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The big news in the world of politics, complete and total endorsement for speaker Mike Johnson that, according to Donald Trump, taking the truth social and changing the course of the day. Here we started the day by wondering if Mike Johnson had the votes to keep the gavel on Friday when the new Congress begins. It appears we may have an answer to that question now, and with us at the table none other than Denver Riggleman, the former Republican congressman from Virginia, with us in person.
Always a treat to see you.
Hope your holidays are well, Oh great, you're a happy guy because you're not doing this anymore, right.
It's absolutely a bulliant that a word, yeah, but a billion yeah, I'm a billion.
Yes, Well, I like that. It's a nice place to start.
I suspect that Mike Johnson is kind of feeling that way as well, Jim Comer just this morning was calling around the twenty people who helped to dispatch Kevin McCarthy to say, hey, you got to get on board with Mike Johnson.
I guess the job's been done.
I don't think so. I didn't work out for McCarthy that well. And you know, when you think about it, and also when you look at people like the chip Roys, the Tom Massey's, the Andy Harris's, they drink their own bathwater. You know they don't really drink Trump's bath water. Don't
sound good, No, it doesn't. But I think you know a lot of people call the Freedom Caucus the Trump Protection Caucus, but in reality, there are people there that are very idealistic right their ideologues, and they also going to do their own thing, and their districts are relatively safe. So as we get closer to the mid terms, if things aren't tracking the way they want based on their ideology,
based on what they're looking at. As far as the deaf sit in the debt, you could see some issues and I think there are going to be some arguments. I don't think it guarantees Mike Johnson the speakership at all. I think you're gonna I think, you know, if you look at Chip roy people forget Chip Royce certified the election, you know, and Chip you know, his Freedom Caucus, and he went against most of the Freedom Caucus to do that.
So I think again people need to realize, yes, Trump does control the party almost completely, but you do have people like the chip Roys and the Thomas Massis that are going to do what they're going to do well.
So if there's no guarantee that Mike Johnson is the speaker, then the Congress cannot begin, right. You have to have the speaker to swear in the Congress, then the lawmakers. There's also this thing coming down the pike called the inauguration that's happening. Yeah, there's also going to be a former president lying in state on January Not can any of that happen if we don't have a speaker.
I think as far as with the former president, I think that absolutely does happen. But as far as you know, the multiple rounds of a speaker right at the beginning of the Congress, I think it would be interesting because what is the how many Republicans are going to be sitting two nineteen or two twenty. So say you have three or four, they're like, we don't want to do this right now. We're going to demand some things.
Then you Democrats, there's not gonna be one Democrat that votes from Mike Johnson first.
That's what Hockey Jeffrey.
Says, not one, not one, not one. It's not going to happen. And I think that at this point when we see what's already happening, what they called the magasivil War and things like that is happening right now, it's going to be very interesting to see how that does.
But you know what the first day of Congress is like, you've done this. They bring the kids, they're singing songs together, right, the big swear if it is raw raw, everyone feels great. That's supposed to be the one day you feel good about your job. And watch, well, what's it going to be like this?
It's going to be miserable.
You know when I when miserable, miserable when I swore in. You know, it was that long four to five hour wait. Remember it was coming over from the Republican to the Democratic Congress. When I came in, it was a long, miserable day for me. It wasn't really a brilliant so but I think it's going to be a miserable day. I think you're going to have a lot of votes, and I think it's.
Going to be many rounds either way.
I think it might be, but it depends on again, if Comer can convince people. I hope he does a better job than convince people in the Oversight Committee. But if he, if he does a you know, a halfway decent job in convincing people, maybe it's easy. But I think I think they actually have to ramp up their lobbying efforts pretty hard to get everybody on.
Board just to elect a speaker.
Not even passive piece of legs still elect a speaker.
A letislation is going to be a shit show. I mean, it's well, you can't say that, No, it's all sorry.
Let me let me ask you about something else coming January sixth. This is of personal import to you because you were an advisor on the January sixth committee.
You also lived through that madness.
I just wonder what you make of the fact that no one's talking about it. It is, you know, it's it's something you know four years later, you would think this would be.
A big deal.
This should be the biggest deal is what happened on January sixth. I honestly don't foresee hair supporters storming the capitol, you know, coming in for January sixth. But this should be a huge deal. And I think part of it, you know, I wonder a little bit. And I'm not trying to be self deprecating or humble bragg everything. If I haven't done enough based on the data that we saw, and we still knew that, you know, years, you know, two to three years after we really thought we'd see
more in action. When it came to action criminal, I would say charges against certain individuals. You know, we had phone records, we had text records. Those are at the archives or wherever they're nested right now. But I have to tell you, to me, it's the most important thing. It's the way that I voted was because of January sixth. It's what I've seen. It's why I wrote my book,
it's why I started my new company. Everything had to do with what I saw was the lack of resourcing, lack of technology, you know, the fact we couldn't get what we needed to get. But the other good side of that was we had enough to do to identify some of the real bad actors at the command and control level. But I have to tell you, I think people want to forget, and I think it should be
something we remember every January sixth. But again, it's a little surprising to me because for me, it's one of the most important things to happen in American Pastor.
People want to forget.
Isn't that interesting whether you are fond of what happened that day or not. Did Democrats want to forget that because it's a difficult memory.
I think it was hard for them to run on it. I don't think they could actually verbalize specifically why January six was so important, which shocked me because for me, relize it pretty easily. As you know, we've we've talked about it before. But I wonder if America is on the psychiatric couch right and are like, do you remember that, like January sixth, twenty five one? What happened that day?
You know?
But it is really incredible to me. I think we need to actually bring that more to the forefront, and I think we need to revisit why that happened. The disinformation right and the fact that you know, one in five Americans have, don't you know, read below the sixth grade level. I believe that's correct, and we have to look at education and things that happened. But why did people sack the capital based on fantasy?
It's not going to happen again this time around, not that I see.
I just legislation would also prevent this from being Yeah, matter of the vice president.
Yeah, it's correct, that's right. Correct.
So what happens when all of the January sixth offenders are pardoned? Is that something Donald Trump does?
I absolutely, I think in the outset, you know, I think they'll say they'll go case by case, but I think they're going to pardon I would say majority of the January sixth, those who are convicted. I wonder about those who actually beat law enforce. But it's going to be very difficult. I think when you do these type of pardons, how do you actually explain away those that you pardon it actually you know, physically assaulted Capitol police.
You know, I know them many that were there, and I do wonder how that's going to pan out.
It's been suggested that he leaves the biggest offenders right where they are, just wouldn't be a blanket pardon. Do you believe they go case by case through this matter? We're talking about a lot of people here Denver.
I think they're going to I think they're going to set a minimum threshold, and they're not going to go case by case on that threshold. If it was people just trespassed, I think they'll just pardon them. Yeah, you know, carte blanche. And you know, for those who did the more serious things, it does bother me if they do get out. And I'm not for any partons on the JA six individuals, but it's very difficult because it seems every president pardons people that I never would.
Let's talk of preemptive pardons. Joe Biden.
I always hear the name Liz Cheney, then you hear Adam Kinzinger, how about Denver Riggleman.
Yeah, I mean, you know, I've certainly had some threats and I and you know, there's a possibil I'm subpoenad. Right, as we saw Barry Loudermilks one hundred and twenty eight page report, which I actually read. I know, people, I know it's crazy, I read it, but it's ludicrous, right, and Barry had you know, I know Barry, they have some I guess they made some points on the defense of the Capitol and some of those breakdowns they were correct.
But going after Liz Cheneys saying somehow she was meddling that way is just ludicrous. It's it's absolutely what Donald Trump wanted the committee to do.
But I so.
But I think as far as a preemptive partner, I don't want one.
You don't, I don't.
I'd rather fight whine because I think I think people need to stand up and you know, if you want and I know there's some people who I would say, you know, with Liz and and even with Adam, you know, maybe a part pardon works in their favorites up to them to have that. But for me, I'd rather the bar fight right now.
The bar fight, Yeah, I'd rather that.
I mean, it's how I was raised.
You know, I didn't have a political career to run a distillery.
I do run a distillery. We do make whiskey, and I do have an AI company too, and so I also pretty good with data. So if they want somebody who makes whiskey and goes after bad people with data up in Congress, who's a former congressman.
I'm happy to ablage.
You're going to get lunch with Elon to talk about this? Oh, you don't you know what I would have lunch with Elon. You know, I would tell him to stop posting you know, gobshite, right, and you know, and I think a lot of that has to do with, you know, the things that he's doing.
But yeah, i'd have lunch with Elon until what I thought, what's going on with Elon Musk here?
We're already seeing a little bit of a breakdown over the H one B situation. Yeah, the Maga versus Musk situation seems tenuous. Well, a year or two from now, will he still have the president's year?
No?
No, No, I mean the thing about H one b's what's interesting. You know, he's going against some really big packs on the far right, like Numbers USA and things like that. But for me, I'm an H one B H two A, an H two B supporter based on our district's very rural, but we also have a lot of technology in Virginia and the Commonwealth. And I mean that's why I'm starting an exploratory committee to run for state wide office. Is because of those type of issues.
So you know, those are the type of things you know that excite me.
Well, hold on because I always reserve the last minute or two of our conversations to ask you that last thing that you know you may or may not want to answer, because whether you've get a pardon or not, will you have.
A political future?
You know, I didn't have one before when I want accidentally, so, but I.
Think would you like to have a political future.
I think I would rather try to change the dynamic of the two party system that seems to you know, I would you know, Rain as a Republican. I got to be behind the door with Trump. I was Republicans for Harris and the things that I saw, you know, on either side, which a lot of people say, actually frighten me based on special interest. It always has when I got into politics, not to the age of about forty six forty seven. So yeah, I have a lot of issues because I have individuals. I say a lot
of issues. There's probably going to be the sound by people like but you know, but you know, I have a lot of responsibilities, right, fiduciary responsibilities for my companies. But that's why we start an exploratory committee, because I think there needs to be somebody who's willing to drag the acts and tell the truth, regardless if there's an RD behind people's names. And that's why we're looking at There's a lot of people, you know, who've asked me.
They don't have to force me. Nobody's going to force me to do anything. But it was interesting to see the amount of support I had just for an exploratory committee. Tennant governor, well maybe Dad or who knows state wide.
Officer run the state of Virginia.
I don't know if I could with That's why we're looking at conflicts of interests and stuff like that, but lieutenant governor's absolutely a possibility.
There you have it from Denver Riggleman. Fascinating.
It would not be running as a Republican though right now, or a Ridge Party or a Democrat storry running as Denver frickin' Riggleman. The gentlemen from Virginia. It's always great to see you here at the table. Happy New Year, Thanks for coming on New Year.
Thanks you're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens Just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and then royd Oro with a Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station. Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
I'm Joe Matthew in Washington. We did hear from Joe Biden. He's in Saint Croix, of course for the holidays. Address the nation upon the news of Jimmy Carter's death.
Let's listen America in the world, have view lost a remarkable leader? Well, I find extraordinary about Jimmy Carter, though millions of people all around.
The world, all over the world.
Feel they lost a friend as well, even though they never met him. And that's because Jimmy Carter lived a life measured not by words but by his deeds.
I want to add the voice of Honra Gillespie, Associate professor of political science at Emory University, a frequent voice on this program. Professor, it's great to see you. Welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio. There are so many comparisons We've been hearing them since before Jimmy Carter went into hospice, to the Biden administration, Donald Trump himself, who today had some nicer things to say about Jimmy Carter constantly making that comparison.
Was it fair?
You know, I think in some ways people are going to sort of use them as parallels because of their relatively short terms. But Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden have different things. When Joe Biden became President of the United States, he came with decades of Washington experience, and I think as we look to see what the legislative impact of his policy agenda was, it's going to look different, though it's going to be substantial as was President Carter's. You know,
President Carter came in as an outsider. He's coming in off the heels of Watergate. He came in to set a new tone, to try to help to restore trust in American institutions that had been ravaged by mistakes that President Nixon had made. And I think, you know, the thing that's really going to distinguish President Carter from President Biden is his post presidency. So, you know, looking at the actuarial tables, Joe Biden isn't going to have the
type of post presidency that Jimmy Carter had. But Jimmy Carter was able to build upon the record that I think was unheralded while he served in office, but he was able to build on that record to have, you know, the gold standard for post presidencies. And you know, part of that was because he was voted out of office.
He was in his mid fifties, and he had a long life, and so he had a long time to be able to cultivate a legacy around the world of helping to promote democracy, eradicate disease, promote peace.
The longest lived former president in American history, he certainly used the time. To your point, professor, how has that changed the way we look at his actual presidency Because everything you hear today, including the statement from Donald Trump, well I didn't agree with this or I didn't think he'd made the right decision here as president, but he went on to convince me that he was a great patriot and that he was to be trusted.
Yeah.
I mean, I think that was very gracious of incoming President Trump. But it's also just the consistency and the integrity with which he lived his life. I think that that's probably going to be his greatest legacy. I think people forget that in nineteen seventy six, people were still reeling from Watergate, there were concerns, you know, about corruption.
Jimmy Carter presenting himself as a Baptist school teacher and a born again Christian, and you know, even though it was maligned at the time, the type of person who really did try to live out his faith was something that was supposed to be a refreshing reversal of course for the United States. You know, when he was in office,
he was often accused of hectoring. So when we talk about the energy crisis, his admonitions to Americans to turn down thermostat and put on her sweater were not necessarily particularly well worthy. But you know, when we think, you know about what he was saying, he was saying this
all in good faith. And you know, even though he was voted out of office in nineteen eighty, when he's continuing to live that life and to live it consistently and to try to do live out his faith as best as he could, I think people saw the genuineness. And you know, and that also manifested itself in terms of the causes that they took up, so looking for diseases that people weren't thinking about that affected people in the developing world, going after the most vulnerable, helping to
amplify the efforts of habitat for humanity. This is a person who kind of, you know, really tried to walk the talk and to live out his faith in a really exceptional way. And I think that that's part of the reason why so many people had so much respect for him.
The Camp David Accords, I think would be considered a pretty remarkable success for any presidency, even if that was the only thing he had to show for it. But of course he had the Iranian hostage crisis that so many people remember just as strongly, in fact more in some cases. Here he said in twenty fifteen, I was really taken by this professor one of the big regrets.
He had in his life. When asked if he had.
Any he said, quote, I wished I'd sent one more helicopter to get the hostages. We would have rescued them, and I would have been reelected.
Is that true?
So I would lead that up to my diplomatic historians to say that. But I think you always think of what you could do to help ease suffering for people, and that certainly was a hallmark of President Carter's life.
You know, The truth is.
Is that there is sort of the symbol of the hostages coming home as Ronald Reagan is being inaugurated into office, and so there certainly is a certain centering in symbolism there that one wish she could have avoided. And certainly the inability to be able to get the hostages home
sort of contributed to this perception in some instances. And I think, you know, in hindsight, was undeserved that President Carter was feckless, and so that contributing to you know, the stagnating economy at the time and the energy crisis certainly, you know, made people feel a certain type of malaise
that I think we're familiar with today. And I think the lesson of Carter, perhaps twenty years from now, the lesson of Joe Biden, is we shouldn't necessarily make decisions about presidents based on how we feel in the moment or based on short term calculations.
Well, boy, that's a professor talking, if there ever was one. You're talking to a journalist here, be careful, Udra Gillespie. You know, can we remind our listeners and viewers by the way that he never used the word malaise in the so called malaise speech.
How did that happen?
So I defer to the historians about that, but it's not certainly the first time that a word kind of captures the zeitgeist, even if it wasn't directly said by you.
Know, gets back to the first draft of history, though, doesn't it You don't always believe the analysis or don't always fully invest yourself in the analysis that you're hearing in real time. I think is the point that you're making, and I'll try to underscore here in our remaining two moments.
Professor, talk to me about.
The relationship that Jimmy Carter had with Atlanta, the fact that he went back the way that he did, and then of course staged a post presidency that reinvented the mall in his hometown.
Well, this is something that I've certainly benefited from. So he you know, lived in Plains, but he set up his presidential library at the Carter Center, which has a connection to Emory University, where I work. President Carter was on the faculty. So every year, as long as he was physically able to do so, he gave a convocation to all of our freshman students. It was certainly a treat to be able to attend one of those events all the freshmen had to attend. President Carter made himself
available to faculty. He would invite you to lunch. He would also inform you if he was going to teach your class. And so I remember getting that email one year telling me President Carter's coming to your classes such and such a day. And you know, my one regret from that, I learned from a colleague who had to happen to her a couple of years later, is that
I didn't video record that lecture. But the things that he said in that lecture in my class I still repeat to my students, you know, even more than a decade later.
That's really wonderful. I'm glad you could share that memory with us. Sondrick Gillespie, thank you so much, professor. It's good to see you from Emory University. Of course in Atlanta.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch Just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on AMO car Play and then Froud.
Otto with the Bloomberg Business app.
Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.
Thanks for being with us.
On a Monday edition of Balance of Power, as we had the voice of Ashley Davis, the Republican strategist, of course you've heard from many times on this program, with a slightly different take on things today as we consider the legacy of a democratic president. She's of course founding partner Westfront Strategies. Great to see Ashley. I hope you're having a great holiday season, and we'll get to Jimmy Carter. I just wonder your thoughts on what's going on in
the house here. Did Mike Johnson just close the deal? Is he a made man?
Well?
First of all, Happy New Year, and I wish I was with you in person. I'm in cold weather right now. But I actually think it helps him a lot. Obviously, the President elect understands that if he wants to get his agenda done, or actually get anything done in the first hundred days of his administration, that we have to have a house in place right away. And Speaker Johnson is the one that would do the best job in
regards to not having chaos of an election. And I mean, how many times was did it take for McCarthy to get first time? Eleven or thirteen? I forget the number right now. But the only other name is Stephanie was saying, names do pop up. The only other name that I think would kind of appease some of these conservatives on the right, which there aren't that many, but you don't need that many to upend his speakership is Jim Jordan, and he has said several times that he is not
going to run against Speaker Johnson. So I do think that President Trump coming out today was a huge win for them, But I also think it's self serving because it's not going to help President Trump to have chaos going into his new administration.
Well, Mike Lawler agrees with you. The Republican from New.
York was on ABC this week asked about this very matter, Ashley.
Here's what he said.
Mike Johnson inherited a disaster when Matt Gates and several of my colleagues teamed up with two hundred and eight Democrats to remove Kevin McCarthy, which will go down as the single stupidest thing I've ever seen in politics. With that said, Mike Johnson would equally be as stupid.
That's quite a statement, I have to admit, Ashley. Do you agree with it?
Yeah, I would probably not use as extreme words, but it wasn't smart, and it's not going to be smart again. I mean, and if you look at this, this is like Chip Roy, this is I'll be interesting to hear what congress In Fleischmann says to you. You said he's coming up next, because he's obviously considered a conservative member, but not a destructionist, so I'm assuming he thinks it's a good idea. Moving forward to Speaker Johnson thing in place.
Not a destructionist. Fascinating use of that word, Ashley.
I want to ask you about the big debate that's broken out over immigration here, and I'm not referring to border security. I'm referring to actual legal immigration. People who watch this program know that you have a long history in the national security space and helped to bring about the Department of Homeland Security, and this idea of H one B versus suddenly being extremely controversial as a component
of this border issue is really interesting. Elon Musk of course, suggesting that we lift the cap on these H one b's bring in foreign based talent to help us, particularly in high tech, but that runs counter to what a lot of the MAGA world thinks. A ought to be happening when it comes to the border in America. First, how do you square this from where you're.
Sitting, Yeah, I think that this is totally getting combined into one conversation that really shouldn't be because the visas that Elon and the Vager speaking about the HB one, they're actually legal visas that are sponsored by companies and corporations to bring talent in. And the MAGA side of the party, that and many others not just MAGA that are concerned about border security, in my mind, are people
that are coming over here illegally. So I really think it's important to split the topic up because it's one does not have anything to do with the other one. You have sixty five thousand available HB one visas every year to apply to and you get a three year That visa last three years, and you have actually one more chance to extend it another three years. But otherwise, it's not that people are coming across the border illegally,
staying here and not being able to be found. Obviously the ones that commit crimes that are here as well, So it's a different program. So I agree with Elon and Vivek on this, and I guess the President.
Noted duly noted.
But now that Elon Musk and the vike Ramaswami have kicked the nest on this, we have an active debate going on over work visas, whether they're skilled or not. And Donald Trump was talking about dreamers in the only interview he's done since being elected, is something that he would work with Democrats on. So it sounds to me actually like just shutting down the border is not enough. Is the answer not comprehensive imag reform.
I think the comprehensive immigration reform, I mean, in two thousand and seven was the closest that that ever was becoming true to reality when when Senator Kennedy then President Bush almost did strike a deal. I think that a win for President Trump is in this first year right away, which is why I think reconciliation will happen. I think there's two buckets that will happen. Per your earlier conversation with Stephanie, I think they'll do border first, along with energy.
But the reason why is if you get the million illegal immigrants that are in this country out of the country the first year that have committed a crime or have completely exhausted the appealed process. That's a million people that can go out right away, which is a huge win for Trump. So if he does that and then work slowly over the next three years trying to find and round up all these other people that have come over here illegally, I think that's going to be phase two.
But if you deal with eight be one visas, or if you deal with Dreamers, I mean, that's a whole that's in my mind is stage three, four five. You've got to get rid of these top ones first and second that have committed crimes in this country.
Rick Davis's ears are burning after I said comprehensive immigration reform. As we spend time with Ashley Davis, I haven't asked you about Jimmy Carter. Ashley, what do you make of the constant comparisons, by the way, not just today, but for the balance of Joe Biden's administration being compared to Jimmy Carter.
Is that fair?
Now?
I think listen, and I said this before in my show President Bush. My boss used to always say, let history make this decision on what I've done. And I think that Jimmy Carter will go down in history as do and even today yesterday when he passed away. There's many people that believe in many things that he did. I think during the campaign, when people were criticizing President Biden, they were giving him, obviously an insult saying that President
Carter never did anything to this country. What you said earlier in what Stephanie said in regards to President Trump giving his condolences, being part of this club is a very lonely club, and I think that there are many country that do respect this. You see that the funeral will be on January ninth. Obviously the stock market will be closed. Does that mean you get off on the ninth, Joe Mark.
I don't think so. We're going to call you to join.
Us, actually, but I think that it was more of an insult to President Biden than it was, to go back to your question, than it actually was about Jimmy Carter. He'll go down in history of maybe making some mistakes, but also doing some good things.
Huh.
Do you think that Trump's statement about Jimmy Carter was more of an insult to Joe Biden?
Is that what you're saying during.
The campaign when he was being when he was being compared to Jimmy Carter, the statement that he made yesterday I thought was very appropriate.
Well, so what's the lesson here?
And you know, I always saved the easy question for last when we're out of time, Ashley. But I keep hearing from people Democrats and Republicans who say, you know what, the lasting impression is that he had dignity, that people trusted his word, that he was a nice guy.
What am I supposed to take from that in this age in Washington?
Well, I mean, obviously there's lots of criticism, but I'm reading this book right now actually talking about all the various presidents that have gone down and saying there was an integrity or there wasn't they weren't patriotic enough. I mean, how many people hated Ronald Reagan that now the entire Republican Party runs on being Ronald Reagan?
Asked?
So I think again, this to me goes back on time. Heals a lot of wounds and a lot of memories are short.
How true?
Joining us live from the Matterhorn Ashley Davis, founding partner West Front Strategies. It's great to see you, Ashley. Happy New Year, and we'll see you in twenty twenty five because we're going to have a lot to talk about.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens Just Live weekdays at noon Eastern CarPlay and then Roudoo with the Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, Jo Say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
I'm Joe Matthew in Washington, where we do have breaking news on the new Congress, or so we think we do. In any other world this would be a deal closer, and it may well be in this case. As the President elect, Donald Trump throws his complete, I believe, total and complete, as he termed it, endorsement behind Mike Johnson and his bid to be the Speaker of the House in the new Congress, something we want to discuss, among
other issues with the gentleman from Tennessee. Republican Congressman Chuck Fleischman is with us right now live on Bloomberg TV and Radio as he prepares to make tracks back to the nation's capital. Congressman, it's good to see you. I hope you had a great Christmas, and I hope you're on the threshold of a great New Year's.
In the meantime, we have some business to talk about here.
Is this a deal closer for Mike Johnson to carry the gavel in this new Congress.
I feel so good about President Trump's strong and unequivocal endorsement.
I did the same thing this morning, right before him.
So I like to I send out a little tweet to Mike Johnson, thanking him and saying, look, the great news is is the president elect. President Trump and I are on the same page once again. The reality is we're going to have a one seat majority after the three leave. It's going to be a tough Congress. Really, this should be Mike Johnson's He's earned the job, he's earned our trust, he's got my full support. But candidly, getting Donald Trump's support is going to really really help
close this deal. It's a deal maker Without that endorsement. I was a little bit concerned for Mike Johnson. Now I feel very good about January third.
Well, that's interesting.
I don't think you're suggesting it was your idea here for Donald Trump to make that post of the time, I had.
An interest in Congressman, but yeah, you're not the only one.
Though, a lot of people were trying to get to Donald Trump. A lot of folks were trying to say good things about Mike Johnson within the conference, including Jim Comer, and you can finish your statement if you want here. But Comer said, just as recently as yesterday, we have five Republicans that won't commit to voting for Mike Johnson.
Does Donald Trump bring them over?
I think he is so persuasive, and if he doesn't bring them all, I think ultimately he'll bring most of them. You have to look at the situation say, if not Mike Johnson, who or whom? And then that big blank is out there who can get to that magic number? And it's not going to be easy, So we don't want to go fifteen rounds. I was very active in the fifteen round fight to get McCarthy made speaker, actually
helped him in that. In fact, I was one of the last people to go and speak with Matt Gates and plead with him and actually went well at that time, didn't go so well later. But the reality is we need a strong, unified message because candidly, the way it works, the Democrats are watching on the other side of the aisle. If they perceive weakness, they will take advantage of that,
and we don't need that. In order for President Trump to have his strong agenda carried out, the House is going to have to be that first step.
Getting Mike Johnson elected a.
Speaker I think will clearly clearly get that done. And then of course in the Senate, I think sledding will be much easier with that fifty three seed majority.
Well, let's talk about the agenda for a moment.
Then.
I know that Donald Trump and Mike Johnson were talking about it at the Army Navy Game. I don't know that anything has been hammered out for sure. Will Republicans try to get their arms around the border first, Trump, tax cut second, or both at the same time.
I think you start now. Of course President Trump will choose his back order, but I think it's smart to start with the easier tasks first. The border is easy because Joe Biden in this administration have done such a terrible job. It's porous, it's open. We've had millions and millions of illegals come in. We have got to fix it. And you've got the vast support of the vast majority of the American people. Big cities, rural areas, we have got to deal with this. It's a national security crisis.
Getting that done. I think the second thing should be foreign policy. I think Trump is going to be very strong in bringing peace to Ukraine and Russia. I think he will have great credibility with both Putin and with Stelensky, so I think that could be another early win. The Middle East is another story. It's a very tumultuous region. But Trump can take his best shot at that. I think he'll do well there. Taxes is going to be something else. It's going to be difficult. It's cumbersome. Our
tax code is cumbersome in and of itsa. We need to preserve these Trump tax cuts that I actually voted for in his first term. I think it's critically important for our economy. But I think we will take these in progression. We will test the waters, we will work through the process, and hopefully have a good, strong first one hundred days for President Trump.
There's a question about how wide to go on the matter of immigration. Congressman, We've been dealing with the idea of border security and a vacuum until Elon Musk brought up the matter of H one B visus. These are, of course the work visas that bring skilled talent from other countries. I talked to your colleague, Haley Stevens, Democrat from Michigan about this.
Here's what she said.
I'd say that Elon Musk maybe knows a thing or two about it, given his immigration history, and given his employment base, and given frankly, the role that his companies are playing not just here in the United States of America, but but across the world, and so we need access to that talent. I think that could be very interesting. It maybe be a smart move of the Republican governing majority if they could do something for high skilled workers.
Is she write, Congressman, and should work visas be part of this debate?
I have worked for work visas back when I was the ranking member highest Republican on Homeland security appropriations. This is something We've got a great talent pool that sometimes we are educating in this country and then forcing a way. I think Elon Musk is right on this. More importantly, President Trump backed him up on this. We've got a great talent pool. Let's face it, we are a nation
of immigrants. We wanted to be done legally, we wanted to be done correctly, but We sure don't want to educate a great talent pool and then send them back to China or to India or anywhere else in the world where they can glean the benefits of our great educational system. So it is a process. Interestingly enough, the pushback we originally got was not from Republicans, was from pro labor Democrats who actually tanked a lot of what
Miss Stevens was talking about in those hearings. So we took it right up to the edge many times and tried to get it done. It was labor Democrats who scuttled it.
It was not Republicans right up to the edge. Isn't that the truth? Congressmen.
We're spending a lot of time this week on Bloomberg talking about.
Winners and losers from the year.
On Wall Street, and among the biggest gainers, we saw our companies, you know a little bit about Constellation Vistra nuclear power providers that are suddenly in high demand because of data centers, because of the need for clean renewable energy to run data centers that are apparently going to help pioneer the way forward when it comes to AI.
This is something I know is close to your heart and you've worked closely on when it comes to utilities and nuclear power specifically, what will this new Congress do to make good on any bets that Wall Street is making that growth is coming.
Yes, I'm excited. So our listeners know what I do. I'm the chairman of the Energy and Water Subcommittee of Appropriations that funds the Department of Energy, funds all of the nuclear power and new nuclear technologies. This is what I do in Congress. I've had the privilege of speaking with Elon Musk about this. I've spoken with other folks. I've had one on one conversations with President Trump in his first administration, actually even on Air Force one about
this and wrote a paper for him. Chris Wright, the new incoming Secretary of Energy, very bright, very capable, very solicitous of nuclear. He has previously sat on the board of some nuclear companies. So I am bush on new nuclear. But what does that mean? That means, Joe, we have got to get it right. There's a lot of designs out there, there are a lot of dollars out there.
If you look at the fiscal twenty twenty five bill that I wrote, I structured it on appropriations to basically we continue to fund new nuclear about nine billion dollars eight point nine billion dollars specifically. Specifically for that, we've got to make a delineation. Though we need big new nuclear like the Vocal plant, we need to build big plants, we need to build smaller plants, and we're looking at microreactors. The bottom line is American technology in this area is superior.
Our adversaries are moving ahead in this meaning Russia and China, but our friends are as well, the French, the South Koreans. They are moving into this sector and doing a good job. The bottom line is I think we need public profit partnerships. We need to invest in that. I do think the markets will respond to that. We have just got to make sure we picked the right technologies. If we pick the wrong ones, we will lose.
Well, that's a good answer, Congressman, I've got less than a minute. Is Donald Trump on board with nuclear?
I think so. Donald Trump is great, He's on all of the above. When I'm going to do is create an additional an eighth energy caucus. I've got several in Congress. I'm going to call this the American Dominance in Energy Caucus. It's designed to parallel Donald Trump's Energy Council that Governor Burgham is going to chair. The reason we want to do that is make sure that all of the above means all of the above.
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