How GOP lawmakers interrupted debt ceiling negotiations to focus
on what really matters and what they do well, fundraising.
Now, what were they fundraising for?
Well, it was for the National Republican Congressional Committee, so
they were fundraising for themselves.
[LAUGH] And I love the fact that they interrupted the difficult legislative
job that they do in order to engage in this fundraising raising.
So this made headlines because of the auction associated with
this fundraising effort.
So the fundraising auction of McCarthy's used cherry lip balm
ended with Representative Marjorie Taylor Green placing a winning
$100,000 bid, as confirmed by her spokesperson.
But guys, don't think that she did that automatically, immediately,
just to suck up to Kevin McCarthy.
She did it after Kevin McCarthy was willing to sweeten the deal a little bit.
She only began bidding after the California Republican chose to
sweeten the deal.
He agreed to attend a dinner with the winner and whichever donors and
supporters they planned to bring along.
So here is a photo of Marjorie Green celebrating,
a little celebratory photo with the used chapstick that Kevin McCarthy had used.
Now, that Cash, by the way, is headed to the House GOP campaign arm.
The fundraiser during Tuesday morning's closed door GOP
conference meeting lasted about 15 minutes,
with first term Representative Aaron Bean leading the auction.
After all, it was his campaign's branded chapstick up for bids.
So I am amused by this, [LAUGH] But this is what they do all the time.
>> Yeah.
So I'm going to have an opinion here that's not altogether too
popular with mainstream Democrats.
>> We got a trend going today folks.
>> Yeah, I know, right?
So, look, is it absurd to buy the used chapstick at an auction for 100,000?
>> Of course it is, but everybody knows that.
But everybody also knows it's not about the chapstick, right?
She's basically giving that to the House GOP campaign committee, right?
And by the way,
all of the congressmen have to chip in to that campaign committee.
In this case, though, they're trying to get them to chip in more.
Why can Marjorie Taylor Green afford that?
Because she has tons of grassroots fundraising.
So she has more money, probably, than almost any of them.
>> So depressing.
>> On the House side, okay?
Now, look, I like grassroots fundraising, and she appeals to her grassroots So
I would rather have that than corporations, but in her case,
her base is a little cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, right?
So they push her to do more crazy stuff, more crazy stuff,
and every time she does it, she makes more money.
So for her, $100,000 for chapstick ain't that big a deal, okay?
So that is actually now, here comes the ironic twist here,
that's actually not as bad as other Republicans and other Democrats who raised
it from giant multinational corporations and then give it to their campaign arm.
>> Okay, so before you get to that, I just have to go to this one line in
the political piece about this story, which I thought was funny, right?
So Olivia Biebers, who wrote the political piece, writes,
democrats greeted the McCarthy Chapstick auction with barely masked alarm.
They were alarmed.
But, like, why are you alarmed?
>> No, no. >> Why are Democrats alarmed?
I mean, Democrats maybe they're not engaging in auctions for Chapstick, but
they certainly engage in the same fundraising.
>> No, guys, I'm on the war path like that's sorry, but I come with facts.
90% of the Democratic Party, and I'm being conservative there,
it's probably higher, right?
But the Justice Democrats do not take corporate Pac money, so
they're exempt from this.
Of all people, Matt Gates does not take corporate Pac money, so
he's exempt on the Republican side.
But the overwhelming majority of both parties, including, yes,
the beloved Democrats, take campaign contributions just like that and
give it to their campaign arms of their party just like that, okay?
And they all do it because the whole thing is corrupt.
All those campaign contributions from corporations are flat out bribes.
Corporations are not people.
They don't have opinions.
They're not doing it for the public good.
They are doing it for their bottom line.
And they have purchased almost all of our politicians.
So when you see a tiny snippet of this, don't be like, my God, I didn't know.
No, you should be alarmed, not at that particular incident, which, by the way,
of course that incident is absurd.
I don't mind you like being angry about it, of course, right?
But what I'm telling you is you should be angry at the whole goddamn system,
because that's what they do twenty four seven.
And for Democrats, corporate Democrats, which is, again, 90% of the party,
to be like, I can't believe she raised money.
[LAUGH] These reporters won't believe anything.
What, you guys raised millions of dollars, and
then the reporters kiss your ass for it.
Well, and then I can't believe she gave it to their campaign committee.
[LAUGH] We do the same thing.
Okay, go ahead, reporter, write it credulously like Democrats are holy and
angels, and even though we do the same exact thing, and
then let's all make fun of Marjorie Taylor Green.
>> So, look, the Democrats exploited this story in what they probably
believe is strategic way of owning the Republicans here, right?
So, for instance, let's go to graphic seven, where Representative Velasquez
wrote the following spending $100,000 on Chapstick while working overtime
to gut the programs that working families rely on GOP priorities in a nutshell.
And what she's referring to, of course, is the debt ceiling.
So Democrats gave all sorts of statements to the press about how inappropriate
this is, as we're quickly approaching the deadline for the debt ceiling, and
the GOP is just not cooperating because they want to gut social spending programs.
But let's also be honest about that,
because Democratic leadership has now made it clear that they're going to aid and
abet the Republican effort to gut social spending programs.
So what do I mean by that?
Well, let's get to Hakeem Jeffries and what we learned about him late last night.
So he issued a statement in regard to the Republicans demands, and
here's what he had to say about it.
We're willing to discuss freezing spending at current levels.
That's an inherently reasonable position many in our party might even be
uncomfortable with but
President Biden recognizes we're in a divided government situation.
President Biden and Democratic leadership also realizes that the debt ceiling like,
they have to raise the debt ceiling, and Republicans should I mean,
Democrats should call their bluff.
Republicans are going to end up raising the debt ceiling even if Democrats
refuse to provide a single concession.
And the reason why I say that is because failing to raise the debt ceiling will
crash the world economy, and it will financially harm the very lawmakers who
are far more interested in engaging in what appears to be insider trading than
doing their jobs as legislators.
So why are we pretending as if Democrats have no choice?
Joe Biden has no choice but to negotiate with Republicans?
It's a false premise, and I can't stand it.
So, look, it's all a game because corporate Democrats are in cahoots.
They want to cut social spending programs.
And by the way,
freezing spending is actually a spending cut when you take into account inflation.
So a spending cut would amount to a 5% cut when adjusted for inflation,
a step back from the Biden administration budget request in March,
which proposed increasing discretionary spending.
But, by the way so Democrats have agreed, all right, fine, maybe we freeze spending
on defense related discretionary spending and non defense discretionary spending.
Republicans aren't happy with that, they're not satisfied.
They're like, no, no, no, we are not satisfied with that.
We want to increase defense spending and freeze non defense discretionary spending,
meaning social safety net programs, right?
Here is my prediction, democrats will give them what they want.
>> Everything. >> Because Democrats also agree
with that policy, they just do.
>> Yeah.
So, look, I am so sick of the propaganda on all sides.
So I wrote about this on social media again earlier today, and
what was the reaction that I got from establishment Democrats?
They couldn't believe it, they were like, what are you doing?
No, of course Democrats don't do this kind of campaign contributions.
>> Right right right right right.
>> And then I was like, my god, the people who watch MSBNC, CNN, read New York Times,
listen to NPR, they genuinely believe that the Democrats are angels.
That when they take campaign contributions,
it's out of the goodness of their heart that the corporations gave it to them and
that they took it and they never returned the favor, the meanie,
evil Republicans return the favor, but Democrats are too holy to do that.
That's crazy.
You've been brainwashed.
No, both sides take the money and do exactly as they are told.
And that's not conjecture, guys.
We've shown it to you on the show over and over and over again.
Not only do we show it to you in the votes, we show you the receipts,
here's what the contributions they got, and here's how they voted for
Republicans and for Democrats, okay?
But on top of that, we do predictions ahead of time and tell you, look,
politics is super simple, follow the money.
So here we're going to tell you exactly how things are going to turn out, and
they always turn out that way.
But reporters are like money?
What's money?
I don't know, right?
That's the thing that corrupts Republicans, but
not the beloved angelic Democrats.
It's absurd.
It's insane.
Okay, now let's go to Kim Jeffries last thing.
So, look, best case scenario for
Keem Jeffries is that he's a complete and utter loser.
But that's not the reality.
The reality is Hakeem Jeffries on economic issues, agrees with the Republicans,
just as Joe Biden does, just as Nancy Pelosi does.
That's why he takes the Republican,
did you hear what he called the Republican position?
These lunatic Republicans come in and go,
I'm going to hold the whole economy hostage.
I'm going to hold the country hostage, we didn't do it under Trump, but we're going
to say that we're going to crash the economy by not lifting the debt ceiling.
You don't negotiate with that, the Republicans negotiate with Democrats when
Trump was in charge over the debt ceiling.
Here's the number of amount of negotiation that happened under Trump on
the debt ceiling.
Zero, none, zero.
So you return that in kind.
If you're a strong Democrat and you actually believe in your positions,
you go, no, we're not negotiating.
You want us to use the 14th Amendment, we'll use the 14th Amendment.
You want us to use executive power, we'll use executive power.
We don't give a damn.
And by the way, look, the Republicans have the House, so
you can't just lift a filibuster like they did last time, remember?
The Democrats lifted the filibuster because they thought it was so
important, right?
So instead, Hakeem Jeffries calls that insane
Republican position, quote, inherently reasonable.
Why don't you just go work for them?
>> Seriously?
>> Inherently reasonable?
Using McCarthy Marjorie Taylor Green on policy positions, when they're
holding the whole country hostage, they're being inherently reasonable.
Nah, they're paid to lose.
The donors control the Democratic corporate Democrats 100%.
So they say, hey, you know what?
Have this fake fight over the debt ceiling.
And then look at the Republicans.
They say, I'm so concerned about the debt, but I want to increase spending.
>> On defense.
Well, then you're not concerned about the debt.
>> No. >> You're concerned about make sure
you take from the average American..
>> Yep.
>> If it's going to the average American, take it, take it, take it.
And who do we give it to?
Defense contractors, super rich billionaire defense contractors who
just coincidentally happen to be our donors.
And Democrats who also have the same exact donors go,
golly gee there was nothing we could do.
We had to take it from the average American and
give it to our contributors because we are bipartisan and
we care about getting along with the Republicans so much.
Now it's all theater.
Every mainstream media reporter that plays along with this is garbage.
They should go get another job.
Go be a plumber, that's a noble profession, okay?
Go clean the streets.
It's a noble profession instead of doing marketing for corporate rule.
And these corporate Democrats are disgusting.
And don't get me wrong.
If it's 90% of the Democratic Party Republicans, don't be like,
we're the good ones.
No, your party is 99% corrupt.
>> 100%, what are you talking about?
>> No, I'm giving Matt Gates credit for not taking corporate Pac money.
I can't stand Matt Gates, and I need you guys to do nuance.
Like when you say, hey, the guy doesn't take corporate Pac money.
They go, so you like him?
No, I don't like him.
I was literally the only reporter who said to his face, hey,
what did you do with that 17 year old?
Okay, so we kick ass for a living, okay?
But you have to be honest.
So when they don't take corporate Pac money, you have to acknowledge that.
And when our side does just like they do for 99% of the time,
you have to acknowledge that.
But instead, what do we have?
We have tribes.
The MSNBC tribe says, no, we're going to be hypocrites.
If the Democrats do it, it's okay, if the Republicans do it, it's terrible.
The Fox News tribe says, when the Republicans are corrupt, it's awesome.
And Donald Trump is the king of corruption and that's the best.
He came to drain the swamp and drained it all into his goddamn pockets, and
that's awesome.
But when the Democrats do it, it's bad.
No, they're both lying to you.
These guys are all bought.