May 31st, 2023

On Wednesday’s Mark Levin Show, the trajectory of the GOP is very dire. Notwithstanding the debt ceiling deal which is expected to see a vote tonight in the House and is likely to pass. What will the conservatives in the Senate do? Slow it down? Offer amendments? We will watch and see. Could the House GOP have gotten a better deal? They could have if they’d held out another month or two longer to take some time to peel the onion on some of these scandals that seem continually make headlines and keep emerging. Rep. Andy Biggs this morning talked about the displeasure members of the House GOP are feeling with Speaker McCarthy, and the debt ceiling vote, saying he doesn’t know what the future would be for the Speaker. But former Speaker Newt Gingrich says that the debt negotiations are like a game of chess, not checkers – telling Sean Hannity last night. According to the former Speaker – McCarthy was able to shift power away from the Senate and the White House – which is comparable to what happened under Gingrich’s leadership in 1995. Later on, Mark Meckler, President of the Convention of States called in to talk to Mark about just that, the idea of a convention of states, an idea that Meckler says would never fly with Washington, DC. Meanwhile, Christianity and Judaism are under attack with the LA Dodgers making headlines this week, not open to discussing the re-invitation of an anti-Catholic drag queen group that it’s partnered with, blowing off a meeting with leaders from the Catholic community; and woke is killing our country as Christian based Chik Fil A adding the position of VP of diversity, equity and inclusion to their employee roster. Finally, Julie Kelly, Senior Writer at American Greatness called in to talk to Mark about her access to the January 6th tapes.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla

The podcast for this show can be streamed or downloaded from the Audio Rewind page.

Rough transcription of Hour 1

Segment 1

Hello America. Mark Levin, here are our number 877-381-3811. 877-381-3811. Guess what? There’s a vote around 8 p.m. tonight, I’m told, on this. On this deal, it’s likely to pass the House and then it goes to the Senate. Now, there are conservatives in the Senate, are there not? Our buddy Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, there’s Rand Paul is a libertarian. There’s some others. J.D. Vance, you know the list. What will they do? Now they’re going to be in the minority. But they can slow it down. They can slow the vote down. They can offer amendments. There’s other things they can do in the Senate that you can’t do in the House. What will they do? So we’ll watch that. See what they do or do not do. And to reiterate, not that I really need to, but to underscore, to make it abundantly clear. I would not vote for this. Why? Because I think they should have fought another month or two. They had that much time. There was not going to be a default and probably get even a better deal. But here’s where I differ from some. These attacks on Kevin McCarthy are actually bizarre. Sort of think about this this morning. In four months time. This guy has had numerous bills passed through a very, very tight house. On parental rights, on the wall and securing the border one after another. And they go to the Senate and they die in the Senate. But the Republicans really are do nothings. Do nothings especially intimate. Come. He mustered a a majority to put an initial proposal that increased. Passed the Senate to the Senate. And the White House had it. The Senate has done absolutely nothing. They could have voted on it. Why didn’t they? They did nothing. And I know we had 43 Republican senators sign a letter, but there was no jumping up and down demanding a vote on the Republican proposal. And Biden sat on his hands, hoping that the Republicans would fray and they didn’t. And that’s how the negotiations, such as they were, began in truncated form. So the only one carrying any water are the Republicans in the House. And McCarthy. And so his negotiators negotiate this deal. It comes back. Some people are happy. Some people are unhappy. Some people aren’t sure what they are and so forth and so on. So in this process. But the House passed was never going to become law. Because the Senate wouldn’t take it up. And Biden wouldn’t agree to it. And the House Republicans can’t enforce this on their own. So the argument then is. Could they’ve gotten a better deal. And I believe if they’d been more patient, they’d likely could have. Now we have these committees in Congress, one headed by Jordan, one headed by Kobe. We’re really working very, very hard. We can have Julie Kelly on in our three to try and. Peel the onion on some of these terrible scandals. And they’re not giving up now. They don’t have the power to prosecute anybody. Not in ways that they would use. And they’ve only covered a lot so far. Whether the American people are insured or not is a whole other issue. And so when you consider there’s a very small majority Republicans in the House for the responsibilities that the House has under Article one, it’s been pretty active and it’s been pretty conservative. But in the case of this, it’s just not good enough. Now I see our friends, including one who I will debate tomorrow night. They’re so thrilled. In a way, this proves how terrible Kevin McCarthy is. And you hear this from some pseudo conservatives and actual conservatives. I think, to myself. Well, who else was going to do anything? It’s perplexing. Nobody else could be speaker on the Republican side. Those are the facts. You can ignore the facts. Those are the facts. Nobody. You can go over there and negotiate with Biden. And get the best deal in the world. You’re not going to get enough people in the House of Representatives to vote for. This is the system today. It’s broken. This is the system today. It doesn’t work. So they can trash McCarthy all they want. Why? It’s a freebie. It’s a freebie. I already said I would not vote for this. And I also said during January that if McCarthy does something that I disagree with, I’ll say, sir. And I said so. But McCarthy’s not the devil here. This system has been going on for a decade. Well, finally, we’re going to draw a line. How? The system cannot be fixed. Inside Washington. And anybody who says a can is a liar. There are ways to try and deal with it ways and try to box it in a bit. Ways to try and limit it, but the Democrats will win the House again. With the Senate and the presidency. And there’ll be few ways to stop them. There will be few ways to stop them. Which is why I’m having Mark Meckler on this program in about an hour at a convention of states to explain what’s required here, at least on the political and constitutional side, is something much more fundamental. And then rather than beating our chests endlessly about this and we can beat it somewhat, I got it. Would it be great if the debate were every convention of states day in and day out? So why don’t conservatives raise it? You know, if you crack open liberty and tyranny. For many, many, many years ago. Here’s what I say here. What can be done? What can be done? I don’t pretend to have all the answers. Moreover, the act of writing a book places practical limits on what can be said in any given time. But I do have some thoughts. The Conservative must become more engaged in public matters. It is in his nature to live and let live, to attend to his family, to volunteer time with his church and synagogue, and to quietly assist a friend and neighbor, even a stranger. These are certainly admirable qualities that contribute to the overall health of the community. But it’s no longer enough. The statists counter-revolution. Now, I would say the Marxists. That’s where we’ve come to. Has turned the instrumentalities of public affairs and puppet governments against the civil society. They can no longer be left to the devices of the statists, which is largely the case today. This will require a new generation of conservative activists larger in number, shrewder and more articulate than before, who seek to blunt the statist counter-revolution Not intentionally, not not imitate it, and gradually and steadily reverse course. More conservatives than before will need to seek elected and appointed office, fill the ranks of the administrative state, hold teaching positions in public schools and universities, and find positions in Hollywood and the media where they can make a difference in infinite ways. The status doesn’t have a birthright ownership to these institutions and the conservative must fight for them, told them, and where appropriate, eliminate them or they are destructive to the preservation and improvement of the civil society. In other words, don’t surrender the bureaucracy, the different agencies and divisions and departments don’t surrender the culture. To these people. Infiltrate them, participate in them, take them over. I think this is very, very important. And I point out here the administrative state, of course, I write in more detail in the book, but these are the proposals sunset all independent federal agencies every year subject to Congress, affirmatively reestablishing them, require federal departments and agencies to reimburse individuals and enterprises for the costs associated with the devaluation of their personal private from the issuance of regulations. They compromise the use of their property, eliminate unions for federal government employment, and so forth and so on. There is a whole laundry list of things. Unfortunately, in the system today, most of them cannot be adopted. Because Alexis de Tocqueville warned about this. Basically the endless complexities of court challenges. You have activist courts, bureaucracies making law. If Congress that is either. An attentive or attentive in a way that is contrary to constitutional limitations. You have a media that basically is a mouthpiece for the state when the Democrats control it and the Democrats. Even when they’re out of office. That’s why I was thinking there’s got to be something bigger that we can do. There has to be something else. There has to be another way. And there is. She. Ladies and gentlemen, we have some people out there who who believe they can invent new ideas, invent new principles that over the last thousands of years that the great thinkers hadn’t thought of. And most of these people are in their late twenties, early thirties, mid thirties, and many of them haven’t done a damn thing. Except write about their ideas. We hear behind this microphone. We’ve been involved in grassroots movements, whether it’s the Tea Party. The parents movement. Convention of states. We’ve looked for real and concrete ways. To confront their found. National problems and our politics and our culture. We don’t just write columns and issue white papers. We don’t just participate in debates. So we’re blue in the face. We try to do something about this. Even if they had the best deal you can imagine, even if we had the deal that they voted on originally adopted by a Democrat president, a Democrat Senate, and a tiny majority in the House, even if all their wet dreams came true. And I wish they did. Because we have to fight at every level and in every way the trajectory. Of the republic. Is very dire. I’ll be right back.

Segment 2

What else do we do? Liberty and tyranny face pause all efforts to denude the nation of its founding justification. That is God given unalienable natural rights. The government can neither confer on the individual nor deny to him. And yet the Marxist seeks the authority to do both, which explains his contempt for or misuse of faith. Moreover, faith provides the moral order that ties one generation to the next, without which the civil society cannot survive. That’s number nine in the Conservative Manifesto. And of course, somewhere in the Communist Manifesto it is Marx despises faith and despises family. And you can see how this poison is spreading throughout society. This debate on Capitol Hill tonight, it’s important, but it has nothing to do with that, too. There’s a lot of things we need to be excuse me, doing and pushing. I’ll be right back.

Segment 3

And you know there’s another issue here, folks, and that’s the public the people, many of whom I disagree with say populism. We need more populism. I’m not into mobocracy and I’m not into centralized ruling class authoritarianism. I’m into constitutionalism. The framers are geniuses and here’s why. Just 17%. This is from Yahoo! News. Just 17% of Americans agree with. And this is their language, not mine. Right wing Republicans who insist Congress should let the U.S. default on its loans rather than raise the debt ceiling without deep spending cuts, according to a new Yahoo News YouGov poll. Instead, the public favors by a 2 to 1 margin the sort of bipartisan deal struck over the weekend by President Biden and GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. That deal, which includes smaller spending freezes and reductions in exchange for a two year debt ceiling hike, is now moving through Congress, despite objections from the far right House Freedom Caucus. Far right and not far right. The conservatives. Do they ever use the phrase far left? That’s always progressives. The Yahoo News YouGov survey of 1520 adults was conducted from May 25 to May 30, both before and after Biden. McCarthy announced their agreement as such and inquired about Republicans additional demands for deep cuts and subsequent negotiations over smaller cuts rather than the specifics of the plan. When asked how they would feel about, quote, President Biden and GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreeing to smaller spending cuts in order to raise the debt limit, which could be approved with a combination of Democratic and Republican votes. That vote is at 8 p.m. tonight. A clear consensus emerges across party lines, they write. Overall, twice as many Americans say they would favor such a compromise. 43% as say they would oppose 21%. And while Democrats were the most positive group by 54 to 17%, both independents 41 to 20% and Republicans 43 to 28% also expressed more support. Then opposition and the survey shows similar results to follow up questions about how House Republicans should react if Biden refuses to accept deeper Republican spending cuts. And it’s in response for 56% of Americans say Republicans should either agree to smaller cuts that can pass for Democratic and Republican votes 36%, or agree to raise the debt limit without any spending cuts at all. 20%. Only a minority of 17% say the GOP should let the US default on its loans, even among Republicans. Just 27% would support a default in this scenario. Nearly twice as many would favor smaller cuts 41% or a clean debt limit hike without belt tightening. 9%. So the that’s where the public is. So this is why I’m not a so-called populist. Nor do I believe the iron fist of Washington and the ruling class. What does the Constitution tell us? Why don’t we embrace it? And so as long as the public is in this sort of a mindset. That creates a problem, too. For really the rubber hitting the road, even though I continue to believe a few months longer would have resulted in a better deal. But it’s also why I don’t trash Kevin McCarthy. I think it’s a cheap thing. Cheap. He’s done a hell of a lot of good. He’s done. I would say he’s the most conservative speaker of the House. And it’s a close race with Newt Gingrich. Maybe in modern times. Who’s better? Who else was there? And they talk about this as a first step. There will be other steps. So when we’re trying to save this country, there’s a number of battlefields that we have to fight on. This is one of them. No question. This is one of them. But the Constitution has been significantly destroyed. And if we can get our Constitution back, even most of it back. Things like this are less likely to happen. Which is why I wrote the Liberty Amendments, which is why we spent a year discussing the Liberty Amendments. Which is why Mark Meckler and convention of states and their millions. I have members, many of whom are active, do what they do. This is why former Senator Rick Santorum reversed course as an opponent and now a supporter. This is why former Senator DeMint, first an opponent, now a supporter. This is why. Tom Coburn. Retired from the United States Senate, probably the most fiscally conservative senator in modern times. Bar none and immediately join convention of states. And we miss him very much. Great hero passed away from cancer. I remember when Mike Farris, Mark Meckler, Tom Coburn, and I. And a meeting at the Heritage Foundation. And we tried to convince them at the time to support the convention of the states. We were all successful. I don’t know what the position of the Heritage Foundation is today. I haven’t looked, quite frankly, but I just don’t know. I shouldn’t have to look, if they support it. They should be out there pounding away right now. Brother DeMint. He should be pounding away right now. All the conservative institutions should be pounding away right now, but they’re not. It’s very troubling to me. Here’s Representative Andy Biggs, who was the Senate president in Arizona. Prior to joining the house. Being questioned by Steve Doocy. Cut one. Go. We heard some people yesterday, at least one person said, this guy’s got to go. What what do you think’s going to happen with Kevin McCarthy, the speaker? Well, you know, Steve, I can’t predict what will happen with Kevin. I know there’s a lot of dissatisfaction. I’ve been focusing on the bill and trying to get the word out on what I think are the problems with the bill. It’s hard to say what will happen with Kevin. I’m more concerned what’s going to go on with the trajectory of the term, because does this represent a new coalition and a new trajectory where the speaker’s going to go to the Democrats more and more to try to put forward whatever he thinks his agenda ought to be? And that’s that’s really concerning to me. And I think it should be concerning to members of our conference. Well, ultimately, you would agree that the Republicans got more out of the deal than the Democrats do today? No, I don’t think I would agree with that at all. So if you’re Andy Biggs, what do you do about that? You’re not going to be able to remove Kevin McCarthy because you’re in a very distinct minority. What are you going to do about. And I’m somebody who worked with. Mark Meadows. If Mark Meadows is around these days going public, he’ll tell you. That he called me one day when I was defending him. He was under attack by Boehner. We talk about how to do it. And I was even involved in telling them how to write it up because he asked me. That’s not the situation. McCarthy has brought conservatives into these different committees. They’re on the Rules Committee. They’re on all these other committees. Everybody wants to say it’s a dead letter. It doesn’t matter. Of course it matters. Boehner trashed conservatives left and right. He trashed the Tea Party they gave him and he had this massive majority, massive in 2010. We won. What was it, 66, 68, 62 seats. It was unbelievable. Unbelievable. He had a significant majority. McCarthy has a tiny majority and I blame. Then on, among others, Mitch McConnell. And he’s still sitting out there waiting around for everybody else to act. And then he’ll be Mr. Critic no matter what happens. But I’m saying this not as a critic, but I’m asking you folks. So you’re. You’re Andy Biggs. What do you do about that? What do you do? You seize reluctant to remove McCarthy because it’s not going to work. Well, what will work? Well, one of the things that we need to keep fighting for among many on different fronts, he wrote a book against. Convention of states. Now people are out there with all kinds of I feel like conservatives in some cases are becoming like Marxists. No, no, no, no. Forget about Reagan. Forget about the principles of old. I think this is this gnat can crowd forget about all that. Although so much of what they support is right here in liberty and tyranny. I have to admit that. As I studied this more, I really wasn’t all that familiar and familiar now, and some incongruities to which we’ll discuss as time goes on. But that aside, when the framers of the Constitution give you. A mechanism difficult. Difficult as it is. Should we be promoting it? As a way to help us. Especially if everything else you’ve tried fails. From your perspective? Yeah, I think so. I think so. And this isn’t just directed at a group of people. It’s directed at all of us. It’s directed at all the Republicans. One of my best friends on Capitol Hill is Chip Roy. He supports convention states, by the way, was an early supporter. Another one of my best friends on Capitol Hill is Mike Lee. Nobody smarter than Mike. I haven’t checked in the last year or so, but Mike opposed a convention of states. Why? Its black and white text in the Constitution. It’s impossible to have a constitutional convention, is what they say. It’s a convention of the stage. You know, before we had a constitution. There was there were conventions which were basically meetings. That’s all they were meetings of various representatives from various states to try and figure out what to do. There wasn’t this all powerful central government that they had were against when they were responsible sovereign states. And they said, How do we figure this out? That’s exactly what convention of states is a state legislature, not the governor, not the lieutenant governor, not the courts. Signs off. A formal way to have a meeting. In essence. To discuss possible ways to fix what’s taking place in the country. And one of the big problems is, ladies and gentlemen, various aspects of our Constitution have been altered without amendments. And so there’s some great ideas out there, and I have some of my own. What do we do about this? And we’ll discuss this with Michaela in the next hour. This needs to be discussed more by concern. I don’t care if you call yourself a Narconon neo con, a con con, a prison con. I don’t care. What kind of can you call yourself or self-identify as? This should be a rallying point. I’ll be right back.

Segment 4

This is. This is chess. This is not checkers. It’s not tic tac toe. And you’ve got to think through not just one step, but five, six or eight or ten steps. And in that consequence, I think that Kevin McCarthy got a pretty good deal. And most importantly, he shifted the balance of power and the balance of leadership away from both the Senate and the White House. And that is, frankly, that historic experience comparable to what we did in 1995. Another another prominent voice former speaker, in fact. Newt Gingrich. I want to make a suggestion. Those Senate Republicans who are not happy. With what was negotiated. And I know there are several. And those who believe that we could have gotten a better deal, use your position in the United States Senate. Use the rules of the United States Senate. To slow this down. It’s not just on McCarthy. We’ve got conservatives in the Senate, too. And I want to encourage the conservative groups out there. CPI. FreedomWorks. Heritage Foundation. Club for Growth. I have friends at all of them. All of them. Let’s go. What are you waiting for? We have conservatives in the Senate who can issue amendment after amendment after amendment and try and slow this thing down. Are they going to do it or not? Don’t keep pointing at the House. The Senate hasn’t done a damn thing. The Senate hasn’t done a damn thing. I don’t care about a letter with 43 senators. Let’s see what they do. Let’s see what they do. Oh, man. We’ve got great, great programming ahead. Mark Meckler. Coming up next hour, a very, very crucial Julie Kelley, Hour three, some really breaking stuff, January six and beyond. Stick with us. I’ll be right back.