Rep. Jim Jordan on the SOTU and House Twitter Hearings

BUCK: Our friend Jim Jordan, congressman from Ohio. Congressman Jordan, what was, I mean, you were there. What do you think Biden’s telling everybody? Oh, you guys just want to cut and just… I’m sorry, not cut, end, sunset Social Security and Medicare?

REP. JORDAN: No, it was, I thought Senator Rubio said it best, last night. He said it was a bizarre speech. And that everyone knows that’s not an accurate statement at all. I mean, Social Security is a sacred promise the government has made with the people. And it’s the people’s money. It’s our money. It’s the people’s money. So, yeah, the idea that we’re going to get rid of that is just ridiculous. It’s a made-up straw man kind of thing. But that’s kind of what the left does. But so much of it didn’t make sense. You know, he says, “Oh, the economy’s wonderful.” Well, seven out of ten Americans think we’re on the wrong track.

He said that, you know, he’s the first to stand up to China. Really? You know, I mean, everyone talked about this, but the first thing that jumped in your mind, you let a balloon fly over the country for a week and then you say, “Oh, we’re standing up to China.” And it’s like, it just didn’t…none of it fit. He said (audio drop) things that divide the country. And I guess I would just say that my biggest takeaway, frankly, was Governor Sanders afterwards when she said the real divide in America today is normal versus crazy. And that is so accurate. The crazy position the left is now taking, I think, is what so many Americans see.

CLAY: No, I don’t think that’s a doubt at all. Appreciate you joining us, Jim. You’ve been on fire. We’ll talk about the Twitter hearings here in a moment but I loved and I know you were present there, so you didn’t necessarily see it. But when Joe Biden started talking about how it was important to go after tax dodgers, tax cheats, there was soon thereafter a cut to Merrick Garland, his attorney general. And I couldn’t help but think, wait a minute, your own son owes millions of dollars in back taxes, and yet nobody even mentioned it. I mean, I don’t know about you. I know you’ve got kids, grandkids, stuff. If I had a son who owed millions of dollars in back taxes, I would be so ashamed and embarrassed to get up and argue that we had to go after tax cheats. Yet, to me, that was just… I couldn’t get past that aspect of his speech.

REP. JORDAN: No, a great takeaway. And then there’s the idea that he said, “We’re going to fix the tax code and we’re gonna fix the immigration.” And I’m like, “Well, last time I checked, you guys ran everything for two years. You know, if you really want to, quote, fix anything, you had the White House, you had the Senate, you had the House of Representatives. Why didn’t you do it?” No, no, they didn’t do it because they created the very problems we have. They want the chaos, the intentionally created chaos that we now see on our border and a host of other things.

So, yeah, a lot of it just didn’t make sense. But, you know, it is still, I always say this regardless of how bad the speech was or how crazy it seems, it’s still the closest thing to pageantry we get in America. And I think there is something to be said for, you know, this tradition we have. We don’t have the monarchy or anything like that. And I know, Buck loves that. And you’re not as excited about it, Clay. But no, it’s the other way around, I think, actually.

CLAY: Oh, yeah, I’m very pro. I admittedly care about the royal family. I follow all the attention. Buck regularly denigrates me. I will mention Buck got married on Saturday to Carrie —

BUCK: I basically go to sleep every night with the metaphorical Gadsden flag, talking about how King George needs to take his hands off my property.

CLAY: But he’s watching The Crown, Congressman. And also, he’s now married and his wife also cares about the royal family. So, this is just, you know, two years from now, Buck’s going to be like, “Can you believe what just happened in Buckingham Palace?” It’s just going to happen.

REP. JORDAN: Well, you got to like this show because you guys get into like the kind of eggs and how you’re supposed to cook and you get into the British monarchy and everything else. But last night was the closest thing to that. And it is a special night for the country, like I said, even though this speech left a lot to be desired.

BUCK: You know, when you’re hearing Biden repeat, I think our team said at least 12 times, “finish the job.” Did this really just sound to you like the template? And I watched some of the opposition after-action report. Right. I watched some of CBS, which is funny. They’re just like, “Biden is just so brilliant and amazing.” You know, it’s amusing, but they did talk a lot about how they think this was a template for his reelection campaign. Did you see that? I mean, and if so, what do you think he’s going to really try to push on or take action on? I mean, he mentioned, for example, banning assault rifles. I guess he would just try that via executive action because Republicans aren’t going to go along with that, right?

REP. JORDAN: No, no, of course not. I mean, we actually believe in the Second Amendment. Go figure. No, I assume, yeah, I think this is probably the lead in to his announcement that he’s going to run again. I think what he’ll try to do is continue to satisfy the left, which now controls his party, but also try to sound somewhat, you know, like I say, somewhat normal. Again, I thought what Governor Sanders said when she said “Normal versus crazy,” I mean, remember a year ago, they’re talking about, “We’re the party that says guys should compete against girls. We’re the party for defunding the police. We’re the party that says men can get pregnant.”

I think you’ll probably downplay that to people, I guess, over the next year and a half. So, I think that was kind of leading into where they’re going to want to go with the campaign. But, you know, you guys know, the American people are smart. They’re going to figure this out. And I just don’t think there’s a way. I just don’t think he gets reelected.

CLAY: When we come back in the final segment, we’re going to play a cut from the hearing that you guys are having right now on Twitter. Explain what’s going on there, what, if anything, you guys have learned so far and what you hope to be able to accomplish with this hearing that’s going on right now.

REP. JORDAN: Well, I think they got played when it came to Hunter Biden. This is what I said in my 5 minutes, because the FBI didn’t tell them directly that it was a hack story. The Hunter Biden laptop story didn’t tell them that it was a false story. It didn’t violate their policies. Yet they took it down. And I think they took it down because for weeks they’ve been meeting with the FBI and the FBI had been telling them, “Be on the lookout for hack-and-dump operations.” They were sending them all kinds of messages. They were sending them super-secret stuff over the teleporter, the James Bond special communication app that the FBI had.

And I think in the end, they knew they could play these guys because 99% of them are Democrats. I mean, you know, Musk has told us that. So, they got played. And then, of course, five days after they take down the Hunter Biden story is when the now famous 51 former intel official send out their ridiculous letter. And that became the storyline and allowed this story to be shaped and molded in a way that helped the Democrats. I think they were willing participants, and I do think the FBI understood they could make this happen because of all the contact they had and other government agencies, all the contact they had with Twitter and other social media platforms.

BUCK: Speaking to Congressman Jim Jordan. Congressman, what is the mission that you’re talking to your colleagues in the House over the next, let’s say, year as we hone in on what is going to be a very contentious election battle? Members of the… Republican members of the House are going to try to achieve what?

REP. JORDAN: Pass the bills to fix the problems, the problems this administration has created. That’s on the border, that’s on crime, that’s on inflation, that’s on energy. And then, of course, do the oversight work that the Constitution requires us to do to point out the facts and the truth and then pass legislation to address that. We know that there is an attack on the First Amendment. We know government has been weaponized in many ways to go against the very people it’s supposed to serve and then finally get a handle on this spending issue. We’ve had record spending, record inflation, record debt in the last two years.

And the idea that they’re going to increase the debt ceiling and not change any behavior is just, again, it’s crazy. We’re actually normal. We think if you’re going to borrow more money, you go to a bank as a small business guy and you say, “I need to borrow some money.” They say, “What’s your plan? Show us your plan.” Do something. So, they at least should have to do a budget, for goodness’ sake. The Senate hasn’t done a budget in I don’t know how many years. And we should do some structural changes, some savings before we raise the debt ceiling on the spending side of things. Those are the three things that this Congress, the 118th Congress, I think, is all about. And that’s what we’re going to focus on.

CLAY: Jim. I’m out in Phoenix right now. Last question for you. The most important, as we roll into the weekend. Chiefs, Eagles, who gets it done? And what happened to your Bengals?

REP. JORDAN: Yeah. The Bengals… Part of it was the officiating. You hate to be one of those guys that complains about the officiating because you’re always supposed to just win, you know. I learned that in the sport (garbled). You can’t count on what the officials are going to do. But after that fourth and sixth throw down when the Bengals come back and tie. The fourth and sixth and they throw it down field, they’re on the seven-yard line going to score, I’m like, “They’re going to win.” And then it didn’t happen. So, I figured the Chiefs are going to win since they beat Joe and the Bengals. But I don’t know. Have you picked somebody? Are you going with the Eagles? Have you picked the Eagles?

CLAY: No, I’m on… I’m with you. I’m on the Chiefs and I’m on the under in this game. I can’t wait. Sunday Super Bowl out here in Phoenix.

REP. JORDAN: Yeah, well, have a great time. Have a great time

CLAY: Will do.

BUCK: Congressman, thanks so much. And we appreciate you, sir.

REP. JORDAN: You bet. Take care.