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Unknown A
Hey, everybody. I'm your host, Alad Elihu. And today we are at CPAC with the second congressional district of West Virginia, Congressman, Mr. Riley Moore.
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Unknown B
Thanks for having me.
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Unknown A
Thank you so much for the time. It's been a very exciting CPAC so far. Congressman Moore just finished speaking on stage about a few different topics. We just got a bunch of different exciting news, though. But what I wanted to start on first today was get into a little bit of the geopolitics because we just saw Trump send a few different people over to Saudi Arabia. I believe it was Marco Rubio Witkoff. Trump had some comments about Ukraine. What do you think about the direction Trump is going in with this Ukraine war, and what do you think about how he's handled it?
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Unknown B
Well, as President Trump said when he ran, and now, just like everything he said during the election, he is following through on. Right. And that is to bring peace to Ukraine. Donald Trump is literally the singular figure in American politics right now that's going to be able to do that. This is why Putin has come to the table to talk with him. And this conflict. He's acted. I mean, we're in the first month of this, and the Secretary of State's already in Riyadh with the Russians talking about how to end this conflict. I'm in full support of what the president is trying to do in that regard.
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Unknown A
Absolutely. He has gotten pushback on some of his comments. He said of Zelensky, called him a dictator, many hawkish senatorss and different House members. There's some pushback on this. Did you hear these comments? What were your thoughts on that?
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Unknown B
Well, you know, there is aspects of what Zelensky has done. Obviously, he's shut down the media in there. They've not held elections. He's still currently holding office. Some. I say, well, Riley, they're in a time of war. I get that. I do believe Abraham Lincoln still ran for reelection when we were in a civil war. So I don't think his comments are totally out of line whatsoever.
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Unknown A
There's also this one line about. I think he blamed Ukraine for starting the war. Do you agree with his comments about Ukraine starting.
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Unknown B
I think that there's been. There's blame to go around on this. And Ukraine, they know this. They know this pushing so hard to become a member of NATO was going to instigate the Russians to retaliate in some way or another. They know that. Right. So that's not incorrect. That there is a consequence of. In the Russian mind and in their psyche and their strategic vision. Of the security, their country having a NATO nation right up against their border, that's a problem for them. NATO expansionism has always been an issue for the Russians and that's been since the end of the Cold War. Ukraine was always seen as this country that was a buffer in between NATO and Russia. And to them, they view that as an existential threat. And obviously this is why. Part of the reason that we're in this conflict.
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Unknown A
Absolutely. The Trump administration hasn't only been seeking a peace in Eastern Europe now, but also in the Middle East. They're trying to shift the dynamics in play. I think it was only a couple of weeks ago, I don't know. The news cycle was moving so quickly about how he wanted to turn Gaza into an American run and he was going to build it up again. What do you think about those comments on Israel? Also? I feel like I'd be misfided. Didn't mention today Israel received back the bodies of the BBO two Beibbo twins, Firar and Ariel. Bbo these were two children who were abducted by average Palestinians. Well, not, I don't know if you want to call them average, but not Hamas, Militton's opportunistic Palestinians. They were kidnapped, eventually murdered. Now their bodies are just being returned now. But I guess what do you think about Trump's direction now in the Middle East?
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Unknown A
And what direction should we be trying to head in for I guess a long term stable of peace?
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Unknown B
Well, I mean, first of all, to address the two children, these are babies and the mother that were murdered by these terrorists. It's a human tragedy. It really is. I mean, how do you negotiate with these folks? And I think that's where President Trump is at this point. How do you negotiate with people like this? Well, you don't. I mean, what do you do? And I think for too long, the Israelis, we saw what happened 2006, they woulddraw from Gaza, they let them have their elections. And it has been a disaster ever since then. And I'm not saying, well, maybe Israel should have stayed in Gaza. We've got to do something to change the entire dynamic. The president has certainly an outside the box thinking on trying to fix this situation. But the way that it sits right now, it is untenable. The Israelis cannot sit with a terrorist organization on their border who have killed thousands of their citizens, men, women and children raped and murdered over there.
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Unknown B
We cannot allow this to continue in the manner that it has. And so the president views what a huge issue this is and that we're Going to need an outside the box solution for this. I mean, how many times have we gone back to the two state solution? We'renna figure it never works. It never works and we always end up the exact same place over and over again.
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Unknown A
Do you think this kind of kills the myth of a two state solution being the answer as a long term PE solution?
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Unknown B
I don't really see a two state solution as a realistic objective at this point. So now instead of a area that harbors and is run by terrorists such as Hamas, you're going to have a nation state, a terrorist nation state on the border of Israel. That sounds like a worse outcome to me.
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Unknown A
Do you think that Hamas should have any role in governing Gaza after this, in this post war situation?
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Unknown B
No, no, no. Hamas needs to be gone.
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Unknown A
Absolutely. We'll see if that comes to fruition. So you're a freshman. I want to pivot now a little bit into House politics because there's a really interesting dynamic to play. So you're obviously a freshman and it's a very exciting time for you. It's an exciting time in the House too because there's such a slim majority in the House. I believe it is 218 to 215 Republican to Democrat. I think one of your staffers also mentioned once Elise Steonic leaves, it'll be 217 roughly, give or take. Can you tell us a little bit more about the dynamics of play? I know there was a really tough leadership race that, you know, Johnson struggled to make it past the finish line but was recently able to. You talk to me a little bit more about the dynamics of play here and how are you guys are going to coalesce to pass a Trump agenda moving forward?
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Unknown B
Yeah, well, and that's what we're dealing with right now as it relates to that reconciliation bill. Right. This is Trump's agenda. That bill is Trump's agenda. Every piece of it in the tax extensions, Trump tax cuts, unleashing American energy, securing the US Border. It's all in there. It's all in there. And so we have to, we have to pass it. And I think that there's enough Republican interest and equities being covered in there that are part of Trump's agenda where I think we are going to be able to coalesce together and pass this bill. Now look, we can't really lose that many votes and everybody is certainly their own Joe Manchin right now in the House.
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Unknown A
That means you could be too.
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Unknown B
Yeah. For I'in total alignment with President Trump and he has said that he wants this bill passed and that's what we got to do, that we have to do it.
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Unknown A
Absolutely. In the House, the Republicans are kind of a big tent. There's a lot of variety of thoughts and ideas. I'm from New York and I know one of the big things that New York Republicans talk about is how they're going to try to increase the salt tax deduction. Specifically, Congressman like Mike Lawler. Mike Law y Can you tell me a little bit more about how we are going to stuff all the pork in the build to make everyone. Are you guys going toa be able to do it because you're going to lose? Yeah. Can you talk a little bit more about.
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Unknown B
Yeah, well. And I know just one thing. I wouldn't call any of this pork because this is addressing issues through our broad coalition that we have and we won in states like New York and California because the Republican agenda resonates across the entire United States. Second to that is we are going to be able to cover everybody down on that. Salt is going to be part of this. President Trump says he wants salt to be part of this. I was at the White House with President Trump just a couple weeks ago where we were negotiating on reconciliation and discussing that package. He made it very clear to us, and he's made it clear publicly he wants sol part of that. So we're going to do that. What that cap number is going to look like, that's going to be the negotiation part. The big issue right now is passing that budget resolution because we can't do any of these things.
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Unknown B
The committees like Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, they can't go to work on any of these issues till we pass the budget resolution. So the final numbers, no one's going to know we turn those dials left and right t until we're able to get the budget resolution passed, which allows the committees then to go to work and then reconcile it into one big beautiful bill, as President Trump says. And so we're going to see what that looks like as we kind of start to turn those dials on salt. What the waste, fraud and abuse cuts we're going to have. Now, we know the floor on that. It'one and a half trillion dollars over ten years. We want to see if we can do more. We want to see if we can find additional cuts out there. And obviously Doge is a big part of that.
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Unknown B
Now. Part of what they're also finding in savings is not in what you would call mandatory spending, which is reconciliation. It's over in the discretionary spending side, which goes through Appropriations Committee, which I'm on that committee. So when we're talking to Doge and I tell you they are doing tremendous work, they are uncovering all kinds of stuff. And I think at the end of the day, we're going to come out of this on a path, God willing, and I do believe this on a path to get us to a balanced budget down the road.
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Unknown A
Absolutely. I guess my thinking here is that it's such a fragile majority, I'm assuming Thomas Maew will likely be. I could be wrong, but will likely be a no on a reconciliation.
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Unknown B
I don't know that. I don't know that because, you know, we are doing a lot in terms of cuts. So I don't know where he'll be. I've not talked to him, so I'm not sure where he'll be. But it does align more with his ideology in terms of reducing the size of the federal government, so it's unclear. And tax cuts, certainly he's in favor of that. I'm not sure on that one, though. But the Freedom Caucus, Chip Roy and others have been part of this process in crafting this budget resolution and the types of savings and tax cuts, it's going to be involved in it. They've been part of this. So I think we are going to have pretty strong coalition of support for.
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Unknown A
Absolutely. I did hear you. I wanted to talk about a couple of things that you mentioned in your speech before we started this interview, and you actually wrote an op ed on this, too. You were talking about how you wanted to stop visas to go to different colleges for Chinese nationals. Can you bear this out a little bit more and talk this through?
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Unknown B
Yeah, absolutely. So what we have going on right now in the United states, there are 300,000 Chinese nationals in our country on student visas. And we have caught folks on student visas all over the country stealing ip, spying in our research institutes. We had one student that was caught flying a drone over a live fire exercise for the United States military and then obviously capturing that footage and sending it back to China. We had another student at UCLA who was the leader of the pro Hamas Palestinian rallies that they were having on campus there. Right. A Chinese national is leading that now'trying. They're obviously working to destabilize our country. They're stealing their IP and it's hurting us in terms of our national security and maintaining our qualitative military edge over the Chinese when we just have this information flow going back. My view of this is no more, no more visas for Chinese nationals.
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Unknown A
You know, you're going to go against a lot of powerful interests because of this. As I understand for these colleges, these foreign students are paying full tuition.
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Unknown B
Yeah.
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Unknown A
At a time when, you know, our population curve is going down towards the bottom. Less Americans, less American youths are going to college to begin with. So you're really seeing the squeeze on the colleges. They need these students. How do you think you're going toa be able to deal with these different colleges lobbying against you, trying to get, you know, because they'd like as many foreign students paying full tuition as they could get.
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Unknown B
Sure. You know, they love foreign money and that's great for them. I love the American people and so that's where my interest is. So that's where that lies. So, you know, they're just going to have to figure out, reconfigure their business model, I guess, if it actually hurts them, which has been terrible for the American people as they continue to hike up tuition all over this country. And it's really just a business model at this point. And some of these universities are just degree mills and I think the end of the day it's questionable how much worth they actually have out here in the market. When you go get like a degree and I don't know, like Russian gender studies or whatever, you know'one of these made up degrees, you pay $100,000 for that, does that really matter now? You probably end up working at Starbucks or something like that.
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Unknown B
I mean trade schools and things like that. I think people need to get more into the blue collar workforce. Myself, I started off as a welder, that's what I did. And I think a lot of people would be better served trying to take a look at those types of jobs. We're actually doing something, contributing to society in a way that you'll certainly be rewarded in terms of salary, benefits and things like that. So not saying college is bad, but it's not the only answer out there. But there has been a lot of bad things coming out of colleges.
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Unknown A
Absolutely. I am interested to see where this goes because I do believe this is a very important national security issue. One of the other things I wanted to pivot and mention towards the end of your speech here, you were trying to talk about and promote and encourage others to get involved in politics. Can you tell me a little bit more about why you think people should get involved? And you know, at a very base level for people who don't know how to, you know, 101 how do I get involved in politics at a grassroots level?
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Unknown B
Yeah, I think it's hugely important. You got a lot of young people here at CPAC and every one of them should be thinking about running for office in the towns, communities, states that they live in that develops a bench, right? And then that bench, eventually those folks will go on to run for federal office or statewide office or what have you. And starting at that level and you can do so much at the state level. It gets around this, you know, well, only rich guys can run for congress or I'm not rich or only rich guys can run for this office that if you start off early, young, get involved, run these offices because part of what I told them, they on the panel CPAC like I don't know in this office. This office belongs to the people of West Virginia 2nd congressional district. They have hired me to do a job for two years and then I'm going to re interview for that job in two years.
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Unknown B
If they hire me again, that's great. I'd love to continue the work. If not I will go do something else. But I think if I continue the good job, I think I'll be rewarded in that. That's the way it's supposed to work. And that's why we need that pressure kind of built up on elected officials where you have a bench underneath of you. That man, well, you know, state delegate such and such is doing a really good job. If I don't get my act together, he could end up runner state senator. This is that county commission, county commissions are huge. Have a lot of power at the local level, town councils, a lot of power. You can do a lot to change your communities in that way. I'd encourage everybody. If you're interested in politics, go ahead and take a look at it. You need a college degree, you don't need any of that.
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Unknown B
You just got to have a good head on your shoulders and really care about your community.
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Unknown A
You were talking a little bit about this before the interview. But like the incentive structure surrounding running for office, it's kind of become very toxic and you got a lot of pushback and there's a lot of scrutiny for very often time, little reward for the effort that you put in. So while obviously it's a privilege for you to serve in your position, you have to sacrifice a lot and you're under the microscope as a result of it. And many people who do, we want our best and brightest to be the people who run for office. I guess kind of where I'm going with this is when all is su said and done, how to get the best talent. Are we incentivizing the best talent to want to run for office? If that kind of makes sense with the direction.
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Unknown B
Yeah.
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Unknown A
Because it's at the same time when you can't say that, it's politically detrimental for you to say, hey, I think Congressmen deserve a raise. But I think if you want the best talent in Congress, you know, most people who are in there already rich.
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Unknown B
Yeah.
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Unknown A
They don't even need the money. So it's really just discouraging and disincentivizing the poorest people of trying to get in. I know I just threw a lot at you, but what do you kind of think of that structure that we're setting up for people to run at a time when you're trying to encourage that?
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Unknown B
Well, that's why building that bench is important. Right. So then you can have people that. It doesn't look like such an insurmountable pass to run for these higher offices, the Congress, things like that. But two is. Yeah. And people talked about that. Maybe we give Congress a raise. Maybe. Yeah, I don't know about that. But one of the things, if you did do it, then you'd have to get rid of the day trading and stock trading and all this other stuff. That stuff's got to go. We can't do that anymore. You know, I mean, if they did that and then said, okay, maybe we give folks a raise, maybe, you know, I don't know. I mean, I guess that's one way to think about it. But I do hear your point. But that's why the bench is so important, because you can't just have folks who this is the best job they're ever going to get because then they don't want to leave or they're super rich and this is like their kind of retirement gig.
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Unknown B
We want citizen legislatures, we want a citizen Congress. People that are contributing to their communities, that are part of their communities, that's sitting at the top of their community, just lording over people. You know, richest guy in town as a congressman, as the senator. That's a terrible way to be. We don't want them. We want citizen legislators. And that's why I encourage a lot of people to just get involved in this stuff.
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Unknown A
Absolutely. Congress moraley Mo. Thank you so much for your time. Was there anything else you wanted to mention?
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Unknown B
No, no. Just good to see everybody. It's always good to be on Demcast. Always a real pleasure. Hopefully I'll be skating over the boonies soon.
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Unknown A
I will see. Yeah, I think that the tim caast members and colleagues there, they said you're their favorite guy because you're the only one who could kickf flip.
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Unknown B
Apparently in Congress I can kicklip. That's true.
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Unknown A
We might get that on. I can't confirm that.
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Unknown B
I can confirm that you go on my Instagram or Twitter. X Sorry. Any of those kickf flip def fakie on the flat bank at the boonies. That happened April last year. Go look it up. That's realk youks.
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Unknown A
Thank you.