Speaker 1: Let's get right to it.
Speaker 2: Okay, some political talks, specifically my conversation on Fox News
Speaker 2: this weekend with the one and only Mark Levin. They
Speaker 2: called him the great one conservative radio host throughout the country.
Speaker 2: Plus you can catch him on Patriot Radio on Sirius
Speaker 2: XM channel one twenty five. He's been a phenomenal host
Speaker 2: there for years. Nevertheless, I appeared on his show, Life, Liberty,
Speaker 2: and Levin, which airs on Fox News on Saturday nights
Speaker 2: and Sunday nights. And while I was there, I gave
Speaker 2: my thoughts on the twenty twenty four election and expressed
Speaker 2: some regret about what has transpired with the Democrats and
Speaker 2: Vice President Kamala Harris. And I've said this on many
Speaker 2: many occasions. I don't like what I'm seeing from the
Speaker 2: Democratic Party. I said it on Life, Liberty and Levin
Speaker 2: to Mark Levin himself. I've said it to this audience
Speaker 2: on various occasions. I'm saying it again now backing up
Speaker 2: from it. Nevertheless, I have to tell you that, and
Speaker 2: I don't blame Mark Levin for this, But did you
Speaker 2: see the headline on Fox News?
Speaker 1: Did you see it? Did you see it?
Speaker 2: In case you didn't see it. Put it up there
Speaker 2: for us folks. Let them see it right there. Look
Speaker 2: at that headline right there.
Speaker 1: Stephen A.
Speaker 2: Smith regrets backing Vice President Harris open to voting GOP.
Speaker 1: Not interested in the fear mongering.
Speaker 2: Before I go to the actual clip of what I
Speaker 2: literally said, so I can show you all myself, let
Speaker 2: me stay for the record, I throw no fault in
Speaker 2: the direction of Mark Levin for the headlines as a reporter,
Speaker 2: as a commentator and punded throughout the years, that have
Speaker 2: been many many times where I have said something and
Speaker 2: having no responsibility for the headlines whatsoever, the headlines didn't
Speaker 2: completely accurately portray what I had said.
Speaker 1: So if I've.
Speaker 2: Gone through that, I'm certain not gonna blame Mark Levin.
Speaker 2: I know, would I ever accuse him of misrepresenting me.
Speaker 2: Just like I've been friends with Sean Hannity for over
Speaker 2: twenty years, that also applies to Mark Levin, who I've
Speaker 2: also known now are pretty much twenty plus years.
Speaker 1: So he is a friend.
Speaker 2: He is somebody that I communicate with often. No, we
Speaker 2: do not agree on a lot.
Speaker 1: Of our politics, just as is the case.
Speaker 2: For Sean Hannity, but I respect those guys, and I'm
Speaker 2: known them for years and they've always watched my back always,
Speaker 2: and I always appreciate that, and I'm always gonna do
Speaker 2: the same for them.
Speaker 1: So it's not about that, but it is important that.
Speaker 2: You all know exactly what I said because headlines like
Speaker 2: that turn to go viral. So, without further ado, this
Speaker 2: is just a small clip of Mark Levin asking me
Speaker 2: the question that he asked.
Speaker 1: And I want you to listen to my answer. Here
Speaker 1: it is Stephen A. Smith. So could you see yourself
Speaker 1: see what you see now?
Speaker 2: And obviously Donald Trump can't run resident again, but if
Speaker 2: he could, under the current circumstances, could you see yourself
Speaker 2: voting for him?
Speaker 1: Quite possibly.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to sit up there and dismiss that anymore.
Speaker 2: I think we're beyond that. He would have to prove
Speaker 2: a lot, Mark, and I'm not talking about policy now
Speaker 2: for a second, allow me to say this. What concerned
Speaker 2: me about Donald Trump and the reason I voted against
Speaker 2: him and voted for Kamala Harris, was because I felt
Speaker 2: that he would be divisive, that he would create chaos,
Speaker 2: because he demands such a level of loyalty and fealty
Speaker 2: to him, and that would take priority over governing our nation.
Speaker 2: That was my concern, and so I'm looking for both
Speaker 2: sides to work across the.
Speaker 1: Os from one another.
Speaker 2: Having said that, when you see some of the things
Speaker 2: that he said, if he follows through on some of
Speaker 2: the things that he has said, it's not just about
Speaker 2: eradicating inflation and proving the economy, obviously controlling our borders.
Speaker 2: These are all things that I care about, make no
Speaker 2: mistake about that, and I certainly would support him in
Speaker 2: that regard. But it can't be just about fealty to
Speaker 2: him and loyalty to him. It has to be about
Speaker 2: getting the job done on behalf of what's in the
Speaker 2: best interest of the American people as opposed to yourself,
Speaker 2: and not engaging in the kind of juvenile tendencies tweeting
Speaker 2: all the time and going after people who are really
Speaker 2: much irrelevant in the grand.
Speaker 1: Scheme of things.
Speaker 2: You do things like that, and you show that you're
Speaker 2: the adult in the room. Yeah, I don't think anybody
Speaker 2: could dismiss Donald Trump at this particular moment in time,
Speaker 2: not just because of him, but because of what we've
Speaker 2: seen the Democrats do. That is what I said anywhere
Speaker 2: in that headline did you hear me say I regret
Speaker 2: voting for Kamala Harris.
Speaker 1: You did not hear me say that.
Speaker 2: But I understand how it's a fine line, because I
Speaker 2: do have my trepidations and feelings of disgust when it
Speaker 2: comes to the Democratic Party, how they handle things leading
Speaker 2: up to the election, how they handled the year prior
Speaker 2: to the election, with Joe Biden refusing to step away
Speaker 2: and going back on his word to be a transitional president. Okay,
Speaker 2: I don't like the fact that, you know, they got
Speaker 2: one hundred or one point five billion dollars and you know,
Speaker 2: next thing, you know, we're looking for where.
Speaker 1: The money went.
Speaker 2: I don't like the fact that people like Oprah Winfrey
Speaker 2: and others were paid before doing interviews with Kamala Harris.
Speaker 2: I don't like a whole bunch of stuff. A lot
Speaker 2: of it smells. But I think it's important to make
Speaker 2: this point. And this is directly aimed at conservative media.
Speaker 1: It may be.
Speaker 2: Because they've been vilified for years and they've found themselves
Speaker 2: to be at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to
Speaker 2: the leftists on the media side.
Speaker 1: I get that part, but.
Speaker 2: It doesn't negate the fact that when it comes to
Speaker 2: conservative media, they won't hesitate to misrepresent your words a
Speaker 2: bit for a better pro Trump, anti Democrat headline, because
Speaker 2: indeed they like having prominent influential voices come over to
Speaker 2: their way of thinking. To some of them, not all,
Speaker 2: not most, but to some of them, it makes it's like,
Speaker 2: oh my goodness. You know, there are a lot of
Speaker 2: folks out there, you know that do think like us,
Speaker 2: that do side with us, to do favor our mode
Speaker 2: of thinking. And we're not as alienated as you think.
Speaker 2: And I think there's a lot of folks within conservative
Speaker 2: media that are prone to doing something like that, just
Speaker 2: like you can look on the left, because the liberal
Speaker 2: media will misrepresent your words in a heartbeat to make
Speaker 2: you seem more extreme and to work very very hard
Speaker 2: to tie you in with the Trump and the Maga folks.
Speaker 2: We've seen that happen to me on both sides. So
Speaker 2: you know, I just felt the need to say that
Speaker 2: because it's important that people understand. I'm going to say
Speaker 2: it again and I'm going to have it put up
Speaker 2: on the screen every time I'm on this show and
Speaker 2: I'm talking politics.
Speaker 1: I am an independent, I am.
Speaker 2: Not a Democrat, So I apologize it for anything anti
Speaker 2: anti dam that I may say, or am I a
Speaker 2: Republican and I'm certainly not.
Speaker 1: Apologizing for that.
Speaker 2: I have things that I am conservative about, and I
Speaker 2: have things I am liberal about. I am a staunch
Speaker 2: conservative when it comes to my money. I'm a physical conservative.
Speaker 1: You damn right. I ain't politizing you. Nobody.
Speaker 2: My man brand is in student of me. You got
Speaker 2: a problem with that, be I don't have problem.
Speaker 1: You got problem with that? Get better?
Speaker 2: You got problem with that, you better not have a
Speaker 2: problem with that.
Speaker 1: I am a physical conservative.
Speaker 2: I can't stand these damn high taxes in New York,
Speaker 2: New Jersey, in California.
Speaker 1: Okay, so trust you me.
Speaker 2: Anytime I can get away with moving to another place
Speaker 2: and not having to pay them damn taxes, I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna hesitate.
Speaker 1: Let's get that out the way.
Speaker 2: But I'm very liberal when it comes to living and
Speaker 2: let living. It doesn't matter whether I approve or disapprove,
Speaker 2: whether I like or don't like, I believe in living
Speaker 2: and let living.
Speaker 1: That's how I roll.
Speaker 2: Gay rights, abortion rights, whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1: Live your life, Live your life.
Speaker 2: You said you want to be transgendent to gohead be
Speaker 2: trans you're a gay individual, go ahead live your life.
Speaker 1: Now when you try to say you're a guy and.
Speaker 2: That you're transitioning into being a lady and you want
Speaker 2: to compete against women, now you got a problem because
Speaker 2: I think that puts women at a distinct disadvantage.
Speaker 1: That's how I feel about it. That's me looking out
Speaker 1: for women.
Speaker 2: That's not me going up against somebody that's transgender. And
Speaker 2: my bigger point is, once again, I wanted to make
Speaker 2: sure that everybody knew that the headline didn't accurately depict
Speaker 2: what I had said to Mark Levin.
Speaker 1: If I wanted to call out Vice President Kamala Harris
Speaker 1: like that, I would.
Speaker 2: I'm the guy that went at former President Barack Obama
Speaker 2: for talking down to black men, claiming it must be
Speaker 2: misogyny and misogyny if you didn't vote for Kamala Harris.
Speaker 1: I didn't appreciate that. I didn't appreciate that, but that's
Speaker 1: what it is.
Speaker 2: I just wanted to make sure that we're clear nobody's
Speaker 2: backing up or apology for who I am and where
Speaker 2: I stand. And as I look at President Elect Donald
Speaker 2: Trump coming into office, let me be very very clear
Speaker 2: about what I support when it comes to him, so.
Speaker 1: We all we're not misconstruing anything.
Speaker 2: I support eradicating inflation, I support lowering taxes, I support
Speaker 2: closing our borders. I support prioritizing national security.
Speaker 1: Yes I do.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna go with his words about law and order,
Speaker 2: but damn it, it's one of my favorite shows for
Speaker 2: a reason.
Speaker 1: I like it.
Speaker 2: I believe in law and order, and I want to
Speaker 2: make sure that I'm clear about that. So everything that
Speaker 2: Donald Trump has preached about I'm not against, which is
Speaker 2: why if he acts right and doesn't engage in pettiness
Speaker 2: and don't put incompetence in cabinet positions and stuff like that,
Speaker 2: I'm going to support the pri I don't want him
Speaker 2: to fail. I want him to succeed, as long as
Speaker 2: it means the country seeds, not him the country. Now
Speaker 2: let me go to another sort of Donald Trump's subject here,
Speaker 2: and it involves former Representative Matt Gates because we gonna
Speaker 2: get to Washington and the details of the House House
Speaker 2: Ethics Committee's report on former Florida Representative Matt Gates obtained
Speaker 2: by CNN. By the way, the report found that Gates
Speaker 2: paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex
Speaker 2: or drugs on at least twenty occasions, and one of
Speaker 2: those occasions included sex with a seventeen year old girl
Speaker 2: in twenty seventeen. You might recall that Gates was nominated
Speaker 2: by President elect Donald Trump to be United States Attorney General,
Speaker 2: the top cop. The report concludes that Gates violated Florida
Speaker 2: state loads, including the state statutory rape law. The GOP
Speaker 2: lead panel GOP led panel chose to take the rare
Speaker 2: step of releasing a report about a former member who
Speaker 2: resigned from Congress. His A portion of the statement from
Speaker 2: the House Ethics Committee on the findings from the Gates
Speaker 2: investigation quote, the committee determined there is substantial evidence that
Speaker 2: Representative Gates violated House rules and other standards of conduct,
Speaker 2: prohibiting prostitution, statutory rate elictit, drug use, in permissible gifts,
Speaker 2: special favors or privileges.
Speaker 1: And obstruction of Congress end quote. As for Gates, he
Speaker 1: filed a lawsuit.
Speaker 2: Today seeking an emergency temporary restraining order to try to
Speaker 2: stop the release of the report that details the alleged
Speaker 2: sexual misconduct and alleged drug use. Again, Gates was President
Speaker 2: elect Trump's initial pick to run the Justice Department as
Speaker 2: Attorney General. Y'all are gonna find it shocking what position
Speaker 2: I'm about to take, but I'm gonna take it considering
Speaker 2: all the things that Donald Trump was accused of.
Speaker 1: And how the GOP fought to defend him.
Speaker 2: It's kind of ironic, I say, hypocritical that they would
Speaker 2: do this to Gates. The GOP lead panel I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: Don't you think.
Speaker 2: Isn't there an air of inconsistency to defend Donald Trump
Speaker 2: while he was running for reelection so fervently, Yeah, you're
Speaker 2: throwing Matt Gates under the bus. I'm just talking to
Speaker 2: the GOP, the GOP lead panel I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I'm not absolving Gates from any shred of guilt. That's
Speaker 2: not where I'm going. I don't know the details. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna believe what they report. I'm just saying it's a
Speaker 2: little bit inconsistent. Having said that to Matt Gates, it's
Speaker 2: called come up into my man. That's what you're receiving
Speaker 2: because you weren't just despised by the Democrats, you were
Speaker 2: despised by the GOP, your party.
Speaker 1: They couldn't stand you. They don't like you.
Speaker 2: Remember how you're forced Kevin McCarthy out. Remember that, Remember
Speaker 2: when during the Republican Convention Kevin McCarthy was doing an
Speaker 2: interview and you were behind him trolling him with the childishness.
Speaker 2: You already got him booted out or speak of the House.
Speaker 1: You already took care of that.
Speaker 2: But every chance you had to take a dig at
Speaker 2: him was something trivial. You didn't hesitate because you didn't
Speaker 2: like him. Well, there were a lot of people, likely
Speaker 2: on the GOP panel that did like Kevin McCarthy. They
Speaker 2: did like some of the other Republicans that don't like you,
Speaker 2: and they said, this is an opportunity to get this dude,
Speaker 2: even if he's one of our own.
Speaker 1: Think about that, and you're Matt Gates.
Speaker 2: See what I'm talking about when I talk about the
Speaker 2: reporters of being the adult in a room, showing a
Speaker 2: level of class and decorum, so you dissuade people from
Speaker 2: wanting to come at you to some degree, see what
Speaker 2: I mean. I'm not again. I don't know what happened.
Speaker 2: I don't know what you did with some seventeen year old.
Speaker 2: I don't know about sex tapes or payments.
Speaker 1: People. I don't know any about this.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about your behavior with your contemporaries that was
Speaker 2: completely childish and unnecessary. That's what I'm talking about. And
Speaker 2: now they came back and got you. Now you stepped
Speaker 2: down from your position in the House because you were
Speaker 2: supposed to be the top cop.
Speaker 1: Which brings me to Trump.
Speaker 2: Why would you even consider putting that man in the
Speaker 2: position where he was going to buy as the top
Speaker 2: cop in this nation, be an attorney general?
Speaker 1: See this is the concern that we should have with
Speaker 1: Donald Trump.
Speaker 2: Because Matt Gates is a loyalist. He's somebody that supported you.
Speaker 2: But what about the qualifications? If it was for Republicans,
Speaker 2: let you know, they weren't gonna vibe with that decision.
Speaker 2: Donald Trump would still have him trying to be the
Speaker 2: next United States Attorney general.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 2: Why to Pete hag Seth for Fox News, I see
Speaker 2: your work. You work with one of my best buddies,
Speaker 2: Will Kine, used to work with me at ESPN's now
Speaker 2: over at Fox. I root for Will Cain all day
Speaker 2: every day. Pete hagg Seth. They talk about you and
Speaker 2: some of your personal transgressions, alleged transgressions. That is, I
Speaker 2: don't know any of that, nor am I trying to
Speaker 2: talk about that.
Speaker 1: Handle your business. Here's my issue.
Speaker 2: You're a host on Fox News during the weekends, not
Speaker 2: even the weekday, the weekends. Listen to me, Brandon, I'm
Speaker 2: talking to you. You're a Fox News host on the weekend.
Speaker 2: There's nothing inside. I know that you served in the military.
Speaker 2: I know that you served our country with honor and
Speaker 2: brave head buy everything.
Speaker 1: That I've read. But you're a Fox News host and
Speaker 1: suddenly you.
Speaker 2: Think it's good that you are going to head the
Speaker 2: Department of Defense over three million employees.
Speaker 1: You see, this is the problem. This is the problem.
Speaker 2: We've got hundreds of qualified people out there who are
Speaker 2: Republicans who support Donald Trump and Donald Trump you're gonna
Speaker 2: go with Pete Hexath. Really, that's what we're doing. Petex
Speaker 2: syth Man. Come on, bro, Now, I understand the presidency
Speaker 2: is a different animal, and it's an elected position and
Speaker 2: as a result, you know, but you got the House,
Speaker 2: you got the Senate, you got a cabinet, you got
Speaker 2: Chief of staated, you got all of this stuff.
Speaker 1: This is the military, bro, this is the military. You know.
Speaker 1: Should we go to war with Iraq? What's up with Iran?
Speaker 1: Should we pull out of Ukraine?
Speaker 2: Should we continue to support him against Russia? The Israel
Speaker 2: Palestinian conflict involving Hamas and ultimately has a balah, new leadership,
Speaker 2: new regime in Syria.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're supposed to look.
Speaker 2: At you and say we're comfortable with you being one
Speaker 2: of the dudes in the president's air main dudes in
Speaker 2: the president's ear as the.
Speaker 1: Guy running the Department of Defense.
Speaker 2: I understand you serving in the cabinet in some capacity,
Speaker 2: but damn you just gonna wake up and run three
Speaker 2: million people.
Speaker 1: See, there's kind of stuff, bait. There's kind of stuff
Speaker 1: to make me hesitant, Betty.
Speaker 3: This kind of stuff, Grift, this kind of stuff talking
Speaker 3: to my staff here, This kind of stuff that makes
Speaker 3: me worry. That's what I'm talking about when I'm talking
Speaker 3: about Trump. That's what I'm talking about when I'm talking
Speaker 3: about some of the folks, some of the folks.
Speaker 1: In conservative media.
Speaker 2: Never before in our lifetime would you have tolerated such
Speaker 2: decisions by an elected official when it came to their
Speaker 2: cabinet members. Forget the behavior, forget the allegations and the
Speaker 2: accusations I'm not getting in any of that. Pete Haksaith,
Speaker 2: I'm sure he's very smart, very knowledgeable, obviously cares about
Speaker 2: this country.
Speaker 1: His views might be different than.
Speaker 2: A lot of people, but a lot of people agree
Speaker 2: with his views.
Speaker 1: I get that.
Speaker 2: I'm only talking about going from being a host on
Speaker 2: Funk's News on a.
Speaker 1: Saturday to run in a department with three million people.
Speaker 1: That's our military.
Speaker 2: In charge, overseeing generals and lieutenants and captains.
Speaker 1: And everybody else in the front line US. That is
Speaker 1: what worries me. That shit is scary.
Speaker 2: That's what I mean when I talk about how Trump
Speaker 2: can scare the living daylight out of people and cause chaos.
Speaker 2: You can't tell me that ain't a bunch of people officially,
Speaker 2: resume wise, conspicuously more qualified than what Matt Gates brought
Speaker 2: to the table.
Speaker 1: And what Pete hagg says. And I'm not blumping the.
Speaker 2: Two because of their accusations. I'm lumping the two because
Speaker 2: of the qualifications on their resume.
Speaker 1: Come on, y'all, come on.