handle. Just
1:16:07
get involved. We have our weekly newsletter.
1:16:09
We try to give real things what's
1:16:11
happening. There's so much just misinformation
1:16:14
and lies and everything gets spun
1:16:18
and we try to give people the ground
1:16:20
truth. You know these videos that we're showing
1:16:22
of real people on the ground, what's happening
1:16:24
and we're just gonna keep doing that. We're
1:16:26
not gonna push back. Right, left,
1:16:28
center. I love this country man. I've
1:16:31
always served this country. I always serve this
1:16:34
country to my very last breath and I
1:16:36
think we need more of that that just
1:16:38
aren't afraid. Like aren't afraid to win. You're
1:16:41
not afraid to win. A lot of people in
1:16:44
this town, they just don't want to lose.
1:16:46
It's not about losing. It's like you cannot
1:16:48
be afraid to win. Take a win when
1:16:50
you can get a win. Yeah, that's very
1:16:52
well said. At some point
1:16:55
maybe enough people contribute where you can get duck
1:16:57
boats down there at the border. Thank you so
1:16:59
much. Really appreciate it. Thanks,
1:17:07
brother. It's
1:17:10
impossible not to like
1:17:12
this guy. He is thoughtful.
1:17:15
He served our
1:17:17
military in the Navy for 20 years.
1:17:19
He was highly decorated by the way.
1:17:21
Iraq, Afghanistan. I mean
1:17:24
you notice he never talks about that. Yeah. Like
1:17:26
he had a kind of pride out of him with
1:17:28
his work on behalf of vets because he's not like
1:17:30
the kind of guy that just goes around talking about
1:17:33
his service. Like he just sees it
1:17:35
as part of his personality. I mean
1:17:37
it's just to know guys like
1:17:39
this and all of you are listening you know
1:17:41
somebody like this. But it's just like one of
1:17:43
those service-oriented people
1:17:45
just wants to help people. This
1:17:48
is one of those guys. I just
1:17:50
have total respect for him. I think he's really really good
1:17:52
at what he does. I think more
1:17:54
people ought to listen to people like him and he's also the
1:17:57
guy who's standing like in the abs
1:17:59
right now. There. Yeah. Worst
1:18:02
possible place for what
1:18:04
we've seen on our southern border. Yeah.
1:18:07
Everybody watches and follows Bill Milugin
1:18:09
at Eagle Pass. Yeah. And
1:18:12
he's the Congressman for...he's basically Bill
1:18:14
Milugin's Congressman now. Yeah. Seriously.
1:18:17
Yeah. I mean, I guarantee you
1:18:19
that they are very close at this point, having...I
1:18:21
mean, he's everywhere. Anytime there's anything,
1:18:23
he's there in the district, spends a lot of time
1:18:25
doing it, and that's how you get that perspective. Yeah.
1:18:28
And it's a tough district, and it's one of
1:18:30
those that really is a majority maker. Yeah. You
1:18:32
know, so go to his website, chip
1:18:34
in, get involved. Yeah, help him out. These
1:18:36
are the races that matter the most. I
1:18:38
think the stuff he was saying about veterans,
1:18:40
it's very, very, very important. Yep. And
1:18:43
especially the stuff about these veterans who've come home
1:18:45
from Afghanistan and Iraq and are like isolated. Yep.
1:18:47
You know, it's important stuff. Guys in it for
1:18:49
the right reasons. Go to his website. Help him
1:18:52
if you can. With
1:18:54
all that, it's been a hell of a week. I imagine
1:18:56
next week we'll agree this was something similar, and off
1:19:00
we go, but I think we've done it. I
1:19:02
think so. Absolute banger of
1:19:04
an episode, gentlemen. Again, thank you
1:19:06
so much, Representative Gonzalez, for bringing your insight to
1:19:08
the show. And thank you
1:19:10
so much to the Minions. Don't forget, subscribe on YouTube
1:19:12
and see us in video on top of audio. So
1:19:15
until next time, Minions, keep the faith, hold the
1:19:17
line, and own the lives. We'll see
1:19:19
you on Tuesday. David with Wiz.
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