WEBVTT - Speaker Battle -11 Votes & Counting 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:05.239 Welcome. Its verdict was Senator Ted Cruz ben Ferguson with you, Senator. 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:10.960 The House has adjourned until Friday after an eleventh failed 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:14.120 vote to come up with a speaker. Deals are being made, 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:16.760 they're saying, or trying to get done behind the scenes, 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:19.759 and then there's some people that are deciding to call 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.880 people in their own party terrorists. Representative Dan Crnshaw said, 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:27.400 this get another scalp and another scalp, whether it's whether 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:31.400 it's Byner or Paul Ryan or then McCarthy. Scalise would 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:33.120 just be next. And we all know it. We just 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:36.239 can't allow that to happen. That's why those of us 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:38.080 are saying, like, look, you push us into this corner. 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.040 So now we're now we're saying we won't vote for 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:42.879 anyone but McCarthy. That's why we're saying it because we 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:47.800 cannot let the terrorists win. That's basically what's happening. Since 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:50.920 you and I talked last time, Senator, I didn't think 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:53.360 any of this could actually happen. I didn't think we'd 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:56.840 get to vote eleven. Here we are, we're going into Friday, 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:00.160 it could be into the weekend. There are people now 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:04.960 claiming that this is an embarrassment. I'm still not there yet. 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:07.680 I'd love to know what you think. I think that's 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:11.360 just part of the great process. Yeah, Look, my view 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.959 is settled down. This will work out and it'll be fine. 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:19.319 That that kind of overheated rhetoric calling people terrorists is 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:23.640 not terribly conducive to anything resembling Republican unity. It's it's 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:27.640 not conducive to having a strong leadership for the next 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:35.280 two years in the House. Engaging in vitriol and personal attacks. Listen, 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:39.280 I think a lot of the catterwalling we're hearing is 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:41.959 from the media, and it's from the Democrats. And to 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:43.800 be honest, the media and the Democrats are one and 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:47.480 the same, and they have an agenda. Their agenda is 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:50.639 to say the Republicans are a failure, the Republicans are terrible, 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:52.920 the Republicans are disaster. That's what they're going to say, 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:55.080 no matter what, no matter what is happening, that's going 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:57.840 to be their talking points. And so all of the 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:02.240 screaming of the media, I think is is overwrought. This 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:06.000 is the democratic process, and it is true that we 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:09.200 haven't had a contested speaker race like this in a 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:12.440 hundred years, but it's also part of the way the 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:17.440 process operates. We've had at this point eleven different votes, 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:20.320 and it's just it's run a couple of days. The 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:23.079 votes there's been some movement. So for the first round, 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:27.519 all the Democrats voted together. First round, Hakim Jeffries, who's 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:30.520 the new Democrat leader, got two hundred and twelve votes. 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.400 It takes two eighteen to be speaker. Hakim Jeffries is 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:34.920 not going to be speaker. It's going to be a 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:39.760 Republican speaker. Kevin McCarthy got two hundred and three, and 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:43.720 there were a collection of people. Ten Republicans voted for 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.000 Andy Biggs from Arizona, six for Jim Jordan, one for 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:51.000 Jim Banks from Indiana, one for former Representative Lee's Eldon, 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:54.720 and one for Byron Donald. So there were initially nineteen 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:59.200 that was the first round. The second round, the numbers 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:01.960 didn't change, but they shifted who they voted for. In 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:06.000 the second round again, McCarthy got two oh three, but 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:10.240 the second round, Jim Jordan got all nineteen of the defectors, 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:15.200 and so the votes for Bigs, the votes for Banks, Zelden's, 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:17.840 Byron Donalds, all of them went behind Jim Jordan, he 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:21.160 got nineteen. How about the third round, Well, the third round, 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.360 McCarthy lost a vote. McCarthy dropped to two o two 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:30.040 and Jim Jordan got twenty votes. And then the vote 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:35.400 that shifted was Byron Donalds, who had committed to McCarthy 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:38.520 that he would vote for him for two rounds but 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.120 not the third. And what he publicly said as he 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:43.880 shifted his vote because he thought he thought Kevin was 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:45.520 not going to get to eighteen. I don't know if 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:50.480 that's right or not. The fourth round it continues, but 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:55.119 that but then we had, as just a little bit 0:03:55.160 --> 0:04:00.440 more of a complication, we had one more Republican victorious Sparts, 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:06.440 who voted present. So McCarthy lost a vote, he went 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:10.080 down from from two o two to two oh one. 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:15.600 And in the fourth round, also Byron Donalds is who 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:18.640 the dissenters voted for. So Donald's got twenty. So Jim 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:22.159 Jordan had gotten twenty votes. Then Byron Donald's got twenty votes, 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.160 and then you had the fifth round. The numbers are 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:29.719 the same. Sixth round the numbers are the same. Seventh 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.200 round the numbers are the same except for one tweak, 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:37.960 which is that Matt Gates voted for Donald Trump. Can 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.520 we just pause there for a second to talk about Sure, 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:43.839 that was a funny moment. And I say this because 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.479 Donald Trump had been tweeting out on his our true 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:52.320 socially on his platform, I'm supporting Kevin McCarthy. Let's move on, 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.279 let's make him the guy, and then Matt Gates, who 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:58.640 it was one and the same with Donald Trump hit 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:00.440 through is basically the entire time I means in the 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:03.880 White House nominates him and he's saying no, no, like 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.240 that's I don't want this job. Obviously, I'm telling you 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:09.840 to go Kevin McCarthy. That was one if you just 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:12.280 want to sit back and pop some popcorn and eat it, 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:14.560 that was one of those moments for me, like, wait, 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:17.440 what is happening right now? Well, and to be fair, 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:19.760 that's the same thing that happened with Jim Jordan. You know, 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.680 Jim Jordan was nominated. The first time Jim Jordan was 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:28.800 nominated was immediately after he had nominated Kevin McCarthy. Yeah, 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:31.479 and so he's likewise said that he doesn't want the job, 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:35.080 but they're nominating and voting for him anyway. Look, the 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.359 speaker of the House does not have to be a 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.800 member of the House, so theoretically Donald Trump could be 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:43.279 Speaker of the House. Now that's not gonna happen. Don't 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.320 hold your breath. There was one vote cast for that, 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:48.400 and that was You're not gonna see two hundred eighteen 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:51.960 votes cast for Trump as speaker. It's gets going to 0:05:51.960 --> 0:06:00.760 be a House member. What played out in the ninth 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:05.640 rounds we had Kevin hearn from Oklahoma who got three 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:08.560 votes initially and then got seven votes, and then on 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:10.960 the eleventh round got seven votes. And so where we 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:16.960 are right now is McCarthy is at two hundred, so 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:21.680 he's eighteen votes short. The last round of balloting, mckeem 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:23.800 Jeffreys had two twelve. He's had it the whole time, 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:27.440 so all the Democrats are just voting for him. McCarthy's 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:31.800 down to two hundred. Byron Donalds got twelve, Kevin Hearne 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:35.760 from Oklahoma got seven. Former President Trump the last round 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:38.440 again got one vote and then and then there was 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.760 a present vote. So that's where the votes are now. 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:45.200 You know, my reaction to all the histrionics is this 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:49.320 is gonna shake out, and it's gonna shake out. One 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:53.840 of two ways. One and this may well be the 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:58.480 most likely outcome, which is they negotiate an agreement. Where 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:04.360 McCarthy has been making concessions to the dissenters, making concessions 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:08.080 based on rules, making concessions based on how the House operates, 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:12.480 making concessions making it easier for members to offer amendments, 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:16.360 easier for amendment for members to fight for conservative principles. 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:22.120 It may be that that McCarthy makes enough concessions that 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:24.520 he gets the votes he needs. He needs to pick 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:32.280 up eighteen more votes. But if he does that, then 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:37.280 we could have an agreement. And I will say so 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:40.640 probably the ringleader of the dissenters has been Chip Roy 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:43.760 from Texas, who, by the way, if you if you're 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:49.040 teaching a master class on speaker votes and bringing people 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:53.559 together or at least making people understand where you're coming from. 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.680 Chip Roy I think has played this perfectly, and I 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:02.160 mean that sincerely in the fact that he let people 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:07.360 understand why he was not voting for McCarthy, and he 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.800 also explained very clearly what it would take for him 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:14.960 to vote for Kevin McCarthy and the rules changes that 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:19.640 he wanted. I think there are so many Americans that go, Okay, 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:23.560 this is a guy I understand, I respect him. And 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.200 if you're teaching a masterclass, if there's anything to learn 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:32.160 from this, don't keep moving the goalposts when you're objecting 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:34.640 to someone. And if it's as simple as I just 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:37.960 don't like him, then stick with that, but don't keep 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:41.200 changing it. I think he has done the best job 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:45.400 of articulating some of the concerns and the things that 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:48.000 he wanted to change. I would give him an a 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:51.360 plus in class. Well, look, there's no doubt Chip has 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:54.679 been effective, and he's been articulate, and he's been focused 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:59.000 on substance. I mean part of you know what makes 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:02.240 us complicated as you've got twenty players and the twenty 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:08.079 folks who have been the dissenters, many of them are 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:12.920 operating from for different reasons. Chip at least has not 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:17.680 focused his opposition on a personal animosity to Kevin McCarthy. 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:23.040 He hasn't been focused on demonizing or attacking him personally. Rather, 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:26.200 he's been focused on the rules. He's been focused on 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:31.240 the procedures. He's been focused on how the house operates. 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:39.360 One very significant concession that that McCarthy made on Wednesday 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:44.480 night is that Kevin made a public commitment that going 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:50.679 forward he would not engage in Republican primaries. There were 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.720 a number of primaries this past cycle where Kevin McCarthy's 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.600 pack supported the much more moderate Republican An attacked the 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:03.720 more conservative Republican even in bright red seats where whoever 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:07.280 wins was going to be the nominee, and quite a 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.680 few of the House Conservatives were unhappy that Kevin was 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:13.839 raising significant amounts of money and spending it that money 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:18.040 against conservatives and primaries. Well, McCarthy made a public commitment, 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.160 and interestingly enough, he made a commitment in the Club 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:24.240 for Growth, which often fights against at least in past 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:31.640 cycles McCarthy, and these primaries in turn express their willingness 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:33.920 to support McCarthy if he would stay out of primaries. 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.959 That's a big deal, that commitment. When you said that's 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:42.600 a big deal, explain scenarios where this could have changed 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:46.640 outcome of House races, because I don't think people understand 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:49.079 how much the money can really decide who's going to 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:53.040 win these things. In money plays a massive role in 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:57.200 a lot of elections, it doesn't necessarily decide them. But 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:01.880 that there were mull to pull elections across the country. 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:06.679 Where where McCarthy's pack got involved in the primary, not 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:09.160 in the general, not trying to support the Republican against 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.720 the Democrat. Now they did that, to be clear, Kevin's 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:15.160 pack spent hundreds of millions of dollars supporting Republicans in 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:18.120 the general. So I don't want to diminish he worked 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:21.440 very hard trying to elect Republicans across the country. But 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:27.720 they're a number of House Conservatives who were angry that 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:30.240 he was he was playing in primaries. And by the way, 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:35.160 that's reprising a battle that happened in the Senate over 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:37.720 a decade ago. You know, if you remember back to 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:42.920 the twenty ten cycle, Yeah, where Senate leadership engaged at 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:47.360 a bunch of primaries. And so for example, Senate leadership 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:52.160 came in the primary against Rand Paul in Kentucky. They 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:55.120 came in the primary against Mike Lee in Utah, They 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:58.400 came in the primary against Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, they 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.480 came in the primary again it's Marco Rubio in Florida, 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.040 and and Senate leadership just screwed it up. I mean, 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:06.760 I mean all four of those they got clawberd and 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:10.000 they got a black eye. And I will say, actually, 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.720 as a bit of interesting trivia, I may have been 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:18.440 a beneficiary because twenty ten Senate leadership got such a 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:21.720 black eye for making the wrong call in race after 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:26.680 race after race and losing that. In twenty twelve, which 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:28.720 is that with the year I got elected to the Senate, 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:32.480 Senate leadership stayed out of primaries, and look, I got 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:35.079 to say in hindsight that that that probably is a 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:37.040 good thing for me, because that they would not have 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:39.440 been supporting me in that primary, No, no way at 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:43.680 all they would. They would have definitely been supporting your opponent, 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:48.160 who was the safe Republican establishment candidate that you were 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:51.559 clearly up against. And he had tons of funding as 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.840 well well, and he had as he had a every 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:56.760 lobbyist in the state of Texas was with him because 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:58.760 he was sitting lieutenant governor, and b he was worth 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:00.800 over two hundred million dollars, so he wrote a thirty 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:07.120 five million dollar check. But the point was, Senate Republican 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:11.760 leadership kind of stepped in it in twenty ten and 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:15.080 has been much more wary of getting in primaries since then. 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:20.400 This last cycle, McCarthy was pretty vocal engaging in primaries, 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:24.400 and I think that's one of the concerns that is 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:28.960 animating these dissenters. Let me ask you this, one of 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:31.920 the things. You look at these twenty and I think 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:36.160 it's clear that some of the twenty it's just personal. 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:41.160 And I know there has to be moments in your 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:45.360 career center where there's certain people in the Senate on 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:48.440 your side that you just don't click with, You just 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:52.000 don't like. Maybe they they flat out lied to your face, 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:54.520 maybe they've lied to you about something they were going 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:56.640 to work with you on or support or a bill. 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:02.000 But you do have to remind yourself, I'm this isn't 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:05.800 me personally. I'm here to represent the interests of the 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:09.160 people of the state or the community right where you 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:12.280 are from, if you're a congressman, for example, how much 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:16.679 how many blunders could be happening here because people are 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:19.720 making this too much about them personally, not enough about 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:24.280 maybe their constituents. Look, emotions matter, and and people have 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:28.840 personal sentiments and hurt feelings. And I certainly don't know 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:38.240 what went on behind closed doors. But what makes this 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:43.600 complicated to to reach a negotiated settlement is each of 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.880 these twenty are operating on their own. So if if, 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.720 for example, if Chip Roy had the authority to commit 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:54.040 for all twenty of them, if they all essentially gave 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:57.120 gave him their proxy and said, if you cut a deal, 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.320 we'll stick with you, I think the odds are pretty 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.080 good that Chip and McCarthy could reach a deal, because 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:06.160 I do think Chip has done a good job of 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:14.840 focusing on procedural issues to expand debate, expand the ability 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:18.800 to offer amendments, expand leverage conservatives would have in the House, 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.160 and I think they could probably get to the same page. 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:27.840 What may make it impossible is I don't know how 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:32.920 many of these players are just emotional and have hurt feelings. 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:36.360 I don't know for how many of them it's personal 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:38.280 with Kevin or not. Look yet, you know when you've 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:44.080 got when you've got folks using rhetoric like calling them terrorists. 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:46.080 You know, if you call someone a terrorist, that's not 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:50.160 terribly conducive to getting them to come along and play nice. Yeah. 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:51.840 I mean that goes back to us saying earlier about 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:54.440 if you're teaching a master class here the dues and 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:59.000 don't are don't go and make it even more personal 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.560 and think oh, well, that's going to get the twenty 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:04.600 to really come around. When that type of rhetorics being 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:08.480 used while you desperately need their votes to give yourself 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:10.840 and and some of your guys are going out there 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:14.160 as surrogance and saying things like that, that's not going 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:16.160 to help you get the twenty to come over. It's 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:17.480 not like that's going to get them to see the 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:19.200 light of day. That's gonna make them, I would assume, 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:25.000 just by human nature dig in, you know, as a 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:30.480 general matter, relying on insults to try to bludge in 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:36.320 your opposition is it's a perilous path unless you have 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:39.840 all the leverage, and at this point, with just a 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:43.160 four vote majority, I'm not sure anyone has all the leverage. 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:49.080 That is a very perilous path. And so I think 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:54.800 we will either see some negotiated settlement that involves procedural 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:59.200 concessions from McCarthy, or at some point if if the 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:00.960 votes don't move, and the votes don't move, and the 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:04.280 votes don't move, presumably there will be some other candidate 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.000 who becomes a consensus candidate. Now, I don't think that 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:10.560 would happen unless McCarthy decided okay, the votes aren't here 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.280 for me, because Kevin would certainly have the votes to 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:17.320 stop anybody else, so so it would take it would 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.919 take Kevin making the decision. This isn't gonna happen. And 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:24.359 I think I have not spoken. I haven't spoken to 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:26.280 any of the players actually during this, so I haven't 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:28.720 I haven't spoken to Kevin during this. I haven't spoken 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:30.320 to Chip, I haven't spoken any of the folks there. 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:33.240 So I'm I'm watching it on TV. I'm watching it 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.119 on Twitter like everybody else. And I know most of 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.400 the players quite well. I mean, these members of Congress, 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:41.359 almost all of them are close friends of mine, so 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:44.879 I mean, I know know who they are as people, 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:52.680 and you know, these folks are principles and they believe 0:17:52.760 --> 0:18:00.800 in what they're trying to do. But you'll either see 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:04.520 a negotiated settlement. I don't know what the terms are 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:08.439 if there is one, or presumably at some point someone 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:10.880 else becomes a consensus candidate, and I don't know who 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:16.600 that would be. And I suspected an enormous amount of 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:20.480 that would depend on Kevin McCarthy in the decision making. Hemdell, 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:23.320 Let's talk about another aspect of this, and that is 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:27.200 the media. Obviously they're trying to grab on and fine 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:32.160 headlines to fearmonger people. Earlier today, they had a big, 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:35.119 long discussion I think it was on CNN where they 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:38.720 were saying, Wow, this could become a national security issue 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.560 because they can't get briefings and there's people that aren't 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:44.520 even elected that they're going to get better briefings than 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:47.360 the people that haven't been torn in yet with this 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:50.840 new Congress on the House side, and this is going 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:52.560 to be an issue. I mean, they're trying to give 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:57.399 us a doomsday scenario here. How long can this go? 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:01.960 And everything really is just fine. Oh look, I think 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:06.080 the national security argument is just gobbledygook. This is going 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:09.119 to get resolved, and I think it'll get resolved fairly quickly. 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.480 It could get resolved today, It could get resolved in 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:16.480 a few days. I imagine there are scenarios where it 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:19.880 could take a couple of weeks. I don't envision any 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:22.600 world where it takes longer than that. And I don't 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:24.640 even think it'll take a couple of weeks. I think 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:28.200 it it's gonna end up one way or the other. 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:32.960 This is going to be resolved. So the idea that 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:37.479 it is this horrible affront to the Republic for the 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:40.520 House to spend a couple of days debating their leadership. 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:45.640 That's just a weird idea. As as as we talked 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:48.160 about in the last podcast, there's a reason I led 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:50.920 the fight in the Senate for us to have several 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:55.000 weeks of debate on Senate leadership. And we had that 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:57.159 debate at least the beginnings of the debate, which we 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:01.960 haven't had in a long time now, because the Senate 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:04.480 doesn't have a procedure like this where where the leader 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:08.840 is elected on the floor. It wasn't done on c Span. Yeah, 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:14.479 and it wasn't done in a context that holds up 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:16.600 the House for a period of time. It was. It 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:19.480 was done behind closed door with the Senate. But I 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:24.520 think in both houses having a debate about what leadership 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:26.399 is going to do, how they're going to approach it, 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:29.840 what their priorities are, what fights they're willing to fight. Look, 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:34.520 the question that I asked Mitch McConnell repeatedly, what are 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:38.240 you willing to fight for? Give me one thing, anything, 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:41.280 And tragically it appeared the only thing that that so 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:43.720 far Republican leadership was willing to fight for was the 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:46.960 disaster of a one point seven trillion dollars omnibus bill, 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:52.080 the Pelosi Schumer's spending bill. So the reason for the 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:57.160 frustration that I think a lot of voters have is evident. 0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:04.880 But my overarching message also is, you know, folks need 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:08.640 to relax a little bit. This will get resolved. We're 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:10.720 going to have a House of Majority. We're gonna have 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:13.720 a Republican speaker. We're gonna have Republican chairman in the committees. 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:16.720 We're gonna have oversight hearings, we're gonna have subpoenas, we're 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:19.280 gonna have legislation moving forward. All of that is going 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:22.119 to happen. And at the end of the day, the 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:28.520 cosmos is not dramatically different if it happens in a 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:35.120 week or two days ago. Yeah. Well, and I laugh 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:38.000 because Democrats it was like they were throwing jello at 0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:42.600 the wall on TV and the commentators because Jeffreys came 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:45.119 out the first one. They basically tried early in the 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:48.840 day on Thursday, Senator was, oh, this could become a 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:52.680 national security issue. By mid afternoon they had switched from 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:57.200 that and represented national security. Look, we've got a Senate 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:01.440 in the Senate. We all have our security clearances and 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:04.879 the ability to be read read into things, and you 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:08.840 know we also have when it really comes to national security. 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:12.200 What you know, you've got a president and a Secretary 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:14.320 of State in the Secretary of Defense and a chairman 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:16.760 of the Joint chiefs. Now, you and I aren't very 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:18.760 happy with the job they're doing when you actually talk 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:21.560 about national security. I think the people in the Biden 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:27.760 administration are affirmatively harmful for that. But the idea that 0:22:27.880 --> 0:22:32.560 it would somehow impact national security to have a few 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:37.320 days debate over leadership is a weird argument. Well, and 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:39.600 I laugh because they went from that earlier the day 0:22:40.080 --> 0:22:42.120 and then it was like, all right, well, we need 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:45.120 something else that through out there. And then Representative Jeffreys 0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:49.479 comes out and he says this national security vulnerabilities. This 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:53.520 is a dangerous moment for Americans and for the world. 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:56.320 It's one of the reasons why the Congress needs to organize. 0:22:56.840 --> 0:23:01.600 There are public health vulnerabilities. It's one of the reasons 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:06.280 why the Congress needs to organize and Republicans need to 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:08.760 get thereck together. So they threw that on there. It 0:23:08.840 --> 0:23:12.040 became well, now it's also it's not just now security now, 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:15.640 it's probably health. I'm laughing because the Senate and recess 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:20.400 right now. If if they had picked the speaker, wouldn't 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:23.400 most of these people be home by now? That they'd 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:25.880 all be home, right, every one of them? Would They 0:23:25.880 --> 0:23:29.400 would have changed right actually that they're in DC now. 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:32.960 The irity is that the reason the House is there 0:23:34.080 --> 0:23:35.879 is because of this. If they'd picked the speaker, they 0:23:35.880 --> 0:23:40.720 would they would have gone home. Um. And look, I 0:23:41.160 --> 0:23:43.560 don't fall to keem Jeffreys for doing what he's doing. 0:23:43.680 --> 0:23:46.359 That's what you do. Look, if you're the opposing party 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:50.560 and the other side is having an internal food fight, 0:23:50.680 --> 0:23:53.919 you stand there and laugh and eat popcorn and and 0:23:54.119 --> 0:23:56.159 you know, you throw rocks in the cheap seats. So 0:23:56.160 --> 0:24:00.240 of course that's what he's doing. Um. And to be clear, 0:24:00.359 --> 0:24:03.080 if if the shoe were on the other foot, we'd 0:24:03.080 --> 0:24:07.000 be Democrats. We're having If it was AOC challenging h 0:24:07.200 --> 0:24:10.760 Nancy Pelosi, you and I'd be sitting there going, man, 0:24:10.800 --> 0:24:12.560 they can't get their act together, and we would be 0:24:12.560 --> 0:24:15.040 doing exactly what would Jefferies is doing. So I don't 0:24:15.080 --> 0:24:16.919 fault it for that. I'll tell you what I do 0:24:17.000 --> 0:24:21.040 fault though it is there are some who are engaged 0:24:21.080 --> 0:24:23.399 in nasty rhetoric on the Republican side, but also on 0:24:23.400 --> 0:24:26.760 the Democrats side. Corey Bush, That's That's what I was 0:24:26.800 --> 0:24:29.480 gonna say to you, was you just said the laughing 0:24:29.520 --> 0:24:32.959 and you'd sit back. How hard is it not to 0:24:33.000 --> 0:24:35.800 screw this moment? After you're a Democrat, you make you 0:24:36.440 --> 0:24:38.359 laugh at some of this, you say some of this. 0:24:39.000 --> 0:24:42.119 But if there's anything that the Democratic Party should have 0:24:42.160 --> 0:24:46.040 figured out was just kind of sit back, take a 0:24:46.160 --> 0:24:49.720