1 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:20,199 Speaker 1: And we are back with another edition of the Federalist 2 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:23,559 Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle, Senior Elections correspondent at the 3 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:28,280 Federalist and your experienced Shirpa on today's quest for Knowledge. 4 00:00:28,679 --> 00:00:31,640 As always, you can email the show at radio at 5 00:00:31,879 --> 00:00:36,200 the Federalist dot com, follow us on x at FDR LST, 6 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:39,560 make sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcast, and 7 00:00:39,679 --> 00:00:44,119 of course to the premium version of our website as well. 8 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:48,759 Our guest today is Senator Eric Schmidt of Missouri, one 9 00:00:48,799 --> 00:00:52,880 of the few true First Amendment warriors in Congress. Senator 10 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:57,719 Schmidt recently introduced the Censorship Accountability Act, among others, to 11 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:02,759 preserve Americans First rights and give citizens the ability to 12 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:07,799 hold the administrative state accountable. Very important. I can't think 13 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:11,400 of too many more important topics than this topic we're 14 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:15,519 about to address this edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. 15 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:18,040 Thanks so much for being here, Senator, It's great to. 16 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 2: Be with you, and you know what we all need 17 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,239 to Shirpa, including me, So I'm glad that you're providing 18 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:23,879 that service. 19 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:31,439 Speaker 1: Guidance is my north star is really what it is? Yeah? Absolutely, Well, 20 00:01:31,879 --> 00:01:34,040 no rest for the weary. You know, we went through 21 00:01:34,519 --> 00:01:38,439 a very fatiguing election cycle, and it's right back down 22 00:01:38,519 --> 00:01:42,480 to business. But things change as you head to Washington, 23 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:45,120 d C. For this next session of Congress, of course, 24 00:01:45,519 --> 00:01:48,959 and that is Republican control of the Senate. It's been 25 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:53,719 a while. Let's begin there first. What are the opportunities, 26 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:57,519 what are the challenges you face with you know, a 27 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:02,359 decent majority, but certainly not one that gets you passed cloture. 28 00:02:03,519 --> 00:02:06,159 Speaker 2: Well, I think to take a step back and fully 29 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,800 recognize what happened in November. It truly was a historic 30 00:02:09,879 --> 00:02:13,280 election in the sense that President Trump, who has really 31 00:02:13,319 --> 00:02:16,840 remade the Republican Party in a party that I feel 32 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:18,520 very much at home with. I grew up in a 33 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:24,360 blue collar neighborhood sort of surrounded by blue dog union 34 00:02:24,599 --> 00:02:27,159 kind of Democrats. And the truth of the matter is 35 00:02:27,199 --> 00:02:29,520 that the Democrat Party now is sort of of by 36 00:02:29,599 --> 00:02:31,759 and for the elites, and the Republican Party is the 37 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,960 party of working Americans. And I think that's a good thing. 38 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,960 It's broadened our base, it's broadened our appeal. You see 39 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:41,479 this sort of the you know, you've got this news 40 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:46,280 hour and the podcasts, and news is being more widely dispersed. 41 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:48,199 That's all good for us. I think that's all good 42 00:02:48,199 --> 00:02:50,919 for us, and the challenge, of course, we can have 43 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:53,719 a party like that. We have some more lower propensity 44 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:55,800 voters and you got to make sure they go out 45 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:58,240 and vote. And boy did they show up in November 46 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,479 and gave President Trump a mandate. Swept all the battleground states, 47 00:03:01,479 --> 00:03:03,360 won the popular vote. I'm not sure how many people 48 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:05,759 really saw that coming. I spent a lot of time 49 00:03:05,759 --> 00:03:08,439 on the campaign trail with President Trump, including the last weekend, 50 00:03:08,439 --> 00:03:09,840 and you could sort. 51 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:10,080 Speaker 3: Of feel it. 52 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 2: And there's a trap of sort of the anecdotal evidence 53 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:15,680 about energy and all that, but it was real. I 54 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:18,479 mean everywhere, it was thirty thousand people in every arena. 55 00:03:18,599 --> 00:03:21,919 So the excitement I think of that night of sweeping 56 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:25,120 the battleground states winning the popular vote has carried over 57 00:03:25,199 --> 00:03:27,759 now into Washington. President Trump was on Capitol Hill this 58 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,759 week talking to us about that agenda. I think Republicans 59 00:03:31,759 --> 00:03:34,800 in the House and the Senate are really committed to 60 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:39,520 delivering on you know, the campaign promises that President Trump made, 61 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,840 which was energy dominance, securing the border number one first 62 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:44,319 and foremost. I think you're going to see a lot 63 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,680 of executive orders on day one related to that, you know, 64 00:03:47,879 --> 00:03:52,039 restoring America standing in the world. And then of course 65 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:56,479 you've got this issue of free speech that I you know, 66 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:59,879 I'm forty nine years old, so dumb, a gen x 67 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:03,840 and I'm old enough to remember in college. I mean, 68 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:08,240 I've always been a conservative, but we're liberals actually. 69 00:04:07,879 --> 00:04:08,919 Speaker 3: Believed in this thing. 70 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 2: Actually, you know, they believed in free speech, and we 71 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:14,919 can talk more about it. I think the last ten 72 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:19,199 years or so, you know, from twenty fourteen to twenty 73 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,600 twenty four is this era where they just were hell 74 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,439 bent on power and control. They crossed the Rubicon and 75 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:28,680 it wasn't about free exchange of ideas anymore. It was 76 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,800 about exercising power and control and limiting the opposition what 77 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:34,839 they could say and what they could hear. And that's 78 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:39,360 truly an anti American concept. So yeah, we're very excited 79 00:04:39,399 --> 00:04:42,360 about the next Congress that started. Now there's a lot 80 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:45,560 of great opportunities again, I think, to deliver for the 81 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:46,279 American people. 82 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, you're absolutely right. It's a scary time. You and 83 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:51,959 I are of a certain age. We are gen xers. 84 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:54,759 I'm in that age range, just a couple few years 85 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,879 older than you, and I do remember at least a 86 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,480 vague sense that you could go to a college campus 87 00:05:01,519 --> 00:05:05,120 in America and you know you could listen to right 88 00:05:05,199 --> 00:05:09,120 of center voices as well. You could not do that. 89 00:05:09,199 --> 00:05:10,800 You have not been able to do that in some 90 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:14,399 time in the vast majority of our college campuses. It's 91 00:05:14,439 --> 00:05:17,160 a very very sad thing. But I saw this creeping 92 00:05:17,199 --> 00:05:20,240 in all the way back in the early nineteen nineties 93 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:22,839 when I was, you know, a snot nosed freshman at 94 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:26,519 the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, so many many years ago. 95 00:05:27,079 --> 00:05:30,519 And it's just been you know, a couple few generations 96 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:33,360 now where we've seen this building and building and building. 97 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:39,240 Then we get to a place in twenty twenty one, 98 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:45,639 the Biden administration that is an absolute nightmare. But more 99 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:49,720 than that, in its nightmarish fashion, it is nineteen eighty 100 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:55,120 four realized that's what we saw, and we're learning more 101 00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:57,079 and more about this. But I think before we talk 102 00:05:57,120 --> 00:05:59,800 about these key pieces of legislation, let's talk about how 103 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:04,240 we got here, because how we got here first and 104 00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:10,120 foremost is the collusion between the federal government, the Biden administration, 105 00:06:10,759 --> 00:06:13,639 and big tech in America, among some other things. But 106 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:17,879 that's the core area. And you and others stood up 107 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:22,079 and said, wait a minute, Houston, Saint Louis, if you will, 108 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:25,399 we have a problem here. You filed a lawsuit that 109 00:06:25,519 --> 00:06:31,519 became well, a very important part of this conversation. 110 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 3: Yeah. 111 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:35,279 Speaker 2: So before I was in the US Senate, I was 112 00:06:35,279 --> 00:06:39,120 the attorney general in Missouri and during a really interesting time, 113 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:42,319 you know, Joe Biden comes into office in twenty twenty one. 114 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:46,199 You know, we were we sort of prided ourselves or 115 00:06:46,199 --> 00:06:48,920 a few of US states, we really challenged I think 116 00:06:48,959 --> 00:06:51,759 this radical agenda you saw from the Biden administration, whether 117 00:06:51,759 --> 00:06:53,079 it was on energy or you know. 118 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:54,160 Speaker 3: The whole host of issues. 119 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,920 Speaker 2: You know, Joe Biden sort of promised to be this 120 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:04,279 kind of moderate guy. But these folks, you know, who 121 00:07:04,319 --> 00:07:08,160 were writing white papers about open borders, and they somehow 122 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:10,279 ended up in positions of power, and they you know, 123 00:07:11,199 --> 00:07:14,240 rate tavoc on the country, and and you know, when 124 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:16,160 we were going through that, we had an amazing team. 125 00:07:16,199 --> 00:07:18,879 In fact, my Solicitor General John Sower has been tapped 126 00:07:18,879 --> 00:07:21,079 by President Trump to be the Solicitor General the United States. 127 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:22,680 So we had to assembled a really good team. We 128 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:25,680 were ready to roll, and we kept seeing you know, 129 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:29,120 it's interesting. We would watch, you'd see Jensaki at the 130 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:33,000 podium openly saying that this again in the context, this 131 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:37,079 is COVID forcing people to take the shot, forcing five 132 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:41,839 year olds to wear the mask, Hunter Biden laptop suppression 133 00:07:41,879 --> 00:07:44,120 of that story. You got to put yourself back into 134 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:46,879 that mode of they were willing to use every lever 135 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:50,399 possible for power. And then Jensaki's there at the podium 136 00:07:50,399 --> 00:07:54,040 as the spokesperson for the president saying, Yep, we're flagging 137 00:07:54,079 --> 00:07:57,120 this post for Facebook can't say this. We're making them 138 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:59,040 aware that we see this. They need to do something 139 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:01,680 about it. I mean they were, they were open about this, yes, 140 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,839 And so you know this around the time you get 141 00:08:04,839 --> 00:08:08,160 into this disinformation government's board. You know, in the United 142 00:08:08,199 --> 00:08:11,720 you're talking about nineteen eighty four in the United States 143 00:08:11,759 --> 00:08:16,199 of America, they're talking about a board deciding what information 144 00:08:16,439 --> 00:08:18,600 was truthful or not truthful. The government, I mean, the 145 00:08:18,639 --> 00:08:21,160 government has no business doing that. That's the reason we 146 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:23,879 have the First Amendment. And so we filed the lawsuit. 147 00:08:24,319 --> 00:08:27,480 We saw enough. We filed the lawsuit in Missouri versus Biden. 148 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:30,720 And one key aspect of that lawsuit was before we 149 00:08:30,759 --> 00:08:33,600 got an injunction to say you can't do this anymore. 150 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:35,960 We got the judge to agreed to allow us to 151 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,080 get discovery. So this was before the Twitter files, This 152 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,240 was before the congressional hearings. We got our hands on 153 00:08:42,279 --> 00:08:45,720 the emails and the text messages, I mean reams and 154 00:08:45,759 --> 00:08:49,000 reams of information of the Surgeon General of the United 155 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:53,720 States communicating directly with top ranking officials that metas saying 156 00:08:53,759 --> 00:08:56,320 you got to take this down, and then to say, sure, 157 00:08:56,399 --> 00:08:58,440 what else we can do the level of and there 158 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:01,879 were nonprofits involved. They were farming some of this out 159 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:06,279 to universities to flag things and work with social media companies. 160 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:09,879 So this vast censorship enterprise was real, and it was 161 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:13,120 it was held in on silencing Americans who didn't say 162 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,080 the right things and agree with the regime narrative. And 163 00:09:16,159 --> 00:09:21,039 so I think that lawsuit was instrumental in exposing the 164 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:23,440 censorship that was happening in the United States of America. 165 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:26,080 And then of course Elon must buys Twitter. They have 166 00:09:26,159 --> 00:09:28,399 the Twitter files, which is even sort of amplifies it 167 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,159 even more Jordan, and there, you know, they start bringing 168 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,600 people in and you really got a full view of 169 00:09:34,639 --> 00:09:36,960 how scary this really was and where we were and 170 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:37,320 we just. 171 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:38,519 Speaker 3: Can never let that happen again. 172 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:43,159 Speaker 1: I don't think people fully understand how important your lawsuit was. 173 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:47,159 In discovery. Obviously, I think we're getting a much better 174 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:50,879 understanding over the last couple of years what Elon musk 175 00:09:50,919 --> 00:09:55,080 purchase of Twitter now x has meant. But and you 176 00:09:55,120 --> 00:10:00,480 were able to show what the Biden administration people and 177 00:10:00,519 --> 00:10:04,759 the news speak people had scoffed at, Oh, these are 178 00:10:04,879 --> 00:10:11,000 conspiracy theorists. Are these right wing conspiracy theorists, these maga people. 179 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:15,600 They don't they're lying to you. It's disinformation. It's misinformation. 180 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:20,080 It's malinformation. You talk about most speak, they're inventing terms 181 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:23,279 for this stuff to suppress speech. What was that battle 182 00:10:23,399 --> 00:10:26,720 like for you, Well, when we filed the losses, it 183 00:10:26,759 --> 00:10:29,279 was exactly that. You had all these people saying, oh, look, 184 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:32,879 another frivolous lawsuit based on a conspiracy theory. 185 00:10:33,519 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 3: We had private. 186 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:37,279 Speaker 2: Plaintiffs involved who had been you know, censored themselves, and 187 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:41,200 the discovery I think shocked a lot of people. I was, 188 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:43,960 I mean, quite frankly, we knew there was something there, 189 00:10:44,039 --> 00:10:48,840 but the level, in the depth, and the vast reach. 190 00:10:48,879 --> 00:10:51,039 I mean, we're talking about agencies most people have never 191 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:55,159 heard of SISA. You know, you've got the CDC, all 192 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:58,879 these folks colluding with some of the biggest companies in 193 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:04,240 the history of the world to suppress the voices of Americans. 194 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:06,320 And so we were able to actually took the last 195 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:08,720 thing I did before I took the oath of office 196 00:11:09,159 --> 00:11:11,759 as ag in Missouri. We took the deposition of Anthony Fauci. 197 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:15,159 We took the definition or the deposition of Elvis Chan. 198 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:18,559 Elvis Chan was the FBI Agent in charge of Northern 199 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:22,639 California who was for six months telling these social media 200 00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:27,120 companies look out for this Russian hacken League operation, you know, 201 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:29,440 And in a sworn affter David, one of the members 202 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:31,679 of the social media group, said that he was referencing 203 00:11:31,679 --> 00:11:35,320 specifically the Hunter Biden laptop. So they were pre bunking 204 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:38,399 this story ahead of the election, and they knew it 205 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:42,200 was his laptop. In November of twenty nineteen. They knew 206 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:45,039 it was Hunter Hunter Biden's laptop they had in their possession, 207 00:11:45,279 --> 00:11:47,639 yet they were telling them that this was this was 208 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:48,320 fake news. 209 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,399 Speaker 3: And so in taking. 210 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:55,080 Speaker 2: Fauci's deposition, it was just really amazing. 211 00:11:55,159 --> 00:11:55,679 Speaker 3: The depths. 212 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:57,759 Speaker 2: I think he said, I don't recall like one hundred 213 00:11:57,799 --> 00:12:00,519 and eighty six times for a guy who he knew 214 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:03,480 everything it was the science. It's amazing how many things 215 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:07,559 he didn't know when he was under oath. Yes, but yes, 216 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:12,120 I think the level of it, and just sort of 217 00:12:12,159 --> 00:12:16,960 the the links that they went to to tarnish the 218 00:12:17,039 --> 00:12:20,039 reputations and deep platform people who just disagreed with them, 219 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:22,279 who by the who said things like, yeah, maybe we 220 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:25,879 shouldn't be shutting down schools over this, or maybe, you know, 221 00:12:26,039 --> 00:12:30,159 maybe the vaccine doesn't prevent transmission, which all those things 222 00:12:30,159 --> 00:12:32,279 turned out to be true. I mean, just having a 223 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:35,440 debate about these things was off limits, and I think 224 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:37,240 that's the really scary thing about it all. 225 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:39,360 Speaker 1: Well, just to pause there for a moment, do you 226 00:12:39,399 --> 00:12:44,519 find it curious? I mean you in particular, among many, 227 00:12:44,639 --> 00:12:49,240 but you in particular must have just thought it audacious. 228 00:12:49,519 --> 00:12:53,519 The whole campaign strategy of Joe Biden and then ultimately 229 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:59,600 Kamala Harris talking about Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans trying 230 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:08,279 to stifle and kill democracy in America. How insane was that? 231 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,360 You want to talk about absolute projection? What was going 232 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:14,120 through your mind? Is this became the talking point of 233 00:13:14,159 --> 00:13:17,639 not only of course, the Democrat campaign, but you know 234 00:13:17,799 --> 00:13:20,559 they're the usual suspects in the accomplice media. 235 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:22,039 Speaker 3: Well it was. 236 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:25,799 Speaker 2: It was hard to watch I think most Americans. But 237 00:13:25,879 --> 00:13:30,000 having seen the links that they went to to undermine 238 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,279 core tenants of our experiment, which is people should be 239 00:13:33,279 --> 00:13:35,679 able to spreak, their speak, their mind and free expression 240 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:39,519 of ideas, their willingness to bulldoze all those constitution protections, 241 00:13:40,039 --> 00:13:41,120 it was not lost on me. 242 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,519 Speaker 3: How hypocritical all that was. 243 00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:48,440 Speaker 2: And in fact, I had the privilege of before President 244 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:50,399 Trump's first debate, we had a sort of a policy 245 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:53,879 session and one of the topics was was sort of 246 00:13:53,879 --> 00:13:57,759 this because this was their opening and closing argument, right, yeah, 247 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:01,039 Kamala Harris was was you knowly with the White House, 248 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:03,960 and the backdrop or closing argument was saying Donald Trump 249 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,200 will will destroy the country as a threat to democracy. 250 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:08,440 Speaker 3: This was always their argument. 251 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:11,639 Speaker 2: It's what gave them license to engage in lawfare in 252 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:15,480 their minds because he was just this this threat, this 253 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:16,279 literal hitler. 254 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:19,759 Speaker 3: I mean, it's all insane. It's Trump arrangement syndrome was real. 255 00:14:19,639 --> 00:14:19,840 Speaker 1: You know. 256 00:14:20,919 --> 00:14:23,879 Speaker 3: But the truth is, and I think the response always 257 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:27,080 was there is only one political party in this country, 258 00:14:28,159 --> 00:14:31,200 who's trying to jail their political opponent for the rest 259 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:34,039 of their life, who has opened up our borders to 260 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:36,279 fifteen million people that they want to You don't have 261 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:38,399 to be a citizen to be counted in the census, 262 00:14:39,639 --> 00:14:43,679 to have permanent power. You know, in the filibuster pack, 263 00:14:43,759 --> 00:14:47,759 the court add states to the union and censor millions 264 00:14:47,799 --> 00:14:48,480 of Americans. 265 00:14:48,879 --> 00:14:51,440 Speaker 2: That's your Democrat party right now. And they were doing 266 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:52,679 all of it. I mean, this isn't like you had 267 00:14:52,679 --> 00:14:55,159 to make this stuff up. They were willing to go 268 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:59,440 to those links to control and sort of have one 269 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:02,960 party minutes in this country. And thankfully the American people 270 00:15:03,039 --> 00:15:05,200 still have in our DNA, I think. 271 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:06,879 Speaker 3: This view where they. 272 00:15:06,879 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 2: Can they can see this stuff, and they still push 273 00:15:10,559 --> 00:15:14,600 back against, you know, the attempt to concentrate power in 274 00:15:14,639 --> 00:15:16,799 the way that the Democrats were trying to concentrate and 275 00:15:16,919 --> 00:15:18,840 use this red herring of Trump was the threat of 276 00:15:18,879 --> 00:15:22,919 democracy when they could see them dragging him into court, 277 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:28,320 you know, on these bogus lawfair efforts, and then once 278 00:15:28,399 --> 00:15:30,120 you know, some of this stuff on the Twitter. 279 00:15:29,799 --> 00:15:33,080 Speaker 3: Files on Missouri versus Biden was out there. It's scary stuff. 280 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 2: So I think the American people got it right, and 281 00:15:35,879 --> 00:15:40,960 often I don't think get enough credit for providing the 282 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,919 course correction that we so desperately needed this past November. 283 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:49,639 Speaker 4: Superman derives his power from the yellow Sun. The Watched 284 00:15:49,639 --> 00:15:52,440 Out on Wall Street podcast with Chris Markowski. Every day 285 00:15:52,559 --> 00:15:55,519 Chris helps unpack the connection between politics and the economy 286 00:15:55,559 --> 00:15:58,559 and how it affects your wallet. DC politicians get their 287 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:01,919 power by giving hand out. In nineteen thirteen, the tax 288 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:06,039 code was four hundred pages long. Today it's seventy five thousand. 289 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:09,080 This is how politicians derive their power. Whether it's happening 290 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:11,600 in DC or down on Wall Street, it's affecting you financially. 291 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:12,240 Speaker 3: Be informed. 292 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:14,360 Speaker 4: Check out the Watchdot on Wall Street podcast with Chris 293 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:17,480 Markowski on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. 294 00:16:20,159 --> 00:16:23,240 Speaker 1: No, I agree, and that's exactly what happened in November. 295 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:26,919 People saw the law fair, they saw the weaponization of 296 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:30,639 the Justice Department to the federal legal system in particular 297 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:33,039 as what it was for what it was, you know, 298 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:37,120 it was banana republic style stuff. And you know, as 299 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:42,039 we record this today, we have flares of that still 300 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:47,159 going on, despite now Republican controlled, despite the mandate that 301 00:16:47,679 --> 00:16:51,879 the voters gave to President elect Trump and Senate and 302 00:16:52,039 --> 00:16:56,600 the House. We have a kangaroo court judge who is 303 00:16:57,559 --> 00:17:00,639 you know, being as vindictive as he possible blee can, 304 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:04,440 because that's what Democrat leftist lawfair is all about, and 305 00:17:04,519 --> 00:17:08,799 making President elect Donald Trump appeer via video to sentence 306 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:13,240 him to nothing but other than to say, for the 307 00:17:13,279 --> 00:17:18,480 headlines of the accomplish media, here is your convicted, sentenced 308 00:17:19,319 --> 00:17:23,200 president elect. And guess what, folks, He's still a threat 309 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:28,039 to democracy. And that's what we have going into this administration. 310 00:17:28,599 --> 00:17:30,799 And it's all based on what we've seen over the 311 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:35,119 last four years. Now. When this began it was Missouri v. Biden, 312 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:39,079 it became murthy the Missouri. Of course, as it moved 313 00:17:39,079 --> 00:17:43,720 through you won at the district court level, at the 314 00:17:43,759 --> 00:17:49,440 federal government, you won at the circuit court level. And 315 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:52,960 then it gets to the Supreme Court. Let's go to 316 00:17:53,319 --> 00:17:56,519 that point because before this you have two courts in 317 00:17:56,559 --> 00:18:02,240 the federal system saying yes, this is an egregious abuse 318 00:18:02,279 --> 00:18:05,920 of power. First and foremost, you're likely to win this 319 00:18:06,039 --> 00:18:09,160 lawsuit as you move forward, and then you get the 320 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:12,039 Supreme Court which comes back and you know, talks about 321 00:18:12,039 --> 00:18:17,359 the technical stuff in standing and waters down this whole thing. 322 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:20,720 Where do things stand right now? And just take us 323 00:18:20,759 --> 00:18:24,119 back to that moment, because you know, as we've talked about, 324 00:18:24,319 --> 00:18:27,359 you launched this lawsuit several years ago. 325 00:18:28,119 --> 00:18:28,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think. 326 00:18:28,759 --> 00:18:33,119 Speaker 2: If you really the importance of the lawsuit was sort 327 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:36,759 of twofold. In my view, it was to expose it 328 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:39,920 and then to stop it. And so let's look at that. 329 00:18:40,039 --> 00:18:43,279 So the Discovery Twitter files exposed it. It's all out there, 330 00:18:43,319 --> 00:18:47,799 it's public, and you're really seeing a retreat. In fact, 331 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:51,920 we were in a I mean, well, I make sure 332 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:53,799 I can say what I can say here, but in 333 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,599 conversations with some of these folks who were involved in 334 00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:00,880 this at the highest levels of government, they recognized that 335 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:04,160 they had been exposed and they backed away from some 336 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:06,240 of the tactics that they had been using before. And 337 00:19:06,319 --> 00:19:08,720 so that was a good thing. You're seeing, and I'm 338 00:19:08,759 --> 00:19:10,680 sure we can talk more about it. You're seeing the 339 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,240 social media companies, even now Metas all of a sudden 340 00:19:13,279 --> 00:19:14,160 found religion on this. 341 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:15,880 Speaker 3: They've changed their entire platform. 342 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:17,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, what do you think of what do you think 343 00:19:17,519 --> 00:19:20,759 of that meta kulpa from Mark Zuckerberg. Now, well, ye 344 00:19:20,759 --> 00:19:21,839 as it responds to it. 345 00:19:22,319 --> 00:19:24,759 Speaker 2: I guess as a Missouri and a true Missouri and 346 00:19:24,839 --> 00:19:28,319 from the show me state, see right, you're going to 347 00:19:28,319 --> 00:19:31,160 show me before I fully buy into it. But it 348 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:34,519 is a positive development. I think it is at least 349 00:19:34,559 --> 00:19:39,160 an acknowledgment if you take what he says at face value, 350 00:19:39,599 --> 00:19:42,119 that they went astray. And I think part of that 351 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:47,799 again twenty sixteen, in what Permanent Washington really needed this 352 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:51,359 is this Trump came in as this disruptor and Permanent 353 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:53,799 Washington didn't really know what to do. These social media 354 00:19:53,839 --> 00:19:55,880 companies felt like maybe they had something to. 355 00:19:55,759 --> 00:19:56,240 Speaker 3: Do with it. 356 00:19:56,559 --> 00:19:59,079 Speaker 2: The radical left really rallied to them and said, you 357 00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:02,319 can never let this happen again. We see twenty twenty. 358 00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:06,400 You've got the Zuckerbucks, You've got censorship. They were committed 359 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:09,839 to not letting Trump remain in office, and they had 360 00:20:09,839 --> 00:20:12,279 the full force of a lot of these you know, 361 00:20:12,519 --> 00:20:15,880 deep state actors and also the biggest companies in the 362 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:19,400 history world coordinating on that. And they got what they wanted. 363 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:21,680 They got a guy Joe Biden who did exactly what 364 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:23,960 the left wanted, and then the American people got to 365 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,119 see that in full view. And I think I hope 366 00:20:27,319 --> 00:20:29,599 that some of the people who were even involved in that, and. 367 00:20:29,559 --> 00:20:32,680 Speaker 3: These social media giants understand how dangerous that really was. 368 00:20:32,759 --> 00:20:37,880 Speaker 2: And so I do think that that level of awareness 369 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:40,680 has been helpful and exposed it. And I think you're 370 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:44,200 seeing the behavior change. We'll see, we'll follow it, and 371 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:45,680 I'm going to be on it. We're sending a letter 372 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:48,279 to Mark Zuckerberg this week saying, hey, we heard what 373 00:20:48,319 --> 00:20:50,839 you said. Now you're gonna have to show us right 374 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,079 and so we can talk about, you know, some of 375 00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:56,359 the legislation. We've got a bill that would provide the 376 00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:01,839 IG the authority to just sort of investigate agencies and 377 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:04,480 make sure they're not continuing to do this stuff as 378 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:04,960 sort of a. 379 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:05,519 Speaker 3: Check on this. 380 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,759 Speaker 2: But so you've got that, you've got the exposure in 381 00:21:08,799 --> 00:21:12,759 preventing it from happening. The Supreme Court case, ultimately, Murphy 382 00:21:12,839 --> 00:21:16,440 versus Missouri, was, as you mentioned, decided on a very 383 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:19,279 technical standing issue in the sense that they sent it 384 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:21,599 back saying you're going to have to show that you 385 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:26,319 really that the parties involved here have the standing to 386 00:21:26,319 --> 00:21:31,799 bring it, principally Missouri and Louisiana. So I still think 387 00:21:31,839 --> 00:21:34,759 it's ultimately a huge win in the first Amendment. I 388 00:21:34,799 --> 00:21:37,160 think it's one of the most important First Amendment cases 389 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:40,160 in the history of the United States because of the 390 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:45,039 implications in what it exposed, and so ultimately, if your 391 00:21:45,039 --> 00:21:48,640 goal is to get these folks to stop and expose it, 392 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:50,839 I think we were able to accomplish a lot of 393 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:52,039 that through litigation. 394 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:54,640 Speaker 1: I agree with you. I think it is one of 395 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:59,519 the most important cases ever to go before the court system, 396 00:21:59,599 --> 00:22:02,200 ultimately before the Supreme Court, one of the most important 397 00:22:02,279 --> 00:22:07,279 First Amendment cases definitely in our lifetime. But you know, 398 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:13,079 it's always interesting to me because in the last session 399 00:22:13,759 --> 00:22:19,160 and the last couple of years in this country, the 400 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,920 Supreme Court has had some interesting decisions related to standing, 401 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:27,119 and that always I always find the standing issue remarkable 402 00:22:27,119 --> 00:22:30,119 because you can't tell me you didn't have victims of 403 00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:34,599 these censorship crimes going on in Missouri and Louisiana. He 404 00:22:34,599 --> 00:22:37,319 had him going on all over the country. And I 405 00:22:37,319 --> 00:22:39,640 think that's what your bills are really all about. And 406 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:41,839 I want to talk about that now. Our guest today 407 00:22:42,319 --> 00:22:45,440 is Senator Eric Schmid of Missouri, again one of the 408 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:49,480 few true First Amendment warriors in Congress. As we are 409 00:22:49,519 --> 00:22:53,160 about to talk about, Senator Schmidt recently introduced the Censorship 410 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:57,799 Accountability Act and some others. That bill is designed to 411 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:03,400 preserve America Can's First Amendment rights and give citizens the 412 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,960 ability to hold the administrative state accountable. According to its author, 413 00:23:07,039 --> 00:23:10,799 let's start there, because I think that's at the core 414 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:12,720 of what we've just been talking about. 415 00:23:13,599 --> 00:23:17,319 Speaker 2: Yeah, so for me, you know, this legislation was derived 416 00:23:17,319 --> 00:23:20,200 principally from my experience as the attorney general that brought 417 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:23,720 Missouri versus Biden, in the sense that it shouldn't take 418 00:23:23,799 --> 00:23:27,119 you know, it shouldn't be up to a one attorney 419 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:30,839 general or two attorneys general the country to be able 420 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,799 to bring this kind of action and expose it. I 421 00:23:33,839 --> 00:23:37,200 think we empower an army of citizens to hold their 422 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:39,559 government accountable. And so what the bill would do, the 423 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:42,960 legislation would empower individuals to bring a private right of action. 424 00:23:43,079 --> 00:23:45,359 They can have their own cause of action against an 425 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:49,200 individual bureaucrat if their First Amendment rights have been violated. 426 00:23:49,279 --> 00:23:52,079 So I think there's the goal here is twofold. One 427 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,839 is to actually hold these bad actors accountable, and the 428 00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:57,400 other is. 429 00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:00,359 Speaker 3: To get it to stop. And I think part of 430 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:01,720 what needs to happen, and we. 431 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,200 Speaker 2: Can get into you know, the Trump nominees, Pam Bindy, 432 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:06,640 I know, well, former State A G in Florida, the 433 00:24:06,759 --> 00:24:09,079 Justice Department. I think if you look at the one 434 00:24:09,519 --> 00:24:13,319 consistent electrical cord here between you know, all the nominees 435 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:15,640 that President Trump has put forward as their reformers. 436 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 3: They're going in these agencies. 437 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:21,240 Speaker 2: They're The election in many ways was less about R 438 00:24:21,279 --> 00:24:22,960 and D and versus you know, and sort of the 439 00:24:23,039 --> 00:24:26,000 disruptors versus the establishment, and the American people want this 440 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:29,039 and they want people who are going to provide reform 441 00:24:29,079 --> 00:24:32,599 from the inside. So legislation like this is sort of 442 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,960 pushes the culture, in my view, in a different direction. 443 00:24:37,079 --> 00:24:40,799 So when you've got a bureaucrat at SISA that's kind 444 00:24:40,799 --> 00:24:45,000 of been charged with, you know, executing this censorship enterprise, 445 00:24:45,039 --> 00:24:48,039 maybe that bureaucrat would say, you know what, I actually 446 00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:51,119 don't want to be sued. I'm not going to do that, 447 00:24:51,319 --> 00:24:53,039 you know what I mean, like to try to change 448 00:24:53,079 --> 00:24:56,759 the incentive structure here, because right now, yeah, give them 449 00:24:56,839 --> 00:25:01,039 pause and push back and empower them in some ways 450 00:25:01,079 --> 00:25:03,759 to not just go along with what the political class 451 00:25:03,759 --> 00:25:06,519 and these bureaucracies really want them to do. And so 452 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,559 that's part of it, and I think but again, I 453 00:25:09,559 --> 00:25:12,680 think now that the President Trump is uh, you know, 454 00:25:12,799 --> 00:25:16,440 picking these nominees, there's gonna be a visceral resistance from 455 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:19,039 some of these folks who've been burrowed in who just 456 00:25:19,079 --> 00:25:22,160 don't buy into the same things you and I believe in, 457 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:25,440 and they just feel like President Trump's a threat to democracy. 458 00:25:25,599 --> 00:25:28,240 Everything is on the table. There's nothing we can't do 459 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:30,640 to stop him. I mean that that that that sort 460 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:34,119 of TDS still exists, and it exists in these federal bureaucracies. 461 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:35,680 Even they don't really show up to work, they still 462 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:39,279 have jobs and do things. So yeah, so that bill 463 00:25:39,279 --> 00:25:43,319 would essentially empower individuals to sue individual bureaucrats at their 464 00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:47,079 First Amendment rights, and that would solve a standing issue. 465 00:25:48,039 --> 00:25:51,720 But more, I think most importantly, it sort of democratizes 466 00:25:53,319 --> 00:25:57,039 the remedies here that you know, Joe Q Public or 467 00:25:57,119 --> 00:26:00,920 Jane Q Public if they were deplatform and there is 468 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:04,200 real collusion here with the government, that they can actually 469 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:05,480 have their own cause of action. 470 00:26:06,039 --> 00:26:08,759 Speaker 1: Yeah, very important. And by the way, if you're scoring 471 00:26:08,799 --> 00:26:11,039 along at home, it's hard to keep up with all 472 00:26:11,079 --> 00:26:14,559 of these federal agencies, which tells you that the government 473 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:18,160 is too big when you know, and the name SISA 474 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:19,880 has come up quite a bit, but it is the 475 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:26,440 cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency SISA. How about that 476 00:26:26,559 --> 00:26:30,559 for nineteen eighty four style bureau. Right, Yeah, it brings 477 00:26:30,559 --> 00:26:34,720 you your disinformation check and all of those sorts of things. 478 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:38,440 You have other legislation as well to go along with 479 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:42,839 this you mentioned before, you know, getting the Inspector General involved. 480 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,720 Let's talk about the other two pieces of legislation in 481 00:26:46,759 --> 00:26:47,559 this package. 482 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:50,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, So if you think of this just a sort 483 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:52,599 of a construct, there's two ways to get at this 484 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:55,400 censorship enterprise. One is on the government side and the 485 00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:58,400 other is on the private business side. And so the 486 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,440 second piece of the government side is to have an 487 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:06,160 Inspector General actually be working for the people and checking 488 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:08,920 in and making sure these government agencies aren't involved in 489 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,880 flagging things for social media companies. So it's more offensive 490 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:16,839 again changing the culture here within the federal bureaucracies. To 491 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:18,440 make sure that doesn't happen, there'd have to be a 492 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:21,440 report and so if something is going on, we can 493 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:23,920 flag it soon and put an end to it. But 494 00:27:24,039 --> 00:27:26,599 the other side of it, then is what do you 495 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:29,799 do about the social media companies that engaged in this, 496 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,079 and I think you have to sort of understand the 497 00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:37,079 protections again that they're allowed to have under federal law. 498 00:27:37,599 --> 00:27:41,480 Back in the mid to late nineteen nineties, when you 499 00:27:41,519 --> 00:27:45,319 and I were in college, the Internet was sort of 500 00:27:45,319 --> 00:27:49,400 brand new, right, and the idea was, we want this 501 00:27:49,559 --> 00:27:52,720 to be an open library. We want there to be 502 00:27:52,759 --> 00:27:55,160 a free exchange of ideas. And if you're going to 503 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:58,279 be a platform where people come and give their point 504 00:27:58,279 --> 00:28:02,079 of view, you shouldn't be held liable for legal action 505 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:06,599 like well, for example, let's say ABC News was when 506 00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:10,759 George Stephanopolis called, you know, President Trump what he called them, 507 00:28:11,319 --> 00:28:13,920 and there's no factual basis for it. They can be 508 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,519 sued and they can be held liable. Right, So we're 509 00:28:16,519 --> 00:28:19,519 going to treat these platforms differently in that they have 510 00:28:20,839 --> 00:28:24,440 legal protections, they're immune from those sorts of lawsuits. But 511 00:28:24,519 --> 00:28:28,359 here's what's changed now. You've got to pick right. You're 512 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:30,279 either going to be a publisher or you're going to 513 00:28:30,279 --> 00:28:32,880 be a platform. And so for the social media companies 514 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:34,400 that sort of live and die with this section two 515 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:36,920 thirty protections, be an open platform, I'm fine with that, 516 00:28:37,319 --> 00:28:40,119 but you can't be a publisher. You can't be editing 517 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,400 this stuff to sort of fit the political whim that 518 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,240 you want to you know, have or the point of 519 00:28:46,319 --> 00:28:46,960 view you want to have. 520 00:28:47,079 --> 00:28:48,720 Speaker 3: So if you're engaged. 521 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:52,519 Speaker 2: Basically, the other piece of legislation here is if you're 522 00:28:52,519 --> 00:28:54,839 a social media company and you've engaged in this kind 523 00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:57,559 of censorship with the government, you lose your Section two 524 00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:00,319 thirty protections. You as a social media company can be 525 00:29:00,359 --> 00:29:04,319 sued as well. So again it allows individual citizens the 526 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:10,720 ability to kind of take these on themselves and protect 527 00:29:10,759 --> 00:29:13,519 their First Amendment rights, again changing the incentive structure for 528 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:15,200 the social media companies as well. 529 00:29:16,119 --> 00:29:18,880 Speaker 1: It's you know, I look at this and I say, 530 00:29:19,279 --> 00:29:23,359 makes absolute sense to me. There should be accountability in this. 531 00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:25,480 And that's the one thing that we always see, you know, 532 00:29:25,519 --> 00:29:29,640 we we see and it's good, as you say, we 533 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:33,720 see the discovery. We see the information that proves what 534 00:29:33,759 --> 00:29:36,480 we've been thinking all along that there was collusion and 535 00:29:36,559 --> 00:29:40,200 abuse going on and you know, an absolute assault on 536 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:42,839 the First Amendment. But then nobody has ever held accountable. 537 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:47,400 This would do just that, but you've you're going up, 538 00:29:47,799 --> 00:29:53,240 of course against a big tech machine that has lots 539 00:29:53,319 --> 00:29:56,160 and lots of money and lots and lots of clout 540 00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:01,279 in your side of Congress, and how in the House. 541 00:30:02,319 --> 00:30:06,559 How confident are you that you can break through that, 542 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:09,799 because I think we've already seen In fact, I'm curious, 543 00:30:09,839 --> 00:30:12,319 do you think what we've seen out of Mark Zuckerberg 544 00:30:12,359 --> 00:30:16,240 and Meta and Facebook, this Mia Kulpa and saying, you know, 545 00:30:16,279 --> 00:30:19,839 we're going to fire these these horrible fact checkers. You 546 00:30:19,839 --> 00:30:22,920 know we're working in a concert with them. Do you 547 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:28,960 think that that was basically a way to show lawmakers 548 00:30:29,079 --> 00:30:31,720 like yourself, Hey, you know we're serious about reforms. We 549 00:30:31,759 --> 00:30:33,599 don't need laws to change this. 550 00:30:34,599 --> 00:30:36,240 Speaker 3: It's funny to say that. I do think there's part 551 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:36,599 of this. 552 00:30:38,119 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 2: What's happening is sort of a pr play to prevent 553 00:30:42,119 --> 00:30:45,559 because they understand now, look, Republicans are in charge. Republicans 554 00:30:45,599 --> 00:30:48,640 were on the wrong end of all this. You know, 555 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:51,599 I look at it as a true First Amendment believer, 556 00:30:52,799 --> 00:30:56,920 I at least favor anybody. Republicans and Conservatives are not 557 00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,400 afraid of the free and open debate. I never have been, 558 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,279 and I think when when it's exposed, that's why we win. 559 00:31:03,359 --> 00:31:06,359 It's what, by the way, why the legacy media is 560 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:07,480 so threatened now too. 561 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:08,599 Speaker 3: They saw this. 562 00:31:08,559 --> 00:31:11,039 Speaker 2: Sort of the rise of the podcaster and all these 563 00:31:11,079 --> 00:31:13,480 different and they don't like it because they like being 564 00:31:13,519 --> 00:31:15,880 the middleman, right, they like being the ones that sort 565 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:19,440 of gatekeepers of the information and to tailor it how 566 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:23,279 they want to for their own political agenda. And you 567 00:31:23,279 --> 00:31:25,000 know this used to exist. I mean, we kind of 568 00:31:25,039 --> 00:31:30,640 always knew the you know, the big news agencies in 569 00:31:30,839 --> 00:31:33,079 NBC nightly News were biased. But it's like at a 570 00:31:33,119 --> 00:31:35,400 whole other level now. I mean, it's off the hook 571 00:31:35,559 --> 00:31:38,160 and it's crazy now, and and I think people see it, 572 00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:41,400 they know they see it. The ratings are down, but yes, 573 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:43,200 I do think there's some of the idea to sort 574 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:47,359 of diffuse some of the momentum behind these these protect 575 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:51,440 the First Amendment kind of initiatives. But but I'm hopeful, 576 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,119 I really am. I think I think we're winning this fight. 577 00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:55,720 Speaker 3: Now. I wouldn't have said. 578 00:31:55,480 --> 00:32:00,000 Speaker 2: That a few years ago, but I think we've made 579 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:04,279 the case literally and figuratively, and the American people have 580 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:07,039 rejected I think the censorship. 581 00:32:07,039 --> 00:32:07,920 Speaker 3: They don't want to see it. 582 00:32:08,519 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 2: I mean, there's certainly a segment, particularly on the left, 583 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:13,680 that's totally fine with it as long as they're winning. 584 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:16,559 But I think at the core of again the American 585 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,839 experiment here is that people believe that you should be 586 00:32:19,839 --> 00:32:22,160 able to speak your mind freely and the government shouldn't 587 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:23,799 be able to sort of snap back on that or 588 00:32:23,799 --> 00:32:26,960 prevent you from doing it. And so all these bills, 589 00:32:26,759 --> 00:32:30,880 the consistent theme there is, you know, I don't I 590 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:33,759 don't have a I mean, I have a worldview, but 591 00:32:33,759 --> 00:32:36,559 but this is about people, Americans being able to speak 592 00:32:36,599 --> 00:32:37,440 their minds freely. 593 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:40,640 Speaker 3: And when the government or social media companies engage in 594 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,160 the level of censorship that we saw in Missouri versus Biden, 595 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,200 there ought to be ramifications and there ought to be accountability. 596 00:32:46,839 --> 00:32:49,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting to me. You know, I keep hearing 597 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:53,559 this notion the past is prologue from the left right. 598 00:32:53,759 --> 00:32:59,200 I mean, you have the the Algonquin round table over 599 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,480 at the View and Sonny host and you know, talking 600 00:33:02,519 --> 00:33:08,640 about how equating what happened on January sixth, twenty twenty 601 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:11,880 one at the Capitol with World War II and the Holocaust. 602 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:14,119 I mean, this is the sort of stuff. But you know, 603 00:33:14,799 --> 00:33:20,079 she's right about past is prologue. But what they don't 604 00:33:20,119 --> 00:33:26,039 understand is that they are the prologue now. And you know, 605 00:33:26,079 --> 00:33:31,039 they used to talk about, you know, fifty sixty years 606 00:33:31,079 --> 00:33:35,480 ago the right suppressing speech in this country, and you 607 00:33:35,519 --> 00:33:39,640 know how difficult that situation was, how abusive that was, 608 00:33:40,559 --> 00:33:46,279 Yet they don't see it in themselves. And I think, 609 00:33:47,039 --> 00:33:51,039 as you said before, the saving grace here has been 610 00:33:51,079 --> 00:33:56,400 the American people and their fundamental beliefs in the fundamental 611 00:33:56,440 --> 00:34:00,000 ideals of this country. Well, I think I think President 612 00:34:00,079 --> 00:34:03,279 Trump brought a lot of these issues to the forefront 613 00:34:03,319 --> 00:34:05,119 in a way that without him. 614 00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:07,680 Speaker 3: In twenty sixteen and twenty twenty and twenty twenty four, 615 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:09,800 we wouldn't be at where we're at. 616 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:14,159 Speaker 2: And I think he's given Republicans again the ability to 617 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:17,119 fight back in a way that I don't think Republicans 618 00:34:17,119 --> 00:34:17,719 did before. 619 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:19,960 Speaker 3: And I think that's that's a good thing. The other 620 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:22,719 thing I would say is power. 621 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:28,239 Speaker 2: People often say power corrupts, Power reveals and COVID to 622 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:32,400 me when we really look back on it, and it's 623 00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:34,159 enough in the rear view mirror now where you start 624 00:34:34,159 --> 00:34:38,079 to have a real analysis. It gave power, an enormous 625 00:34:38,159 --> 00:34:40,360 amount of power to people who never should have had 626 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,360 it in the first place, and you saw the true 627 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:47,360 excesses of that power and of government actors who loved 628 00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:52,840 every Monday morning, from you know Fauci to the county 629 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:55,519 executive in Saint Louis County, or by the way, a 630 00:34:55,599 --> 00:34:59,440 school administrator who got to tell everyone, I'm going to 631 00:34:59,519 --> 00:35:01,559 keep you saying, and we're going to have to. 632 00:35:01,559 --> 00:35:04,480 Speaker 3: Take away some of your liberties. But trust me, trust 633 00:35:04,519 --> 00:35:10,199 the science. And people saw through it. And as terrible 634 00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:12,440 as COVID was, I think, you know, you look at 635 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,639 the loss of learning, the emotional you know, the psychological 636 00:35:15,639 --> 00:35:20,079 issues for kids. Uh, it's devastating. 637 00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:23,599 Speaker 2: It's devastating, and you know, I think you know, we 638 00:35:23,639 --> 00:35:25,840 move on past it enough. They were they were putting 639 00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:30,320 police tape around playgrounds, they were boarding up basketball hoops. 640 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:33,960 They were saying you couldn't visit your loved ones when 641 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:39,000 they were dying. I mean, these people were COVID tyrants, yes, 642 00:35:39,159 --> 00:35:40,800 And so at my time as ag it was it 643 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:43,679 was clarifying. So you know, this Missouri versus Biden piece 644 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:46,239 was one of it. I sued sixty five school districts 645 00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:49,239 for their mass mandates. We had the Missouri brought the 646 00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:53,920 vaccine mandate lawsuits to the Supreme Court. It to me, 647 00:35:54,039 --> 00:35:56,159 I guess I'm a bit of a contrarian anyway. But 648 00:35:56,719 --> 00:36:00,760 I seeing this unfold, I just idn't believe that this 649 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:01,440 is America. 650 00:36:01,559 --> 00:36:04,000 Speaker 3: This is not what America is about. 651 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:06,960 Speaker 2: And I think it wasn't just met a lot of 652 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,880 people who stood up and said, we're not doing that, 653 00:36:11,679 --> 00:36:13,239 We're not going to do it, and we're going to 654 00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:15,440 fight back. And I think now we're on the other 655 00:36:15,519 --> 00:36:18,840 side of it. And you could say, even on the wokeness, 656 00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:22,599 the nonsense DEI, all this stuff that they just hammered 657 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:25,599 over and over, American people weren't buying it, you know. 658 00:36:25,679 --> 00:36:28,760 So that's why I'm really optimistic about the next four years. 659 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:30,199 We're kind of on the other side of this a 660 00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:32,840 little bit. We've got momentum. The American people are with us. 661 00:36:33,199 --> 00:36:36,519 They saw through the lefts there real moves that they 662 00:36:36,559 --> 00:36:38,679 made in the last four years, and they rejected it. 663 00:36:39,199 --> 00:36:42,519 And so I think sky's a limit we got. Our 664 00:36:42,559 --> 00:36:46,079 party now is again at broad base. People who want 665 00:36:46,119 --> 00:36:49,760 to just live their lives and they want to be prosperous, 666 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:51,280 and they want to speak their minds, and they just 667 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:54,199 tired to the government and people in these positions, these 668 00:36:54,239 --> 00:36:57,119 elitists telling them how to live their lives. And if 669 00:36:57,159 --> 00:36:59,079 I think we stay that as our north star. Mister 670 00:36:59,119 --> 00:37:02,440 Sherpa will be okay. 671 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:05,199 Speaker 1: It just feels like such a bad dream, a fever 672 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:08,239 dream that we woke up from in this country, all 673 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:11,199 the things that you said, I mean, we lived as Americans. 674 00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:15,039 I lived at My aunt was dying of cancer at 675 00:37:15,039 --> 00:37:19,880 the beginning of the pandemic, and they would not allow us, 676 00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:24,840 her husband of sixty years, to be in the room 677 00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:28,639 with her. They were closing down churches for the love 678 00:37:28,679 --> 00:37:32,320 of God. Literally, I mean, it's just amazing. So I'll 679 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:34,880 conclude with this as a guy of a certain age 680 00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:40,639 like yours, truly, did you when you were playing your 681 00:37:40,639 --> 00:37:44,800 Atari twenty six hundred back in the day, when you 682 00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:49,119 were watching war games with Matthew Broderick and wondering about 683 00:37:49,239 --> 00:37:55,440 global thermal nuclear war, did you ever foresee that you 684 00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:59,320 would be a the Attorney General of the show me State, 685 00:38:00,039 --> 00:38:03,039 ultimately the Senator of the show me State, engaged on 686 00:38:03,119 --> 00:38:07,400 the front line of this great tech censorship battle. 687 00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:08,320 Speaker 3: No. 688 00:38:08,559 --> 00:38:10,960 Speaker 2: I wanted to be center fielder for the Saintless Cardinals, 689 00:38:11,079 --> 00:38:12,400 so that I know, I wanted. 690 00:38:12,679 --> 00:38:13,280 Speaker 1: I knew it. 691 00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:18,119 Speaker 2: So No, And you know, interestingly, I grew up in 692 00:38:18,199 --> 00:38:20,039 a in a really kind of working class neighborhood, as 693 00:38:20,079 --> 00:38:21,760 I mentioned, and my dad works seven days a week 694 00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:23,719 in the midnight shift. I didn't even know any lawyers 695 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:26,400 growing up. I just didn't. I'm trying to think when 696 00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:29,599 the first time I had to have been in college, 697 00:38:29,679 --> 00:38:33,039 maybe that I ever encountered, you know, or you know, 698 00:38:33,159 --> 00:38:36,480 talk really to a lawyer. So but to me at 699 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:38,920 a relatively young age, I suppose around that time, the 700 00:38:39,039 --> 00:38:44,599 law to me provided structure, Like I always cared about 701 00:38:44,639 --> 00:38:47,719 America and you know, sort of a kind of a 702 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,119 son of the Reagan Revolution, right, And then I'm in 703 00:38:50,159 --> 00:38:53,519 college the Republicans in ninety four take over, so it 704 00:38:53,519 --> 00:38:54,880 did sort of spark an interest. 705 00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:56,480 Speaker 3: But running for office is a whole other thing. 706 00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:58,679 Speaker 2: I didn't get into that until my son was diagnosed 707 00:38:58,679 --> 00:39:01,880 with a rare medical condition and I felt like I 708 00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:03,960 was educated by the Jesuits, and so there's sort of 709 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:06,880 this service aspect of being a man for others sort 710 00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:09,199 of collided with my love of the country, and I 711 00:39:09,199 --> 00:39:11,480 thought I could make a difference, so I ran for office. 712 00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:14,559 Speaker 3: But no that the kid grown up. 713 00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:19,559 Speaker 2: In Bridgeton, Missouri, playing as atari wasn't contemplating taking on 714 00:39:19,679 --> 00:39:24,760 the biggest companies in the federal government over the First Amendment. 715 00:39:25,079 --> 00:39:28,800 But God is great, right, So I feel very fortunate, 716 00:39:29,639 --> 00:39:34,920 honestly to be in this position, and it's the honor 717 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:37,760 of a lifetime to represent my state in Washington and 718 00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:40,719 fight for the things that I know my fellow Missourians 719 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:41,119 believe in. 720 00:39:41,679 --> 00:39:45,119 Speaker 1: Well, the Lord, I always believe puts us where he 721 00:39:45,239 --> 00:39:48,239 needs us to be, whether we understand that or not 722 00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:51,599 at the time, And certainly the Lord said you'd make 723 00:39:51,639 --> 00:39:56,360 a pretty good attorney political leader. But as far as 724 00:39:56,360 --> 00:39:58,679 a five tool center fielder, that just ain't happen. 725 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:03,000 Speaker 2: Well, really, yeah, I couldn't hit a major league slider. 726 00:40:03,119 --> 00:40:04,599 Speaker 3: So that was that was the end of it. 727 00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:09,679 Speaker 1: So buddy, you and me both, well, it's been an 728 00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:14,480 absolute pleasure. I do wish you success because I wish 729 00:40:14,639 --> 00:40:17,760 this country that I love success, and to do that, 730 00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:22,280 we're going to need a what you've been able to accomplish, 731 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:26,840 a full disclosure of the abuses against the First Amendment, 732 00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:29,840 the Constitution the American people, and now we're going to 733 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:32,480 need to do something about it and hold some people accountable. 734 00:40:32,599 --> 00:40:36,440 So I very much appreciate your time today and your 735 00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:37,440 efforts in the Senate. 736 00:40:38,079 --> 00:40:40,159 Speaker 3: I appreciate it. We'll do it again sometime. Thank you. 737 00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,039 Speaker 1: That sounds great. Thanks to my guest today, Senator Eric 738 00:40:43,079 --> 00:40:45,719 Schmid of Missouri, you've been listening to another edition of 739 00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:49,320 The Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kettle's senior elections correspondent 740 00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:52,639 at The Federalist. We'll be back soon with more. Until then, 741 00:40:53,199 --> 00:41:02,559 stay lovers of freedom and anxious for the frame pol