All Episodes
Previous Next
April 24, 2023 - Firebrand - Matt Gaetz
39:02
Episode 99 LIVE: Team Tucker – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Thank you.
Matt Gaetz was one of the very few members in the entire Congress who bothered to stand up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents.
Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem in the Democratic Party.
He can cause a lot of hiccups in passing the laws.
So we're going to keep running those stories to keep hurting him.
If you stand for the flag and kneel in prayer, if you want to build America up and not burn her to the ground, then welcome, my fellow patriots.
You are in the right place.
This is the movement for you.
You ever watch this guy on television?
Like a machine.
Matt Gaetz.
I'm a canceled man in some corners of the internet.
Many days I'm a marked man in Congress, a wanted man by the deep state.
They aren't really coming for me.
They're coming for you.
I'm just in the way.
Welcome to the live 99th episode of Firebrand.
We are broadcasting from room 2021 of the Rayburn House Office Building here on the Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. And if you are not a Tucker Carlson fan, this show is probably not going to be for you.
Toward the back end of the show, we're going to go through some of our favorite moments on Tucker Carlson tonight.
We're going to talk about his separation from Fox News, what that means.
And the tectonic plates of media are certainly shifting beyond just this move with Tucker and Fox.
We've seen Don Lemon fired by CNN, and I've got the latest tea on some of the spat between Don Lemon and the official CNN communications department.
not too happy over there things are not going well at cnn but i think things are going to go very well for tucker carlson because he has a loyal following uh of which i am very honored to count myself among and that following is going to be there for whatever tucker's next project is Welcome to
my show!
The Armed Services Always Paid Act.
This legislation would ensure that in the event of a shutdown, our military families, our military programs, our military personnel would continue to be advanced because we would pay our service members who are engaged in that important work.
Now, I've seen directly what shutdowns do to interfere with research projects and the test and evaluation mission of our military.
I've seen how it actually ends up costing us more money when we don't pay the military on time.
So we always want to ensure that the military is paid, that our work is done to ensure that America is safe.
And I don't want to give Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden the ability to say that a shutdown is putting national security at risk.
I've introduced the ASAP Act to take that critique of shutdown politics off the table.
We could all agree in a bipartisan fashion to pass this legislation so that shutdowns would be about isolating some of the wasteful spending that allows a woke government to be weaponized against we the people.
And we've got lots of examples of that, and that's why the budget process is so important, and it's why the reforms we fought for at the beginning of this year in January We're critical to inform now the plan going forward.
Now, that brings us to what's going to happen this week on the debt limit.
Speaker McCarthy is working hard with his leadership team to try to get the votes to pass a $1.5 trillion increase in the debt limit in exchange for a little north of a trillion dollars in cuts.
I'm working to make sure that those cuts aren't aspirational over some 10-year period, but that they are as immediate as possible.
And to everyone's great credit on the Republican team, there are some real pro-growth strategies that we're demanding as a part of that increase in the debt limit.
Those include bills that I talked about on the last episode, The RAINS Act, HR1, unleashing American energy, getting rid of burdensome regulations.
That certainly helps us address deficits and debts because we're able to have more cash flow, more revenue into the government, not as a consequence of higher taxes, but But as a consequence of more taxpayers and more successful Americans.
So that's ongoing.
And one of the sticking points is that a pro-growth strategy that I'm demanding, work requirements to achieve various social services Well, the implementation on those is in some question.
So here is the essence of the negotiation going on right now.
The work requirements that I would prefer would be far more rigorous than 20 hours a week.
The work requirements that I would demand would have to start in fiscal year 2024, not in 2025 or beyond.
Because what I've seen after seven years in Congress is that the things that we're serious about, we get going on those immediately.
And the things that are unserious are delayed to some future budgetary year.
So I'm not going to engage in a negotiation with Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden that is predicated on them getting their increase in the debt limit to fund their woke, weaponized government now.
And then we get work requirements starting in 2025 or beyond.
An essential element to get my vote for any increase in the debt limit.
And by the way, I never have voted for an increase in the debt limit.
Would be work requirements starting in 2024, not 2025 as this legislation is currently written.
And I also believe that the work requirements have to be more rigorous than just 20 hours a week.
Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich made a deal at 20 hours a week.
I think in the opening offer that the House of Representatives makes to Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer, we should aim higher than that.
30 hours a week, I think, would be a minimum.
And that's certainly something that a number of folks have reflected on favorably in the chat.
So that's what's going on on the debt limit.
But the biggest news of the day is obviously coming out of Fox.
Here's Harris Faulkner breaking into the country.
We have some news from within our Fox family.
Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have mutually agreed to part ways.
Tucker's last show was this past Friday.
And starting tonight, Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 p.m.
Eastern.
It will be an interim show with rotating Fox News personalities until a new host is named.
We want to thank Tucker Carlson for his service to the network as a host and prior to that, As a long-term contributor.
There is a very nervous energy that is just spewing off of Harris Faulkner as she delivers that news, and it has to be uncomfortable for anyone to announce that the highest-rated program on the network will not be airing on a night when myself and a lot of Americans,
I mean, we schedule the day around 8 o'clock, Tucker Carlson getting his terrific perspective on events.
And that perspective has been one unique in media.
And I took note of commentator Glenn Greenwald really reflecting on all that Tucker Carlson has thought about.
This is the tweet from Glenn Greenwald.
Tucker Carlson was the cable host who opposed the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine, Denounced CIA, FBI, and DHS for its systemic lies and corruption, devoted himself to a pardon for Julian Assange, objected to regime change efforts in Cuba, criticized the Trump administration's militarism.
That is...
A voice, a perspective that may not align with what you think on every subject, but it was unique.
And when we lose something as unique as that in the national discussion, in the ability to amplify perspectives, it informs on the work we do here in Congress.
Make no mistake.
The cable news hosts who are most trusted by varying audiences have a lot to do, actually, with what voices get lifted, what bills might ultimately get heard, what investigations might get put to the side or accelerated.
And Tucker Carlson Tonight has been a consistent platform at time for views that cut contrary to the prevailing thinking on something.
And one of those areas that Glenn Greenwald noted, and that I certainly appreciate, Tucker Carlson's perspective on foreign policy.
He has a perspective in most cases that lines up with President Trump, but when President Trump favored the executive having war powers vis-a-vis Iran, Tucker Carlson and I took a position that was different than President Trump.
And what year was this back in, Sasha?
2020. Here's an interview that I did with Tucker Carlson on war powers in Iran.
Take a listen.
So I think it's fair to say you're certainly one of the people in the House closest to the president.
He's completely opposed to this.
You, as his close ally, voted for it.
Tell us why you did that.
I spoke to the president today after one of America's brave patriots was laid down at Arlington, one of my constituents who passed away just days before Christmas in Afghanistan.
And the president told me he's more anti-war than I am, and I love the president for that, Tucker.
The thing is, I think you've got a few of the advisors of the president who are trying to slow walk the administration into war.
When the president relies on his instincts and we have the Trump doctrine, we kill the terrorists and we come home.
And I think this War Powers resolution was worthy of support because it did not criticize the president.
It did not say he was wrong in killing Soleimani, but it did say that if any president wants to drag our nation into another forever Middle East war, that they require the Approval of the United States Congress.
That's something I deeply believe, and I think it's something the president deeply believes.
So just to be totally clear, you're one of three Republicans who voted, in effect, against the president's stated position, but you just talked to the president, and he said that he's on your side.
Well, the president probably would have preferred that I vote with the other Republicans.
He certainly said that.
But I think on these broader questions of war and peace, Donald Trump understands that the pro-war candidate loses presidential elections.
Hillary Clinton was more pro-war and lost.
And if you look previously, it's typically the anti-war candidates that won.
I think since 9-11, John Kerry was the only anti-war candidate that lost an election.
And so I think that the president understands that.
And he's too smart to let Nancy Pelosi try to cast him as the pro-war candidate.
And that's why I don't think we're going to war with Iran.
Tucker, foreign policy is true America first foreign policy and I reflect with such warmth and positive thinking about those opportunities we had to inform on these critical issues that I think save Americans lives and that make us all more focused on the real threat because we've had far too many leaders in both parties We're focused on nonsense.
It got Americans killed and it did not advance our interests.
In many cases, it actually hurt our interests.
And there is a ton of love on the live chat for Tucker Carlson and a lot of questions about whether or not Tucker Carlson's departure from Fox and Dan Bongino's departure from Fox are somehow related and indicative of a shifting strategy in terms of their content.
Time will tell.
Also, a lot of speculation as to what Tucker Carlson will do next.
Here's what I think Tucker will do next.
I think he'll go independent.
Tucker Carlson is someone who's worked at PBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and I don't know that at this stage of his life, in this unique way where he's shaped the national discussion, that he's looking to have another boss.
And so I think he could be among those who...
Pursue independent journalism and we'll have an exquisite following, a thoughtful following, a motivated and engaged group of people, intellectuals, activists, members of Congress, members of congressional staff.
Everyone is going to be glued to what Tucker Carlson does next.
And just given the nature of the media landscape right now and how corporatized it's become, Perhaps someone who has those unique expressions, those unique viewpoints, like Glenn Greenwald noted, would be better served to be limitless in the opportunities that independent media presents.
So that's just my guess.
No inside information, just a belief in how Tucker Carlson views his talents.
I think he's the kind of guy who would bet on himself, and I would certainly bet on him as well.
It's always important when you can get truth out through critical platforms that are highly consumed to be able to shape the decisions that are being made in Washington.
Sometimes an interview on Tucker Carlson tonight was more important than an appropriations rider or even a bill in Congress to determine the outcome of certain things.
So here's what happened.
I found out about the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the EcoHealth Alliance and Peter Daszak receiving US taxpayer funds as a part of the financial amalgamation that made up the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
So I went on Tucker Carlson tonight, conducted an interview, and within minutes President Trump Had canceled this funding stream and had drawn it back and ensured that it didn't go forward.
So literally this interview was one that President Trump was watching and he took action on.
And knowing what we know now, it's quite a thing that at the very beginning of the pandemic we were having this discussion.
Play the clip.
The NIH gives this $3.7 million grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
They then advertise that they need coronavirus researchers.
Following that, coronavirus erupts in Wuhan.
And then what's really troubling to me is that either Conspicuously or miraculously, the Wuhan Institute of Virology is able to sequence the virus on January 2nd, but China doesn't admit to the virus existing to January 9th, and then the Wuhan Institute of Virology doesn't release this important scientific information to the world until January 12th.
So at best, Americans are funding people who are lying to us, and at worst, we're funding people who we knew had problems handling pathogens, Who then birthed a monster virus onto the world.
By the way, China is about to eclipse us in terms of the size of its economy, if it hasn't already, and it seems like it already may have.
Either way, why would it be sending any money to China for any purpose?
There is a far too cozy relationship between U.S. research and Chinese research because there are some research institutions in our country who realize the short-term benefit of Chinese cash.
But that doesn't excuse our government.
And what should really trouble viewers is that this is an active grant.
This isn't something of yesteryear.
And so I've called on Secretary Azar to immediately halt this grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
They have not been honest, and at worst, They've been negligent to the point of many, many deaths throughout the world.
Interview in action resulting a change in a grant system that was putting the American people at risk.
Tucker Carlson and I were criticized greatly by 60 Minutes for that interview.
They held up Peter Daszak as some pioneer of science itself, and they certainly look foolish very much now as a result of that.
I also wanted to get to the vaccine issue, because there was a vaccine religion that seemed to take over every major source of news, and many of the hosts, even on conservative networks.
They were pushing the vaccine.
They weren't talking about the harm that some of these mandates were causing our fellow Americans.
And Nick Cupper, one of our brave service members, stood up and was a voice for many active-duty military who were against this vaccine mandate.
Tucker Carlson gave him a platform.
It's one of my all-time favorite Tucker Carlson interviews.
Take a listen.
So my theory is we ignore the big things in favor of obsessing over the little ones.
So destroying the U.S. military would qualify as a big thing.
Do you not have a member of Congress?
I mean, there are hundreds of Republicans holding federal office.
None has come forward to stop this?
So there definitely have been some.
I was on Matt Gaetz's podcast, and he's definitely been fighting for us.
Thomas Mass has been fighting for us, Chip Roy.
But there are only a few.
You know, we need everybody.
This is not a problem for tomorrow to be solved or the next day.
This is a problem right now.
You're talking about over 10% of your military is looking to be canned right now.
I mean, if I were China or I were Russia, I'd be chomping at the bit right now.
God, this is...
And...
It's beyond belief.
It's also wild that...
They've only been granting religious waivers to members who are already separating, already out.
That does no good for the member.
The member's already gone.
And I think it's very ironic that Secretary Austin was given a waiver by Congress to serve, yet he refuses to give any of us waivers to keep serving.
We are back live, and in the chat, people are asking whether or not Elon Musk should start a cable news channel and hire Tucker Carlson to be the masthead.
I know how much Elon Musk enjoys Tucker's program.
It's obvious from his public statements that he's a viewer and that he's an admirer.
And I would be shocked if Elon Musk hadn't already contacted Tucker Carlson to indicate support for his next venture.
That's how Elon is.
He likes to be an angel investor.
And could you imagine the partnership between Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson?
People are going crazy for it online.
Make it happen, Elon.
Partner up with Tucker.
It would be terrific.
There was a time when a lot of folks...
I thought Tucker Carlson sounded more and more like a political candidate and less and less like a talk show host.
And during the BLM riots of 2020, Tucker Carlson was so strong and so unique in the monologues that he would deliver each and every night about how our leadership was failing to provide protection for our people when faced with a violent, politically motivated mob.
Corporate America was funding these riots.
You had political leaders advocating for bail funds for people so they would know there would be no consequence if they destroyed property, maybe even hurt people.
And each and every night, Tucker was our voice.
And so we could not do the Tucker Carlson homage episode without one of the classic monologues from 2020. Here's Tucker.
For many of us, this has been one of the saddest, most painful weeks in memory.
Depressing doesn't even begin to describe it.
We have watched as mobs of violent cretins have burned our cities, defaced our monuments, beaten old women in the street, shot police officers, and stolen everything in sight, stealing everything.
How many innocent Americans have these people hurt?
How many have they murdered?
We don't know that number.
But it's the country itself that so many of us worry about at this point.
After we've watched what's happened over the last week, how do we put the society back together?
Can we?
We don't know that either.
If you're grieving for America tonight, you are not alone.
Millions feel the same way you do.
So many of our leaders, by contrast, are not grieving.
They seem exhilarated.
They feel nothing as our nation descends into anarchy.
They see chaos instead as an opportunity, a chance to solidify their control, to increase their market share, to win elections.
They have no interest in talking about the details of what is actually happening out there on our streets.
In fact, they're hiding those details.
They're demanding that you forget what you saw.
Don't forget it.
Remember all of it, every bit, because it's proof of who they are.
It has nothing to do with civil rights.
It's violence.
And the criminals you just saw on the screen are not protesters.
The people cheering them on from their TV studios have no patience for real protests or real protesters.
Just in April, Democrats in New Jersey arrested a woman for trying to plan a rally, a protest, at the state capitol.
The New York Times said nothing when they did that because they approve.
That's how they really feel about any political expression they can't control.
They crush it.
What they support is more power for themselves, and they're willing to use gangs of thugs to get it.
We are back live and we are Team Tucker.
Now folks on the live chat are saying Donald Trump needs to pick Tucker Carlson to be his running mate after seeing that monologue and it was one for the ages.
I also want to extend my personal gratitude to Tucker Carlson because in moments when When I became deeply frustrated at how my colleagues talked about me and my family, Tucker Carlson allowed me to go on his show with my son Nestor.
We talked about our unique relationship and how sometimes it's not blood that defines family.
There are step parents, there are adoptive parents, There are people in parenting roles all over this country, and there is a unique love that you develop with those that you care for and help to guide and nurture.
And when I was criticized for standing up for my son in the House Judiciary Committee by Cedric Richmond, who said that I didn't even have the right to talk about what a non-white young person would go through in an encounter with the police, or how a parent We talked to a non-white child about encounters with police.
When Cedric Richmond criticized my life experience, I got the chance to go on Tucker's program.
Nestor got the chance to go on the program.
It was certainly a special moment for our family.
Take a watch and listen.
I've just got to say, though, he's a remarkable young man.
I am proud of him.
And I've raised Nestor to believe that in our family, we treat everyone equally.
It doesn't matter what their background is, what their race is.
We treat every American with respect.
Does he learn that at school as well, do you think?
I mean, do you think the culture in which he's growing up reinforces that obvious and most American of all messages?
Well, why don't you ask him, Tucker?
He's, I think, piped in from the studio in Florida.
Mr., thanks for joining us.
What do you make of Cedric Richmond's attack?
Did you see all this?
I did not see it because I was sleeping from a workout from the night before, but yes, once I woke up, I woke up to seeing all these tweets and I was like, what's going on?
They might get me a call telling me about it, and then I saw it, and I think it's kind of unfair to tell someone that they don't understand because they don't have Like, because of their racial color.
While, like, he's fighting for equality, but if you tell someone to not get involved that he doesn't understand because of his color, you're kind of being a hypocrite there.
Yes.
I think that's very nicely put.
Matt?
I mean, Congressman Gates?
Saying something like this out loud seems like the kind of thing that, you know, in normal times you'd be censured for.
I cannot believe that it's acceptable in the United States Congress for someone to tell someone else that they're fighting for their children more than they are.
Tucker, you have a son.
How would you feel if someone said to you that they were fighting for your own family more than you were?
So that's why I got very upset.
But, you know, for the sake of Nestor and my story, we're a...
We're a proud, happy family.
We love each other very much and Nestor's on his way off to college in the fall and I just couldn't be happier and prouder of the young man he's become and the fact that he is embracing these American values that everyone should be treated fairly and equally.
That was an awesome moment for us and it's really something when You're told that by virtue of your skin color you don't get to participate in a discussion or a debate and Tucker Carlson has always stood for and will stand for the ability to ask tough questions and to demand a warrant for claims and we shouldn't judge each other or limit each other from participation in that discussion based on race
but someone was fired today Who seems to take the opposite view.
And that's Don Lemon at CNN. Now I don't know why Don Lemon was fired.
I do know that recently he has embarrassed himself, the network, with absurd discourse, suggesting in a recent interview with presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy that Ramaswamy couldn't offer a perspective on African American history or the development of civil rights because Vivek wasn't an African American like Don Lemon was.
It really was one of the more bizarre things I saw on television.
So I don't know if this clip contributed to Don Lemon's firing, but I sure hope it did.
Take a listen.
Do you have anything on this before I move on to Cheyenne?
I don't see what one has to do with the other, but go on.
I took up a lot of time with Fox News.
No, it's fine.
We have time.
I don't really see what one has to do with the other, especially considering, and using the Civil War to talk about black Americans.
That war was not fought for black people to have guns.
That's not...
That war was fought for black people to have freedoms in this country.
Actually, that's why the Civil War was fought.
Okay.
But that wasn't fought for black people to have guns.
Actually, you know, a funny fact is black people did not get to enjoy the other freedoms until their Second Amendment rights were secured.
And I think that that's one of the lessons that we learned.
Black people still aren't allowed to enjoy the freedoms.
I disagree with you on that, Don.
I disagree with you.
I think you're doing a disservice to our country.
By failing to recognize the fact that we have equality before the lawsuit.
When you are in black skin and you live in this country, then you can disagree with me.
But we're not.
You mentioned that we have three different shapes of melanin in here.
Don, I think we have to be able to talk about these issues in the open, regardless of the color of our skin.
Black Americans today, to say that, compare that to 1865 and 1964, absolutely have equal rights in this country.
Pretty compelling argument by Ramaswamy, actually.
Here is the statement from Don Lemon after being fired.
Quote, I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned.
After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly.
In no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network.
It is clear that there are some larger issues at play.
With that said, I want to thank my colleagues and the many teams I have worked with on an incredible run.
They are the most talented journalists in the business and I wish them all the best.
That is kind of a spicy reply.
It is clear that there are some larger issues at play.
I wonder what card Don Lemon's going to place there.
What are the larger issues?
Let's see.
In primetime, you were terrible, got demoted, you went and ruined the morning show, and then you had these embarrassing moments where you literally tried to use your own race as a trump card in an interview so that you wouldn't have to engage in what was a polite presentation of argument from the guest that you had invited on the show.
CNN replies to this statement showing that the TIFT is still ongoing.
CNN Communications tweeting, Don Lemon's statement about this morning's events is inaccurate.
He was offered an opportunity to meet with management, but instead released a statement on Twitter.
So it doesn't appear as though the separation was as rosy as was perhaps initially portrayed by CNN in their glowing statement about how they would be cheering on Don Lemon in all of his future endeavors.
But good riddance, I would say, to someone who did everything he could to mislead his audience, regardless of what his platform was, and that was Don Lemon.
And on the far other side, someone we trusted, someone who elevated arguments that were vindicated as facts unfolded.
Tucker Carlson, we stand with him completely, and we are excited about his next ventures.
Got to get out of here, but before we go, everyone's been circulating this.
This video's been all over the internet.
Tucker Carlson, on Friday, speaking at Heritage, going viral.
Here's some of the best moments.
You look around and you see so many people break under the strain, under the downward pressure of whatever this is that we're going through.
And you look with disdain and sadness as you see people you know become Quislings, you see them revealed as cowards, you see them going along with a new new thing, which is clearly a poisonous thing, a silly thing.
You know, saying things you know they don't believe because they want to keep their jobs.
If there's a single person in this room who hasn't seen that through George Floyd and COVID and the Ukraine war, raise your hand.
Oh, nobody?
Right.
You all know what I'm talking about.
And you're so disappointed in people.
You know, you are.
And you realize that the herd instinct is maybe the strongest instinct.
I mean, it may be stronger than the hunger and sex instincts, actually.
The instinct, which again is inherent to be like everybody else and not to be cast out of the group, not to be shunned, that's a very strong impulse in all of us from birth.
And it takes over, unfortunately, in moments like this, and it's harnessed, in fact, by bad people in moments like this, to produce uniformity.
And you see people going along with this and you lose respect for them.
And that's certainly happened to me at scale over the past three years.
I'm not mad at people.
I'm just sad.
I'm disappointed.
How could you go along with this?
You know it's not true, but you're saying it anyway?
Really?
You're putting your pronouns in your email?
You're ridiculous!
We are back.
Ridiculous indeed.
Tucker Carlson, we stand with you.
It's great to see everybody reflect so positively on all he's done to vindicate the truth, to get it out before the American people, and we know that work continues.
Thanks for joining us on Firebrand.
Make sure you're subscribed.
Make sure you've got that little bell clicked.
If you're watching on Rumble or YouTube, the YouTube audience has been growing almost suspiciously I think it's going to be a very interesting week upcoming in the Congress because we're going to be negotiating the debt limit.
I can tell you I don't think the cement is hard around 218 votes for this bill just yet.
I think the rigor and the The enactment and implementation of the work requirements, one of the final things we have to do before sending this offer to the Senate.
And I've increasingly talked to colleagues who've said, this is not just the opening offer.
This is the best offer that they can vote for.
Otherwise, they're not going to vote for raising the debt limit.
And then the discussion would be about what cuts are essential to ensure that we're able to keep the doors open.
And don't ever let any politicians tell you that there's not enough cash in the system.
Cash is running over the gunnels into the government.
We are breaking records.
The problem is a spending problem.
And we have identified specific programs in areas where we need clawbacks, where we need cuts, where we need caps on the growth of the spending rate.
And if we do that, I think we'll be in a far better posture than we are now with exploding budgets, currency that is being devalued, and an economy that has flatlined.
So we can do better than this.
It's very important that Republicans increase the rigor of the work requirements and begin them not in 2025 and beyond, but immediately in 2024. Thank you again for joining us.
Thank you to my terrific team for assembling all those Tucker Carlson clips.
We enjoy his work so much as activists, as fans.
And so to Joel Valdez, Sasha Timolchev, thank you for pulling that together.
We know everyone enjoyed it.
It was a great show.
And we will be back soon with our 100th episode of Firebrand.
Roll the credits.
▲
Export Selection