Lay out for everyone exactly what the Democrats are attempting to do here.

Well, what Wes Moore and the Democrats in Maryland want to do is they want to change, literally change the Maryland Constitution to basically say that there are no rules about redistricting.

It doesn't have to be compact, doesn't have to be contiguous, doesn't have to have areas of common interest, doesn't have to respect any boundaries whatsoever.

And by the way, that they specifically suspend the Maryland constitutional right to freedom of expression because the court found in 2022 that actually partisan redistricting for the purpose of redistricting.

But what factors are in play this year that make this midterm a little bit different from your perspective?

Well, the main factor is that if the Democrats take over, that a Democratic Socialist of America wing of their party is going to run the party.

That's the bottom line.

They have a couple of billionaires who support that idea.

What's going on?

Well, look, the diesel prices are the highest, and it's because the bottleneck is no longer the Straits of Hormuz.

Again, as you've said, the shipments there are back to basically pre-war levels, and other countries have actually increased output to make up for it.

But the problem is, is that the refineries aren't there worldwide.

whether it's because they've been destroyed in Russia by Ukrainian missiles, or whether it's because the liberals in America have stopped the building of basically these refineries for decades now.

So America still refines a lot of diesel, about 5 million barrels a day.

We consume about three.

Tell us about that.

What's going on?

Well, uh, look, the diesel prices are the highest, and it's because, uh, the bottleneck is no longer the Straits of Hormuz.

Uh, again, as, as you've said, the shipments there are ba- are back to basically pre-war levels, and other countries have actually increased output, uh, to make up for it.

But the problem is, is that the refineries aren't there worldwide, uh, whether it's because they have been destroyed in Russia, uh, by Ukrainian missiles, or whether it's because the, uh, liberals in America have stopped, uh, [laughs] the building of, uh, of basically, uh, these refineries, uh, for decades now.

So America still refines, uh, a lot of diesel, about five million barrels a day.

Uh, we consume about three.

Unfortunately, the American price, the price to consumers in America is reflective of, of that, uh, increased world demand and increased world price.

Tell us about that.

these are, these companies that are saying these things because they need some kind of government help in some form, whether it is monetary or some kind of policy help?

Well, you know- Uh, it's, it's, it's tempting to believe that, but again, if you understand the underlying technology and the development of technology, uh, you know, they're just in the right place at the right time doing this.

Uh, the bottom line is that it is the technology itself and not the companies that is, that is the danger.

Now, we have let, uh, large companies, oh, you know, op- open, uh, uh, you know, OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, I mean, we've let them advance to the head, head of the pack, but they are at the head of the pack.

Uh, again, we would- they would all have to agree, come to agreement, to slow this down, and of course, there's competition between each of them as well.

Um, but again, this could end very badly unless we put guardrails on it.

And to be honest with you, we're not smart enough right now to know how to put guardrails.

What are your thoughts about a, a potential dividend coming to Americans?

D- Have they managed to subvert the constitution of the state to, to do what they're trying to do?

Uh, yeah.

Good morning.

I, I think they are.

The fact of the matter is, is that the, you know, we have a majority on, uh, on the court, on the s- the Democrats on the Supreme Court, and I think they went ahead with Wes Moore's plan to just change the Maryland Constitution.

Uh, actually, uh, they, they hope to, uh, suspend the declaration of rights in the Maryland Constitution for the purpose of redistricting, because, uh, the last judge who ruled on redistricting three years ago, four years ago now, actually said that, uh, partisan redistricting, uh, violates the Maryland declaration of rights, your freedom of political expression.

And, uh, the Democrats actually want to attempt to suspend the declaration of rights.

Are they just flipping that on its head?

How big a moment was this court ruling last week?

It was huge, John.

Look, we have to go to the Supreme Court this week.

So I think the Supreme Court will rule the same way in Maryland.

But look, those judges, one Republican judge, one Democrat judge, they both agreed on all the points that that our plaintiffs brought the cases on.

And they prevailed.

The most bothersome one was that both agreed that the wording was deceptive, that the Democrat-controlled Maryland General Assembly intentionally wrote deceptive wording for that amendment and then didn't allow any public comment period or revision of that wording.

When you look at the education system, were the receptors to accepting socialism and communism maybe embedded in the last couple of generations through their school systems?

What are the issues that your members are really campaigning on, considering what you said, there's a divorce between what voters hear when they say the deficit and what they expect versus what they are feeling right now? Is there something on the ground that Freedom Caucus members are really championing in this November election? Sure.

So we're for instance, we say, look, we took the lead on fraud, waste and abuse, whether it's in the food stamp program.

Again, we're all we're saying is you're able bodied.

You should be working or, you know, find some other find some other way to make ends meet.

It's not going to be by asking your neighbor who's working to pay for your federal benefit.

We're going to we're going to again, we're you know, we were attacked.

It's like cutting hundreds of millions of people off of food stamps and Medicaid.

As President Trump has been basically the focal point of all our politics for a decade we're entering the final two years and there'll be a really fundamental remake in his absence as he enters retirement and then eventually retires from the presidency what how does the freedom caucus shape the future of the republican party especially in the house where you'll have a lot of retirements for two four years and it will be important enough to grow this as we have these very serious conversations about the deficit?

And he sent a strong message yesterday, and I wanna see how you're feeling today.

Uh, good morning, Nino.

Look, the fact of the matter is the judge called it exactly right.

Uh, the bottom line is you can't, you can't have, you know, one rule for me, another rule for thee, which is what the judge said.

Basically, if you or I wanted to start a petition referendum, we either have-- we would have to follow the rules General Assembly, uh, set out quite clearly in April.

But if you're the, uh, the Maryland General Assembly and you wanna put something on the ballot, you don't have to follow those rules.

That is-- That's just the way, uh, you know, one state politics, uh, one-- I should say one party politics works in a state.

I want you to touch on, uh, Senator Ferguson's comments, if you can.

We're not going to trust it.

That's absolutely true.

Look, that's why you have vaccine hesitancy now, because we were told by Anthony Fauci that if you get vaccinated, you're not going to get COVID.

Well, people got vaccinated.

Well, people got COVID.

So now when you tell them, well, you know, you need to be vaccinated against to fill in the blank so that you don't get it.

People like, wait a minute, that's what they told me about COVID.

And regardless of the candidates, how important is it for Republicans now to point out the fact that Democrats are aligning themselves with some of the most radical? members of the democrat socialists of america even if your congressman is a democrat doesn't buy into all of that garbage they're caucusing with them congressman harris and if it's a small majority these guys are going to have a powerful voice

This is an amendment specifically designed to eliminate you, your position, and create an 8-0 Democrat congressional delegation

delegationThat's absolutely right.

There's no question about it.

Uh, again, the right thing to do would be to affirm that the congressional maps should be just like the state legislative maps, compact, uh, areas of common interest respecting geographic and jurisdictional boundaries.

That's the right way to draw maps, but this isn't about the right or wrong way to draw maps.

This is about making a political point.

You're right.

But talk a little bit about the national leaders and organizations, the AOCs of the world, who are determining who your voice in the Eastern Shore should be.

Um, now that it's a, a d- done deal, what, what is, uh, what's your feeling on how things went down?

down?Well, look, it should be an embarrassment for Maryland.

I mean, making the argument that you should draw, uh, you know, extremely gerrymandered maps and that's the right thing to do, especially when you left intact the rules for the legislators who themselves were, were voting on this, their districts have to be compact and respect, uh, common interests.

But no, no, what's good for us is not good for the congressional districts.

It's just an embarrassment for Maryland, and the bottom line is that, uh, it's gonna be challenged almost immediately in court because they took shortcuts.

They, they, you know, they missed the deadline that they actually imposed through a bill they passed this, uh, session, this past session in Annapolis.

And now, as part of a constitutional amendment, they suspended that bill.

Right

Tell us what you think's going on there as the lone Republican in the congressional de- delegation of Maryland.

Well, you know, John, they tried to do this back in 2022.

Uh, they drew a district, uh, the, the, a map that would've been, uh, only, uh, eight Democrats representing Maryland, and a, uh, Democrat judge actually rejected it.

Uh, rejected it on two points.

One point is that the Maryland Declaration of Rights, uh, guarantees the freedom of speech, and when you draw a poli- a map based on partisan gerrymandering, you're actually impairing someone's political speech, and that's reasonable.

The other, uh, reason the judge cited was that Maryland has a, uh, a redistricting standard for state legislative districts, but they were silent on congressional, and the judge said, "Well, it's silent on congressional.

It should follow the s- same standards for state districts.

Is that a hammer that Republicans can use throughout that, um, special legislative as it's run- uh, session as it's running?

If they were to redraw the district, right, basically you'd have to hop over the bay to be able to deal with your constituents over in Prince George's County.

That's right, and anyone who's done the Bay Bridge and rush hour knows that that's a pretty big impediment.

You know, it's the interpretation of the law.

The Constitution of Maryland is actually silent on the issue of congressional districts, and the judge interpreted it in 2022, and they tried this last.

The judge interpreted it as having to follow the same rules.

You know, you only have one set of rules for redistricting in Maryland.

Again, that's what the judge interpretation was.

Talk to me about the authorization for military spending, defense spending, and how that's going to be wrapped into reconciliation.

And if we leave after the Strait of Hormuz, let's say we secure it and the Strait of Hormuz is open, I mean, the regime is still in control, and eventually they're going to cause havoc in the Strait once we leave.

Well, again, if we secure the Straits of Hormuz, we come up with an international coalition willing to do that.

And at that point, we can choke off Iran's sale of oil because without the sale of their oil, their economy will be decimated.

I think we started to do that.

They got a reprieve during the ceasefire.

But now they're not shipping any oil anymore either.

So, again, their economy is in bad shape.

Your position on that and how important would that be, particularly leading up to 2028?

It's a different role.

And obviously a different role when you're in the minority.

And we have been in all those circumstances.

So it's not that the group has changed, it's how the group interacts with the, uh, with the current Republican, uh, Republicans in the House, whether you're a majority or minority, and it's a different function.

So, you know, as a chair, my philosophy is different from if I were in the minority.

In the majority, I actually have the ability to guide this group to get a bill across the finish line.

You can't do that in the minority.

I- is this gonna be in, end in court in litigation or?

How, how is this thing going?

Well, look, we're dealing with a thuggish res- regime that is not willing to recognize an international waterway.

My biggest disappointment is that, uh, other nations who, who are very large trading nations, uh, including some in the EU, have not stepped forward, uh, to enforce, uh, free trade and free maritime trade in the Straits of Hormuz.

Uh, if we have to do it by ourselves, maybe we just have to do it by ourselves.

Uh, but that is a critical principle.

Uh, and again, international nations should be joining us in that.

Uh, we can degrade, uh, Iran, Iran's capabilities at the Straits of Hormuz, uh, but it's gonna be expensive, it's gonna be lengthy.

Um, what do you make of this lawsuit, and do you think we're gonna have more of these to come?

What's the scuttlebutt there in Congress? What's happening? What's the big headline coming this week, do you believe, from the halls of Congress?

Well, look, I think that's wishful thinking on their part.

I hope they believe that the purpose of a legislature is actually to debate issues and then to come together around them.

That's what we did on the farm bill last week.

That's what we did on several bills last week.

We have the FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Security Act, we do have to deal with next month.

We are starting the appropriations process.

You just wonder if there's not a political off ramp that he wants right now.

So I would imagine that Tom Holman has got to address that as well and got to send a warning to these protesters that, yeah, it's your right to protest, but stand back and let my guys do their job.

That's right.

They certainly have the right to protest peaceably.

We've seen they haven't been protesting peaceably.

And one has to remember that these ICE operations are going on in all 50 states.

And the only place we're having problems are where the governor and the mayor are fomenting this.

So, again, they have to step back, just do what's happening everywhere else in the country.

Are there any actual shifts in people coming off of welfare and going in to take over those jobs that illegals once held?

What do you make of all of that?

Well, Iran wants to negotiate, but President Trump's a pretty tough negotiator.

The bottom line is that Iran is an enemy.

They have crowds chant death to America all the time.

Now, of course, now the protest crowds are not.

The protest crowds want to be freed from the tyranny of the Iran regime.

We'll see how it plays out.

Seems like there's a powder keg brewing there, Congressman.

Why do we have to shame people? Why is this not embraced? Why, quite frankly, was this not the centerpiece of the all day discussion yesterday? You know, point, you know, bill by bill about how we're going to, you know, mount up and get this done, sir.

Well, Steve, that's exactly why we released it two days before the meeting yesterday.

We thought this was going to be the agenda of the meeting yesterday.

It turned out it wasn't.

But we're not stopping.

We're pressing forward with this.

And I will tell you, all you have to do over in the Senate is you don't even have to change the 60-vote rule.

So how do we do that?

But whatever Israel decides to do, you know, I think after the hundreds of thousands of missiles have been fired at them by Iran and their proxies, I don't, I think they have every right to defend themselves.

Uh, I think they do.

Uh, they know the neighborhood better than we do, to be honest with you.

They've been absolutely right on so many things.

Uh, they, they brilliantly took out the air defenses, uh, a few days ago before our successful missions.

Uh, the bottom line is they would have every right to go after Iran and all its assets, especially its oil assets where it makes its money, uh, but to be honest with you, uh, that's the reason why Iran agreed so quickly to a ceasefire.

They knew they were gonna lose.

And if 4,000-pound bombs sta- start landing in populated areas, that's a major problem for Israel.

Wh- wh- what's, what's the status? Is, is this thing gonna get through? And more importantly, are we gonna get some more significant cuts out of this so that the deficit doesn't increase particularly in the short term, sir?

sir?Well, look, I, I'm, you know, I'm gonna disagree with the economic advisor you just had on.

This is not 100% guaranteed.

It's far from it.

Uh, the bottom line is if we don't get significant spending reduction, uh, in line to offset, you know, Moody's downgrade last, uh, week, uh, this bill is not going anywhere this week.

Uh, the bottom line is that the, the ground has changed last week.

That Moody's downgrade, we were warning about it in the Freedom Caucus for, for really years that we have to get our, our debt and deficit in order.

Is, is that an issue? And can you explain to people in kind of e- s- you know, basic English what exactly this fight is over Medicaid spending?

Do you interpret that that he needs to be returned, or do you think that the administration does have the legal authority to, to bypass that?

Uh, you know, the, the plain meaning of the word facilitate is to make it easy, it's not to actually do it.

Uh, and the administration has said that they will... you know, if and when El Salvador decides that it's appropriate to release one of their citizens to a foreign country, uh, then the United States will bring him here.

Uh, and again, he will, he will undergo, uh...

I imagine that he would undergo some kind of hearing, where it will be brought out that he was adjudicated to be a MS-13 gang member.

And since he is a member of...

since he is a member of a, uh, d- of a terror organization, uh, I suspect that he will be deported and on his way back.

So, do you just feel this is an issue that Republicans are just cruising through in many ways because the, the polling is there?

Do you interpret that, that he needs to be returned, or do you think that the administration does have the legal authority to, to bypass that?

Uh, you know, the, the, the plain meaning of the word facilitate is to make it easy.

It's not to actually do it.

Uh, and the administration has said that they will, you know, if and when El Salvador decides that it's appropriate to release one of their citizens to a foreign country, uh, then the United States will bring him here.

Uh, and again, he will, he will undergo, uh, I, I imagine that he would undergo some kind of hearing, where it will be brought out that he was adjudicated to be a MS-13 gang member.

And since he is a member of, uh, uh, and since he is a member of a, uh, of a terror organization, uh, I suspect that he will be deported and on his way back.

But that is an issue...

So, do you just feel that this is an issue that Republicans are just cruising through in many ways, because the, the polling is there?

Is there a feeling up there like, "Hey, it's time to put these parochial interests aside and do what's best for the country?" 'Cause if there are not, this thing's gonna die on the vine.

Uh, look, I, I think you're right.

Uh, the number, you know, for the 4.5 trillion is actually the CBO estimate of what the tax, uh, what, quote, "the tax cuts will cost." Uh, the number we're talking about for spending reduction is, like, two-and-a-half trillion or so, but, but, uh, Dan, let's put that in perspective.

Our def- that's two-and-a-half trillion over 10 years, [laughs] so that's 250 billion a year.

Our deficit's two trillion, and remember, Elon last, uh, yesterday at the White House said we should cut a trillion dollars a year.

Uh, so, uh, eh, the numbers we're even talking about and getting hesitation from some Republican colleagues is way below the number that we actually have to do, 'cause like y- like you said, uh, we're right.

Uh, you know, w- we had a vote on USA- cutting USAID by 50%, not eliminating it, 50%, and a majority of the Republicans voted against that cut last year.

Right [laughs]