Attended Trump trial…comment.

0:00 Speaker 1 With us today is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson. He’s had a couple of tough months, but he’s one tough guy. Mister Speaker. Welcome to WABC. How are you doing.

0:15 Speaker 2 Hey, great to be back with you as always, my friend. Good to hear your voice.

0:19 Speaker 1 Tell me it’s Friday afternoon. What do you have to get off your chest? I mean, you were in court in New Yorker with President Trump this week. You had your hands full in Washington. There’s so many things. Are countries under attack in many many directions, So please you start first.

0:41 Speaker 2 You know, that’s a great place to start. John I agree with you entirely. This was the theme of the week in Washington. This week was police Week, you know, and we made the point that as Republicans, as conservatives, of course, we always stand with those who wear the badge and make it too often the ultimate sacrifice to

1:00 serve and protect our communities. We got to stand by law enforcement. And so we had these great events, the great ceremonies, fallen officer memorials and all sorts of stuff this week. And I was apt to just kind of go off script at these events because I speak at all of them, and I just started saying what I

1:15 believe is the simple truth right now, my friend, that we are facing right now. I believe obviously we’re facing a collection of unprecedented challenges. Some people would argue the greatest collection of challenges in the modern era. You could compare this to maybe the World War two era, maybe even a civil war. And yet our Republic is going

1:33 to endure. And the reason that it is is because we’re going to fight for the founding principles that made us the greatest nation in the history of the world, the most free, the most powerful, and most successful it’s ever been. But I’ve been speaking very plainly to these groups this week, as I have to do now, and

1:49 that is to remind them that we’re not really even in a battle right now anymore between Republicans versus Democrats. We certainly have that battle, and it’s part of it, but what we’re battling right now something even deeper and more fundamental than that. We’re in a battle right now between two competing visions, entirely different world views about who

2:08 America is and what we’re going to be in the future. And we are fighting every day to defend the founding principles, you know, and what I call the core principles of American conservatism. They’re really the principles of our nation. It’s individual freedom and limited government and the rule of law and peace through strength and tisco responsibility and free markets

2:25 and human dignity, those things. But we have a rising number of people in the country, as you and I both know, who have disdained for those founding principles. They want to trade those ideas in for something else. They envision for our nation that we would be some sort of European style socialist utopia or something. But you and

2:42 I know that’s a fool’s errand Marxism is a road to destruction and we have to fight it everything in us and that’s what we’re doing right now. So we have policies, carmages, we have you know, debates over legislation, but that’s not the real battle. The real battle is are we going to hold fast to our founding principles

2:57 and keep this republic? And I believe we will, but it’s going to take all of us to dig in and get that done.

3:03 Speaker 1 Mister speaker, and I think we had that discussion the first time I met you. It’s about bringing America together. It’s not about being Republican, it’s not about being Democrats. It’s about being an American and doing the right thing for America. And I don’t have a problem with common sense Democrats, but I do have a common problem with

3:24 the socialist Democrats. I mean, they know they’re trying to destroy our country and there’s a mission out there, and I don’t know it’s from me socialist Democrats. I don’t know if it’s from China. I don’t know if it’s from Iran. But our country is constantly under attack. And by the way, thank you, thank you for bringing our

3:45 countries closer together by being able to work with some of the common sense Democrats.

3:52 Speaker 2 Well, we have to. We’re in an age of divided government, as you know. I mean New Gingris posted an op at about two weeks ago, and he said Speaker Johnson has the most challenging speakership since the Civil War, more than one hundred and sixty years ago, and his point was that it’s anybody who holds the gallole in this

4:09 moment would have the same challenge. We have the smallest majority in US history. Of course, I’m currently at a one vote margin, but we also have a deeply divided country. The encouraging part of that, John, is that I believe that most of the people in this country, in their heart of hearts, they agree with us. They agree still

4:27 with common sense, They identify with the founding principles of our country, and they do want to maintain it’s surely they want their children and their grandchildren. They have the same liberty and opportunity and security that we have always known and cherished, but sometimes too often take it for granted.

4:46 And that’s what the challenge is right now to I guess, really kind of help educate and empower and encourage equip more people to engage. That’s what we need right now. You know, this upcoming election cycle, all those negative elements that you talked about the influence of the Chinese Communist Party and you know Iran and all of those who

5:07 would subvert our culture and our society, our republic. You know, all the elements of the radical progressives, all that woke ideology, all of that stuff that is so destructive. We have a chance right now in November to put all of that to rest. We really do. This is the most important election of our lifetimes. I think everybody understands that,

5:26 and so it’s no time to sit on the bench. You’ve got to go out and do what you just said, John. People have to exercise common sense and they’ve got to help us preserve this country. I think we will, mister speaker.

5:37 Speaker 1 I agree with you one hundred percent. I’ve had many many important US Senators in my office and we all discussed that twenty seventy six, the three hundredth year of our country, is not going to happen if we keep going on and if we don’t straighten it out this novemb fit.

5:55 Speaker 2 No, you’re exactly right. I mean, you know, we have our nation’s birthday coming up on July fourth. Of course, we’re only two hundred and forty eight years this time. But when I speak to young people, university students, in high school students, and we say, oh, we’re almost two hundred and fifty years old as a nation. To them,

6:11 that seems like an eternity. But we you and I both know in the Spanish human history that is a very short period of time, and there’s no guarantee that the Republic can endure unless we understand what made us the great nation, and we work to preserve it. And that’s what we’re trying to do. The House Republicans every

6:27 single day, and we recruited an all star stable of candidates around the country to help us slip some of these seats back from Democrats to Republican. I think we’re going to be able to do that because all of our candidates are out talking about these things that resonate in the hearts of the people.

6:43 Speaker 1 I agree with you. We got another minute left. I’m going to say that I don’t understand. Maybe you understand better. You’re number three person in the take over to presidency in the United States. If something God forbid, something ever happened, Why if we opened up the I’d see if we opened up the Suez Canal from those hoodies that are

7:05 being funded those terrorists being funded by Iran, the price of all come down ten dollars a barrow. Why isn’t the commander in chief fixing that problem.

7:18 Speaker 2 Very simple in less than a minute. That The summary is that the current commander in chief, President Biden, is not only projecting weakness on the world stage, he is actively undermining the interest of our allies like Israel, and he is appeasing Iran that’s what their policy is, appeasement, and that is a dangerous prescription for us right now.

7:36 When our adversaries are United Russia, China, Iran, or they’re all coordinated, it really is a true access of evil. And now is the time for us to maintain peace through strength. We got to get Donald Trump reelected because he will project that strength, and November can’t get here soon enough.

7:51 Speaker 1 We have to fix the problem. Thank you, mister Speaker for everything you do in trying to unite our country. God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you so much.

8:03 Speaker 2 Thank you my friend. Great to talk to you.