Rough transcript of Hour 1
Hour 1 Segment 1
He waited all day to post something on my social sites and I want to
relay it to those of you who dont necessarily go on the Internet and
therefore have a very healthy mind. Those of you whove listened
carefully to my show the last several days. Loyal listeners. Youve
heard me. Youve heard me say the speaker contest will soon be over.
Youve heard me say that some of those among the 22 have been principled
in their positions. Some have been self-serving. Some have simply wanted
to scuttle McCarthy and through attrition, find another candidate that
they never had. Now, how do you think I knew all this? I made it up. I
also said I was in contact with several of the individuals among the 20.
Several of them are my close friends and weve endorsed several of them
on this program as well as others, and that there were also outside
individuals and groups inside the Beltway claiming to represent you, and
they dont represent you trying to exert influence on the selection
process. One of the names I mentioned was Mark Meadows and CPI. But
thats a footnote really irrelevant to me. Now, some of these people
contacted me. Some of these people asked for my help. Including people
in the negotiations. This was not a tidy fight over philosophy. With
conservatives versus establishment, even though there certainly was some
of that. Even though there certainly was some of that. But it appears to
be ending well. But that was not a given either. It took a few and I
mean a few good individuals to bring some focus to what was chaos. Ive
also read on my Twitter site where I said, Chip Roy deserves a great
deal of credit. For his outstanding leadership the last 36 to 48 hours
in the negotiations, and hell be on this program in 20 minutes. Chip
and I go back a ways. But there were still holdouts and there are still
holdouts, although I dont believe that will last very long. For reasons
few have understood to this point. Because theres no reason to be a
hold out at this point. 15 of the 21. Are pleased with whats taken
place now. The majority of the Freedom Caucus had already opposed whats
taking place. So whats left? But I want to surmise again. Actually more
than surmise. But Ill say surmise this will soon be over with McCarthy
as speaker and a solid rules package. Three days ago, none of that was
certain either the rules package or McCarthy. Now. After all these
years, all these battles weve been in together. I want to thank those
of you who. To understand who I am, what I stand for. And that unlike
others in this business. Im a long time activist. I am mission oriented
for constitutional Republicanism. Thats my goal. Thats what I do. So I
stopped reading comments on the Internet because a lot of these people
are leftists or Democrats or just plain morons and aholes. Marks a
sellout, marks a rhino. Mark will never sell you out. And hell never be
a rhino. This was very messy. It wasnt. Oh, theres two groups. Group
B, the Conservatives. Group B, the Liberals and the establishment. How
is that even possible with Jim Jordan on the other side with a majority
of the Freedom Caucus? On the other side, I go on and on because it
never was. And some of the good works of those among the 20 was being
undermined by some other motives and attitudes among some of the 20. I
know that, as a matter of fact. And I know, as a matter of fact, that
some of these groups that put out this letter did not have your best
interests in mind. And they would be perfectly happy just to burn things
down. Thats not who I am. Thats not what I do. I believe, Kevin
McCarthy. In this next round of voting. Well get his number. And we
will monitor that. That is we will monitor him as speaker. We will
monitor all the members of the House of Representatives. We will monitor
the Republican majority. We will make demands of our own outside the
Beltway, outside the system. Thats what I do. Thats what we do. Thats
why were living nights. Thats why we have live in surges. And none of
that changes. But I must tell you, its thanks to you that Im in this
position. And in many respects, its thanks to you that this got done.
Words about the ghetto. There are blowhards. I have one right here. Im
not going to lift this person up. Hes kind of a young punk. Writing
another column that Mark Levin needs to look in the mirror. Look in the
mirror of what? Because he backed the establishment. No, I didnt. This
guy has no idea what I was doing. If he listened carefully to this
program, I was putting out little hints. Ladies and gentlemen, I have
confidence as even to this moment, which I cannot I cant bear. Im
telling you more than I probably should right now. But. I just want to
thank those of you. Who are loyal, smart. Constitutional conservatives.
And have faith. We have faith in each other. And God Almighty. It is
unfortunate. Thats some of the voices out there, including young voices
who want to be noticed, who want people to read what they write or hear,
what they say, who want to draw attention to themselves. Its very
unfortunate that they dont learn. From those of us whove been through
nearly half a century of these battles. Half a century. Of these
battles. So think about it now. Maybe just listen carefully. Have a
little bit of faith and trust in somebody youve listened to all these
years. Ill never steer you wrong. Certainly not intentionally. Ive
said it so many times, Mr. Producer says, Why do I keep saying it?
Because apparently Im not being clear. Im not a special pleader for
Kevin McCarthy. Im not a special pleader for Matt Gaetz either. Im not
a special pleader, period. They never had an alternative. They never
were going to have an agenda. They couldnt agree on an alternative.
They couldnt entice somebody to be an alternative. But they were
following a plan that was given to them by an individual outside the
House of Representatives in the Republican Party. But the plan didnt
work. The plan couldnt work. Did you know that? Well, now you do. And
when you hear some hosts. On radio and on TV, but especially radio. From
what I understand, telling you, this battle was worth the fight. Ask
yourself this. What exactly are they talking about? Which battle? If
certain members of that 20 had won the day. This would be going on for
months. And the conservative agenda would not have been advanced. This
would have been going on for months and the conservative agenda wasnt
even their priority. They were trying to settle scores. Some still are.
Thats their thing. Thats not my thing. And thats not your thing. The
enemys running away with the country. Right now. Every day theyre
running away with the country. Im not going to spend all day on this
because I want to talk about January 6th. In which Joe Biden does
everything he can. As a lowlife street hack politician to exploit
everything that goes on in this country to his benefit. And he lies
through his teeth. Lies through his teeth. Ill be right back.
Hour 1 Segment 2
We have used this platform to endorse a number of candidates because we
want to take on the establishment and change whats taking place in
Washington. Were not just blowhards with columns or organizations or go
to meetings. In fact, they dont do any of that. Three of the six Klein
Rosen down Boebert they were on this program or in other programs that
weve endorsed. Weve endorsed Briggs. I told you before I could never
support him for dogcatcher. Given his role in the Arizona State Senate
blocking convention of states. Gates, to me, is not a conservative. Hes
a hes a fly by night. And good to me is a massive hypocrite. He took
more money from the McCarthy PAC, I think, than anybody. $2 million won
by the skin of his teeth. Why did he take it and why doesnt he return
it? Then I would see some consensus, consistent principles in the guy. I
mean, I dont understand it, quite frankly. So that to me is a character
issue. Thats a character issue. So those are the remaining six. As best
as I can see. Ive also been troubled by the brutal attacks on Newt
Gingrich. Newt Gingrich is an iconic figure. Route. Gingrich succeeded
in taking back the House of Representatives during Bill Clintons
presidency. For the first time in almost half a century. He is a
brilliant, brilliant man. Hes a great patriot. Hes helped
conservatives his entire life. This is precisely what I mean. Again, Im
not a special pleader for Newt, but I watch whats taking place. And
then these these so-called new conservatives, these young. Are they
right? Like Marxists? Time to throw out the old and bring in the new
throughout the old. What shall we throw out the old Bible? Shall we
throw out the old declaration throughout the old Constitution? Shall we?
Throughout our founders and framers, they dont even realize they sound
like Marxists, they think like Marxists, and they are enormously
egocentric. So that is a problem we have to just like. So many parents
have with their children. And they like to lecture us. The third one
terms, they dont even describe. They dont even define. And they want
you to think theyre really smart. Draw attention to themselves. You
know how you draw attention to yourself? By not trying to draw attention
to yourself. Do the right thing. Be principled and consistent. One day
somebody might write a book, not me, about whats taken place the last
four or five days. And I suppose I will have some prominence in that
book. I dont look for it. Absolutely dont. Same with other situations
in the last 20 years. Again. I dont look for it. I dont want it.
People come to me for advice. And on certain occasions I see things
going on where I want to provide advice. Sometimes things dont just
happen, ladies and gentlemen. Sometimes battles are not so easily
divided between good and evil. Are conservative and non-conservative.
And you in your own lives be very selective about what you listen to,
who you listen to, what you read, because theres a lot of people trying
to play you. Including some people who dont even identify as
conservatives, who now say, Im not a conservative. My, my, this Im a
that Im not, you know, cool that. Well, these guys arent Aristotle.
Exactly. Theyre not Cicero. Theyre not Adam Smith. I dont know what
they are. But Ive said what I needed to say. Ill say more next week
when were back. Were going to have a great show on Sunday with
Representative Comar, whos going to head the House Oversight Committee.
And I want to know about everything thats on their plate and how they
intend to go about that. And we have Chip Roy coming up now, at least
supposedly on our radio program. And were hopeful and also expect to
have him on the Sunday show as well. Ill be right back.
Hour 1 Segment 3
Chip Roy, how are you, sir? Good, my friend. How are you? Im good.
Youre in great demand now. Do you know why? Well, right now Im still
Im still in the bowels of the capital, running around trying to make
sure we get this all inked and squared away. But were still working to
try to find. But thats why. Because I would say the last 48 hours or
so, youve been a key person trying to negotiate a deal where these
rules could be put in place and where the vast majority of the members
could have their speakers and that about. Right. Well, weve had a
pretty busy and successful three or four days. Thats true. Trying to
get actual change to the way this friggin place works. And you and I
have spent you know, and weve known each other, I dont know what, 15
years now or something. And and we have spent our lives dedicated to
conservatism and limited government and trying to stop the swamp,
basically, to use the former presidents terms. And unfortunately, as
you know, this place is hardwired to do a bunch of stupid stuff. And
were trying to break the back of that. And thats what the effort has
been about for the last five or six weeks. And obviously its been done
through the conduit of the speakership, which necessarily gets ugly. But
what weve been able to do by kind of leveraging that is pretty
exceptional. If we can get it done, we have to get through the votes
tonight and weve still got to get a rules package adopted. But but what
weve gotten is pretty darned exceptional for empowering rank and file
members to stand up for our constituents against the swamp, because the
swamp always wins. If we dont change the rules of this place, it
doesnt matter whos in the chair. If we dont have the right rules to
get it done without getting in the names of personalities here, you had
different personalities among the 20 with different objectives and
different motivations too, did you not? You know, we had differences of
opinion, no doubt, and different ways of approaching it. But of course,
all of Congress has different, different ways of approaching these
things. And, you know, from the beginning. So if you back up. Right. So
some of the some of the guys that that that some have said are more
recalcitrant and unwilling to move understand that the leverage we were
able to get to change things was due in significant part to their
willingness to say Im against Kevin early on in December, in late
November. Now, the posture I took was to work with some folks to put
together a document to say, Hey, here are the seven or eight things that
I think should form the nucleus of what it would take to support anyone
for speaker. And then we spent and that started the conversation of
moving, you know, negotiations. Okay, well, lets change some rules. And
so, you know, we were able to negotiate a rules package to get single
subject bills and germane this so that youre not getting all these
random topics and stuff. 72 hours to read the bill. Not now. Just a
couple, you know, things like the vacate the chair, right, where you
have the accountability on the speaker, which is important for members
to, you know, defend their minority rights. So all of that was
predicated on our willingness to say, hold on a second, there wont be a
coronation unless were able to get the kinds of things that are
necessary to make the house work again because its been so badly
broken. So, look, I think theres been a lot of people out there, and
Ive gotten calls from donors and activists and and frankly, some of
them, with all due respect, Im in the middle of negotiating on their
behalf and theyre pounding me with text message saying, you know, you
got to do this, do this deal right now. Im like, well, what the hell do
you know, man? You know, I dont think you write me. By the way, I got
the same thing here. Im getting something here now. Well, yeah, go
ahead. Well, you know, these guys, they write a 1500 dollar check or
they show up to events. Well, God bless. Im glad they do. But my duties
with 750,000 people I represent and to make sure that I can actually do
the work for them. And I cant like even if even if we just if wed
anointed Kevin on December 1st, we never would have gotten these
substantive changes and these substantive changes and more conservative
representation on the Appropriations Committee, more conservatives on
the Rules Committee. Id have more to say about that tomorrow once we
get this all in tonight. But when weve got all that stuff set, were
not going to have the ability to stop the kinds of crap that Mitch
McConnell, which I think is crucial. But but, but yeah, but we have to
be honest here. Some of these people, the rules were the rules and they
use the rules, but they were just trying to settle scores. I happen to
know three of them. They just dont want McCarthy Right. There are
certainly some individuals that I think are pretty, you know, not
willing to want to support. McCarthy And look, thats fine foreignness.
And I say it. Yeah. Right. And in fairness, if you go back in time, some
of the votes in the past and some of the decisions in the past and I
could go down a laundry list, but at this point were trying to move
forward because weve got some changes in place. There are some darn
good reasons not to trust. There are, you know, the creep that. Hold on
now, Pat. Hold on now. But so then why didnt you guys have somebody to
rally around and why wouldnt somebody step forward? Well, thats thats
part of the thing. But but also, its difficult for individuals to pop
their head up sometimes when the threats are going around. So lets
rewind to Monday. We were putting forward some last minute good faith
efforts to try to get to 218 on Monday. Well, Tuesday morning we go to
the Republican conference meeting and they start ripping everybodys
heads off and they lied about the way that things are done. They accused
us of wanting petty things. Hold on a second. I put my name on a list to
be on the Rules Committee. I dont want to be on the Rules Committee. I
might do it if asked, but I dont want it. And I didnt ask for
anything. Not one thing. Im not getting any plum assignment, but some
of them did. Literally. I think some people have bought and sold their
votes, and a lot of people that arent a part of the 20 have bought sold
their votes because thats the way this place works. Im not doing that.
But but then they accuse us for some of that crap. And then Mike Rogers
said, Were going to kick you off the committees. Now look easy, buddy.
By the way, I dont even know who Mike Rogers is. Hes the chairman,
right? Hes the chairman of the Armed Services. Or you will be you go to
the Armed Services Committee. And so hes. I never liked that guy, by
the way. Well, and look, these and Im going to try to Im going to Im
going to be a nice guy. Im going to try to not swing at these guys. We
were all coming together right now and we got to go turn our fire to the
Democrats. However, our Republican friends, our appropriator friends,
our military industrial complex friends need to take a step back and
stop spending money we dont have in the name of our men and women. Slow
down. So lets hold on now. Lets talk about the military. Yeah,
Everything you guys stand for is not necessarily conservative. You could
be pro-military and be conservative and want to cut the military, be
conservative, correct? Correct. Correct. You and I dont see eye to eye
on the military, do we? I actually think we do accept the distinction as
Im trying to fight a battle on spending. That means I cant accept the
default position of where a lot of the military guys here are. I want to
grow our military. I want to increase. I want to have, you know, the
best Navy. I want to make sure that its the most modern and well
equipped. But I want to carve out a bunch of the woke crap. And we dont
we never hold that, no matter how conservative. No conservative
disagrees with carving out the woke crap. But my question to you is
handed, though. But like always. Okay, then cut it out. I dont
disagree, but. But thats not what the says. Because it. Well, putting a
cap. Well, no, because I. Well, no, no, no. So the spending caps that
were saying we need to put in place to cap spending in FY 22 levels
says nothing about the defense. And thats what a whole bunch of people
are running around like chickens. Their heads cut off. Hold on, hold on.
But theyre not just a whole bunch of people at some of the 20 who are
saying this. Theyve said it to me. Well, I dont think any of the 20 or
saying is going to cut defense spending. Gates has said its going to
cut defense spending. Well. Well, if hes or if he said that, then hes
playing and hes playing some games on that. But the fact is, the one
what it is, is 1.471 $1.471 trillion, those spending levels and then
everything under that we have to set. So what we should do is go cut
non-defense discretionary and then go do what we need to do to get it to
hold and to balance for ten years. Thats what were putting forth in
our plan. Its kind of like the cut, cap and balance of 2011. Were
putting constraints on the appropriators to check the spending. We got
to make them eat it. Look, you know, you and I both know how this is
probably going to work. Were going to try to get something passed.
Schumer wont do it. And were probably going to have a continuing
resolution next September. Thats almost certainly whats going to
happen. But our effort is to try to force us to go through and set
spending levels at fiscal year 22 caps because we blew the lid off of it
after COVID with non-defense discretionary spending. I want to shift the
spending from non-defense discretionary to defense discretionary. Now, I
want you to tell the American people, simply given with all these rule
changes and so forth, that there really is only so much the House can do
with one party control, a different party in the Senate, different party
controlling the administration and a five vote majority. Isnt that
right? It is. Right. But Ill give two caveats. One, with the oversight
powers, we can obviously do a lot, and thats part of it. And thats I
mean, with that. But Im not talking about that. I agree with that. Im
talking about. Well. And financially. Sure. Well, but the second thing
is, on the dollars, we can certainly stop the advance of spending. So a
continuing resolution, Well, that would save a lot of money because you
know how Mitch McConnell and the appropriators want to do, theyll
increase more spending so we can at least hold that spending in check.
The third thing thats important is the stuff were debating now, these
rules and all these things that seem arcane to the average listener. And
I get that were trying to force this place to reflect, have them fight
for them in 25 and 24 and 25. So, Lord willing, we get a Republican
president and we get a new Congress and we get the Senate that weve set
the tone and the culture and the rules. To not screw up like we did in
2018. Remember when we blew it on on health care? When I say we, I
wasnt here, but they they blew it on health care. They blew it on the
border crap in July of 20. I got a couple more quick questions. Yeah, I
know youre going to youre on your own. Know youre in demand. Yeah,
but the fact is, if youre presented with some massive bill from the
Senate, even though youre trying to prevent that and you come to
loggerheads, youre going to have to shut down the government. We
actually it needs to be done ship. Well, so, look, Im Im not Im for
playing that hardball tactic, you know, that number one. Number two, and
of course, Trump did that. That was when I came into office in 2019. We
were in shutdown, but we did include a provision in in this agreement
that House Republicans will advance a continuing resolution within 30
days from when we pass our appropriations bills to set spending at 98%
of current level spending. Now, why does that matter? Were setting in a
trigger, a default haircut on on C.R. spending. So youre reducing
spending so that were not shutting government down and were going to
send that over to the Senate. Now, they wont pass it, but will message
it again. So maybe we enforce it, pass it, But I doubt it to say, look,
nothings going to shutdown. Theyre going to be spending its going to
be in a haircut. Now, you want to you want to get stuff done. Lets sit
down and do appropriations, but stop playing your short, your shutdown
game. So were going to try to message that. Weve got that in our
agreement. Were going to message the debt ceiling that we dont think
we should pass a debt ceiling increase without a combined fiscal year.
Senate House deal. Is there anything in the rules about the border?
Well, there is, in fact, not in the rules, but in our agreement with the
leader in order to get our votes and support, its that we must move
through what I call the Texas border plan, which is what we developed.
We have all Republican members except for one you No one in the Texas
delegation that got on board, and we got that through. And hes agreed
to move that, including a really important bill that I introduced that
says you must turn away or detain rather than encounter and release, and
that you put that into law. Now, Biden is not going to sign that, but
its important that we pass it. And then weve got tools to use when
were fighting on spending next year to try to. Jan Biden with that
stuff. I just want the audience to understand you got McConnell, whos a
complete sellout in the Senate, and hes got a majority of those
Republicans behind him no matter what he does. And youve got Biden in
there. So if they think that that this is going to change the world,
its not going to change the world. It will change how the House
operates. It will change, as you say, the messaging. Thats very, very
important to persuade the American people and tee it up for the next
election. And Im all for those things. But I dont want us to mislead.
And youre not. But I dont want us to mislead the American people to
thinking that now were going to be able to get rid of 87,000 IRS
agents. Were not. We can tee it up, but were not. That thats true. At
the end of the day, were going to. What are we? Were going to fight
over spending. Were going to have oversight, but were going to pass
some righteous bills that the Senate will pass. Thats basically whats
going to happen over the next two years. But it is important that we
change the culture. So we have a provision here to say I can now offer
amendments on the floor during appropriations to cut spending. Mark has
been able to do that for a decade. Thats one of the reasons why
spending is off the charts. We have other changes in here to give us
more power in terms of the single subject bills. 72 hours to rebuild. So
youre happy with the package, right? Youre happy with it? I am very
happy that this package is is truly pretty transformational if we adopt
it all and stick to it. So let me ask you about the accountable. You
think youre going to get the remaining two votes or three votes you
need at 10 p.m. tonight? I believe we probably will, Mark. And I dont
want to get ahead of my skis. Its important for negotiation purposes. I
believe were going to be in good shape. Theres still theres some
debate about whether some of the moderates in our party will accept the
rules package. And thats thats something were trying to work through
tonight. I hope thats I hope thats not a hiccup. We can get the votes,
we get the rules package done, and then well get busy working under
these these are these the terms of this agreement to have fiscal
accountability opening up the House for rank and file members and
ensuring that were going to be able to hold the speaker accountable.
Those are all very important things. And importantly, that we dont have
control of the Rules Committee with three solid conservatives on the
Rules Committee, I hope. And and how many Republicans are on that
committee? Nine. There are nine. Its usually nine and four. And
importantly, if youve got three, youre in a good spot to get the
details, but youre in a good spot to make sure that only good stuff
gets through. Well, let me just say this to you, Chip. On the first day
of this, things were kind of messy. I think youd have to agree with
that. And then. And then I think. I think you took it upon yourself to
try and pull it together, try and get a position for at least a majority
of the 20. With respect to some of the rules and some of the positions
you were taking, in other words, you still had to organize yourselves.
And I think the last 36, 48 hours, thats whats happened in large,
largely due to you. Am I wrong? Well, outlet here that you saw from the
heads that Ill let other people judge that what my like my role here is
to fight my constituents and work with my friends and colleagues to do
stuff. And it is important to say Mark and to move forward my
conservative allies and this includes some of the people that that have
been a little recalcitrant, that are great patriots that fight and fight
hard for the country. We move the ball forward a lot. This is really
important what weve done. You know, my friend Russ Vote, former
director of ops. I got 30 seconds. Yeah. All right. Russ loves this
stuff. He loves what weve got here on the defense spending. Also, the
Church Committee, I think. Talk about that. We got a a truly church
committee style, a goal to be honest. To be honest with you. I discussed
with Jim Jordan months ago. Its been called a church committee, but he
was planning on creating some kind of a force He hadnt decided on what
to do, exactly what you guys pretty much have come up with. I, I know
what Jims a good friend, but we made it a lot better in the last 48
hours. I promise you. Much better. All right, brother, Because thats my
focus, frankly. All right. God bless you, Chip. Hopefully well have you
on our Sunday show. Take care of yourself. Working on it. Working on it.
God bless. All right. You too. Well be right back.
Hour 1 Segment 4
Im under the clock when youre on radio, unlike podcasting and like
live in TVs. So I wanted to get a number of questions in. And Ive known
Chip Roy a long time. We talk a lot. And early on, you know, when he and
others said they were having this great debate on the House floor, I
still didnt see a great debate on the House floor. All of this is being
negotiated behind closed doors. And other members are now just learning
about the various rules. Some of the information was put out, but all
the details were not put out. So, of course, the irony is they werent
an open process. This was not really an open process, but in the end,
theyre going to vote on it. So I guess its open in that sense. But to
me, when you say its this is the way its supposed to be, a great
debate. There was no debate even now, theres no debate. Weve got more
big news. Well be right back.