Matt Gaetz Tears Into Romney, McCarthy, And More Republicans In Blistering  Speech To Florida Summit - video Dailymotion

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Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) delivers remarks to the Florida Freedom Summit in Kissimmee, Florida.

Transcript

00:00 Thank you so much. Thank you.

00:06 We are gathered here at the headwaters of the majestic Florida Everglades and

00:13 one thing's for sure, I prefer the swamps of the Sunshine State far more than the swamp of Washington, D.C.

00:20 My amazing wife, Ginger, and I consider it a blessing from God to call Florida home.

00:29 But more and more, it feels like Florida is the world's greatest refugee camp.

00:36 We have tax refugees who love our constitutional prohibition against a personal income tax.

00:42 We have climate refugees who enjoy our beautiful shimmering oceans and our warm, inviting sands.

00:49 We have political refugees, too, from communist governments in Cuba, Venezuela, New York, and California.

00:58 New York seems to be finding out that when you import all of the third world's problems,

01:06 you don't live in a sanctuary, you live in an asylum.

01:10 Now more New Yorkers than ever are finding their sanctuary in our beloved Florida and we welcome

01:20 them so long as they leave their Democrat voter registration card north of the Mason-Nixon line.

01:26 And thanks to the people in this room, Florida's getting redder by the hour.

01:34 We have the greatest leadership team in all of America for our state Republican Party.

01:40 Our chairman, Christian Ziegler, and our vice chairman, Evan Power, do a phenomenal job keeping this state red.

01:50 Now as a lifelong Florida man, I can tell you I know swamps very well.

01:57 To build golf courses and subdivisions and outlet malls and theme parks,

02:03 I've seen many swamps drained and I know of what I speak.

02:07 Here's something I can share. The alligators and the rats and the snakes and the vermin and the

02:13 lizards don't like it too much when you're draining that swamp and when the water level comes down,

02:19 they hiss and bite and rattle around a little crazy.

02:22 Now I know I have taken a little bit of criticism this past month.

02:29 Even the Wall Street Journal led with this editorial headline, "The Gates of Republican Hell."

02:47 Keep in mind, this is the first regime change the Wall Street Journal editorial board has ever

02:53 opposed. Maybe they would have been happy if I'd have found an extremist Sunni Muslim to become

02:58 house speaker. I understand why some of the rhinos and establishment Republicans are upset.

03:07 People like Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney used to be important. Now they are leaving the governance

03:15 of the Republican Party to the actual Republicans.

03:18 For too many years, the Republican Party was controlled opposition,

03:28 amnesty for illegal immigrants, intervention overseas, and selling out to corporate America

03:35 drove the agenda. Well, those days are over. The Make America Great Again movement is ascendant.

03:43 Mike Johnson is house speaker and Donald John Trump will be the next president of the United States.

03:49 And I'm not going anywhere. To my doubters, I have this question.

04:03 Did people actually believe we were going to take power away from a corrupted person like Kevin

04:12 McCarthy and the swamp creatures would just like it? Did you expect them to pack up and move?

04:19 The lobbyists who owned Kevin McCarthy were never going to thank us on the way out the door.

04:27 They weren't eager to leave their mud holes in the Speaker's office, but an extermination was

04:32 necessary. And when there's an extermination going on, it can get a little grisly. Sometimes

04:44 you don't want to watch the extermination happen, but you know the job must be done.

04:49 Florida swamp drainers often endure bites and scratches and venom. All I had to endure was

04:57 a little bit of Mark Levin and Judge Janine. But you notice those Fox News hosts really do

05:03 seem to like our new speaker. Funny how that works. I'm sure glad they like the result.

05:08 Some people called me vile, crazy, an agent of chaos.

05:21 And that was just the congressional Republicans. They said far worse about me than they ever did

05:29 Jack Smith or Allie Mayorkas or Merrick Garland or Christopher Wray or even Joe Biden. And by the

05:35 way, Joe Biden deserves impeachment and Hunter Biden deserves a damn subpoena.

05:45 Oh no, those rhino Republicans were so mad at me, but my sin wasn't deficit spending the dollar

05:53 away or opening the border or arresting my political opponents. I did something far worse.

06:00 I demanded that Republican congressmen actually keep their word to Republican voters.

06:09 I guess I defined chaos a little differently. To me, chaos is no budget. Chaos is an unaccountable

06:16 administrative state. Chaos is a weaponized federal agency, everything from the DOJ to the FBI to the

06:23 ATF. And I would defund every last damn one of them if we don't get them back on the side of

06:28 our people. Chaos, chaos is voting on funding the whole government all at once. Politicians

06:39 not naming post offices or passaging messaging bills for 22 days is not chaos. By electing

06:47 Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, we will bring order out of the chaos of Washington, D.C.

06:53 I know what I'm fighting for. I'm fighting for budgets that balance. Our nation's debt right now

07:01 is growing faster than our economy. We are jeopardizing America's future to fund wars and

07:09 nonsense, nonsense in the federal budget. We fund English language classes to professional

07:17 transgender women makeup entrepreneurs in Nepal. We are borrowing money from China to fund

07:26 transgender businesses in other parts of the world. And we do it while our leaders tell us

07:32 that makes us stronger. My friends, America is not the world's police force and America is not

07:38 the world's piggy bank. There is no shame in wanting to put the people who live in this country

07:44 first. I care more about the people in East Palestine, Ohio, than I care about some fake

07:50 concept of Palestine in the Middle East. I care about what's going on in Maui, what's going on

07:56 all across America where liberal Democrats have let the people of our nation down.

08:01 There is no excuse for not getting spending under control. The rampant spending that is behind this

08:10 inflation is making life unaffordable for so many. Inflation has gotten so bad that foreign governments

08:19 can no longer bribe Democrat senators with U.S. cash alone. They have to send gold bars

08:26 just so that the bribes hold value. But it's our fellow Americans who are spending more than $700

08:37 a month more than they were just two years ago for the same goods and services. 61% of this

08:44 country right now, including probably many of you, living paycheck to paycheck. But when the paycheck

08:50 doesn't stretch for the period, more Americans are turning to credit cards. Our debt is driving up

08:56 the APR on those credit cards and we now see more delinquencies than at any other time in the last

09:03 decade. This inflation crisis is happening because we have a corrupt system where money is spent

09:10 without itemized review. Just imagine if your wife turned to you and said, "Quick, let's spend $100,000

09:17 right now for the next year or we have no food." The budget process is like this because powerful

09:26 people buy off politicians to have influence. Our chaos, our challenges are nothing more than their

09:34 next lobbying contract. I had no choice but to make the change we made because of the challenges

09:41 and the gravity of those challenges that we face. Joe Biden is sleepwalking us into one or two or

09:47 three wars all while soiling his pants on the way to meet the Pope. Trump gave us peace through

09:56 strength and Biden gives us war without winning. But all of this weirdness, he's been scratching

10:02 and sniffing his way through the presidency. You deserve better. You gave the donations,

10:10 you knocked the doors, you made the calls and you elected a Republican House of Representatives.

10:17 I figured it was about time we started acting like Republicans again.

10:25 When I first ran for Congress, my campaign theme was "Fight Washington, Restore America."

10:32 Now, fighting Washington hasn't won me all that many friends in Congress.

10:37 Far from it. I can't seem to keep a food tester. Three died on me last week.

10:42 But fighting Washington has won us a new conservative speaker. Fighting Washington

10:52 has shown the swamp creatures that they don't win every time and they're not going to keep

10:56 getting away with breaking their promises and paying lip services to the true conservatives

11:01 making sure we win elections. Fighting Washington has restored some modicum of power back to we,

11:09 the people. And I'm just getting started. Back in January, joined by the outstanding

11:20 Byron Donalds and the indomitable Ana Paulina Luna, we demanded institutional change.

11:27 Changes like single subject spending bills, a vote on congressional term limits, a vote on

11:33 a balanced budget amendment, reduced spending to pre-COVID levels, and a full and complete

11:39 release of the January 6th tapes. These are the things that conservatives agree on, but we have

11:49 got to stop talking and start doing. Congressional leadership, they sat me down before all this and

11:57 said, "I just lacked patience." But it seemed more to me that they lacked courage. And now

12:04 one of them lacks keys to the Speaker's office. I want to spend all of my time fighting Democrats

12:12 and their radical, destructive agenda. They break everything they touch. The economy, the border,

12:18 even gender. They broke gender. If you would have told me that we would have these things going on

12:25 today when I first got elected, I would have said, "You are crazy." But when Republicans

12:30 keep acting like Democrats, I will be in the battle with you and I will fight them too.

12:35 I oppose most regime change abroad, but it was necessary to conduct a little regime change here

12:46 at home in the People's House. And I promised two things. We would have a Speaker more honest

12:53 and a Speaker more conservative than the California lottery winner.

12:57 Florida alone is responsible for four additional Republican congressmen. Without those wins that

13:06 we got here in Florida, Nancy Pelosi would still have power today. And then I did what I had to do.

13:13 So I guess in a way, you could say that it was Florida that led to the firing of not one,

13:19 but two liberal California Speakers. Mike Johnson is a great conservative. He is a proud Christian

13:30 who cares about the Constitution. And we won't agree always, but the mainstream media is correct

13:37 when they call Mike Johnson the most conservative Speaker in history. Put another way, it was

13:44 entirely worth it. This is a fresh start in Washington, and the lobbyists and the UNA party

13:51 are not happy about it. You know what? That's exactly how it should be. Our leaders should

13:56 be beholden to the voters alone, not the foreign interests abroad, not the special interests here

14:02 at home. And that is why I am the only Republican in the entire United States Congress who refuses

14:09 all donations from federal lobbyists and political action committees. I work for you. I work for you

14:15 alone, not them. Know this. Know this about power in Washington, D.C. You only get it if you take

14:30 it. Folks can brandish the titles, get the big stabs in the fancy corner offices. They can even

14:37 spend their time toiling on busy work masquerading as legislating. But the real power, the stuff that

14:45 starts or stops wars, the stuff that will save or destroy economies, the stuff that will extend

14:53 or end America's story, that power is more elusive. If you take nothing else from my remarks this

15:00 evening, know this. Our destiny as America first conservatives demands that we wield the real

15:08 power. The swamp loses sleep over votes for speaker. You and I lose sleep over the 100,000

15:16 dead Americans poisoned by fentanyl. They're passionate about Ukraine's borders. I'm

15:22 passionate about America's. They prefer a status quo that has destroyed this nation,

15:28 and I want to go a new direction to save the country. Like Abraham Lincoln, I never claimed

15:34 that God is on my side. I humbly pray that I am on his. But when I saw Mike Johnson take that gavel

15:43 and assume the speakership, I felt how many prayers in this country were answered.

15:54 Still in DC today, they say I'm not a team player. What they don't understand is that it's all of you

16:02 who are my team. I'm on Team America, not Team Globalist or Team UN or Team Ukraine. My team

16:11 doesn't bend to the lobbyists or special interests. My team counts actual wins, not just how many

16:18 players wear our jersey, and I need you on my team. So keep praying and keep fighting. Both

16:25 will make you stronger and more useful to the greatest movement and the greatest nation in all

16:30 of human history. And if you are willing to take some risk, endure some criticism, and put it all

16:38 on the line, then come fight with me. Our battle does not guarantee comfort, more like blood, sweat,

16:44 toil, and tears, but we will not merely endure political pain. We will dish it out. It's time

16:52 to fill the political graveyards with our enemies, not our ideas. More victories are on the way.

16:59 God bless Florida. I miss the Sunshine State each and every day. God bless America. Thank you for

17:06 have in my back and let's go get them!

Matt Gaetz Tears Into Romney, McCarthy, And More Republicans In Blistering Speech To Florida Summit

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