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Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom.
Today is Tuesday, February 7, 2023. It's about 2.45 in the afternoon here on the east Speaker of the House of Representatives. As you know, I was championing the cause of the rebels in the Republican Party in the House of Representatives who were opposing his election.
And I was doing so because though I know Speaker McCarthy and speak to him or have spoken to him on a first name basis. And he's a likable person. I don't
believe he stands for any of the small government principles that the Republican Party once stood
for. Most Republicans in the Congress don't. The hardcore rebels of 20 to 40, there's about 40
in the House Freedom Caucus, 20 had the courage to vote against Kevin McCarthy's speakership until he started
making concessions. For the most part, they have some small government, maximum individual liberty,
Ron Paul-like libertarian first principles that they stick to. Kevin McCarthy has none.
Kevin McCarthy's only first principle is what's good for Kevin McCarthy.
Kevin McCarthy has voted for every big government program and tax increase that has come down the pike since he entered Congress. Not that long ago, I think in 2016, maybe it was 2006, but whatever it was, usually the Speaker of the House was the senior member of leadership in the dominant party. Sam Rayburn
for the Democrats, John McCormick for the Democrats, even John Boehner for the Republicans.
Kevin McCarthy is relatively young and his only electoral experience is in
the House of Representatives. And it's all what kind of a compromise can he make? So this morning
he revealed that under his leadership, Republicans will vote to increase the debt ceiling if Democrats agree that Joe Biden's next budget will be balanced. Well,
that is ridiculous. I mean, that's like saying, you know, we'll cut the cut deeper if you promise
not to scrape your knee again. They're just going to make things worse by voting to increase the
debt ceiling and allowing the Treasury to borrow more money. That, by definition, is what causes
inflation. More cash in circulation chasing the same number of products and the same number of
services causes the price, the cost, price inflation of those products and services to go up.
That is a textbook cause of inflation. That is the only
cause of inflation. Government spending more money than it takes in. Where does the cash come from?
The Fed creates it out of thin air. How does the Fed create it out of thin air? Well, it doesn't
print it anymore. Sometimes those of us that complain about the Fed use the phrase printing. They don't literally print.
The Fed prints cash, but we're not talking about printing fake cash.
The fake cash, the Fed will just say to Chase, okay, that account you have at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, add three or add six zeros to it and just start spending the money.
And they do that for all the big banks. If the big banks
don't go along with the Fed's dictates, then they won't get that artificial cash. What becomes of
that artificial cash? Well, it goes into bank accounts, it's loaned to commercial borrowers,
it's spent, and it causes the price to go up. More money in the money supply chasing the same
amount of goods and services produces inflation, Speaker McCarthy. Don't even offer to raise
the borrowing debt ceiling of the government. The Republicans and the Democrats together, that's the big government
party with a Democrat wing, my left hand, a Republican wing, my right hand, the two together
have spent $31.4 trillion more than the government has taken in in the past 100 years.
Republicans are just as responsible for this. I know
my Republican friends don't want to hear it. I'm sorry. It's the truth.
Republicans, Kevin McCarthy types, down the middle Republicans, not libertarian Republicans,
not the gang of 20 or 40, not the House Freedom Caucus, but mainstream Republicans are just as
responsible for this
as the Democrats are, and now McCarthy is offering to do it again. That's the leadership
that the Republicans have. This happened when John Boehner was the speaker, Republican from Ohio.
This happened when Paul Ryan was the speaker, a longtime friend of mine, but I have to be critical when I think his behavior warrants criticism.
Republican of Wisconsin.
It happened, of course, under Nancy Pelosi.
The Democrats are at least honest about it.
We're going to borrow and we're going to spend.
It's ruinous, but it's not deceptive.
Republicans are ruinous, but deceptive.
All right.
What else has Kevin McCarthy done today? He confirmed that
George Santos is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee. I can't possibly go through
all the allegations of lying on the part of George Santos. None of us is a saint. We all from time to
time tell little white lies. This guy told whoppers. This guy told substantial lies
to the electorate. The electorate was duped. My friend Bobby Zimmerman, who's wanted to be a
congressman for 40 years and who's a Democratic operative, had his chance against George Santos.
Bobby, I love you. Would be great for you and for the Congress and for the country if you were in
the Congress, but your people didn't do their homework. They should have known about Santos's lies.
You'll get another chance. That's not the issue. The issue now is Santos facing an ethics
investigation. The Ethics Committee of the House has jurisdiction over the ethical behavior of
sitting congressmen, sitting congresswomen, not candidates for Congress
who are not already there. Stated differently, if he made absurd claims that were profoundly
untrue and the public bought them while he was Mr. Santos, not Congressman Santos,
the House Ethics Committee has no jurisdiction over it. They have jurisdiction
over his behavior as a member of Congress and any criminal acts he engaged in in order to become
a member of Congress. So if he signed documents to the Federal Election Commission in furtherance of his campaign, he can be ethically prosecuted
for that, even though he was Mr. Santos at the time. But if he told his constituents that he's
a graduate of Hunter College or Baruch College, two very high-end state-owned schools in New York
City, and he wasn't, that he worked at JPMorgan Chase or Goldman Sachs, and he didn't,
that he was Jewish when he was really Catholic, that he was gay when he was really straight. I
mean, these crazy things that he's accused of saying. If that's what they're going to investigate,
they're going to have to investigate themselves as well. But if you're talking about perjury,
if you're talking about signing documents to the Federal
Election Commission or to the House of Representatives that were untrue, that's
worthy of an investigation, and if that happened, then they have to do something about it.
Kevin McCarthy, you have your hands full. Would you please stick to first principles?
If you have any. All right, a little snarky, but that's how I feel.
More as we get it.
Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.