Charlie Kirk on Mike Johnson's Precarious Speaker Vote and Congressional Failures Amid Trump's Return

[00:00] the house is beginning to vote can we

[00:01] have the picture and picture up please

[00:03] as we continue to talk about this here's

[00:06] what I will say about Congress there are

[00:08] some rock stars in Congress and

[00:11] hopefully even more coming Anna Paulina

[00:14] Luna is a rock star there are rock stars

[00:18] across the board Brandon Gil who is a

[00:21] very promising new rock star however

[00:25] I'll be honest most members of Congress

[00:27] are incredibly unimpressive you would

[00:29] not hire them to be a dog catcher and

[00:33] there this is the greatest thing they've

[00:34] ever done and they ever will do by the

[00:37] way they've never run a hot dog stand

[00:39] nor could they they're incredibly

[00:42] ambitious they're cunning and very

[00:45] interested in Vanity now again I want to

[00:47] make sure it's very clear there are some

[00:49] rockar members of Congress like Daryl

[00:52] Isa I don't agree with him on everything

[00:53] very impressive very smart man built a

[00:55] business very very smart person there's

[00:58] plenty of them

[01:00] however there are far more than the

[01:02] impressive is the unimpressive they are

[01:05] just there to be important to feel as if

[01:08] they've done something and for them this

[01:11] is the student council

[01:13] equivalent for the rest of their life

[01:15] they get paid a nice wage which by the

[01:17] way remember that other continuing

[01:19] resolution bill that got shot down had a

[01:22] pay raise for congress adding insult to

[01:28] injury by the way I will give member you

[01:30] know what I think the bill should be I I

[01:32] think someone should introduce this bill

[01:34] I think it's a great Bill if we balance

[01:37] the budget every member of con Congress

[01:40] gets a $1 million

[01:42] bonus I think it would be a great great

[01:44] use of $535

[01:49] million I think that if we have if every

[01:53] member of

[01:55] Congress if they balance the budget

[01:57] everyone gets a million bucks say 2

[01:59] million bucks make it a billion dollars

[02:02] breaking news by the way representative

[02:03] Tim

[02:05] bersett has said he expects multiple

[02:07] rounds of voting but I thought it was

[02:10] just going to be one round that's what

[02:11] some of our sources were saying turns

[02:12] out they were wrong uh multiple rounds

[02:14] of voting that's why we are here on the

[02:16] Charlie Kirks to monitor all this to

[02:17] manage it to see what's happening in

[02:19] real time by the way you shouldn't be

[02:21] surprised in multiple rounds of

[02:24] voting people are angry and they should

[02:26] be angry people are fired up and got

[02:30] these elevated student council dog

[02:31] catchers out there some of them some are

[02:33] wonderful people some are very

[02:37] impressive that have bankrupted the

[02:43] country it's indicating that there's

[02:45] another no vote look this is all going

[02:47] to get sorted out Mike Johnson's going

[02:49] to become speaker it might take two

[02:50] rounds three rounds four rounds five

[02:51] rounds they want to try to create a PR

[02:54] spectacle around it fine good in some

[02:56] ways it's warranted to have the

[02:58] spectacle because

[03:00] what has Congress delivered for us in

[03:03] some ways you got to send a message to

[03:04] the American people you got to shock the

[03:06] system a little bit I get it Johnson's

[03:08] going to be speaker got to have a little

[03:10] bit of a reminder that he's got he's on

[03:12] a little bit of

[03:13] a dangerous terrain right now but you

[03:16] can't extend this beyond Sunday you

[03:18] don't want certification to get in the

[03:19] way totally understand it that's fair

[03:21] argument it's

[03:24] fine look the the the emails we're

[03:27] receiving Freedom Charli kirk.com are 9

[03:30] 9% against speaker Johnson just

[03:34] overwhelming that's probably an

[03:36] unsustainable political equation when

[03:39] you have 99% of the base of your party

[03:42] that does not want the speaker to

[03:43] continue it's not not good at

[03:46] all it is a Formula that is a recipe for

[03:50] disaster we said the same thing during

[03:53] the McCarthy fight what is the

[03:54] alternative what is the plan and

[03:56] eventually the dam broke now the

[03:58] difference though

[04:00] is that we have President Trump and we

[04:01] have the White

[04:02] House president Trump is going to get

[04:04] one big legislative shot take your shot

[04:09] and I think it's going to be a big

[04:10] beautiful bill it's going to be border

[04:12] it's going to be tax it's going to be

[04:14] everything so I get it if I was

[04:16] President

[04:17] Trump you almost have no choice but to

[04:19] get behind Mike Johnson almost no choice

[04:22] you can't tick

[04:23] off the moderates you got to try to

[04:26] bring people together I get it governing

[04:29] is hard it's very hard I do not envy

[04:33] those that have to govern however I will

[04:36] not

[04:37] continue to make excuses and I will not

[04:41] continue to dodge and weave when people

[04:46] don't tell the

[04:49] truth that is that is a category

[04:51] difference you tell the truth it takes

[04:54] no talent to tell the truth the American

[04:58] people spoke and dis despite all of the

[05:01] prognosticators and experts Republicans

[05:03] are going to control all three chambers

[05:07] of government the house the Senate and

[05:09] the presidency well it'll be two

[05:11] branches yeah I guess three chambers as

[05:13] Fair well two

[05:15] Chambers all three levers of power you

[05:18] could say there's a lot of questions

[05:20] though and today as we are doing this

[05:23] broadcast it's going to be happening

[05:24] live we have a very serious Speaker of

[05:27] the House situation

[05:30] Mike Johnson's tenuous speakership might

[05:33] collapse today the new Congress is

[05:35] assembling and that means Congress must

[05:37] select a speaker but Republicans have

[05:39] the narrowest majority in living memory

[05:42] and that's making things very

[05:43] complicated two years ago Kevin McCarthy

[05:46] needed 15 rounds of votes you remember

[05:48] that that was only two years ago 15

[05:51] rounds of votes to become speaker and he

[05:53] lasted less than 10 months but McCarthy

[05:56] went into the house vote with 222

[05:59] Republicans

[06:00] he could lose more than one and still

[06:02] become speaker Mike Johnson is going to

[06:04] this house vote with only 219

[06:06] Republicans that means Mike Johnson can

[06:08] only lose exactly one Republican vote

[06:11] that means if he loses two there's no

[06:14] majority Thomas Massie has said he's not

[06:17] voting for Johnson no matter what so

[06:19] that's one vote that Johnson can lose he

[06:22] needs everybody else it's very very

[06:24] little margin for Mike

[06:26] Johnson now it's possible we could be in

[06:29] for a day of theatrics there are

[06:31] Republicans who may vote against Johnson

[06:32] on the first ballot to show their

[06:34] independence but then back him by the

[06:36] end of the day of course every speaker

[06:39] vote takes about an hour so these stuns

[06:41] could waste quite a bit of our time but

[06:44] that is Congress for you A lot of people

[06:46] are saying that there is if there's no

[06:48] speaker it could prevent Trump from

[06:49] becoming president because the house

[06:52] can't conduct business and so it can't

[06:54] certify the election results in my

[06:56] opinion I think this is actually very

[06:58] much mistaken the Constitution clearly

[07:01] describes how the presidential results

[07:03] are certified and it does not require

[07:06] the speaker of the house because the

[07:08] Constitution says what to do directly we

[07:10] went through this by the way with the

[07:12] last Kevin McCarthy Carousel of votes

[07:15] with the Kevin McCarthy Carousel

[07:18] remember you can pass pieces of

[07:20] legislation without a speaker you can do

[07:22] emergency pieces of legislation without

[07:26] a speaker you could do anything without

[07:27] a speaker a speaker is not technically

[07:29] necessary a speaker is not

[07:31] prescribed as far as the constitution of

[07:34] the House of Representatives new members

[07:36] can be sworn in by anybody a speaker of

[07:38] house does not need to do that this is

[07:40] all just tradition and house

[07:43] rules so but I guess for tradition sake

[07:45] you need a

[07:48] speaker Trump for his part has loudly

[07:51] come out in favor of Mike Johnson

[07:54] posting on Truth social saying that

[07:55] quote a win for Mike today will be a big

[07:58] win for the Republican party that if

[08:00] nothing else may be enough to salvage

[08:02] Johnson because far more than ever this

[08:04] is Trump's Republican party and any

[08:07] Republican seen as sabotaging his agenda

[08:10] will be primaried very

[08:13] quickly so look the circumstance in

[08:16] front of us as the new house meets right

[08:18] now the

[08:20] 119th

[08:21] Congress is will Mike Johnson stay as

[08:25] Speaker of the House and the answer is

[08:27] likely yes by the way I want to hear

[08:29] from you Freedom at Charli kirk.com

[08:31] do you want Mike Johnson to stay do you

[08:34] want Republicans to stay behind

[08:37] him the reason this is even a discussion

[08:41] was the way this ridiculous December

[08:44] spending bill was negotiated the reason

[08:48] that this is even

[08:50] being discussed the reason that this is

[08:53] even in contention is the way that all

[08:56] went down remember speaker Mike Johnson

[09:01] quietly and secretly negotiated a deal

[09:05] behind the scenes to create a multipage

[09:09] bill I think it was like 1500 pages to

[09:11] be

[09:13] specific with hakee jeffre and with

[09:16] Chuck

[09:18] Schumer and create this

[09:21] Behemoth call it a continuing resolution

[09:24] when it really wasn't that included

[09:27] funding Ukrainian biolabs

[09:31] that included the worst funding for the

[09:34] Democrat ngo's censorship

[09:39] organizations all to try to cut a deal

[09:42] for a continuing

[09:44] resolution house members were not led

[09:46] into this

[09:48] negotiation they were not allowed in on

[09:51] this

[09:55] conversation they were

[09:57] not in the room

[10:00] at all house members were not involved

[10:04] in any of this or made part of the

[10:07] process and it now has turned them

[10:10] pretty angry it has fired them up and

[10:12] for very very good reason many of these

[10:15] house members that we had on our program

[10:17] such as Byron Donald's and many

[10:20] others they've said we we were not even

[10:23] involved in this process and look the

[10:24] final deal was better than it was thanks

[10:26] to you the Grassroots standing up the

[10:29] final continue resolution was better but

[10:31] we still did not win the way we should

[10:33] have a CR should have just been one page

[10:35] we should have got a debt ceiling and we

[10:37] got zero spending cuts all because why

[10:40] members of Congress wanted to get home

[10:42] for

[10:45] Christmas members of Congress wanted to

[10:48] get home for a Christmas

[10:50] Vacation nurses airline pilots ER

[10:55] doctors police officers firefighters

[10:59] they all have to work on Christmas but

[11:01] members of Congress did not and so look

[11:03] on this program we're not going to like

[11:05] lead the Battalion and say we must

[11:07] remove speaker Johnson but I will say

[11:10] passively we just won a mandate election

[11:14] in November this should be a no question

[11:18] speakers race but the reason it isn't is

[11:21] worthy of emphasis and

[11:24] reflection is that they've been trying

[11:26] to play games with every major issue

[11:28] against the will of the American people

[11:29] and against the will of the Republican

[11:31] party for quite some

[11:33] time spending cuts secure border

[11:36] defunding the FBI instead we have more

[11:38] money going to the FBI we got nothing on

[11:40] the border remember when we were told by

[11:42] house leadership we must give money

[11:45] to we're not going to fund the

[11:47] government until we have a secure border

[11:49] and that was all just a bunch of rubbish

[11:50] it was a bunch of baller Dash bunch of

[11:51] nonsense bunch of horse

[11:55] pucky and so then of course the

[11:57] counterargument is okay

[12:01] then who we we don't have a good answer

[12:02] to that that's why I'm kind of in a

[12:05] passive position

[12:09] here but no Ukraine we were told that

[12:13] there should be no money sent to Ukraine

[12:15] without border security yet we spent

[12:17] hundreds of billions of dollars on

[12:19] Ukraine thanks to this Congress has Mike

[12:23] Johnson and the house leadership earned

[12:27] emphasis on the word earned your trust

[12:30] and your vote is this the best that we

[12:33] can do and I I see the argument the

[12:35] president wants him and the President

[12:37] should get what he wants president Trump

[12:39] wants Mike Johnson president Trump

[12:41] should get Mike Johnson he's gone Allin

[12:43] he's going to bat for him Trump wants

[12:46] Johnson Trump deserves a honeymoon I

[12:48] totally respect that there is an

[12:51] anonymous letter right now circulating

[12:53] around Congress of the last few days all

[12:56] regarding very valid criticism that we

[12:59] share a group of conservatives and

[13:02] potential opposition votes against

[13:04] speaker Johnson are circulating a

[13:06] document laying out a scorecard that

[13:08] lists out multiple failures of this last

[13:11] Congress while the author remains

[13:13] unnamed it hits the talking points being

[13:15] shared by Johnson's critics how

[13:17] Republicans have repeatedly added to the

[13:19] nation's debt passed Aid to Ukraine

[13:21] without the support of the majority of

[13:22] the geop majority reauthorized fisa in

[13:26] particular they took issue with how the

[13:27] last government spending bill was was

[13:29] handled ahead of

[13:35] Christmas is this the best we can do I

[13:37] suppose that's I that is I guess the

[13:39] threshold we're at president Trump wants

[13:40] Mike Johnson that is what we are going

[13:42] to

[13:44] get however I'm not convinced that he's

[13:48] going to pass on the first vote can we

[13:49] continue to have that picture and

[13:50] picture please I think the roll call is

[13:52] going to start soon and if it's not Mike

[13:54] Johnson and then

[13:56] who and some people say we'll give him a

[13:58] 100 day h hon well we're not giving Mike

[14:00] Johnson a honeymoon the person who has

[14:03] has earned what he wants and what he

[14:05] demands is President Trump if president

[14:08] Trump wants Mike Johnson he earned a

[14:10] mandate to get the speaker of the house

[14:12] that he wants Bobby emails us Charlie

[14:15] watching The Opening

[14:17] Ceremonies very upset with what we're

[14:20] seeing with speaker Johnson but I'm

[14:21] afraid we have no choice we're getting

[14:22] thousands of emails by the way I want to

[14:24] hear from you Freedom Charli kirk.com

[14:27] president Trump has gone all in behind

[14:30] speaker Johnson he's gone all in all

[14:33] chips on the table and he says I want

[14:35] speaker

[14:38] Johnson and look I've gotten the no

[14:40] speaker Johnson we have a very uh up and

[14:43] down relationship it's very well

[14:47] publicized and I try to give people

[14:49] second and third and fourth chances I'm

[14:52] not going to like say hey we need to

[14:54] oppose him I get it you got to vote for

[14:55] him you got to vote for

[14:56] him the thing that bothered me the most

[14:59] Was the fisa vote the Border deception

[15:03] this last CR was very demoralizing it

[15:05] very demoralizing not because I mean

[15:07] look you know that they're going to do

[15:08] their thing in DC where they spend a

[15:09] bunch of money and don't do any spending

[15:10] cuts but it's said that he was not

[15:13] involving president Trump in the

[15:14] negotiation process of this monstrosity

[15:16] Bill the incoming president and all of a

[15:19] sudden here it is 1,500 pages and we

[15:22] have Ukrainian biolabs and censorship

[15:24] industrial complex and just nonsense and

[15:27] rubbish all throughout this business

[15:30] that was just thrown at us at the last

[15:31] second we said oh we have to we have to

[15:33] read this

[15:36] thing president Trump wants him and

[15:39] president Trump has earned to have the

[15:40] Speaker of the House of his choice by

[15:42] the way nobody else wants this job it is

[15:47] thankless it's not easy and I it's not

[15:50] an excuse by the way to lie I just want

[15:52] to be very

[15:54] clear when when people say well you know

[15:56] it's a really hard job and all this but

[15:58] but the telling the truth takes zero

[16:02] Talent telling the truth is not

[16:05] something that requires a PhD in physics

[16:09] telling the truth is Elemental to a free

[16:13] society and you in the audience are

[16:16] fired up right now because when you are

[16:19] told there is no

[16:21] choice you say wait a second what kind

[16:24] of prison prisoner of another binary

[16:28] that does not exist do I have to

[16:30] be how many times are you told well you

[16:33] have to vote for this trashy bill

[16:35] because there's no time well there's no

[16:38] time because you waited to the last

[16:40] minute so there's no choice and there's

[16:43] no time there's no option so therefore

[16:45] we must go with what's in front of us

[16:48] and this is what creates widespread

[16:52] distrust

[16:54] widespread Rebellion against our

[16:56] institutions

[16:59] ISM and it's very difficult for me to

[17:02] say you know what actually you should

[17:03] trust all these institutions actually

[17:06] you should think very highly of

[17:08] Congress very very difficult so I get it

[17:11] I get the fury I get the rage in fact

[17:14] this CR that turned into an

[17:17] Omnibus I I can't defend that and then

[17:21] we're going to have that pass and

[17:22] there'll be no

[17:24] consequences yes

[17:26] because yes because

[17:29] president Trump's in a very difficult

[17:30] position I'm not going to say I even

[17:32] agree or disagree I told the team I'm

[17:34] very indifferent about this entire thing

[17:36] I don't have strong opinions either way

[17:38] in the sense where I totally sympathize

[17:40] and understand that

[17:43] removal is based on the track record

[17:46] like what it do for us however REM

[17:47] removal is probably not very wise at all

[17:49] and let's say let's say president Trump

[17:51] said I want Mike Johnson gone let's play

[17:52] this out let's say let's say president

[17:54] Trump said I want Mike Johnson gone that

[17:56] will infuriate every single Moder that

[17:59] he needs with a two seat majority a two-

[18:01] seat majority to pass his Premier

[18:04] legislation so Lawler and Jason Smith

[18:08] and all of them would then get

[18:10] infuriated at president Trump and not

[18:12] vote for any of the piece of legislation

[18:14] that President Trump wants Don Bacon

[18:16] they would all say president Trump go

[18:18] pound pound sand we're not going to vote

[18:19] for your border stuff we're not going to

[18:21] vote for your tax stuff we're not going

[18:22] to vote for any of

[18:24] it and then you don't even have a

[18:26] replacement so there is no choice there

[18:28] is no replacement so president Trump's

[18:30] in a very very difficult position here

[18:32] so I can understand why he has made the

[18:35] decision that he's

[18:39] made and it's very

[18:42] annoying for everybody in this audience

[18:45] and to be perfectly honest it's

[18:47] irritating and it makes us very angry

[18:49] because we worked so hard and we won

[18:51] this election Triumph and then we look

[18:54] at Congress and we

[18:56] say we could do a lot better that's just

[18:58] not NE not just a Mike Johnson thing

[18:59] it's a legislative results thing by the

[19:03] way I have become a premier expert on

[19:05] this program in every single excuse oh

[19:08] it's too close to an election so we

[19:09] can't do spending cuts oh it's Christmas

[19:12] so I need a vacation we don't have any

[19:14] other option for speaker um it's too

[19:16] late on a deadline and the debt ceiling

[19:18] and the whole country is going to go

[19:19] into default we know all the

[19:23] excuses and the base you the backbone

[19:27] the spine of the Republican Party the

[19:30] Vanguard of the

[19:34] nation you're not buying those excuses

[19:37] much

[19:38] anymore so I want to hear from you

[19:40] Freedom at Charlie kirk.com president

[19:43] Trump gets what president Trump wants he

[19:46] wants Mike Johnson and I bet he's going

[19:47] to get him