The Daily Signal - The Daily Signal Presents “The “Signal Sitdown - How Trump Changed Republicans' Shutdown Game | Rep. Mike Haridopolos

Starting point is 00:00:00 At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak equipment modernization. We're fluent in data digitization and expansion into foreign markets. And we can talk all day about streamlining manufacturing processes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us. And contact Desjardin today.

Starting point is 00:00:25 We'd love to talk. Business. Hi, Bradley Devlin here, politics editor of The Daily Signal, and I'm excited to share this episode of my show with The Daily Signal with you. The Signal Sitdown is one of the Daily Signal's other podcasts, and each show I bring you inside the biggest battles in Washington, D.C., with some of the biggest names in politics.

Starting point is 00:00:50 So if you like what you hear today, make sure you subscribe to the Signal Sitdown for weekly episodes. We'll see you there. The Democrats historically have always got along with a clean scene. They have the gall now to say it's not a clean CR, which is always ironic. And I think the listeners really need to know, we negotiated this ahead of time. You know that Tom Cole sat down, of course, the House appropriators and said, Democrat appropriators and said, we're going to have a clean CR and what else do you need?

Starting point is 00:01:17 We want to do it until January. It said, no, no, no, it's got to be until November. We acquiesced and said, okay, fine, November 21. So we negotiated. So this drama about their, they never had a seat at the table is wrong. We spoke with them earlier. We thought for sure they'd always go along. with the CR. That's been their entire political history, but of course, welcome to the modern

Starting point is 00:01:34 Democrat Party who is clearly being held hostage by the more left-wing, if not super left-wing, part of their party. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Signal Sitdown. But before we get to the interview, we'd love it if you'd hit that like and subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you may be joining us. And please remember to give us a five-star review because we love your feedback. Remember, it's your government, and together we'll expose how it really works, to affect real change. Without further ado, here's the interview. Congressman Mike Herodopoulos, welcome to the Signal Sitdown. Well, it's great to be here, Bradley. Thanks to the opportunity. It's a unique time in our history, as always, it seems like this year, but these are important

Starting point is 00:02:21 conversations to have. Yes, government is shut down still, but you are here in Washington, D.C. Many people are not. Many people have done what several baseball teams have done in recent days, and that's go to Cancun and go on vacation and enjoy a little R&R while. the American people are left without a functioning government. So week three of the shutdown, looks like we're going to have a lot of votes in the Senate this week on the continuing resolution. We're no longer voting on that Democrat continuing resolution, but they are going to be voting on the Republican version of the continuing resolution.

Starting point is 00:02:57 And nobody is budging at this point in time. Of course, we have some folks like Senator John Federman joining with Republicans and trying to keep the government open. But no end in sight. it seems. Are you surprised that there's no end in sight right now with week three? Well, it is historically. It should be a surprise, right? As you know, the Democrats historically have always got along with a clean CR. They have the gall now to say it's not a clean CR, which is always ironic. And I think the listeners really need to know, we negotiated this ahead of time. You know that Tom Cole sat down,

Starting point is 00:03:27 of course, the House appropriators and said Democrat appropriators and said, we're going to have a clean CR and what else do you need? We want to do it until January. It said, no, no, no, it's got I be till November, we acquiesced and said, okay, fine, November 21. So we negotiated. So this, this drama about their, they never had a seat at the table is wrong. We spoke with them earlier. We thought for sure they'd always go along with the CR. That's been their entire political history, but of course, welcome to the modern Democrat party, who is clearly being held hostage by the more left-wing, if not super left-wing part of their party. And the other thing they said is, okay, we'll let you reopen the government if you spend $1.5 trillion and get rid of all the reforms

Starting point is 00:04:06 we made with programs like Medicaid, let alone USAID. So it's a ransom note. So I'm glad to see we're not budging. We shouldn't budge because we won the election. The American public spoke very clearly. They want to reform some of these broken programs. And the Democrats seem to act like they won the 2024 election. They did not.

Starting point is 00:04:23 And I'm glad to see we're digging in and saying, let's keep the government open. And in turn, let's have a legitimate debate about the failure of Obamacare. We think it's a good debate to have. Yeah. And nearly a year of constant L's taken by the. left and the Democratic Party and the idea that they're in a position to demand anything at this point is, is I think, comical not only for folks who run around this town and have seen just the chaos play out every day on Capitol Hill within the Democratic Party, but also the average

Starting point is 00:04:51 American voter who sees that dynamic playing out in Washington from afar from the news media that they consume. You mentioned that the left-wing portion of the Democratic Party or the super left-wing portion of the Democratic Party has taken the party hostage in this shutdown fight in this negotiation. I don't think of Schumer as a radical left, you know, Zeron Mamdani, Ilhan Omar type. He's he's a very classically democratic senator from New York, right? He wants to pay his friends and punish his enemies and kind of run things as they've run things in New York for so, so long, especially New York City. And nevertheless, he's been browbeaten. He's been beaten by this far left portion of his party. How exactly has that portion of the party taken the

Starting point is 00:05:46 Democratic Party caution? Well, I think a couple things. First of all, I think all Chuck Schumer cares about his power. It says nothing to do with what the policy is about power, his power. He's been here since 1980. And he's the person who assessed about being, of course, the leader of the Democrat Party. And guess what? You're the dog to cost the car. Yeah. Right? This is the box he's in. And he sees what's happening in the state of New York right now where the left wing is controlling the primaries.

Starting point is 00:06:10 So he's not worried about losing a general election. He's worried about losing a primary. And he's also, I think, learned that if he doesn't appease this left, left wing base, that within his own caucus, they're going to remove him and put even more left wing leader in there, whether the Bernie Sanders type, what have you. So that's what he's, he's motivated by fear. Yeah, Elizabeth Warren. I mean, Elizabeth Warren, I mean, it's a whole other story.

Starting point is 00:06:35 But that said, this is the box we're in, and he has made unrealistic demands that we just rubber-stamped a liberal agenda, $1.5 trillion. And then on top of that, spent another $450 billion on saying the Obamacare subsidies should be in place and with the COVID enhancements. I mean, it's a non-reality. And so how do you negotiate with someone who's not in reality? It's very challenging, let alone they're just holding on to their power. And so ironically, the voice of reason, did you ever think a year ago that Federman?

Starting point is 00:07:06 Senator Federman will be the voice of reason in the Democrat Party welcome to 2025. And so I think we put ourselves in the right position in the House. When I get the phone calls back in the district, why do you shut down the government? I say, no, actually, I voted to keep the government open with the common sense idea that we have a continued resolution, no funny business politically, and let's negotiate and have a real debate about Obamacare because clearly, in my opinion, it's been a colossal figure. It has not reduced costs, and it has not allowed you to keep your doctor and a myriad of other things. So these are the base of all those promises that Barack Obama were hollow. And you see that architect of Obamacare, if you've seen some of these candid interviews he's done, they knew that this was going to happen. But they had to sell it one way, knowing full well the facts were on the other side.

Starting point is 00:07:50 Right. They wanted to create a health care system that is so ineffective and ineffectual that actually single-payer health care. That was the goal. Yes. Became the more desirable option for the. the American people. You mentioned that they're not calling it a clean CR anymore. They're not calling it a clean continuing resolution. And when you see them try to make this argument, I think Nancy Pelosi has gone on some of the major networks and tried to make this argument. They've never really been

Starting point is 00:08:18 pressed by the corporate media before. And when the corporate media presses them and says, okay, maybe you're right. It wasn't a clean CR. But it was, you know, the part of it that wasn't clean was $58 million in funds to protect lawmakers and to enhance security around the capital after the death of Charlie Kirk. So sure, it may not be clean in that sense, but they seem to be trying to make this triple bank shot argument that actually because of reductions in force and the types of authorities that President Donald Trump has claimed to pause certain funding and move certain funding. elsewhere that it isn't a clean CR. Am I understanding that correctly? They're trying to do,

Starting point is 00:09:01 they're trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat with this. It's just their whole argument. The Republican shut down. I gave me a break. I mean, everyone recognizes the threats that we face. I get them every day. But that reality is just let's have an honest debate for a change. Let's put it all out in the open. I don't want the four corners, as they call it, to have the debate and work out a deal behind it. I want people to understand the impact that these bad health care policies have on their life. I mean, right now we're in a situation we're paying $1,500 a month for a family of four in the health care market, not counting the deductible, let alone the co-pays they have to pay on top of that. And then you have other people who pay

Starting point is 00:09:38 literally zero into the system. And so it's that frustration that's there. And so I can't, in good conscience, tell one person to pay $1,500 and subsidize other people and not try to attack the root of the problem, which is the cost of health care. And Obamacare has proved the bee, that monster that we all thought it was. And like we made those changes in Medicaid reform under the big bill, we need to do the same darn thing with Obamacare. Put some common sense parameters in place. Ask people to put a little bit of skin in the game so they understand the true cost of health care. Because when you see a bill for nothing, you consume health care differently. Just like if you go to a buffet and you pay one price, you eat differently

Starting point is 00:10:17 than when you purchase a la carte. We need to put these economic realities into health care. Because Right now, people don't even know what the cost does when they go to the doctor's office. Right. No cost transparency. And that's got to be essential to this plan. And I don't think it'd be that hard to improve upon a broken system, which clearly Obamacare is a subsidy on top of a subsidy on top of a new subsidy called COVID. And they think that that's okay?

Starting point is 00:10:40 That's ridiculous. Yeah. And when you say a new subsidy called COVID, these are Obamacare subsidies that were increased during the COVID-19 era. Those subsidy increases were supposed to be temporary. That's right. And this is what the Democrats are fighting for. It has nothing to do with keeping the government open whatsoever.

Starting point is 00:10:57 But I couldn't help but be very intrigued by Bernie Sanders and AOC making a little Twitter video when they were walking around the Capitol complex explaining why these subsidies are so important. And if you are an average American who doesn't know much about the Obamacare subsidies, let's say you turn 26 this year and it's going to be your first time having to deal with health care on your own. If that comes through your employer or if you're going to be on the Obamacare Exchange,

Starting point is 00:11:27 you seem, I mean, watching that video, it would make sense for you to be concerned because it seems like these Obamacare subsidies are directly putting money in your pocket. But they're not. They're putting money in the pockets of these mega healthcare corporations, the types of healthcare corporations

Starting point is 00:11:44 that 20 minutes ago, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, were incredibly worried about corrupting the political infrastructure of the United States and ripping the American people off, and here they are trying to subsidize them. Well, this is why you're a good reporter. I mean, you get it. You actually look behind the curtain and see that it's a joke. And again, the payments don't go to you, the consumer.

Starting point is 00:12:08 The payments go to the corporation or the insurance company. And as you probably looked at it more closely as well, the utilization rates of people who are on, quote, Obamacare. there's 35% or 35 to 40% of people never actually use that. So that means the health insurance company is getting paid, all that money, literally thousands of dollars, and not providing any services to the people who are insured. So this is why we need to fundamental reform the system. And to say that it's just a bailout for big corporations is exactly the case.

Starting point is 00:12:42 And that's the duplicity of the Democrats or not. They badmouthed corporations while at the same time giving them all this money. And it's the same way with some of the prescription drug issues too as well. Same thing. So what we want to do is add the consumer element to health care. Now, pre-existing conditions are a whole other matter, but you can create a risk pool on something like that and then help those folks out who have a pre-existing condition. But you can't mandate certain coverages for everyone when they might not have that potential

Starting point is 00:13:08 ailment. It's the mandates that add to the cost and the insurance company has to assume that risk, thus they pass along to consumer. In this case, they pass along to the taxpayer. So what we did in Florida, for example, when I was Senate president, we changed the dynamic. We said healthcare company, we're going to give you X. Anything that's over, that's on you. And put the onus on them as opposed to always putting it on the taxpayers back.

Starting point is 00:13:31 Because really what I think, and we talked about earlier, this was just a nose under the camel's tent. This is the frog in the water, slowly turning it up where eventually we moved to a single-paired system. That was their goal, and this is their backdoor way in. Right. You mentioned the duplicity of the Democratic Party, right? Slam these mega corporations. Meanwhile, give money under the table to their chosen favorites, their chosen sons and daughters. And that is, I think, the fundamental tension in progressivism. I mean, Woodrow Wilson talks about this. He talks about the science of political administration being a foreign science that needs to be Americanized and applied to the American politic. And so how do you do that? Well, you try to balance

Starting point is 00:14:12 this technocratic element with this democratic element. And those things are always going to be in conflict. And the older Democratic Party of FDR and Woodrow Wilson was smarter about how they went about balancing that dynamic. Now, the Democratic Party runs around saying that they're the party of the little guy. And meanwhile, they create conditions. It's shocking to me. And in part, they've gotten away with it because they pull better on the issue of health care generally than That wasn't always the case, but since post-Ovomacare, it's been generally true. Republicans pull better on issues like immigration, national security, the economy, those really important issues, core issues of government.

Starting point is 00:14:55 But health care is one where Democrats seem to have the advantage. And yet, they set up a system that crushes the little guy completely. And it's not a double standard. It's not hypocrisy. It's hierarchy. the Democratic Party is telling you that we are the party of the elite class now. And the Republican Party, if they want to be the party of the working class, we'll let them have those country bumpkins, those rubs, those deplorables. And for them to try to get away with that in the long term,

Starting point is 00:15:28 it doesn't seem like a good electoral strategy, does it? Well, it doesn't. And it goes back, we talked earlier about Chuck Schumer, is the idea of power. This is simply about power. They want to control all the levers of power, and they want to leverage the situation to extract what they want. And then they're trying to, again, what makes them a very centralized government is that they want more and more power in the hands of the few. And they want to take away our ability to make decisions on our own, whether it be with our tax dollars or in this case with how health care dollars are being spent. So the Democratic Party has completely moved in that direction, and why Donald Trump is so popular among, the working class to blue-collar workers. You should be the heart of the Democratic Party going back, as you said, to FDR.

Starting point is 00:16:13 And I appreciate your comments of a Woodrow Wilson because I used to be a college professor, and he changed that dynamic. He wanted to move towards that more British form of government, the presence more like a prime minister, etc. Right. So that said, this is our chance to remake what health care should be. And we can't just let it continue to slide in the wrong direction and where it is truly unaffordable and there is no cost containment at all and there's very little risk to these big

Starting point is 00:16:41 corporations knowing that the Democrat Party will continue to cut checks to them and they admitted, remember, they couldn't get enough Democrat votes on the COVID subsidies to move it forward to make it a permanent thing. You had to do it temporary, right? Right. So that said, we're in a spot where Ronald Reagan said if it, you know, the Democrats, and never mind, if it moves, tax it, if it stops moving or as a failure, subsidize it. We're at that point now where they are subsidizing health care to such a degree that it's becoming unaffordable for everyday Americans. Even when they get, quote, free health care, most people are having challenges even meeting the deductible, let alone a copay. Yeah. And, you know, massive health care reform is going to be something that, of course,

Starting point is 00:17:25 everybody signals their interests in, but at the end of the day, that getting that across the line is going to be very, very difficult. And so what do we do in the interim, right? We look to where we can make improvements on the margins. That goes to the Obamacare subsidies right now that Democrats are holding up the government for. It goes to what you guys did in the one big, beautiful bill, which has since been rebranded, working families tax cut, making sure that illegal immigrants don't get health care dollars. It's part of this debate right now about the government shutdown because Democrats wanted to strip all those provisions out with their continuing resolution. Talk to us about how these illegal immigrant health care.

Starting point is 00:18:05 dollars and illegal immigrants using or illegal immigrants and non-citizens using the American health care system has made it unaffordable. Well, you think about what's the most expensive part of health care emergency room. So when you don't have a primary care doctor, you go to the emergency room. The hospital gladly takes you in because the reimbursement levels are very, very high. That's the backdoor way in which they accessed Medicaid. You saw the utilization rates, for example, in California, astronomically higher, 30 and 5% versus 5% in other states.

Starting point is 00:18:37 So that's the game they're playing. They know that if that illegal ailment goes to the emergency room, they have to accept them and the reimbursement dollars are huge, and that's the game they're playing back and forth. And again, in the most logical way, whether it be it housing or now health care, when you have 10 million people coming to the country illegally, there will be a humongous cost to the taxpayer on health care, little in the services they have to provide for education, law enforcement. And remember, this affordable housing.

Starting point is 00:19:05 crisis partly has to do with, in my opinion, a supply and demand law. 10 million people come to the country. You're in a short period of time. That means there's only so much housing stock. They're going to raise prices because there's more people demanding that service. So that's the thing that we need to look at. This is why it's so important that we're booting people out of the country who are here legally, of course, starting with people who broke the law in addition to breaking law coming into the country. And what is so offensive to me as an elected officials that here were sanctuary cities in the most fundamental way. They were given the confidence these elected officials to be elected by their friends and neighbors. And then they turn around

Starting point is 00:19:41 and tell their friends and they're, we don't care if there's illegal immigrants here. We don't even care if they commit a crime. We're going to protect them over your own public safety, your friends and neighbors. It shows you the insidious situation going on right now. And now as we try to get rid of some of these folks who are broken the law, meaning violent acts, You have this chaos in the streets and places like Chicago. Yeah. I mean, it's the world turned upside down. And they're trying to act like they're the victim.

Starting point is 00:20:08 The victim are the people who are paying higher and higher taxes, losing services, and in some cases, the worst case scenario of all, which are victims of crime. Victims of crime. And it's amazing to me that some of your Democratic colleagues have been so bold is to say that these illegal immigrants are their constituents. And it's shocking on first glance. And then you think about it for a second. Oh, wait.

Starting point is 00:20:30 The census counts all those non-citizens and illegal immigrants for congressional representation. Imagine, like, to step back to COVID again, New York lost a seat because of how Andrew Cuomo handled the nursing home crisis. I think 13,000 some odd people passed away in nursing homes because of New York's mismanagement of that crisis. That cost them a seat in congressional representation. Well, imagine if you get rid of 20 million, 10 million to 20 million illegal migrants, predominantly located in very richly blue areas like my hometown in my home state of California. My hometown doesn't have a big problem with it. But just up the road is Los Angeles.

Starting point is 00:21:18 And just down the road is San Diego. You can do the math for yourself there. Chicago, New York City. Thank goodness. We bus those folks up there. there. They tried Martha's Vineyard. Didn't work out.

Starting point is 00:21:31 Yeah, exactly. That's another story. But that's why they start to say that these people are their constituents is because the chance that they do have to regain power in the 2026 midterms really rests on maintaining their current electoral advantage in the place that they have them and potentially redrawing the maps as needed. And if you start to redraw these maps, I don't know exactly, you know, because states are going about redrawing these maps, what type of surveys that they do or population surveys, et cetera. But when you start to redraw the maps, you start to run into population questions and population problems.

Starting point is 00:22:12 And they want to solve that crisis sooner rather than later because the longer it goes on, the more deportations, the more deportations, the more self-deportations, et cetera. three weeks into this thing we're going to keep voting on that continuing resolution to keep the government open until november 31st nobody has budging has budged yet but it seems like the state of play is changing and changing for the republican party's benefit i think we are and it's because the reason you just highlight for example with legal immigration i mean their minnesota is allowing people to get drivers license that's a ticket to getting of course a voter card You said, why did they allow 10 million people into the country? And when you saw how quickly the president was able to close the border once he was elected,

Starting point is 00:23:01 we didn't do new law, we just had to enforce the current law. It wasn't difficult to do. And you can imagine how offended people are who came to this country legally. And here are these people not only getting in, cutting the line, so to speak, but they're also getting benefits for it. Free housing, cell phones, cash cards, all the things we've been talking about. So that said, I do think we're going to win the larger war. but this is why it's so important that shows like yourself.

Starting point is 00:23:26 I mean, the mainstream media has checked out. They're going to give the benefit of the other team. It's been my entire lifetime in yours as well. We just know that's the fact. We haven't want to shut down in my lifetime. Yeah, and look, you could imagine the shoe is on the other foot right now. If the Republicans were the one, quote, shutting down the government, the casting of stones at us daily. But this is the reality you have to live with them.

Starting point is 00:23:48 You can't change that paradigm. So what we need to do is stick to our facts and stick. to our guns and know full well that a year from now, approximately, when we're up, re-election, that we have done the right thing. And my wife has a great thing. It's always the right time to do to do the right thing. And politics take care of themselves. And I think people are going to see it through some of the hypocrisy of Chuck Schumer. Think about it. Your entire political lifetime since 1980 has always been its idiocy to have a government shutdown. And here he is shutting down the government and taking away the goods and services that people paid for. Remember,

Starting point is 00:24:22 This is not like you don't have to pay for it. You're still paying taxes. You don't pay your taxes. You go to jail. Right. So I think we're going to win the day. And the census issue, which is to close up this thought that you had, the census admitted they screwed up. I mean, we were underrepresented in Florida.

Starting point is 00:24:39 Right. And they're overrepresented in California. There's no doubt about it in my mind. And this is the challenges we have. And now, of course, Gavin Newsom is probably going to win California. It's going to offset the Texas gains. And we're going to see some movement there. but I think the American public have really seen the light here, whether it be on this issue

Starting point is 00:24:55 or so many other social issues, where the Democrats, going back to our original part of our conversation, they've gone so far to the left, to appease that base that they're so afraid of losing a primary to that they have lost the party, whether it be FDR or more modern times, JFK. And this is why I think people are saying, waking up, say, you know, Trump's solving problems in the Middle East, no one thought was possible. He's doing the common sense thing on tax policy. He's saying to people, yeah, we're going to help people out truly in need with Medicaid, but we're not going to make it a lifestyle. And I'm glad to be a part of this fight because it's worth it. And you're a lot younger than me. I was blessed with so many things. I didn't have to

Starting point is 00:25:31 compete against India and China. We do today. And our kids need to have that same opportunity. But when you bloke the size of the government and you centralize power within the few, you're not going to have the same freedoms, let alone opportunities than you would have just 25 years ago. That's absolutely right. It's always the right. to do the right thing. I love that phrase. That's a great phrase. And you mentioned, you know, this is this is a different paradigm when we're talking about shutdowns that we experienced in probably either one of our lifetime. Oh, yeah. And of course, the big difference maker, in my opinion, is President Donald Trump. I mean, he has made sure that the Republican Party

Starting point is 00:26:08 and the conservative movement were more prepared from a messaging standpoint than ever before for a government shutdown. What difference does it make having Trump at the helm of the Republican Party at this time? Well, it's so important to have that unified mouthpiece, right? I mean, Obama won the shutdowns before because he had a unified voice. Even Clinton before that, remember the temper change with Newt Gingrich, they talked so much about. Again, the media blew up out of proportion. But that's the reality. So it's really important to have the president there. And he's got a great OMB director who understands every facet of the government and trying to do it in a way

Starting point is 00:26:45 that can move us out of this situation. But the president is a dealmaker, and I think he's going to find a way out of this, and we're going to support him in that effort. But he has been such a remarkable leader. And when else have you ever seen? Of course, Grover Cleveland had the chance. But it's so great to have this,

Starting point is 00:27:04 that four-year interval where he really thought, now that I understand the power of the presidency, what can I do to make a lives better? And he has come in, which think about all the things you've done in the first nine or 10 months here. It's remarkable. We give stability to our tax system. We've secured the border. We are obviously the number one superpower in the world again.

Starting point is 00:27:23 You see literally everyone coming. They're waiting in line like a fundraiser, world leaders to get a picture with Donald Trump. That shows the influence he has around the world. He's ended seven wars. I'm sorry, eight now. It's amazing. And then again, to your point about the press, Barack Obama does zip. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:27:40 Literally nothing. He gets it and Trump solves eight wars that have been around, not for like a couple weeks, like, you know, decades. And it's not the same. They don't want to dignify Donald Trump. These guys, they should remember Nobel Prize was a guy who used to make munitions. Right. Trying to get the, they suddenly give a peace thing.

Starting point is 00:27:57 I think we need to create a new, quote, Nobel Prize with a person who believes in peace as opposed to propaganda, which clearly that Nobel has moved way up. Yeah. And the Nobel Peace Prize winner this year, the, of Venezuelan opposition dedicated the win to Trump. And part of it, I don't like the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. Don't get me wrong. The Nobel Committee is full of corrupt people. Remember Al Gore, they got it because of the thing that never happened. Yeah. Super corrupt, but they did close down. It's so strange. They closed down nominations on January 31st

Starting point is 00:28:29 for 2025 for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. So he's, Trump's already been nominated for 2026 by four or five different world leaders at this point. And he's got to be, I haven't checked the prediction markets, I should probably put some money on that. He's got to be the running away favorite for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. And the good thing is he needs to take solace to do that everyone knows he did the right thing. And it's almost a badge of honor he doesn't want it to show you that the joke that the Nobel Prize has become. Right. No, it's true. And when, you know, We're going to focus on illegal immigrants getting health care with taxpayer dollars. That narrative has really won the day.

Starting point is 00:29:08 It's changed the dynamics. All the early polling right before the government shutdown in the first few days of the government shutdown showed that Republicans were going to get blamed by double digits. Now, economists and you gov come out with a poll just yesterday, I believe, that says, oh, that's narrowed from 11 points last week to only six points this week. So the Republicans gaining momentum on this shutdown at a time where I was concerned that some members of Congress and folks in the conservative movement would get lost in the sauce. It's that we spent the first few days or the first week and a half of the shutdown talking about how bad shutting the government shutdown was or shutting down the government was the impact that it would have on different services that the American people, as you pointed out, pay for, that many of our folks like, farmers rely on to make sure in this crucial time that they're ready to go for the end of this

Starting point is 00:30:01 year and into next year. And at the same time, you know, there was this talk about reductions in force. And okay, if you're saying that shutting down the federal government is bad because all these non-essential employees go home and the services aren't told out, well, it's a very different argument to make when some of those bureaucrats never come back to work. And finding the dividing line between essential, non-essential workers and non-essential, non-essential workers has been a difficult tightrope to walk. And yet the Republican Party seems to have managed to do that. The conservative movement has managed to do that. Talk to us about, to close, these rifts. Do you expect them to continue? How do Republican?

Starting point is 00:30:52 continue to capitalize on this phase of the shutdown. Well, and I see it as maybe not capitalizing, but just exposing life is about choices. I'm just like we talked about with health care. There should be choices. We talked about here's the reality where one group wants to give away health care to a non-citizen for free. And then while citizens, hardworking citizens, are paying $1,500 a month, $18,000 a year. It's about choices.

Starting point is 00:31:17 Pick your team, right? And the president has done that in so many different ways. And what we're trying to figure out is how do you strike that balance? And when the other team's saying it's $1.5 trillion, or we keep the government shut down, I think in everyday citizens saying, I don't think these guys are on our team. I mean, they're nonsensical. I mean, they lose an election. The American public spoke and they still want to live under the policies that failed the country for the last four years.

Starting point is 00:31:42 And let's not forget the Democrats want to go back to what Joe Biden did to the country. And he did some three basic things would give me great pause about Joe Biden. One is he opened up the border, like we talked about, for 10 million people to break the law, cut in line of other people, and cost the American government and taxpayers trillions of dollars, probably in the end, and let alone in the violence. Second, he created inflation. I had, as you know, I served in the Financial Service Committee, is the whip at the committee. I asked the head of the Fed, I said, I'm going to ask you two basic questions. One is, did the big spending bill, which created the Obamacare subsidies, cause inflation? He said yes.

Starting point is 00:32:21 And I said, did their mistake by the feds on interest rates also contribute to inflation? He said, yes. So, yeah, the second thing is inflation. So you have the border inflation. And the third leg of that stool is we were disrespected around the world. There's no other way to put it. We were a joke in Afghanistan. You caused the mayhem, of course, in October 7th.

Starting point is 00:32:42 And then the realities of the Ukraine situation. And no one took Joe Biden seriously. I don't know. It's because of his unique. transactions with his son or what, but no one took him seriously. Now, you contrast that. Now, we have a secure border. Inflations in check.

Starting point is 00:32:59 We are respected around the world like never before. I mean, when do you ever see in front of the Oval Office desk a bunch of world leaders, almost like classroom students in front of the president or asking for a photo out with the president? The world has changed for the better. And he and Marker Rubio have changed the dynamics, Whitkoff, et cetera. and it is a new America. I mean, it's the shining city on the hill.

Starting point is 00:33:22 It's a, it's a, we, we feel like we're strong again. This is like the contrast. Remember, between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan all over again. It's mourning in America again. And we could just let the Democrats, you know, leave them behind. We'd be that much stronger for it. Unfortunately, they play this political games. It's almost like they don't want success for America.

Starting point is 00:33:40 When they shut down the government, we're trying to move this country forward like never before. Yeah. Yeah, they're more concerned about sombrero memes. I ordered two of them on Amazon for us for the episode, but sadly, they didn't get here in time. So next time you come on the show, we'll have to wear the sombreros. It's just, I mean, it's just unique. And I really feel good about work. Unique, that was very charitable.

Starting point is 00:34:00 Yes, that's, they're very, as I was really, if you hear me say, I'm intrigued by the idea, that means it's a terrible idea. That's my, my go-to bird. Yeah. So if you see him at a town hall and you ask him and he says he's intrigued by your idea, maybe put a pin in it, and save it for later. Mike Herodophilus. Thank you for coming on the show. Thanks for the opportunity.

Starting point is 00:34:21 And thanks for what you do every day. It's so important that folks get educated and make smart decisions based on hearing all sides of the story as opposed to the usual stuff that comes out of the hot air of the left wing media. So thanks, Bradley. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Starting point is 00:34:35 Awesome. Thanks, man. Thanks, man. It was a pleasure. Thank you so much for tuning into the Signal Sitdown. Before you go, be sure to hit like and subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you may be joining us. And please remember to give us a five-star review.

Starting point is 00:34:54 we not only love your feedback, but it really does help the show. Remember, it's your government, and together we'll expose how it really works. See you next time.

The Daily Signal - The Daily Signal Presents “The “Signal Sitdown - How Trump Changed Republicans' Shutdown Game | Rep. Mike Haridopolos

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.