All Episodes
Previous Next
July 6, 2023 - Doug Collins Podcast
46:47
Looking at the Democrats Presidential Problems with Kevin Walling
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
You want to listen to a podcast?
By who?
Georgia GOP Congressman Doug Collins.
How is it?
The greatest thing I have ever heard in my whole life.
I could not believe my ears.
In this house, wherever the rules are disregarded, chaos and mob rule.
It has been said today, where is bravery?
I'll tell you where bravery is found and courage is found.
It's found in this minority who has lived through the last year of nothing but rules being broken, people being put down, questions not being answered, and this majority say, be damned with anything else.
We're going to impeach and do whatever we want to do.
Why?
Because we won an election.
I guarantee you, one day you'll be back in the minority and it ain't gonna be that fun.
Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast.
Today is going to be fun with Kevin Walling, our Democrat friend.
We disagree on a lot of things, but Kevin gives a great perspective, you know, again from his position, which many times I don't agree with.
But it's always good to have cross communications to talk about things going on today.
We're going to talk about Biden.
We're going to talk about the gaffes.
We're going to talk about Harris.
And then we're also going to, Kevin's going to participate in the I Have Learned That segment.
We're going to talk about a few things on I Have Learned That as we go forward today on the podcast.
We'll get to it just briefly.
But let me just also say, you know, we're coming off Fourth of July weekend.
We've got a lot left to go.
Let me just sort of give you a heads up on what's going on in Congress for the next really few weeks.
You're going to hear a lot of discussion about National Defense Authorization Act, which is basically the structure for all of the defense spending and the authorizations that go along with that.
You're going to hear more about, you know, the funding bills and other things going on.
this varies, how we're gonna fund the government.
And I'm being very concerned about how that's going to be going.
We're already hearing discussions that it's not going to be September 30th, but we're going to go to January 1st.
So just as a heads up, let you know that a lot of things are out there that we're going to be following here in the next couple of months.
To get ready for, and I'll keep you informed, we're gonna break down the budget, we're gonna break down these issues to let you see what's going on.
Also, we're gonna be coming up, you know, just as a real look ahead.
I mean, you're gonna have the first primary debates, you got all kinds of things coming.
So, look, we got a lot of fun guests here.
Come, we got Friday's Finest.
We'll be just in a few days.
We also got, you know, You know, Coach Gailey, others, football coming up.
So just a great time to be a part of the Doug Collins Podcast.
Always go to thedougcollinspodcast.com.
You can email me there.
You can subscribe.
You can hear old episodes.
You can share this podcast with others.
I encourage you to do so.
So with everything else going on, let's get ready here after this and hear from our good friend, Kevin Wallace.
Hey everybody, you know about Legacy Precious Metals.
Legacy Precious Metals, you hear from, we talk once a month, we talk about Legacy Precious Metals, talking about precious metals being part of your portfolio, how they're your navigator.
Well, now they're not only navigating in a new way, they're actually giving you a new way to buy gold and silver.
In fact, Legacy Precious Metals has developed a revolutionary new online platform that allows you to invest In real gold and silver online.
In a few easy steps, you can open an account online, select your metals of choice, and choose to have them stored in a vault or shipped to your door.
I'm more of a ship to my door kind of person.
I enjoy having them with me, but they can do it either way, and you can now do it online.
It gives you real access to a dashboard where you can track your portfolio growth in real time, anytime, You'll see transparent pricing on each coin and bar.
This puts you in complete control of your money.
This platform is free to sign up for.
Just visit LegacyPMInvestments.com and open your account and see this new investing platform for yourself.
Gold hedges against inflation and against a volatile stock market.
A true diversified portfolio isn't just more stocks and bonds, but a different asset class.
This platform allows you to make investments in gold and silver no matter how small or large with just a few clicks.
Remember, do as I have done.
Go to LegacyPMInvestments.com and get started today, and now you've got a new tool to help you along in your investments.
Hey folks, MyPillow is excited to bring to you their biggest bedding sale ever.
For a limited time, you're going to get the Giza Dream bed sheets for as low as $29.98, a set of pillowcases for only $9.98, and rejuvenate your bed with a MyPillow mattress topper for as low as $99.99.
$99.99.
Get a mattress pillow top.
Look, they come in all sizes.
They got all kinds of stuff.
Blankets.
They've got duvets.
They've got quilts.
They've got comforts.
They've got body pillows.
They've got bolster pillows.
They've got all that big, big discounts.
And also, they're extending their money-back guarantee for Christmas until March 1, 2023, making them the perfect gift for your friends, your family, and for everyone you know.
Folks, and just from a personal note here, I have the Geese Dream Sheets.
They're on my bed right now.
I slept on them last night.
Some of the best sheets that we and Lisa and I have ever owned.
They are worth, I mean, at this price, they're a steal.
My wife and I have bought bed sheets, linens, at much higher cost.
It's supposedly much higher quality.
These from MyPillar are the highest of quality, and at a price like this, you can't beat it.
So go.
Now to MyPillow.com, use promo code Collins, C-O-L-L-I-N-S, or call 1-800-986-3994, and you'll get huge discounts on all the MyPillow bedding products, including the Giza Dream bed sheets for as low as $29.98, and get all your shopping done while qualities last.
And remember, put in that promo code Collins for these discounts.
But anyway, have y'all been getting thunderstorms up there, Kevin?
So, we've had some tough storms.
One came through last night, just a downpour.
You know, these D.C. storms used to come through, and it was super...
It was in the 90s, and then, you know, the clouds opened and stuff like that.
But it blows through pretty quickly.
I think we're going to get some rain, unfortunately, for July 4th up here, is what they're predicting.
So...
Well, I've made a joke before.
I said that, you know, there's several people I just, you know, I just really, if they're on the same flight, I'm not sure I want to fly with them.
Martha Roby, for one, Martha's a former member I love dearly.
She's just a great gal.
But she tends to get storm flights and other things.
And I said, Martha, I saw her the other week in Washington.
I said, I'm not flying with you again.
She tells me all these stories.
And the other is my son and my future daughter-in-law.
It seems like, God bless them, they can't get on a plane without it being delayed or something.
And we dropped them off Sunday night to head back home to Florida.
And, I mean, within 20 minutes, here comes this massive thunderstorm complex.
Just ruined everything.
They got home, I think they finally got back at 7 the next morning.
Martha was Alabama, right?
Is she still in?
The funny thing is, and people don't know this, in D.C., if you're around on a Thursday or a Friday in D.C., between the hours of typically 11 and 3, you can see most every member of Congress either at Washington National or Dulles and a few at BWI. Mainly at Reagan.
And if you're going to the southeast, I mean, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, some to a point, but especially Mississippi, Tennessee, they're going through Atlanta.
And we would have, I mean, I think the most I counted on there one time was like 14 or 15 members at one time on one flight.
That's incredible.
I mean, lobbyists should just buy the cheapest ticket during that time frame and just sit in the line, go through security and just confront folks right before they get on the airplane.
I always love the images of y'all when final votes came through on that Thursday and everyone just taking off down those stairs, getting in the car, heading the heck out of here.
Yeah, that was, and I made a name in D.C. for running the chair and getting it done.
And, you know, I could run it through, I could zip through the two-minute votes, get the votes.
I even, I mean, while my time was there, it was Democrats and Republicans.
Put Doug in a chair.
Put Doug in a chair.
We want to get out of here.
I got a flight.
I got a flight.
Get Doug in a chair.
And so, yeah, we used to do that all the time.
Lots of stuff, but, you know, okay, and we talk about a lot of things, Kevin.
One of the things I was wondering about storms, because there, for about the last, like, 15, 16 years down here, we went away from what I call the old thunderstorm.
I mean, we were getting rain.
We get, you know, a little bit of thunder, but in, like, the last six...
Months, a year, we pick back up on thunderstorms now.
You know, my part of North Georgia, which we used to get a lot of tornadoes and everything, they sort of shifted south a little bit, but it was just interesting to see how some of the thunderstorms, you know, just, again, patterns as they go, but you're starting to get them back again.
Oh, yeah, and, you know, my heart's breaking for all the folks in Texas, too.
Oh, yeah.
You know, with the heat down there, and the worst part is, you know, it's not getting cool at night.
So, you know, you're getting no respite, and I think it's already claimed a few lives, unfortunately, down there.
Yeah, it has.
James, my producer, we do our Friday's Finest together, and James and I do, but James is, I call him my Texan by way of New Jersey, and he's on a recording now.
It's just devastatingly hot, but that's, you know, just sort of where they're at.
It's sort of Texas, too, so, you know.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
But I always love that, you know, when I went to Iraq and during the Iraq War and everything else, you know, they always said, you know, people in Arizona, it's dry heat.
Well, have you ever looked at your oven?
An oven is dry heat, okay?
That's where you cook, okay?
That's a certain point.
Yeah, I love it when they throw that out, like it's some kind of nicer heat.
Oh, no.
No, sir.
You just sweat more in Georgia and South Carolina and Florida and other places as we go.
Hey, before we had to have some fun with this, I've learned that segment.
I want to talk a little bit.
And get a Democrat perspective, and I have it on here.
And we've talked about this a little bit before, and I know you've been on Outnumbered, I've been on, and we do a lot of Fox and other channels together, but is it concerning to you, Kevin?
I'll just ask this question.
I mean, even just recently, when we're taping this, the last few hours, Joe Biden's verbal mess-ups are getting to seemingly being more and more.
Like today, he said, Russia's losing the war in Iraq.
It's like, Huh?
I mean, is that...
I mean, for those of us who've known Joe Biden for a long time, some of this has been Joe Biden forever.
Is there a concern?
Is this what is causing a lot of my, you know, your Democrat friends and mine, just the behind the scenes saying...
Ooh, I hope this gets better.
I mean, because the American public, of course, Republicans are going to jump on it, and I get that, and rightfully so, just as the other side was.
But is this a concern, especially with the first time this polling came out last week, negative 17 for Vice President Harris?
I mean, the lowest ever for a Vice President?
Give me the Democrat spin on this.
Yeah, you know, you and I have conversations.
I don't traffic in talking points and stuff like that.
I think, you know, that's the beauty of this podcast is we have these open and honest conversations.
Listen, it's problematic, right?
And I think, you know, it speaks to this kind of larger narrative that gets picked up in the polling that you mentioned with people with serious concerns about The President's ability to get the job done.
You know, I've been with him up close and personal over the last couple of months and stuff like that.
I think he's actually way better, you know, one-on-one and in small groups.
And, you know, I was with Speaker McCarthy a few weeks ago before Fox News Sunday in the Green Room.
And I don't think I'm betraying anything what the Speaker said, you know, privately.
But he said, you know, he was a tough negotiator and he was fully aware of You know, all the facts and totally in control of the White House response to what the Republicans in the House were proposing.
But I think, you know, I think it goes to that narrative.
And, you know, we're often on Fox together.
I spend my days, you know, talking about this issue seemingly every day on Fox with all of our favorites.
And that's going to be the case for the next 15 months.
I think part of it is, you know, and you brought this up, too, Doug, is, you know, he's always had trouble speaking off the cuff.
You know, he had a stutter issue.
You know, I remember and maybe you're at that White House Correspondents dinner where the Obama team put together a video kind of making fun of Joe's off the cuff remarks.
And God bless your mother.
God rest your mother.
You know, she did.
You know, all this kind of stuff.
And that was, you know, 10 years ago when people were, you know, worried about him speaking off the cuff.
But certainly it speaks to that larger narrative.
And, you know, you shine a light on those and you edit them together, right, that people do.
And certainly it doesn't do us any favors.
I think he's totally up for the job.
I think he's totally obviously with it.
And I'll continue to be a surrogate for him and fight for him.
But, you know, I understand where people are coming from on this issue, certainly.
Well, it is.
Well, and also, it's not one in which, you know, when you look at it from this perspective coming up, and I think it's something that Republicans, of course, are going to play off of, you know, the negative ratings, those kind of things, but also the fact that you don't have a, you know, this is not just Republican speak, this is Democrat, you don't have a good second right there.
Because good, bad...
My mom, God bless her, perception is reality.
I've lived by that motto for almost 57 years.
Perception is reality unless you can somehow change the perception.
And the perception is...
It's just that it's Biden and then basically no one, because I have yet to see a draft Kamala Harris for president.
You know, there's nothing out there from that.
And it's just, I think, do you think that plays into this a little bit more, Kevin, in the sense that it makes it the concern, but nobody can say anything because there's not a good alternative here, from at least the two top.
I mean, there's other alternatives.
Yeah, I think it's certainly a concern.
Obviously, the White House has picked up on this, right?
You got Jeff Zients, the new chief of staff that is working to really elevate the VP, you know, put her in more serious situations, you know, bolder speeches and stuff like that to reverse that perception that's out there.
But I think, you know, you've run for office, been elected by big majorities, you know, every time you get it, right?
And optics and perception are everything, right?
We're out here now Talking about, you know, Bidenomics, right?
And the economic situation and inflation, thank God, is coming down not fast enough.
Wages are going up, but not fast enough.
So the perception is, you know, if you're still struggling to make ends meet, as a lot of American families are, You know, I think Democrats all the time get lost in statistics, right?
We say, you know, crime is down in this sector and, you know, the cost of eggs have gone.
Well, again, you know, perception is everything.
And if that's not in line with what people are thinking, you can howl at the moon all day long talking about statistics.
But that don't matter.
You can hile all along about the qualifications of the vice president, some of the serious things that she's done.
But if the perception is there that she's not up to the job, it's going to be really tough to change that.
And I think we're working hard to do that on my side.
But once you, you know, you know this better than anyone.
Once the American people, you know, I have a real strong feeling about you as a candidate or you as an elected official.
It's tough to reverse that.
Same with the president.
We hit that, you know, you look at those numbers coming out of Afghanistan.
We have struggled ever since Afghanistan because the perception was he was totally in control, competent, and that's what we ran on, right?
Bringing some semblance of organization to government.
And when that cover got pulled off with Afghanistan, and perception is everything, we've been struggling ever since.
I agree completely.
Well, you know, the one thing about it, and you're a communicator and you're a very good one, and we've watched and we keep up with each other a lot.
But the problem is, I'm beginning to think at this point, because Vice President Harris came from an attorney background, attorney general, she'd been elected, showed she couldn't get a lot of traction nationally with the whole 1% before even Iowa dropped out, and then was put on the ticket.
But the one thing that I don't understand, And I had to do this even as a member of Congress.
I had been a pastor for 11 years.
I've been a lawyer.
And yet, I had some folks at one point come in and say, hey, how do I refine the message?
As you well know, you've got to have a 45-second, 90-second mindset if you're in TV or if you're doing radio.
Radio's a little longer, but podcasts, that's why I love this.
You and I just talked.
And so I learned, okay?
And I think that was it.
What bothers me the most, and I'd love to hear from your communication perspective, what is this very, I'm going to assume it to be a nervous tick, that's what I used to call it, that she gets in front of an audience and the first thing she does is just laugh uncontrollably.
And really no reason.
And I think that just perception, I mean, as you said, it builds on that perception.
Is that something that they've tried to work on?
Or is it just something they just quit?
Yeah, that I don't know.
I know she's got a lot of professional communications people around her that are far more qualified than I am, certainly.
But again, you hit the nail on the head again.
You splice up those interviews and speeches that she gives, and it can rub some people the wrong way.
I think one of the things that is not really talked about about the vice president, and I think she does a heck of a job on this front, is really speaking to the Democratic base.
Especially on issues like choice, on issues like climate change, all that kind of stuff that really engages young people, progressives.
And I think that's how she's going to be best used over these next 14, 15 months.
And she's traveling the country speaking to those groups as kind of like that...
My base super isn't excited about Joe Biden.
I'm a surrogate for the president, right?
We won in 2020 because of the distaste that a lot of people had of the incumbent president, not because of the excitement of our candidate.
And I think she still excites a lot of parts of my base, the Democratic base, women of color, young women, progressives, and that's going to be her role.
But she certainly, you know, I think we all can be better speakers and all that kind of stuff.
And I think she's getting better.
Yeah, well, you know, and I jokingly say from my perspective, keep right on doing what you're doing there, my friend.
You know, from my perspective, very happy.
Love it.
Keep going.
You know, don't listen to me.
Don't listen to those people.
You know, don't listen to those people behind the scenes there as we go.
Interestingly enough, I think...
I've got one for you.
I'll turn to the Republicans for a second.
There's a lot of money being spent on our primary right now.
Y'all are getting out of this, but I am going to come back to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which you famously said is a non-factor, which I... If Biden, if the administration lets it go along, I think will become a minor factor, possibly major, especially with some of this, you know, the Rogan stuff, the independent vote.
I think you're right.
Yeah.
But back to our side for a second.
Donald Trump is by far and away You know, no matter what's happening outside, he's still 20, 30 point national favorite.
And even in the local states, you know, state by state, he's 20 points in New Hampshire, 20 points.
And what's amazing to me, he's still 20, almost 20 plus points in South Carolina.
And you have both a former governor and a sitting senator running.
But the interesting part, I'm gonna go down this.
DeSantis, Burgum from North Dakota, which nobody knows of, but he's spending the most in Iowa right now.
Scott, nobody is able, it's amazing to me, they spent millions of dollars.
And those numbers aren't changing.
If you were, you know, let's take it out, because I'm not, you know, we're not endorsing talking about anybody on who we think or not.
But just a simple fact, if you've been in politics a long time, if you're spending that much money and you're not moving numbers, At some point, that's got to disturb you.
What do you think?
Yeah, I mean, it's interesting the attack that folks are taking.
And the former president was in New Hampshire, I think, this past week talking about, he's directing all of his ire at the guy in the number two spot, which is right now Ron DeSantis.
And the vast majority of his media spend is spent on negative ads.
You know, talking about DeSantis and Social Security and Medicare and stuff like that, which is great for my side, right?
In terms of, you know, he's doing the work for us.
And to your point, Doug, we haven't seen this kind of spending this early on.
You know, Tim Scott's dropping millions of dollars, especially in Iowa.
He's seen a little bit of a bump, right?
But he's nowhere near the double digits.
He's making the case that the evangelical vote is going to be key, and it is in Iowa.
You look at previous winners in terms of Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, others.
In recent memory, actually, Donald Trump came up short and then came back and won New Hampshire pretty resentingly.
John Kasich was the number two and then knocked out Marco Rubio in 2016 in South Carolina.
But there isn't a lot of bang for their buck right now in terms of these kind of early investments.
I think one of the more interesting things happening on the DeSantis front is the extent to which his IE effort, I think it's never back down, is building a field campaign in these early primary states to augment and supplement what the hard side is doing.
And that's going under the radar screen to some degree.
It's not being really picked up in the polling and stuff like that just yet.
But we'll see.
We've talked about this before.
I don't think there's any oxygen right now for anyone in their message to necessarily break through with Trump just dominating everything.
Trump is dominating this, and I made this comment earlier.
I've sort of settled into it.
You know, again, with everything, this is Donald Trump's to lose at this point.
I mean, because there's nothing breaking free, and it seems like you have all these campaigns campaigning for an if-possible scenario that might happen later on as we go.
But it is interesting to me.
At some point, there's going to be – I mean, I think if these numbers hold through September – I think you'll start seeing some, you know, political writing saying, hey, you know, you're spending, never back down in particular, spending upwards of almost 100 million, and you can't move the number at all.
And it makes it very difficult to go in there.
It's going to be interesting, I think, as we see.
One of the issues that I've dealt with a great deal is criminal justice reform, and it does bother me that some of our candidates are backing away from some of the very good stuff that we did, First Step Act and things like that.
That do blend a Republican-Democrat scenario.
And that's not a terrible thing, folks.
I mean, look, Kevin will fight against me on a lot of things.
I'll fight against him on a lot of things.
But when we can find common ground, that's actually a good thing.
That's good.
And it concerns me that we're seeing some that have on our side, and I think some, frankly, on the Democrat side who don't want to touch it, Going away from these, but have we just gotten that political, I think, is the problem now.
Well, I think that's also part of the issue on the Republicans' side right now is trying to find little ways that you can disagree with what President Trump did in a Republican primary over the course of the four years of his administration.
So you pointed out Ron DeSantis attacking the former president on criminal justice reform.
That was a great thing that came out of that administration.
We've got to build on that.
More resources for police.
And we've got to focus our police on the violent crime that's breaking out right now across the country.
And, you know, figuring out how we can actually rehabilitate people.
I talk all the time about South Carolina's model and it's an incredible model in terms of what they've built in terms of the VOTEC programs and the education programs in the prison system.
And we've got the lowest recidivism rate in the country because we're investing in these folks that come into contact with law enforcement.
And we send them out hopefully better on the other side.
And we got to trumpet that and celebrate that and build on that.
And that's something the Republicans and Democrats can agree on.
I just saw the other day Elizabeth Warren, you know, the most progressive of progressives on my side, is trying to figure out ways that, you know, she can work with the most Republican right wing folks on the other side.
On banking reform and things like that.
And, you know, putting some semblance of regulation and oversight on AI and the banking industry, that kind of stuff.
And you have a lot of willingness on the Republican side to do that.
And I think we're still going to, you know, Chuck Schumer on my side is saying, you know, we've still got a lot of bipartisan stuff that we can pass, you know, after they get through this July 4th recess and stuff like that.
And I hope we can.
Yeah.
It'll be interesting.
I mean, look, as you look at some of this stuff, it's going to be, you know, what are we getting done?
I think it disturbed me greatly when I heard both Republicans and Democrats saying the real deadline for appropriations is January 1. When I heard that, that just, I'm like, okay, it just says everything that I thought was going to happen, which is, you know, we're going to a CR, we're going to some function, you're going to try and get all 12 passed by the end of the year.
And if somebody's in the military, this is, that just, you put, I didn't know this, okay, frankly, and I'm just honest, you learned that.
I didn't realize until I went to Congress that CRs, Are detrimental to the military.
I mean, in just every way.
Because you can't do long-term spending.
Everybody complains about the cost of ships and jets and stuff like that.
But if you're delaying orders and not taking as many as you promised, these companies, it's going to cost more.
If you say you're going to order 1,000 jets and you end up ordering, well, we're only going to take 10 this year, the cost is going up.
I mean, it's just...
Oh, 100%.
And we're on the line for a lot of...
A lot of how those contracts are awarded, we're on the hook for that regardless in terms of interest payments and stuff like that to these military suppliers.
And we've got a real, you know, I'm as hawkish as, you know, the biggest democratic hawk out there.
And we've got a real deficit, you know, funding and supporting our folks in Ukraine and stuff like that, that we've got a real issue at home in terms of supply chain, Uh, and our, uh, you know, our readiness, especially with armaments and things like that, that's coming up.
But, but the CRs don't allow for planning for that.
And we've got to look out 10, 15 years and we're so focused on these short-term things and just kicking the can down the, down the, down the road.
That doesn't help.
Yeah.
It's going to be interesting.
And, you know, as we see, you know, stuff coming into the end of the year and going forward.
And I, and I look, I think the, uh, It's going to be a difficulty because, you know, I think conservatives have felt for, you know, for so long, look, nothing's getting done here.
We're not cutting back.
We have the highest revenues that we've ever had, but yet we're still, you know, running these deficits and deficit and all of this stuff that just happened recently with the debt ceiling and all this kind of stuff.
None of it really went to true actual cut spending.
I mean, it was just gross spending.
And it just bothers me, you know, for Democrats and Republicans as well, if you're not actually cutting, if you're not getting a balanced budget, don't even talk to me about the debt.
Do not tell me how bad the debt is.
Until you get to either a neutral or spend less, then you take in budget.
If you don't do that on appropriation bills, I mean, it's just impossible to get anything done.
So it's going to be, look, I think we've got a real rocky road ahead for the rest of the year in Congress.
It's going to be, I mean, we've got farm bill, which is our, I mean, when you already have Debbie Steinbaum from, you know, the chairman in the Senate basically saying, oh yeah, we're going to have to do an extension.
It's like, well, what have you been doing?
For the farm bill.
Yeah.
Which was always...
Just the same with the defense authorization bill.
It was always massive majorities, always done on time, and always bipartisan.
The last 15 years has not happened, and there's been a big reason.
Look, I know the reason for...
If you're listening to this podcast, and again, and you're wanting Kevin and I just to tear into each other, go somewhere else.
That's not going to happen.
I mean, I'm going to think Kevin's crazy on some of his stuff.
He definitely thinks I'm crazy on most of my stuff.
But, you know...
Here's the deal.
The Farm Bill, let's take this.
Because this was a classic case of urban, many times Democrats, and rural Republicans coming together in the 60s and said, and it was Barbara Jordan, I think was actually one of these, that actually some others who came together and said, look, Let's combine the food stamps, the safety net programs.
Let's put it with the farm policy.
That way, look, you and the farms get your stuff.
We can negotiate this out.
We get enough votes to pass this thing.
I'm of the opinion now it needs to be reversed again.
I think now it's going to have to be split back out because farming is hurting because this is the problem with the farm bill.
The farm bill now, as it exists, is only about 20% farm and it's about 80% everything else.
And so there's no incentive for Republicans and conservatives and some moderate Democrats, to be frank here, to go along with a bill in which they see, you know, programs that they view as never ending entitlement programs not getting addressed.
And I think so.
You know, you mentioned how it always was the Farm Bill.
It's not been an easy road for the Farm Bill in 15 years at all.
And that's not good.
And look, I'm a Republican who believes that there are need for safety net programs, period.
Help you get back on your feet and then be done.
But we got a lot of members of Congress and some others who don't believe that, that it should just continue on.
But you also got Republicans who think it shouldn't exist at all.
I get that.
But, you know, these are bills like NDIA Farm Bill, you know, I get this question, and somebody actually, one of the time you were last on the podcast, they sent me a question.
They said, does Kevin not understand that we can't keep spending ourselves the way we are?
I said, well, I think Kevin understands that.
I think the problem is constituencies in Congress don't get that.
And it's going to be interesting to see how they come.
What do you, I mean, I'll let you answer it.
Well, you know, And Doug, we've talked about this before.
Nobody wants to make those hard decisions.
We've talked about the meetings that every member of Congress, and you had this intimate knowledge of this for so long.
How many meetings did you have where people were coming in asking for appropriations and funding and things like that, and you being a good member of Congress representing your district in Georgia would push for that?
That's a good thing.
And you times that by 435, and you don't have a willingness on my side to have any conversation with regards to entitlements.
You don't have a willingness on the Republican side to have any conversation about national defense and priorities there.
And you just get into this vicious cycle.
And to your point about the Farm Bill, about the Defense Authorization Bill, you know, these are must-pass bills that have been so augmented over time because these members know that they're going to pass in the end, that they're going to have vast majority support behind them, bipartisan.
So they've been attaching things to these things that aren't whatsoever related, oftentimes.
To these, you know, in terms of these riders.
And that's how these bills have so ballooned.
I think, you know, it's bizarre to me that a lot of our supplemental nutrition assistance and stuff like that is housed under the Department of Agriculture.
You know, actually, I think, you know, funny enough, you know, I've had a lot of conversations with Republicans.
There's a really good roadmap from Mitt Romney.
During his transition in 2012. So he put together a team to really look at the federal government in advance of taking over the White House and put out all these briefing papers and stuff like that.
And briefing books obviously came up short.
President Obama was reelected.
But he laid out a roadmap for why are some things where they are in terms of management and oversight within the federal bureaucracy.
And we have not had, I think, really since the 1940s when we created the Defense Department, you brought Herbert Hoover in under President Truman at the time to reorganize a lot of our federal offices.
You had the Department of Homeland Security created under George W. Bush.
We have not had someone really go in and streamline and we could save so much money If we actually put projects, programs where they should be in the federal government.
But we just keep adding to it.
We can't fire government employees, all this kind of stuff.
I'm a Democrat that believes in, you know, streamlining the process.
And that, in the end, will deliver a better product for the American taxpayer.
Maybe I'm speaking too much like a Republican these days.
Yeah, well, you're going to say, your colleague is going to say, quit calling that Doug Collins guy.
You know, sit out.
I'm going to get attacked by all the government unions and everything.
Yeah, you don't want that on your side, that's for sure.
Or you may end up in a UFC fight with Mark Wayne Mullen and the Teamsters president.
That's gotten pretty ugly.
Yeah.
It is.
One of my favorite bills that I passed in Georgia and got signed into law was, actually, it was a consolidation bill.
And we worked on it for a while.
And it took, we just started with the non-public facing agencies that only dealt government to government, administrative services, general service.
And we combined, ended up saving $10, $12 million by just combining these agencies.
It was one of the best things that we did.
And because what we were finding was, Here's an interesting one.
In the state of Georgia, do you realize, and I'm probably in other states as well, that different agencies were paying the state government to rent buildings?
They were paying rent!
It's like...
That's wild.
Yeah, it was just...
Anyway, we took...
Some of that got took care of, but it was still out there, and it's just as crazy as this stuff seems.
But anyway, before we get gone today, and we continue to talk...
As the listeners of the podcast know, I started just the other day.
I started a series we're going to talk about through the summer.
We're going to have different of our guests participate in this, and it is the I've Learned That.
Kevin and I talked briefly about this before he came on, and we're going to do a few of these today.
As we talked about the other day, I found this on a piece of paper, and Kevin can see it here.
This was from an old bulletin board I had back when I was pastoring.
I don't know where I got it, but it's pretty cool.
And we did a few the other day that I think are really well, but we're going to talk about some here that I love to get.
Kevin, I get your perspective, my perspective, and we'll talk about it.
I think they're good discussion starters.
So here's the first one.
I've learned that.
I've learned that.
You can get by on charm for about 15 minutes.
After that, you better know something.
Well, I don't know if I've learned that yet on Fox News.
I think, you know, I mostly get by on my charm on Fox and my smile and my willingness to agree with most folks.
But I'll tell you, the interesting thing about that is actually last week I was on Outnumbered and it was the day of, and we talked about this over text, I think it was the day of, you know, the real focus on the submarine disappearance with the Titanic.
And it was the first time I turned kind of from a commentator with my opinions on politics to actually, you know, kind of co-hosting the coverage of the submarine and, you know, had to do rapid fire in terms of questions about conditions, weather and stuff like that.
And, you know, I think that speaks to that, that, you know, you can get by for a short term on your charm, your affability and things like that.
But at the end of the day, you got to really bring it.
If things get deeper, and they always do get deeper.
And the surest way to find out if someone doesn't know what they're talking about is just let them talk for the rest of the time.
So I'll be quiet right now.
No, I agree.
Look, for me, I believe this is part of the problem we have in politics right now.
We've raised a generation of political leaders, and I'm using the leaders very loosely here, but political officials, elected officials, who are very good at social media, very good at the I'll get you, both sides, and once you push them, You don't get the depth.
And so for my, one of the things I do with this, Kevin, I love to hear your comment.
If you're a younger person out there, even an older person, and you're hearing about these, I learned this, you know, what are you doing to make sure you're deeper?
You can't be deep in everything.
So the first person that comes up and says, I know, and you've been there at parties with them.
They know everything.
You bring up something...
No, you're not.
In fact, you're just...
But dig into things that you do know.
And I think your 15-minute...
You always get by on...
Be nice.
Be kind.
That's always worth it.
But do you think if you're...
Especially if you're starting out...
And I've got a lot of younger listeners, the podcast and others...
Take time to read more than just what you agree with.
That would be something that I would say would get you, you know, that you better know something, that you can then contrast what you believe and what somebody else believes, and not just simply try to fake it.
I think that's spot on.
I think, you know, I used to give a bunch of talks to young student groups and stuff like that coming through D.C., and they would always ask me about how I would prepare for TV conversations and stuff like that.
I used to tell them the best preparation that they can do is read the newspaper every morning and don't skip over the international section.
It's important to see what's going on in the world.
We get a physical, I think I might be You know, one of the only older millennials in D.C. that gets a physical copy of the newspaper sent to his door every morning.
And if you do that, you're going to be light years ahead of everybody else.
We also get the Charleston, South Carolina paper delivered to us here the next day from printing.
And I think it's also important, and you know this better than anyone, is to have that connection to something out of D.C. as well.
Right?
See what actually the conversation is.
See what is on the front page.
See what the letters to the editor are.
And that's the best way I think you can stay kind of out of this DC bubble, have that experience, expertise of what's going on issue-wise, but then also stay true to, you know, what's going on outside of DC is an important combination.
I think having a lot of just learning for sake of learning, we've moved away from that.
We've made learning this not popular thing and really the only thing we have is to always be learning as we go.
Doug, if I could just add one more thing to that point.
To bring it home to, you know, when you were in Congress, you surrounded yourself with good people, you had a good staff director for the committee, you know, staff, oftentimes that would be subject matter experts.
I think part of the problem, and you mentioned this too, is we've got a lot of folks that get elected on both sides that are more interested in their Instagram and Twitter likes now and performance and going live on all these different channels.
And we, again, I can hold up examples on my side, your side.
And less of investment in really good staff that are knowledgeable and they themselves become knowledgeable.
If I was on your Judiciary Committee, we would have disagreed wholeheartedly.
But I would never have doubted your subject matter expertise, your ability to run a committee hearing, and the staff that you put in place.
That's the difference for a lot of folks that we're seeing now.
Exactly.
And look, I have staff that disagreed with me.
And I told my staff intentionally, I said, I'm going to ask questions, and you may think I'm agreeing or disagreeing.
I'm asking because I want to know.
And I told my staff, because I had, you know, especially new staff, if we had them come in, they wouldn't be familiar with me asking questions.
And I may agree completely with what they're saying, But I want to know why.
I want to know what, you know, what do we come to?
And some of those took that as an affront.
And I said, well, the quicker you get over that, the better you're going to be.
I said, because if I'm going to ask you questions, it's not because I disagree.
It says, you know, defend what you're doing.
You know, and I think so.
Amen.
Look, I had a chief staff, Brendan Miller, who we are close, still close to this day.
And there was a freedom.
You know, sometimes he'd come to me and say, he closed the door and say, boss, I think you're wrong here.
And I'd say, okay, no, I don't think I am.
Tell me why.
And, you know, and we would go at it.
I had a comms director, you know, several, Amanda, who, you know, she was blunt.
She'd come forward and say, you know, that was wrong.
You know, we got to do something here.
You know, and does it make you feel bad?
Yeah, I mean, a little bit of it offends you.
But at the same time, if you're offended by truth, then you've got a problem.
Amen.
And we're seeing too much of that.
All right, moving next.
I've learned that.
Now, this is going to be a good one.
I've learned that sometimes when my friends fight, I am forced to choose sides even when I don't want to.
Ooh.
Goodness.
Well, it goes back to that first part about charm.
I try and stay in everybody's good graces.
So, you know, that's a good one.
And, you know, I think...
I think, you know, I watched that Ted Lasso show, right?
And the idea, you know, to be a goldfish, right?
And to have that kind of short attention span to some degree.
Because I think we too oftentimes with coming out of COVID and spending a lot of time with ourselves and stuff like that, we hold on to these grudges because we have to, are oftentimes forced into this binary thing of picking sides between friends and stuff like that.
And to the extent that we can not do that, I think that's good.
And to forgive and forget, too.
That's what the gospel calls us to do as well.
And so I try and steer clear of all that.
I believe.
But I think in the deeper lesson here, I think you try to steer clear.
But at a certain point in time, also, if it's between two friends and one is a moral or it's an ethical issue or something that you feel, Standing and stating, look, I love you both, but look, James or Jim or Susie's right here.
Let's make this better.
It's much better than faking it.
That's true, too.
The reason you see so many dead squirrels in the middle of the road is because they can't figure out how to get across the road.
It's indecision.
It's not that they don't know what they're doing.
It's just that they get in the middle of the road and they Forget what they're doing.
They get caught.
So I think looking at that for your younger person or even an older person here, being honest with who you are and sitting that, and if you have two friends in disagreement, you're not looking for a fight, but you're also going to say, look, I'm not going to say something's right just because I want to make peace.
And I think that's a good argument.
That's a very good point.
Last one for this round, and we'll go with this, and I think this is Eminently, Capitol Hill.
Okay?
And also, frankly, nowadays, eminently social media.
I've learned that.
I've learned that.
It's a lot easier to react than it is to think.
And I think you're spot on in terms of that last comment on social media.
And I find myself doing this all the time.
Well, number one, Twitter is not real life.
Exactly.
Number two, you know, I see something out there that's tweeted or said or something like that.
And my initial reaction is to respond and to say this is, you know, all this kind of stuff.
And I think we just need to take a lot more collective deep breaths.
Yeah.
And hold on to that initial reaction and really think through the ramifications.
And I find myself doing that all the time.
Yeah.
I agree.
Hey, the best thing that you can do, that tweet will still be good 15 minutes from now.
Amen.
It is still going to be good.
And sometimes not.
I mean, I can't tell you how many times in political life, you know, it's when, oh, let's go say something.
And I say, let's hold on a minute.
And then 20 minutes later, an hour later, it's like, whoa, I'm glad we didn't say anything.
Exactly.
Exactly right.
And that's a great lesson.
Everybody wants to be, quote, first.
Everybody wants to have the most.
We're seeing this clog up media right now.
We're seeing it in why they're not trusted because they run with stuff that's a lot of times not verified or if it is.
Because oftentimes, Doug, to your point, they want to be first.
Yes.
Out of the gate.
Yep, and then they're just trying to back it up.
So, I mean, look, I think these are lessons that you can learn from the left or the right, and I think the biggest thing is react fine, but think about what you're doing.
And sometimes, I'll sort of leave it with this, Kevin, maybe you'll agree with this.
We've got to quit playing checkers with life and make sure that you have, there's a place for checkers, but there's also a place for chess.
And we've got to do that.
And I think that'll get us a lot further in life.
And remember to just take a beat, too.
You don't need to be first out of the gate.
You don't always need to respond.
And sometimes that's the best solution in a situation like that.
I agree.
Folks, you've been on the podcast now with Kevin again.
He's been a great friend.
He'll be back on as we go through the rest of this political cycle.
Believe me, we've got some interesting issues to discuss.
Maybe next time, Kevin, we'll have some a little bit interesting.
We'll talk about some of the bending on the culture wars from Democrats and Republicans here in the next little bit.
I think it's going to be an interesting time.
But it's always great to have you, my friend.
And I'm looking forward to seeing you in person again pretty soon.
Can't wait.
Next time we do it, I'll bring a six-pack of Bud Light, and we'll have those cultural debate questions.
Yeah, and for those of you, that'll be Kevin's, all six.
Then I'll really tell you the truth.
There you go.
All right, folks, that's it for the Doug Collins Podcast.
Take care.
Remember to subscribe.
Remember to share this podcast.
Make sure you listen.
If you have any questions, go to the DougCollinsPodcast.com.
Hit that email button.
And let me know what's going on.
▲
Export Selection