Rough transcript of Hour 1
Hour 1 Segment 1
Let me tell you a little bit about what goes on around here in Rush
Limbaugh. And I used to talk about this. I dont think theres anybody
on the air. On a national radio program who was closer to Rush and spoke
more to Rush than I. Period. Thats how close we were. And we would talk
all the time in the past till I obviously got ill. One of the things
that bothered him a lot and he would touch on it now and then with you,
but he would touch on it with me a lot. Are these groups inside the
Beltway? Some of them claim to be conservative groups, libertarian
groups, both groups, limited government groups. And he said they are
endlessly fundraising and endlessly lobbying him and annoying him to
take certain positions. And he was a very polite man was Rush. He put up
with it, but he didnt like it. He would accept the awards from a number
of these groups, even though he was not a great fan of how they would
process things. And I know what he means now because I get this all the
time and these groups send out letters or petitions and then they claim
to represent you. And if I were to go through the name of some of these
groups, you never would have heard of them because they dont represent
you. So the sanctimony is really unbelievable. In. If I asked you the
name of some of these people, I told you the name of some of these
people. You wouldnt know who they are either. Now, theres a lot to get
to today. We got Mitch McConnell down there in Kentucky celebrating the
fact that he sold out the American people and knew weve got this battle
going on in the House where a number of my friends who are in this tow
are getting up and sanctimoniously telling us what we already know, what
already has to happen, and dont have the foggiest idea how to get us to
where they claim they want to take us. But the swamp in Washington,
D.C., is not just the left. We have a place in Virginia When we first
purchases placed about 40 miles outside of Washington, D.C., there was
literally nothing around us 20 years ago. Nothing. Now the Washington
subway comes out here. Weve got where there were two lane roads. We
have six lane roads, overpasses, huge malls, massive, massive Internet
buildings, these massive, windowless buildings. The Chinese want to take
us out. They know exactly where to hit us. And Loudon County. I was
pointing it out to my wife. When? At night. The other night, as we were
driving down a particular route, I said, Look at this, every side of the
road. Every side of the road. What is that? Thats Washington. Thats
the growth of government and all of its appendages and all the rest.
Its the swamp. The swamp isnt just Washington. Its beyond Washington.
Its people who feed off Washington. Some of them feed off Washington by
saying the same damn thing day in and day out and patting themselves
when they add that theyre going to save America. You get these
requests. Theyre not going to save a damn thing. Youre going to save
America. And so in many ways, they claim to be one thing and theyre
quite frankly, not. Theyve been spent their entire lives and careers
living off of Washington in one bizarre form or another. So I dont pay
attention to them. Most of them claim to have clout. They simply dont
have. Its a fact. And unfortunately, I have to pull the veneer back.
Its the nature of the beast. Also, I dont just fall into line. Because
20 people on Capitol Hill have taken a position that is utterly
inarticulate as far as Im concerned. 20 people. Look at Matt Gaetz.
Matt Gaetz strikes me as the ringleader of this. Why isnt Matt Gaetz
being offered up as a potential speaker? Would he get 20 votes?
Probably. Can he get 21? No way. Matt Gaetz tonight is attacking Donald
Trump. Matt Gates isnt Mr. Wise Man. Matt Gates has a lot of dirt. So
why is he doing that? Im a big fan of Lauren Boebert, by the way.
Stolen. Why she taking shots. Trump. Right before her election. We had
her on the program several times. Weve met her. We like her. She said
that she was going to support McCarthy and he must applaud God knows
what, almost $2 million into her campaign and she won by a couple of
hundred votes. Well, what was it that caused her to accept that money
but to reject him? Its a fair question. And why is Mark Levin, who has
spent his entire life fighting rivals and Republican establishment,
whether it was for Reagan in his hometown, whether it was when he ran
and actually won for the school board when he was in law school. Backing
Kevin McCarthy. Im not backing Kevin McCarthy. Ive said this a
thousand times, but people dont want to listen. They want to believe.
They want to hate. They want to target. They whatever it is. Its just
easier to put the suit on and be whatever you are. For me, this is even
a battle between conservative and Rhino. Is there somebody about 201 in
the last vote? Jim Jordan. Jim Banks. Tom Massie. Palmer of Alabama.
Moore of Alabama. I can go down a list of scores of serious, solid
conservatives. Are they opposed to securing the border? Are they opposed
to the conservative agenda? No. In fact, theyve been fighting for the
conservative agenda, frankly, longer in Congress than many of my friends
who are of the 20. And youve got 25 members. More than half of the
Freedom Caucus who are not voting. With the other 20. Why is that? Are
they sellouts? Because they love McCarthy. No, its because we see the
enemy. The enemy is Biden. The enemy is Schumer. The enemy is what the
Democrats have been doing to this country. We see the Marxists. We see
what theyre doing to the courts. To the Justice Department, to the FBI.
We see what theyre doing to our former president. We got two years less
now. To take matters into our own hands. But we cant trust MacArthur,
they said. Then youll remove them. Then youll remove them. Now, who is
it exactly? Who is it exactly of those conservatives I just mentioned
who are stupid? Whos a sellout? Whos a RINO? Whos a McCarthy? Who are
they? Theres none of them. So theres this false narrative thats
created like the left. And if youve been around Washington a long time
in one of these groups, you create, in many cases, false narratives. And
they dont want you to think for yourself and they dont want you to get
beyond the first point. You can see it in some of the comments on social
media. But if youre like me, youre sick and tired of all these
blowhards. Thats enough. We put you there as small as the majority is,
its a majority. We put you there to help save the republic, not to kick
each travelers ass. McConnell is running away with the Republican
Party. Hes running away with the agenda. Theyve already put the
omnibus bill in. McCarthy didnt support the omnibus bill, but he had no
power. He was in the Republican minority in the House, and McConnell
moved as fast as he could to get around the Republican majority. Now, we
dont even have a majority. Theyre not doing anything. I can get in
here and give you the best speech and anybody. I can give a better
speech than the ones you heard today from the 20. I bet I can do a
better speech in my brother Roy. Chip. Roy. Our Byron Donalds, our
Lauren Boebert. But the fact of the matter is we have the ability now to
control committees. What kind of a wimp would appoint Jim Jordan to head
the Judiciary Committee in a coma to head the Oversight Committee? I
looked at some of these names on my list. You got some people been there
for two years, some who were preparing to run for the Senate. Some were
demanding committee assignments. These are not all principled
conservatives. Hell, they all voted for Kevin McCarthy to be majority
leader. Excuse me, Minority leader two years ago. Those who were there.
Those who were there voted for McCarthy to be their leader two years
ago. I have no problem with duking it out over these rules. And if you
get 80 or 90% of what you want, great. But theres another 201 or 200,
two of them in there who are not liking whats going on. What are you
going to do about it? And they say theyre their representative
republic. Well, 20 doesnt represent the republic. Does it? I dont
think so. I dont understand what my friend. And he is my friend and we
were the first to bring him on national stage on Fox. Byron. Donaldson
He is my friend. Hes a very earnest man. And he got to where he is the
hard way. I dont understand how you vote for McCarthy twice. Then
youre the stalking horse for the other 19. In vote after vote after
vote. What did the first two votes mean? I mean, its almost its
perplexing. Its nonsensical. I dont understand how youre Matt Gaetz,
where youre walking around behind the scenes. Youre on TV, youre
working groups, youre working out, youre in front of the camera. Hes
not even a member of the Freedom Caucus, and his name is never proposed
for speaker. Why? Why is that? Does that make sense to anybody? Now.
Ive got a lot more. Ill be right back.
Hour 1 Segment 2
Were not going to spend all day on this. Whats the point? See what
happens. They are in a meeting at 8 p.m.. I just find theres a lot of
blowhards in Congress. I really do. And I dont want I want to know how
you vote for McCarthy to be your Republican leader. Two years ago, I
didnt vote for him. In fact, I was busy criticizing him and and now
this. Again, Im not opposed to a two duking it out. Ive done it a lot
during my entire life. I in this radio and so forth and so on. But if
you dont have a candidate to put forward and get more than 20 votes out
of 221 or 222, and I have the Democrats talking about, well, well give
you a few votes, you know, if we can work it out. Something as feared
and Ive told you about that worries me a lot. I think what should have
these 20, they can declare victory. Theyve got a lot of things done. I
think there has been a lot of negotiation. Ill be right back.
Hour 1 Segment 3
Chip Roy is asked to come on the program if he can get out of their
meeting. Theres a meeting going on now. Of course, hes more than
welcome. Hes an old friend. And this is from Bloomberg News. Key
committee assignments become latest source of contention. House Speaker
Fight moves into second Day. Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, who was
among those who questioned whether the coronavirus originated in a lab
in China, Wants chair wants to chair a House Armed Services
subcommittee. Maryland Republican Andy Harris, one of Congresss most
conspicuous opponents of abortion and recreational marijuana. This is
them writing, not me. See here. Once the gavel of the Appropriations
Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, a freshman wants to a list
committee assignments. Lets see whats going on here. This is like
blackmail for committee assignments. Now, what about other conservatives
whove been around a little longer who want committee assignments? What
should they do? Walk out. These are just some of the latest demands in
exchange for their support of McCarthy to be the next speaker. A person
in the negotiations has told Bloomberg News. Are you people impressed
with this that we should be going through this for that? I thought these
were bigger issues. They go on TV and they talk about transparency, the
72 hour rule, and now its I want to be the subcommittee chairman of
this and I want to be the subcommittee chairman of that. And I want the
all powerful rules committee. They want four out of the nine. Committee
slots on that committee, theres theres 20 of them. Lets see here just
reading this. Spokespeople for Gates and Harris did not immediately
respond to requests for comment on their demands. Here are some of the
latest concessions. Tennessee Republican Andrew Ogles. I think he was
just elected like the other freshman has yet to take the oath of office,
wants seats on the powerful Financial Services and Judiciary Committees.
Efforts to call OGLES, a conservative who voted for Jordan as speaker on
his new office line, were unsuccessful. So heres a guy whos just
elected and he wants to prime seats. Does this sound like country? First
to you, Mr. Producer. Seriously? They want four of the nine seats on the
House Rules Committee, which will give them outsized influence on what
does and doesnt get to the floor of the House. They want four seats on
a on all of the A-list committees, a move that would be met with stiff
objections from other Republicans. And, by the way, including other
conservatives. So this really is about. This is. This is this. This is
blackmail. I wonder what my. Fellow conservatives think about this. So
this is the. These are the latest demands. So when my friend Chip gets
on TV and said, you know, were sick of these bills, they come out this
way, they come out. We have real bare knuckle stuff going on here about
subcommittee chairmanships, about committee assignments. Even for people
who havent even been sworn in yet. And, of course, it means that some
other members are going to have to be removed. Does that sound right to
you folks? It doesnt sound right to me. Now, if youre literally
fighting over rules, I get that. But now, if youre fighting over, I
want this and I want that. And you ever give it to me or Im not voting
for you for speaker. Thats not a principled argument, because all of a
sudden, I guess you trust McCarthy. All the arguments youre making is
that hes a rhino, that he cant be trusted. Hes been there 16 years or
you dont like him and blah, blah. Well, and now its our. Give me this
committee assignment and Ill vote for him. At least for about five or
six of these guys, maybe more. Give me these committee assignments and
Ill vote for him. Now you can imagine what would happen if that is the
payment for their votes, which I dont know. Maybe McCarthy will pay
that for their votes. Im not involved. I have no idea. But what happens
if 20 rhinos step up and say, okay, cool, we like that. We want four. We
want the other five positions on the Rules Committee. And while were at
it. We want to chair this committee. And we want subcommittee chairs for
that committee. You got one of these goofball group. Whats it called?
The. I dont know. Its like the bipartisan group or whatever. Lets get
stuff done. Group. What if they make demands? Because the the majority
is so slim. This is what I means when people write me or say to me, all
the rhino. Rhino really, really must be listening to the wrong station.
You want to know when a rhino is A rhino is somebody who does this to
we, the conservative people. Who gets their outside groups to support
them, to send letters and raise money while theyre trying to position
themselves for a better seat on a committee. And some of them want to
run for the Senate. Now, that is a rhino. Its also an A-hole. Now let
me see this article again. And I would like to. I would like to know if
Mac Gates, if thats what youre up to, pal. Andy Harris. Who are the
others? Ogle Ogles. Excuse me. From Tennessee. Hes not even sworn in
yet to major committee assignments hes demanding. Now, let me ask you
folks something. You dont all live in these districts. You dont all
live in Gatess district or Oracles district or Harriss district in
Maryland. So one guy has a Florida district. One has a maryland
district. One has a Tennessee district. Another guy here. Im just
reading this has an Oklahoma district. Oh, What about you and your
district? So why should the people in one district have representation
on these key committees, have their representative as a subcommittee
chairman or a committee chairman because they were blackmailing the
other 203, including your representative? Why is that a good thing?
While we are conservative here, we dont trust McCarthy. But they do
trust McCarthy. Several of them are willing to vote for them if they get
these assignments that they want. And they wrap themselves in principle.
This is what makes me sick to my stomach. And so many people buy it. And
so many people buy into this because they want you to buy in. I dont
buy into anything. I take a look. I apply my experience and my
principles. And thats where I come. Thats where I come out. Thats
where I come out. And if something doesnt make sense to me, it doesnt
make sense to me. These guys are being portrayed as great patriots, and
some of them are, by the way. But among them, obviously, are individuals
who are your typical political blowhard hacks who come from other parts
of the country who are trying to position themselves for more power.
Its not about And I said the state this isnt about a conservative
moderate or a conservative establishment battle. Its just not. And
maybe this is one of the reasons they cant persuade Jordan. To lead
their battle or Jim Banks to lead their battle. Or maybe this is why Tom
Maceys not participating on their side. Or Moody of West Virginia.
Maybe theyre on to this. Maybe they see this and they want nothing to
do it. Maybe thats why theyre even a minority. The Freedom Caucus.
Theyre not a majority of the Freedom Caucus. Gates isnt even a member
of the Freedom Caucus. Maybe. Maybe thats whats going on here. They
dont have all the conservatives. They dont have the Republican I think
its called the study committee. I mean, theres 201, 202 other
Republicans. Theyre not all liberals. Theyre not all rhinos. A
majority of them are conservatives. Well, why arent they thrown in with
these 20? Well, its Washington. Its this one Washington in the swamp.
I just told you what several of these people among the 20 are seeking.
Power. Position. Not all of them again, Ill say not all of them, but
some of them. Including Gates, who didnt respond to Bloomberg. I hate
to be the bearer of bad news. I really do. I really do. Ill be right
back.
Hour 1 Segment 4
But I hear McConnell next hour. Its unbelievable. We can all agree on
that one, right? This guy is just disgusting. Hes now the longest
serving leader of either party or any party in the Senate in American
history. Its disgusting. And I. And I would like to know. And Im quite
serious about this from Matt Gates, from Andy Harris, from these
freshmen seeking these seats. This Andrew Ogles of Tennessee and these
others. Are you are you blackmailing the Republican Party? Are you a
blackmailing the conservative base? Are you blackmailing MAGA so you can
have special treatment to get seats that you want in, but in front of
the line of other conservatives? Is that whats going on here? Now, keep
in mind, this is Bloomberg, but they write GOP hard liners angle for
plum posts as price of McCarthy votes. Again. Florida Republican Matt
Gaetz was among those who questioned whether the government member wants
to chair the House Armed Services Subcommittee. Do that overseas, say
China. In the lab, Maryland Republican Andy Harris, one of Congress is
sort of over. Once the gavel of the Appropriations Subcommittee on
Health and Human Services. Okay. Whos in front of the. And what
district does that individual represent? Because, you know, we have
conservatives, MAGA, Republicans in every district. These are just some
of the latest demands from the so-called conservative hard line. Theyre
not conservative, hard, hard liners. In exchange for their support. For
Kevin McCarthy to be the next speaker. Now, this is just grotesque to
me. Because this comes down to me blatant political blackmail. And its
not about what theyve been saying. They dont trust McCarthy This
McCarthy that McCarthy. I mean, I think I have more issues with McCarthy
than some of these guys, quite frankly. Lets see. With neither side
appearing willing to settle, some lawmakers suggested the stalemate
could go on for weeks. Spokespeople for Gates and Harris did not
immediately respond to requests for comment in their demands. Tennessee
Republican Andrew Ogles. Who hasnt even taking the oath of office yet.
It was just elected once seats on two powerful committees, financial
services and Judiciary. Thats the only way hell vote, he says. This is
good to exposes. These guys want transparency. I want more of this. I
want to know exactly what the hells going on in that room right now as
Im on the air. And I hope Chip Roy does call in. I want to know exactly
what the hells going on in there, because we, the people have a right
to know. We the people have a right to know whats really going on. They
want four of the nine seats in the House Rules Committee. So 20 of them.
Out of the 222, I think it is Republican majority. 20 of them want four
of the nine seats on the Rules Committee. What about other conservatives
who want some seats on the Rules Committee or in line to get seats? They
dont matter. Because theyre not putting a gun to the head of the
country. And so these guys have really the ones Im talking about here
are not all of them. Well, Ill wait. Lets wait. I will wait. Lets
take a few calls here. John. Im not sure how to pronounce this. Let me
just say Oklahoma. XM satellite. John, how are you? Im great. Youre a
great American, Mark. Glad youre out here on the air. Well, thank you.
Ive been here and talk about these interviews, about the people that
are old now, and they dont really have a good reason why. And you just
listed a few that I hadnt heard but made me wonder, you know, maybe
theyre being paid off to the whole the whole process. You know, Jim
Jordan can open his investigation. And then as I was on hold, it
occurred to me, Im kind of wondering how many of these people were
backed by Mitch McConnell in there when they were campaigning. And then
it occurred to me that maybe Jim Jordan not opened up an investigation
on Mitch McConnell with his questionable ties. And so I just want to say
couple of things here. I wouldnt say that these guys are paid off and I
wouldnt say that these guys were backed by McConnell. I would say that
these guys really have no strategy, that theyre theyre upset about
whats taking place in Washington. I think thats legitimate. But what
you have to do is focus on the enemy. And in this particular instance,
none of these guys have a great record. Many of them voted for McCarthy
to be their leader. Many of them are now negotiating for themselves in
their own districts. Its almost like these earmarks. They go into these
massive budgets that they say they oppose. They want special earmarks
for their committee assignments. And you, sir, will be left out, your
congressman and where you live in Oklahoma. Hes not one of the 20, as I
understand it. So you will not get special representation. Theres
something very weird about this. Ill be right back.