WEBVTT - Why June 14th Matters More Than You Think | A Conversation with Congressmen Joe Walsh 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.119 Chief Schmidt here with the warning, and I am joined 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:07.560 tonight by my frank Congressman Joe Walsh writes the Social 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:11.360 Contract you can find out a substack. It's a great 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:15.640 substack site. I urged you to follow it, to subscribe 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:18.680 to it. We'll talk about that phrase, what that means, 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:25.200 the social contract, a social compact, and that got broken 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:30.960 in America a long time ago, and understanding how it broke, 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:35.520 why it broke, when it broke, is KTA understanding why 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:41.680 we have a fascist in the White House, Because, as 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:45.720 I pointed out early on in this at the beginning 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:49.839 ten years ago, fascism rose in the nineteen thirties not 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:54.120 because it was strong, but because democracy was weak. It 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:58.040 was rotten, it was detained in the whine of republic. 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:03.240 We're lucky in America that we have a much stronger democracy, UH, 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:08.080 with with much stronger foundations and a history. But it's 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:12.200 being tested. And what Trump is, I think is is 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:15.720 certainly clear. So we'll talk about that, the social contract, 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:20.640 the social compact, talk about citizenship and the meaning of that. 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:24.759 We'll talk about what's going on in the news, UH, 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:29.600 and we'll talk about specifically an issue UH that's in 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:36.160 the news, which is presidential fitness, presidential coherency, and and 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:40.800 very specifically let's talk about that with regard to Donald Trump, 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:47.760 who is serially incoherent, uh, inco inconsistent, and and I 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:52.520 think let's start with with with right now, when you 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:56.760 look at this trip across the Middle East and you 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:03.240 see the disrespect from the Trump cabinet officials before the 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:07.800 Article one branch of government, before the Congress, when you 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:12.800 see the lion, when you see the law breaking, when 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:19.040 you see the sneering, it leaves you breathless, and you 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:25.000 sit there and you say wow. And I kind of 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:31.440 lean back and say, these people really believe, truly they 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:35.000 have a license to do whatever they want on the 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:39.240 basis of forty nine point nine percent of the vote 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:44.800 and a presidential election and the delusion about the stolen election, 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:50.240 and they are completely off the rails. And the idea 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:55.120 that there isn't going to be an accounting for the 0:02:55.480 --> 0:03:00.240 epic law breaking, for the epic taking for the steering 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.280 that we're saying is just mads to me. 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:05.320 And so I just like, how did. 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.320 You see it when you watch all of this? 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.000 First off, Steve Smith, damn good to be with you. 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:19.400 Brother, Thank you for all you do. Look, Trump believes 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:20.639 he's an untouchable. 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.240 He believes you said it, Steve. He believes he can 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:28.720 do anything he wants. He believes he'll get away with 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:33.280 anything he wants to do. And again, don't take this wrong. 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.120 In a way, I can't blame him. The son of 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:39.080 a bitch tried to overthrow an American election four years 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:40.040 and four months ago. 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:41.520 He didn't pay a price for that. 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:46.200 He committed crimes trying to overthrow an American election, and 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:47.680 he's back in the White House. 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:49.600 I mean, he's an idiot. 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:53.720 But Steve, if that were me and I got reelected, 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:58.040 I think I'm an untouchable too. It's a scary place, 0:03:58.080 --> 0:03:59.720 and the people around him believe that. 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:05.720 Is well, if you're sitting there in Congress, and and 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:12.480 I'm thinking specifically of Chris Murphy, I'm thinking about it, 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:18.920 Eric Swawell, I'm thinking about it, Jamie Raskin. People who've 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:23.000 done an exemplary job at these hearings, with a Christy nome, 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:27.560 with the cash totel holding holding them to account. Then 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:31.680 you see the contempt, and you see the indifference and 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:36.320 the nonsense and the refusal to answer basic questions in 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:39.560 the In the case of Eric Swallwell, hey look at 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:43.440 the picture, right, she refuses to look at the picture. Bill. 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:49.039 I've been backstage right as a staffer, and a lot 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:53.240 of hearings, been on the presidential side, behind the behind 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:57.280 the witnesses and Supreme Court confirmations and stuff. So, been 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:01.560 on both sides of the room, and usually when that 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:06.400 hearing is over, you don't go into the room kind 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:10.119 of like huh, right, like where do we go from here? 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:13.160 And so if you're on the Democratic side and I'm 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.560 trying to think, if I was the first person swallow 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:21.040 wells he's backstage, I'd be like, great job, But honest 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:23.880 to god, I'd be like around the table, I'd be like, 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:28.520 so what, Congressman, what what the fuck do we do here? 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.679 What's the next round of questions? Like what's the what's 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:37.440 the question right that you start asking them, Like, for example, 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:45.680 do you start and say, uh, Mountam secretary, can you 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:48.200 talk to me for just a minute or so about 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:52.600 the article one branch of government and how you and 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:55.960 how you see? I mean, what what's the leadoff question? 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:00.239 That kind of starts to frame when these people are 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:04.600 up there. Some of the bigger issues right at the 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.200 foundation of all of this that we got to figure 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:10.520 out how to start talking about in opposition. 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:17.320 What's the question, Steve, That's a great question, and I 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:20.839 think you're right to think about Article one. I think 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:25.080 you're right to focus on every fucking unconstitutional thing this 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:28.920 president has done. I go back, Steve, I go back 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:32.520 to the hearings for all of his cabinet officials. 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:34.760 And every single one of. 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:38.320 His picks to be in his cabinet was asked, point blank, 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:42.640 did Donald Trump lose the twenty twenty election? Did Joe 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:46.520 Biden win? And none of them would acknowledge that, Not 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:51.160 Pam Bondi, not Pateel, none of them, not Marco Rubio, 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.560 none of them would say Trump lost the twenty twenty election. 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:59.240 So I'd start with a question where you know they're 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:02.760 not going to tell you the truth. And I think 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.760 it should be centered around I say this as a 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:07.520 former member, damn it. 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.160 It should be centered on what Congress should be doing. 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.840 The playing from guitar, I mean, he can't accept that 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:20.000 gift without Congressional approval. Rights as Madam's secretary. It says 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:24.280 it right there right in the Constitution. I drilled down 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:28.440 on something like that where you know they have to 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:31.520 lie to try to get away with it, and I 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:36.200 just keep pounding, Steve. I think the Democrat's biggest problem 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:36.880 is they. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:38.680 Sound like politicians. 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.600 I want them to sound like just somebody who's fucking 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:48.320 pissed off, a regular person who's righteously angry. I think 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:49.960 that's what the American people want. 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:50.160 To hear. 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:57.360 When you think about right this, like exact moment, right, 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:03.720 we're here in May, and where are we going to 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:07.560 be by Labor Day? Where are we're going to be 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:10.120 at the end of the at the end of the 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:10.840 summer here. 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:17.360 Well, I'll tell you what the summer, Steve, I think 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:22.960 could be ugly, only in that as the weather gets warmer, oops, 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:29.720 as the weather gets warmer. These protests are growing very organically, 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:33.439 Steve Schmid, These protests are growing, and I think they're important, 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:35.240 and I think they're important to grow. 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:38.760 You know, Trump won in November and everybody kind of 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:40.719 checked out for a couple months, but. 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.880 Then all of a sudden, organically in January and February, 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.920 people started springing back up. So I could see some 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:51.840 ugliness this summer. I still believe, and I know you've 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:55.400 said the same damn thing. Trump is looking for an 0:08:55.400 --> 0:09:00.600 excuse to go after Americans on the streets. I'm still 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:03.960 expecting that this summer, and I want to know how 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.880 are the Democrats going to respond to that? How are 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:09.040 they going to take that on? Are they going to 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:10.800 righteously go after that? 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:17.120 These have to be peaceful protests. The opposition has to 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:20.880 be disciplined, and Democrats have to have no tolerance for 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:26.600 any radical element, any extremist element that seeks to ignite violence, 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:32.120 that seeks to provoke violence that gives Trump a pretext 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:37.480 of any type whatsoever, anywhere. And there can't be a 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:43.400 single instant where you have reporters on television, you know, 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:46.680 fronting the American people and telling them the opposite of 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:52.400 what is happening is is happening. And so the opposition 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.559 has to be credible, It has to be decent, it 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:57.959 has to be better. And I think there's going to 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:01.440 have to be some new and decent faith is right 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:08.120 that become synonymous with change in America, that emerge in 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:11.560 a time of in a time of real crisis, and 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:16.120 I think we're just experiencing that right now. Is that 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:22.080 you have a cohort of people that are in a 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:28.440 dynamic inside the Democratic Party that are not focused on 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:32.600 fighting back against Donald Trump so much as they are 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:38.800 consolidating their position, their power, their authority within the Democratic Party. 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:42.640 So example, you know with Chuck Schumer imposing litmus tests 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.680 on Senate candidates that hey, you got to support me 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:49.640 as the leader in order to run right for a 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:53.240 US Senate race in this state or that state. And 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:58.800 that's wrong because these races should not be decided by 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.480 the Senate leader from New York in Washington, d C. 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:07.280 In these cloistered back rooms. And it's been a disaster 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:11.560 for the Democratic Party. And so Democrats all across the country, 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:14.320 Like you said, I think that you're going to see 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:19.839 a wave of normal people, ordinary people, if passed his prologue, 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:25.800 get involved in campaigns at a congressional level. And I 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:30.000 think the question is is how high does the tsunami 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:33.600 wave come? And I think are there is there a 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:38.440 chance to see some independent candidates running in Republican districts 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:43.480 with no Democrat running at all, maybe leaving it blank, 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:46.560 that might have some success, and they can be in 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:51.360 a coalition with Democrats in Congress to oppose all the 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:55.200 insanity as need be. But you know, I think that 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:59.440 there's going to be a lot of opportunity for there 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.000 to be people lac Date who never thought they were 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.640 going to be impiled. Takes four years ago, in about 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:06.880 eighteen months. 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.839 Steve, I think you're spot on, and I do think 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:14.240 you're going to see independence running in a number of 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:18.120 congressional districts, maybe even a state or two. Look, I 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:22.160 come from the Tea Party. I know there's good and 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:26.160 bad right with the Tea Party. But I think what's 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:29.880 going on in the Democratic Party right now is reminiscent 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:33.800 of that. The good elements of the Tea Party were 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:36.720 that we thought we were the conscience of the Republican Party. 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:39.520 All of this debt, we got to quit spending all 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:43.440 of this money. I see the Democratic Party having kind 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:48.280 of their own Tea Party movement. Look you know this, Steve, 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:50.199 You're one of the smartest guys out there. 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:52.240 We're living in a populous moment. 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:56.079 Regular people are pissed off at a broken political system. 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:58.280 Trump recognized the moment. 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:02.800 He's a fake popular he's a demagogue, he's an evil populist. 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:07.680 But like Democrats haven't even recognized this moment. I spent 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:11.120 every day last year in a battleground state, campaigned for 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:18.440 Kamala Harris and Steve Schmidt. Everywhere I went, average regular 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:22.200 voters told me a variation of, Hey, Joe, I know 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:25.280 Trump's an asshole, but the Democrats look down on me. 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:28.480 They don't understand me. I heard Steve. I heard shit 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:33.160 like that everywhere from just regular folks. There is a 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:38.240 yearning out there right now for people you nailed it to. 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.679 They want to see regular people. They don't want to 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:46.800 see politicians. And again, they want to see people righteously angry. 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:51.680 Some Democrats have gotten that. Most of them still go 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:54.559 sound like some talking. 0:13:54.280 --> 0:14:03.160 Point when you hear think about this moment, right there's 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:10.400 no escaping the fact that the Democratic Party lost to 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:16.640 MAGA in twenty twenty four, and that's quite an achievement 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:22.800 to lose to the most loathsome political movement since the Confederacy. 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:29.680 And so there's just no question that something better has 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:34.840 to be offered. And one of the cycles that is 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:39.920 true in American history is that we look at great presidents, 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:46.400 they have usually followed epically terrible presidents. And with Trump, 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:51.240 we have the worst president in American history and the 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:54.360 most abusive by the time, by the time we get 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.880 to the end of this, and so I think that 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:02.480 there needs to be a reform and renewal era of 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:07.320 American politics where people are able to understand that we 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:10.160 live in a big country, that we want to have 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:12.440 the right to disagree, we want to have the right 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:17.360 to dissent, and that we have to work together because 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:20.920 we share some things in common. And we have an 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:27.880 idiotized society that is going to pay the price. And 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:32.120 we'll see how costly the catastrophe it come is going 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:36.640 to be. But no question in my mind that we 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:40.920 are headed for big trouble. I want to talk to 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:45.640 you about the Tea Party because I want everyone to 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:51.440 understand who watches this, who's a Democrat. The Tea Party, 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:58.240 which I was never supportive of, right as an element 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:05.160 within the Republican Party, was always misunderstood in the media, 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:10.320 and the Key Party was cast as a reaction to 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:14.400 Barack Obama, when in fact it was a reaction to 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:18.560 the Bush presidency within the Republican Party, and it was 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:25.280 a reaction to the failed wars, to the excesses of 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:35.560 the military strategy, to excessive spending, to all of these degradations. 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:40.160 Right to what true conservatives believed in that had in 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:44.440 this moment of the Bush presidency all gone up in flames. 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:50.800 And so there's this moment in the Republican coalition. I'm 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:56.480 a moderate Republican right by birth, by temperament from New Jersey, 0:16:56.680 --> 0:17:02.480 Christy Whitman, Tom Kane, left edge right of the of 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:07.400 the Republican Coalition, from a moderate state that the Republican 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:10.919 Party was, the was the good government part of the 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:16.120 coalition was was pro choice, and there is a pro 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:19.159 choice tradition in the Republican Party, and it was a 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:22.680 it was a big tent. And what breaks that during 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:28.119 the Bush presidency is the Terry Schivo decision. If you recall, 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:32.800 this is a comatose woman that the governor of Florida, 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:37.919 right goes to federal court, the federal court intervenes, and 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:43.040 then Congress acts to intervene an end of life decision, 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:46.000 and the President of the United States boys, I'm from Texas, 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:51.360 really to state the social conservative wing of the Republican Party. 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:56.280 And that totally blows apart the coalition, all the moderates, 0:17:56.840 --> 0:18:00.320 all the libertarians. And so when you come in into 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:04.400 two thousand and nine, this key party coalition which the 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:08.520 media covers as well. This exists to be against Obama 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:14.040 is really, in its foundation a rebuke to the Bush 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:18.479 administration and to the Republican leadership, and that is played 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:21.800 out on Fox News, and what you're seeing now all 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:25.560 over the country is a real breach that exists between 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.800 the powers of the Democratic Party in Washington. And I 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:32.320 think real voters that are very angry at Chuck Schumer 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:36.359 are very angry at all the appeasement that you pointed out, 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:40.800 such as the fact that all these people in their 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.280 confirmation here and say, hey, you know, I can't tell 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:47.360 you who won the election, right, it was President Biden, 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:52.480 and right, I'm still going to vote to confirm you. Right. 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:55.119 So it's an incredible thing to witness. But I just 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:58.399 want to get you to talk about that Tea Party 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:03.639 in terms of that it's a rebuke to its own side, 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:05.600 and that's how that starts out. 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:07.320 Steve. 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:12.280 I'm so glad you said that, and coming from the 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:14.399 Tea Party, I got to write the book about it 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:17.920 one day, because you're right, it started before Obama. 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:19.920 It started with Bush. 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:26.920 It was a reaction instantly, like to all his bailouts. Look, 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:31.280 I'm asked all the time, how did we get Trump? 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:38.879 The Republican Party base primarily then middle age, older white people. 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:44.320 They felt like the Republican Party establishment was ignoring them. 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:49.399 The base, I would argue the establishment was then along 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:52.800 came Tea Party people like me and we and I'm 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:56.200 guilty of this, Steve. Back in the day, we inflamed 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:59.760 the base. We got them fired up, and we got 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:03.240 them pissed off. So there was this perfect storm then 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:05.959 for Trump. When I look back on the Tea Party, 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:10.840 I primarily think it was mostly driven by matters of 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:13.359 governments too big, damn it. 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:14.399 We got to stop. 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:18.960 Bankrupting future generations. That's what That's what resonated with me. 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:22.879 But Steve Schmid, there was an uglier side to it. 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:27.080 There was some of the nationalistic side to it. There 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:30.280 was some of the racist side to it. I didn't 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:33.600 pay enough attention to that then. I wish I had. 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:36.800 But when we didn't deliver, like when I got sent 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:40.520 to Congress and we didn't do shit about government spending, 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:44.600 that's right away when the base got pissed off and 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:49.399 Trump tapped into those uglier elements of the Tea Party 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:50.440 A few years later. 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:59.160 Yeah, I mean, listen, there's no question. Listen, Mitt Romney 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:03.960 in twenty twelve was the guy who took Donald Trump 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:09.840 from a racist on the sidelines, who was a conspiracy 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:14.159 theorist on the birther And that's the difference between Romney 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:18.200 and John McCain. Right. John McCain would not have tolerated that, 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:22.600 did not tolerate it. Mitt Romney sought to take advantage 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:25.639 of it, right, And I can I can go back 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:30.840 right through twelve fourteen years of Donald Trump on the 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:34.840 scene and all of the people that have tried to 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:39.760 ride the Trump tiger right and have wound up inside, 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:42.760 you know, with with Mitt Romney being one of them, 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:46.959 you know, withdrawing from public life talking publicly about his 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:52.800 fear of Donald Trump. And so in the in the end, 0:21:55.040 --> 0:22:00.400 you had a guy who was over and over over 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:05.800 again right on these television networks talking about the President 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:09.400 of the United States doesn't have a birth certificate, right, 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:12.360 And it's all nonsense, I mean and again, I ran 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:14.480 the McCain campaign, right, And so if you run a 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:18.320 presidential campaign, right, if you're involved in politics and campaign 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:21.879 at any level, right, every type of crazy story that 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:25.040 you can imagine about your opponent is going to be 0:22:25.200 --> 0:22:29.600 rung into your phone right by by someone. It's on point, right, 0:22:29.720 --> 0:22:33.320 And and the first time I ever heard the Obama right, 0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:38.440 wasn't wasn't born in the United United States? Right? I 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:41.879 you know, I said to a guy, right, he was 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:45.200 like the guy that you have on a presidential campaign, 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:51.320 like on the movies. Right, You're like, huh right, obviously right, 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:54.159 this this would be a big deal. Right, Is this 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:56.240 trick or not? And they go out and they look 0:22:56.280 --> 0:22:59.520 and come back, this is absolutely not true. Right, you know, 0:22:59.680 --> 0:23:04.200 Brack Obama was born as a United States citizen. It 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:08.879 is all a conspiracy, and it was all nonsense. It 0:23:08.960 --> 0:23:12.200 was always nonsense, but no one ever called it out. 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:16.800 And so you go back to January sixth, you go 0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:21.159 back to the moment he came down the escalator. Everybody's 0:23:21.240 --> 0:23:27.520 position about Trump, right, over a period of time, reveals 0:23:27.560 --> 0:23:31.080 itself in that moment in time, right, And you know 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:36.000 when there are moments when people say, whoa right, this 0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:40.639 guy just did something right. And so what we have 0:23:40.800 --> 0:23:44.120 to have happened in the country now is we got 0:23:44.119 --> 0:23:47.560 to get a lot of people back right that fall 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:54.920 into the category of they voted for Hillary, they voted 0:23:55.160 --> 0:24:03.200 for Trump. Right, and they voted for Trump a second 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:07.360 time and are going to be disappointed, Or they voted 0:24:07.440 --> 0:24:15.040 for Trump, they voted for Biden, they voted for Kamala right, 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:18.240 and you want to keep them engaged, or in some 0:24:18.520 --> 0:24:22.080 type of combination where you have a Trump vote and 0:24:22.080 --> 0:24:26.240 a Biden vote right, or a Hillary vote, a Trump 0:24:26.359 --> 0:24:29.120 vote in a Biden vote that's split either two one 0:24:29.240 --> 0:24:33.120 or one two. In the last three elections, you want 0:24:33.200 --> 0:24:37.240 to try to get those voters who have wobbled back 0:24:37.280 --> 0:24:40.399 to Trump back over, and you have to have some 0:24:40.600 --> 0:24:45.440 grace to them if you're Democrats with regard to the anger, 0:24:45.600 --> 0:24:48.359 and I feel anger, but I have it for the 0:24:48.440 --> 0:24:52.919 people that manipulated and lied to ordinary people, right it 0:24:52.960 --> 0:24:55.080 went out and sold them a bill of goods. And 0:24:55.119 --> 0:24:58.879 I'm also deeply unhappy with the with the with the 0:24:59.119 --> 0:25:02.760 with the small group with people that were responsible right 0:25:02.840 --> 0:25:06.480 for defending the Republic against all of this insanity, who 0:25:06.560 --> 0:25:10.480 failed into defense when the stakes were very was very high. 0:25:10.600 --> 0:25:14.040 You know, I want a lot more political campaigns than 0:25:14.080 --> 0:25:16.879 I lost during my days. I have lost them, but 0:25:16.920 --> 0:25:18.560 for you know, I was saying to someone, for Christ's 0:25:18.560 --> 0:25:21.880 sakes when I lost the presidential election, right, as part 0:25:21.880 --> 0:25:25.560 of the team on it. We lost it to Barack Obama, right, 0:25:25.920 --> 0:25:28.199 you know we didn't. We didn't lose it to associate 0:25:28.359 --> 0:25:34.080 pathic felonious great criminal. Right. So there's a big, big difference, 0:25:34.640 --> 0:25:36.760 and that's we got to talk about that. 0:25:38.880 --> 0:25:40.440 You're right, Steve. Uh. 0:25:40.640 --> 0:25:43.320 Look, Democrats have to decide if they want to fucking 0:25:43.359 --> 0:25:43.840 win or not. 0:25:45.000 --> 0:25:45.760 Period. 0:25:46.359 --> 0:25:50.840 I'm I'm I think our political systems broken. I felt 0:25:50.840 --> 0:25:53.480 that way for a while, Steve. I'm a populist. I'm 0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:57.160 not an evil populist like Trump. I've always considered myself 0:25:57.359 --> 0:26:00.919 a good populist. We're living in this small and so 0:26:01.119 --> 0:26:03.320 Democrats got to recognize this. 0:26:03.720 --> 0:26:07.040 Moment of all the never trumper. 0:26:07.160 --> 0:26:11.440 Steve Smith, I'm a weird duck because I'm a reformed 0:26:11.520 --> 0:26:14.960 Maga gangbanger. I come from the Maga base. I voted 0:26:15.000 --> 0:26:16.200 for Trump in sixteen. 0:26:17.280 --> 0:26:17.800 My bad. 0:26:17.880 --> 0:26:21.359 I've publicly apologized that for that for seven years. 0:26:21.720 --> 0:26:25.119 I just think you owe an apology. That is the point. 0:26:25.160 --> 0:26:28.240 Is the point, right, It's that you have a vote, 0:26:28.280 --> 0:26:32.280 you made your decision, and you had a different judgment. 0:26:32.359 --> 0:26:38.159 Who are you apologizing to, right, Jake Tapper, Right, I now, 0:26:38.280 --> 0:26:42.080 you're right. I don't right, like, who are you apologizing to? Right, 0:26:42.119 --> 0:26:44.920 You've been a consistent voice ever since the guy walked 0:26:44.960 --> 0:26:48.119 into a meeting, he pulled out his country in Finland 0:26:48.160 --> 0:26:52.639 with Vladimir Putin and right, sometimes, right, you got to 0:26:52.640 --> 0:26:56.280 look at someone and say, wow, you know, right, you got. 0:26:56.400 --> 0:26:59.440 There's a lot of courage to say that, like you 0:26:59.000 --> 0:27:03.439 you you, you went out and said, wow, you know 0:27:03.480 --> 0:27:05.679 I was wrong about this guy. So I don't you know, 0:27:05.720 --> 0:27:08.200 I don't think you owe anyone in an apology. But 0:27:08.200 --> 0:27:10.960 but I but I, but but I say that because 0:27:11.280 --> 0:27:13.760 we got we got fifteen hundred people on right now, 0:27:13.760 --> 0:27:15.880 and I want to I want you all to understand 0:27:16.640 --> 0:27:19.159 is when you talk to people over the coming months, 0:27:19.240 --> 0:27:24.600 as as as times get tough, Right, the accountability isn't 0:27:24.960 --> 0:27:28.360 right like to be paid by the truck driver, right, 0:27:28.400 --> 0:27:30.800 the accountability is to be paid by Elon Musk and 0:27:30.880 --> 0:27:35.080 Marco Rubio and Christy No. Right, not for the people. 0:27:35.760 --> 0:27:38.520